Actor Jeff Garlin says he hasn’t had an acting job in nearly three years since “Curb Your Enthusiasm” ended, and he’s blaming a California entertainment industry that he says no longer exists the way it used to.
Speaking on Adam Carolla’s podcast last week, Garlin admitted he almost didn’t want to say it out loud.
“I haven’t worked in almost three years since ‘Curb’ ended. … The reason that you and I do this no longer exists. It doesn’t.” “We could be doing this thing in Sweden,” he added.
Garlin’s comment points to a bigger problem: productions are leaving not just California, but the United States entirely. He singled out Ireland as a destination pulling American work overseas.
“The number of American productions that are filmed in Ireland tells you all you need to know. All these empty sound stages. It’s a shame.”
The numbers back him up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the industry has shed 49,000 jobs since 2022, a slide that followed the COVID-19 pandemic and a pullback in streaming production.
Government tries to buy the jobs back
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced last week a new post-production tax credit, an expanded film and television tax credit, and protections for actors against AI-generated content. The state’s Film Commission says 35 films — 28 of them independent projects — just received production incentives under the expanded program, which it estimates will generate more than $1 billion in direct production spending, create jobs for over 5,400 cast and crew, and employ 24,800 background actors.
In Washington, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is drafting a federal tax credit for film and television production that could stack on top of state incentives.
None of that has convinced people actually working in the industry. Conversations around Hollywood suggest real doubt that these subsidies will bring the jobs home.
“You can’t make your living as just an actor anymore”
Actor and comedian Bryan Callen told Fox News Digital he wasn’t surprised by Garlin’s admission.
“You can’t make your living as just an actor anymore in Los Angeles. If you do a series on, say, Netflix, and it’s a 10-episode series, do the math. Take a look at what’s left after taxes and commissions to your manager, your agent, whoever it might be.”
Callen said even a working actor in Los Angeles is lucky to land a middle-class life once the cost of housing, food and everything else in the city is factored in. He’s shifted much of his own career toward stand-up comedy and podcasting rather than relying on acting work.
“I was like, I can’t put all my eggs in this acting basket.”
Callen also pointed to a cultural shift: the entertainment business has fragmented so much that even big-name stars no longer guarantee an audience.
“This business has been so atomized. The days of all of us going to one place, whether it’s a TV show or a movie, to watch that one person are long gone… And if that’s the case, big names are no longer big names. They just aren’t.”
Even so, Callen doesn’t think Hollywood itself is finished. He argues Los Angeles still holds advantages — reliable weather for shooting, and the concentration of top-tier crew talent.
“People think they can move this business to Texas or whatever. No, you can’t. At the end of the day, you still have the best sound engineers, the best directors, the best writers, the best special effects people, the best people who score film and all that.”
It’s not just actors
Carolla said a friend who worked as an editor for 32 years straight has effectively been forced into retirement for lack of work, and stressed that the pain extends far beyond actors and directors to hairdressers, caterers and crew.
“Everyone is moving out, and it’s affecting — I mean, again, everyone thinks about the actor, the director, but a crew has so many people that work, hairdressers, catering, craft service people, crew members.”
Garlin, who moved to Los Angeles to follow in the footsteps of Bob Newhart and Mel Brooks, said the odds facing newcomers today are far worse than what he once faced.
“I moved here to be in a world where Bob Newhart and Mel Brooks opened the doors, and you followed through. It used to be, ‘Boy, you’re lucky, even if you’re talented, to break through.’ Now, it’s, ‘You’re lucky if someone even notices you’re in the room.'”
