The Entertainment Industry

The Entertainment Industry includes the fields of theater, film, fine art, dance, music, publishing, television, Internet, advertising, and radio. These fields are experiencing seismic shifts in response to globalization and rapid technology changes—resulting in new business models that are still emerging.

Cultural changes trickle down to the job market in a complex fashion—industries like music, newspapers, and advertising have experienced huge declines, while new fields of employment are emerging, especially on the Web. Digitization has created more jobs for film and video editors, Web designers and producers, graphic designers, animators, visual effects technicians, camera operators, and videographers. Higher-paying post-production jobs are proliferating as a result of new technologies. Many of these professions are freelance, making employment data difficult to track.

Changes in the way people consume entertainment (mobile devices, cable TV, e-readers) have created a huge appetite for creative content. According to the US Department of Labor, “wage and salary employment in the motion picture and video industries is projected to grow 14 percent between 2008 and 2018, compared with 11 percent growth projected for employment in all industries combined.” As the nation’s largest provider of content, Los Angeles County employs 45% of the country’s entertainment professionals.

Data is from the 2010 report entitled Entertainment and Media in LA by Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation Kyser Center for Economic Research and the Bureau of Labor Statistics section of the US Department of Labor website.

To learn more about entertainment industry professions go to:

Digital Production Studio
Digital Production Studio
On Set
On Set