The creative community is a leading contributor to the Greater Los Angeles economy, as substantiated in the 2010 Otis Report prepared for the Otis College of Art and Design by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC). For example, the arts, design and entertainment industries combined in ’09 to represent 835,000 direct and indirect jobs (almost one in every six in the L.A. region) and some $113 billion in sales/receipts in L.A. and Orange counties. More than $4.6 billion in state and local tax revenues were generated in ’09 by art and design-oriented businesses spanning the entertainment, toy, digital media, fashion, architecture, interior design, industrial design, and communication arts industries, as well as fine and performing arts.
However, as impressive as these numbers are, they represent a decline from those in the ’09 Otis Report which tallied nearly one million direct and indirect jobs, almost $140 billion in sales/receipts, and over $5.1 billion in state and local tax revenues in ’08. Clearly the overall global economic downturn impacted the latest set of numbers as did arguably such dynamics as runaway production to other states and for that matter countries with more inviting tax breaks and financial incentive packages.
Still in the big picture, the economic barometer has risen steadily since 2003 in Greater L.A. Between ’03 and ’08, employment in the service-oriented creative industries of L.A. grew by 9.9 percent, and by two percent in Orange County.
Narrowing results down to the entertainment industry, the 2010 Otis Report found nearly 119,000 people working directly in the business during ’09 in L.A. County. The estimated direct sales numbers were huge, $48.3 billion in ’09, most of which came from the film production industry. The total economic impact was 354,900 direct and indirect jobs, and estimated total output of over $129 billion. State and local taxes generated directly and indirectly by this sector totaled $2.4 billion in ’09.
The creative economy represents the second largest regional business sector in Greater Los Angeles, surpassed only by the tourism and hospitality industry, according to the Otis Report, which estimates the creative community’s total economic impact in L.A. and Orange counties as having been some $286.3 billion in ’09. The LAEDC factors each direct job as supporting roughly one-and-a-half indirect jobs in the marketplace. And the creative economy includes the largest segment of self-employed people (independent artists, writers, performers) in the L.A. region.
In terms of employment trends, the creative economy in L.A. is projected to be on the upswing through 2014–but that growth will be slow, with an estimated 6.7 percent increase in the number of jobs. Helping to drive that growth is the digital media market, which has already exhibited its ability to buck the recession with 700 additional jobs in ’09 as compared to ’08.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More