How low has Hollywood sunk? Entry-level writer jobs dry up after Trump plan, fire, strikes
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The 22-year-old film school graduate said that for most of those applications, she never heard back – not even a rejection. When she did land follow-up interviews, she was almost always ghosted afterwards.
'I knew that I wouldn't be a famous screenwriter or anything straight out of college,' said Hernandez, who graduated from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in 2024. But she thought she would at least be qualified for an entry-level film industry job.
'It shouldn't be this hard,' she kept thinking.
The wildfires that ravaged parts of Los Angeles in January 2025 were some of the most costly in California's history, and have not done the city's film industry any favours. Photo: AP
Since
the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a widespread production slowdown, the entertainment industry's recovery has been delayed by the dual Hollywood strikes, some of the costliest
wildfires in California's history and an industry-wide contraction.
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