Share of production spend on films with significant U.S.-based production declined by 32 percentage-points to 42%
Share of production spending on television episodes with significant U.S.-based production declined by 30 percentage-points to 64%
Report highlights need a federal film and television tax credit to make the U.S. more competitive against foreign production incentives and to secure U.S. -based jobs
Los Angeles, October 5, 2026 – The Directors Guild of America (DGA), the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters), the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE), and the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) today released a study conducted by EY Quantitative Economics and Statistics (EY QUEST) on the change in the location of film and television production over a 25-year period from 1999 to 2024.
The full report can be found here
The study’s findings confirm an increasing share of U.S. film and television production has moved to foreign locations over the past 25 years, significantly reshaping an industry that supports more than two million U.S. jobs.
An examination of where scripted, live-action productions by major U.S.-based studios were primarily filmed, as well as the production spending and number of cast and crew associated with each location, the study revealed the following.
Changes in film production
● The share of production spending by major U.S. studios on movies filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 74% to 42% (a 32 percentage-point decrease).
● The share of films by major U.S. studios on movies filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 66% to 54% (a 12 percentage-point decrease).
● For total cast and crew working on major studio films, the share of cast and crew working on movies filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 72% to 43% (a 29 percentage-point decrease).
● From 1999 to 2024, the share of production spending in the U.S. among the 25 highest-budget films by major U.S. studios declined by 40%.
Changes in television production
● The share of production spending by major U.S. studios on television episodes filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 94% to 64% (a 30 percentage-point decrease).
● The share of television episodes by major U.S. studios filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 96% to 70% (a 26 percentage-point decrease).
● For total cast and crew working on major U.S. studio television episodes, the share working on television episodes filmed partially or primarily in the U.S. declined from 86% to 58% (a 28 percentage-point decrease).
The analysis focused on productions by larger studios with budgets above certain thresholds that would capture productions with the most significant impact on industry employment and economic activity and projects with sufficient scale to make strategic location decisions between filming in the U.S. or abroad. These budget thresholds were at least $5 million for feature films and $1 million for TV episodes under 41 minutes or $1.7 million for longer episodes.
When read in tandem with a recent study by the Motion Picture Association, unless action is taken America will continue to lose ground in retaining this industry and the middle-class jobs it provides.
