Hollywood Film & TV Production Is Coming Back to Southern California

The Tide Is Turning for Hollywood Production in Los Angeles

August 2026. After years of watching productions flee to Vancouver, Atlanta, and overseas tax havens, we are hoping something is shifting in Los Angeles. It's not a flood of work — not yet — but it's a current, and some of our customers who are involved can feel it moving.

At the Dive Shop, we notice these Ebbs and Flows. The underwater film and television crew that frequent our shop — camera operators, safety divers, marine coordinators — are some of the best barometers of local production activity we can find. And what we're hearing lately is cautiously optimistic: more shows, more local hires, more stages lit..

L.A. Town Projects aren't where they once were. The golden era of wall-to-wall L.A. production isn't back. But they couldn't have gone much lower than the abyss we saw in recent years — and the direction is changing a little.

Why Productions Are Coming Back to Los Angeles ?

Several forces are converging to make Southern California competitive again:

• California tax incentives have been expanded and restructured, making the state more attractive relative to competing jurisdictions.
• Post-strike recalibration has led studios and streamers to reassess their production footprints, with some choosing to consolidate closer to their corporate headquarters in L.A.
• Audience and talent pressure — top-tier cast and crew increasingly prefer to work close to home, and that preference carries weight in greenlight decisions.
• The "runaway production" backlash has become a real political and PR issue, with studios facing scrutiny over their commitment to the local workforce that built them.            

Shows Shooting in Los Angeles Right Now

The proof is in the call sheets. Since March 2026, a significant slate of major productions has been shooting right here in Southern California. This is not a trickle — it's a meaningful cluster of high-profile titles:

The Morning Show

5th Season Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon.
L.A. Production 2026

Just Wrapped -     The New , Baywatch – Season 1 of the Reboot
in Los Angeles - Venice 2026  

All these Shows are Working .......What This Means for the Underwater Film Community

For the divers, underwater camera operators, and marine safety professionals who make up a meaningful part of our customer base, this production uptick is real and tangible. More shoots in L.A. means more local work — and for productions like the Baywatch reboot, that means underwater work happening right here in Southern California waters.

We've seen it firsthand. The conversations in our shop have shifted. There's more talk of upcoming jobs, more our own Scuba Rental and Underwater Camera Gear being prepped for production work, more energy in the community. That's not nothing — that's the industry breathing again.

The Outlook: Cautiously Optimistic

The structural challenges that drove production out of California — complex permitting, competition from aggressive incentive programs in other states and countries — haven't disappeared. But the momentum has shifted a smidge, and that matters to local businesses.

Hollywood is sputtering back to life in Los Angeles. The water is warming up — both in the Pacific and in the production offices across the basin. For a local dive shop that has relied heavily on the strength of this industry, that's something we can enjoy. We Love to see relief in the eyes of our Customers.

Local Diving Conditions AUG 21 Boat - Water Temp 70 to 73 Anacapa Island 3 Dives !

Here is a Short Video of the Amazing Anacapa Trip that we Just Returned from. 

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