LOS ANGELES—A new $4.1 million grant program is available for small and micro businesses impacted by both the coronavirus pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood strikes, Los Angeles County officials announced April 26.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and the County Film Office, in partnership with county supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Kathryn Barger, began the program. Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act and the county’s Entertainment Business Interruption Fund, it will provide either $10,000 or $25,000 grants for qualifying applicants.
The Business Interruption Fund was established last year and is administered by the County Film Office.
To qualify, applicants must operate a for-profit business with $3 million or less in annual gross revenue, at least 70 percent of revenue must come from the entertainment industry and the business must have experienced economic impacts from the pandemic from March 2020 to present.
The deadline to apply is May 24 by 5 p.m. Information can be found at bit.ly/3JBfjeJ
“Los Angeles County is investing in the diverse businesses that fuel our creative economy through the Entertainment Business Interruption Fund,” Ms. Horvath said in a statement. “This $4.1 million will be a lifeline to the prop houses, florists, caterers and other small businesses that continue to face economic fallout after the recent strikes and slow return of local productions.”
She added, “L.A. County will continue to show up for the businesses that are the lifeblood of the entertainment industry, and incentivize film and TV production right here in L.A. County.”
The county is home to the “highest percentage of actors, filmmakers, entertainment businesses and other creatives in not just the state, but the world,” according to county officials.
According to the latest Otis Report, the entertainment industry directly employed more than 1 million workers and brought in more than $208 billion in revenue prior to the strikes. In May 2023, most production was slowed or stopped when the Writers Guild of America went on strike, which was followed by a strike by SAG-AFTRA—both groups had sought higher wages and improved working conditions for their members.
The strikes lasted until November 2023, making it the longest entertainment strike in history.
Research indicates that the double strikes cost the California economy between $3 billion to $4 billion and that L.A. County bore the brunt of this impact given it has the highest concentration of production facilities, studios, unions, guilds and associations in the world—mirroring the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, which many of the 40,000-plus small businesses are still recovering from.
“Through the county’s new Business Interruption Fund, we’re able to provide a critical lifeline to the variety of small businesses that took a hard hit from both the pandemic and the recent historic double Hollywood strikes,” Ms. Barger said. “The mom-and-pop businesses behind our most cherished films in the entertainment industry reside in the county of Los Angeles and are a strong engine of our local economy. The County Film Office is rightfully responding to the needs of the industry through this new grant. I hope it is widely used and helpful.”
The county expects to provide more than 230 businesses with these grants. The county previously provided more than $50 billion in grant funding as part of the Economic Opportunity Grant Program.
