In 2021 Vince Gervasi, president and chief executive of Triscenic Production Services, saw an opportunity. For nearly four decades, the Santa Clarita-based company has been the largest provider of set and scenery storage, transportation and other services for the entertainment business. With the industry still in the throes of a streaming surge and the number of productions filmed in Los Angeles increasing dramatically, the company built seven soundstages.
Three years later, Triscenic — like the industry it now finds itself in — is contracting. Over the last 19 months, only one of those soundstages has been in use. The once-humming facility that housed sets across 2 million square feet in 41 buildings has been culled to half that size.
In July, Gervasi laid off 78 of his 85 employees. “I was able to carry them through the strike,” he said, “but the fact is that nothing is going on in this industry. There are no shows coming in.
” As Hollywood contends with one of its worst production downturns in decades , many are asking the same pointed question: Can California do more to jump-start its homegrown industry, one that has been buffeted by pandemic shutdowns, last year’s strikes by writers and actors, technological shifts and mounting global competition? The answer is a resounding “yes,” but the solutions are neither easy nor assured, according to interviews The Times conducted with dozens of producers, business owners, studio executives and film crew workers. .