California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

It's a city where perception is reality and image is everything. But Hollywood is
having trouble keeping up appearances in the midst of the nation's economic
downturn, even during its splashiest, most self-celebratory time: awards season.

The Academy Awards is estimated to bring $130 million into the Los Angeles
economy, and economists expect that even with the downturn in the economy,
it will be the same for this year as well. But it's in the ancillary activity -- parties,
studios' campaigns for Oscar votes, glossy ads in trade publications -- where less
money is being thrown around.

Jack Kyser, founding economist of the Kyser Center for Economic Research at the
Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., still expects the Feb. 22 Academy
Awards to bring $130 million to the city. That's everything from hotel suites, to where
designers share their fashions with top stylists for weeks before the big event, to the
annual nominees luncheon to even plastic surgery helping to do a little nip and tuck
before the red carpet.

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.

For more information on the film industry, see Economic Overview