The old expression “When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold”, doesn’t always hold true. Since the U.S. has been in a recession, the rest of the world has suffered to a certain degree; however, the film industry in some parts of the world seems to be an exception. The global financial crisis resulted in the most severe worldwide recession and has since been faced with challenges for the last several years. The decline of the U.S. stock market has been the major challenge that viciously spread to various parts of the globe. For the most part, the global market has seen mixed results from film studios worldwide. Despite an increase in box office earnings, U.S. studios have been suffering, by having no choice but to downsize, and cut back on production and development. Although U.S. motion pictures are seen some adversity, interestingly the industry is a major private sector employer. According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) the industry employs 2.1 million workers and 95,000 companies, which spans from make-up artists to costume designers, stuntmen to set builders, accountants to caterers (MPAA, 2011). Domestically, this powerhouse of an industry has collectively contributed to more than $175B to U.S. GDP. Directly, the industry produces $42.1B in wages, which is approximately 32% higher than the national average. The median salary for film and television that includes high quality jobs as producing, marketing, manufacturing, and distributing motion pictures is nearly $82,000, which is 74% higher nationwide; whereas the U.K. average is about $63,000 (MPAA, 2011).
Across the Atlantic tells a different tale, a recent study shows that U.K. films contribute over £4.5B to U.K. GDP (Economics, 2010). In addition, U.K. film industry employment grew over 22%, from 36,000 to 44,000 in 2009.
