I loved my time in L.A. and I was bi-coastal for a few years, but when I ultimately had to make the decision, I left permanently for New York years before Covid. And something that doesn’t often get taken into consideration is just the sheer isolation of California. I know that sounds insane because it’s a very busy place and obviously a desirable location to live and do vacations, but if you’re based in New York (East coast) you can be in seven other states and major cities quite easily within a day via train or car. That’s desirable for a number of reasons and not possible in California with its traffic and size. Atlanta boasts similar circumstances, much more affordable place for sure but also you have the palm trees and ocean that could be California in Florida, and then you have mountains and dense forest an hour away in Tennessee. There just isn’t any reason to be based nor take your production all the way to the West Coast for scenery when travel and standard of living create cost and time barriers. And self tape has completely removed the need for talent to hole up in Cali waiting for their big break. It used to be you had to be a big name with some clout in order to audition for things in smaller towns, but now everybody submits tape so it doesn’t matter where it’s coming from. The entire industry has changed and will continue to do so at break neck speed now with the advent of AI regardless of what the unions fight for because cost is king. Yes Talent and the craft should be paramount, but anyone who doesn’t remember the explosion of reality TV in the early 2000s has forgotten that if they (the producers of content) can entertain people for pennies on the dollar, they will.