Entertainment a $6.4-Billion Boon to Valley

Entertainment productions now generate at least $6.4 billion annually in direct economic impact on the San Fernando Valley, with the benefits being felt not just in traditional show-biz strongholds such as Burbank and Universal City but in every community in the area, a new study has found.

The ongoing industry boom is benefiting the Valley more widely than had previously been thought, according to a study released Monday by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, with special effects firms, camera rental outfits, production companies and sound stages from Burbank to Calabasas all riding the wave.

The region accounted for 23% of the state’s production windfall, the study showed.

“The $6.4-billion total was not a surprise, but the number of ZIP Codes with entertainment payrolls and vendors in the Valley was amazing to us,” said William Allen, president of the local economic group. “Every Valley ZIP Code has some economic impact from the entertainment industry.”

The figures showed that entertainment production spending rose 29% in the Valley from the $4.97 billion spent in 1992.

Not surprisingly, a cluster of East Valley communities is the biggest center for entertainment production spending.

Burbank was the biggest beneficiary with $1.7 billion spent on production in 1996, although that was a drop from the $2.2 billion spent in 1992. Other nearby communities with high entertainment production figures were Universal City with $745 million in 1996, up from $347 million spent in 1992, and Glendale with $382 million in 1996, up from $324 million in 1992.

Entertainment production spending also rose dramatically in other parts of the Valley. Calabasas jumped to $89 million in 1996, up from $51 million four years earlier; Chatsworth was at $59 million in 1996, up from $35 million in 1992.

“Basically you have a very powerful entertainment cluster in the East Valley and Burbank with Warner Bros., Disney, NBC and Universal Studios,” said economist Jack Kyser with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

“But this rapid growth has spun out all through the Valley with demand for offices, warehouses and sound stage space. So businesses went where they could find something, and it’s been almost a great land rush that benefited the whole Valley,” he said.

Two weeks ago the Motion Picture Assn. of America released a study that showed $27.5 billion in economic impact statewide from the production of films, TV shows and commercials in 1996, marking a 69% jump from 1992. Those figures include entertainment payrolls and money paid to vendors for supplies and services, ranging from special effects to camera rentals and props.

The Valley economic group then asked the MPAA to break down the results by local ZIP Codes.

Other Valley communities enjoying a significant windfall form the entertainment industry are Woodland Hills with $194 million in 1996; Northridge with $103 million; and Canoga Park with $59 million.

An almost wildflower-like growth of sound stages has also swept the area, and there are now 114 working sound stages across the Valley from Canoga Park to Sylmar, Allen said.

But as impressive as these economic impact figures are, they don’t come close to truly measuring the total impact of the entertainment industry locally, he added.

For one thing, NBC studios in Burbank did not participate in the latest MPAA study, and the survey does not take into account entertainment marketing costs or the economic impact from tourist attractions such as Universal Studios.

The MPAA survey of payroll statistics pinpoints the communities where entertainment employees live, rather than the cities in which they work.

And if the total economic impact of the entertainment industry was tabulated, “We think the number would be in the tens of billions” for the Valley each year, Allen said.

All told, there are about 239,000 direct jobs in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles County, with another 240,000 workers providing support jobs ranging from catering to equipment rentals, Kyser said.

He estimates that the Valley now has about 120,000 entertainment-related jobs, or about one-quarter of the county’s total.

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Valley production dollars

How the Valley split up the $6.4 billion spent on production in 1996.

In millions of dollars

L.A. communities in Valley: $4,230

San Fernando: $23

Burbank: $1,720

Calabasas: $89

Glendale: $382

Sources: Economic Alliance

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Show Business Benefits

Entertainment productions in 1996 generated $6.4 billion in economic impact in the San Fernando Valley, according to a new study. Here are the figures for each Valley community. *--*

ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION COMMUNITY SPENDING Burbank 1,720,000,000 Studio City 868,854,960 Universal City 745,450,957 Encino 403,789,583 Glendale 382,000,000 Sherman Oaks 377,586,720 Van Nuys 271,832,304 Woodland Hills 194,071,000 Valley Village 183,509,284 Northridge 102,571,939 Calabasas 89,058,160 Sun Valley 78,762,002 Tarzana 63,232,737 Granada Hills 59,912,650 Chatsworth 59,432,334 Canoga Park 58,509,369 Sylmar 53,580,620 West Hills 42,534,014 Reseda 38,273,789 North Hills 37,572,472 Sunland 36,075,705 Tujunga 27,448,563 Winnetka 26,739,443 Pacoima 23,976,648 San Fernando 22,612,015 Panorama City 18,199,176 Mission Hills 14,373,580 Toluca Lake 9,265,723 Other 4,708,983

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Source: Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley