The U.S. television and film industries are jumping at the opportunity to begin filming once more. The pandemic caused filming to shut down for months, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom has given hope that filming will resume sooner than anticipated. As quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, Gov. Newsom stated that "Music, TV and film production may resume in California, recommended no sooner than June 12, 2020, and subject to approval by county public health officers within the jurisdictions of operations following their review of local epidemiological data ...."   

The entertainment industry is not just a big business — it's a humongous business. Statistics from the 2018-2023 Entertainment & Media Outlook by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) put the value of the U.S. media and entertainment (M&E) industry at $717 billion — making the U.S. the biggest profiter in the world in these categories. Accounting for a third of the global M&E industry, U.S. M & E includes motion pictures, TV programs and commercials, streaming content, music and audio recordings, radio broadcasting, book publishing, video games, and ancillary products and services.

A study from IBIS world revealed that in 2017 the film business in the U.S. generated $43.3 billion in revenue, but it's not all great news — over the next few years industry growth is projected to be sluggish. This is partly due to viewers' options of home theaters or online streaming and on-demand. In addition, shutting down filming has impacted profits. One estimate puts Hollywood profit losses at $5 billion due to COVID-19 closures over the past three months.

The TV industry has also been seriously impacted by the pandemic. Predictions indicate revenue for the television industry will decline by 3.4% in 2020 due to halted production from COVID-19 and lower consumer demand.

Television relies heavily on advertising revenue and third party payments to stream content, but desire for traditional broadcast channels as well as cable is declining. Evaluating profits is a complicated process but indications show that film does tend to exceed television in terms of making money. It would be short-sighted not to mention the enormous profit losses from the stoppage of broadcasting sporting events. 

Due to the current ban on TV and film sets, thousands of people have been out of work in Hollywood. According to Stephen Fellows Film Data and Education, the average number of employees on a film crew is 588. For a television show, the average number is 80. These are not just statistics but represent money on the table for a multitude of people from producers, directors, lighting and sound technicians to costumers and more. A lot of the jobs are union jobs, but a union simply cannot guarantee a job when there is an international health crisis. In spite of this, tomorrow may be a welcoming day for those who return to work in an industry they love.