Studio Zone - History and Rationale

History and Rationale

During almost all of the 20th century, the Hollywood entertainment industry preferred to film movies and television shows within the studio zone to hold costs down. With clever editing, it was easy to use a handful of aerial and location shots (usually shot by a second unit), along with carefully dressed sets, to give viewers the impression that a movie or show was set somewhere else. The studio zone itself, as well as the lack of motion picture production companies and experienced personnel outside the zone, made it very expensive to film on location, since movie studios literally had to bring everything with them from Los Angeles. In turn, anyone who wanted to start a career in the entertainment industry had to move to Los Angeles to break into the studio zone, thus creating a self-perpetuating cycle.

In the 1990s, to counteract such inertia, many countries and even other U.S. states began offering generous tax credits or deductions to reduce the much higher cost of filming on location. The result was what Hollywood people call runaway production.

Entertainment industry labor unions use this area to determine rates and work rules for workers. For instance, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees contracts state:

"Studio rates and working conditions shall prevail for all work performed within the studio zone; however, for newly-called employees and those employees notified on the previous day prior to their departure from the studio (or the zone location) to report at the zone location, work time shall begin and end at the zone location; otherwise, work time shall begin and end at the studio. Such work time includes travel time both ways between the studio and the zone location."

"Studio rates" are generally lower than "distant location rates", which would need to be paid (in addition to travel time and mileage) for work outside the studio zone.

The initials of the Time Warner tabloid news website TMZ.com stand for "Thirty Mile Zone", an alternate name for the studio zone.