Emmy Awards 2024: 10 Out of 12 Winning Shows Filmed Outside Los Angeles

The mid-September Emmy appointment marks the start of Hollywood’s school year: the awards season kicks off with accolades for TV series and programs and culminates with the Oscars in early March.

The 76th Emmy Awards edition has shown that the upcoming year is rather unusual.

Firstly, the competing productions, those aired or streamed between June 2023 and May 2024, managed to dodge the strike that last year kept lights and cameras off for a total of six months. Additionally, the September 15 ceremony at the Peacock Theatre highlighted that there has been no post-strike bounce, and the local entertainment industry is still in deep crisis.

Many have noticed that out of the 12 shows that won at least one of the 26 awards given out on Sunday, only two were filmed in Los Angeles. The brain of ‘showbiz’ remains here: here are the streaming giants and the studios that support productions with their budgets; here are the Television Academy, the Academy of Motion Pictures, and other associations that vote and determine the winners, losers, and snubs of the season; here are the red carpets and the statuettes. But the industry’s ‘harm’ seems to be elsewhere.

Only Hacks, set in Las Vegas, and The Morning Show, set in New York, were actually filmed in Los Angeles. The first one won Best Comedy Series, Lead Actress Jean Smart, and Writing, and is produced by Max (formerly HBO), owned by Warner Bros. The latter, which won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Billy Crudup, was filmed at the Apple Studios in Culver City.

The other ten award-winning series were shot in other American states or abroad. Baby Reindeer, The Crown, and Slow Horses, though produced by Los Angeles-based Netflix and Apple TV, were largely filmed in the UK. Ripley was filmed in Italy. The set of the FX (Disney) series The Bear is in Chicago. The overall winner this year, Shogun, is from Disney, but the filming took place in Canada (and a bit in Japan).

Between April and June, filming in the city decreased by 12.4% compared to a year ago, according to FilmLA, which tracks location permits in the county. Reality production has plummeted by 57% compared to 2023. These figures translate into thousands of people out of work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in April, employment levels on sets and in recording studios contracted by 20% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Aside from the early months of the lockdown and the halt due to strikes, employment in the sector has never been this low in over 30 years.

As statuettes were lifted and emotional thank-yous were given on the Peacock stage, tens of thousands of unemployed industry workers watched at home with a lump in their throats.

Source: LA Times