Hollywood's Profits, Demystified - The real El Dorado is TV. By Edward Jay Epstein

What is making the Hollywood studios rich? It’s not movie ticket sales, that’s for sure. DVDs? Yes, in part. But most of their profits actually come from television. This article reveals inside information on this.

Hollywood has been treating theater runs practically as loss leaders. With the studios making their money mainly from home entertainment, there is pressure to reduce the window between theatrical and DVD releases. Studios are even talking of simultaneously releasing movies in theaters and on DVD. This has gotten movie theater owners riled up. Removing the window altogether threatens to cut movie attendance even further, possibly bringing about the death of theaters. Epstein thinks that studios are not likely to take this step. Movie theaters have been merging, and this has given them more bargaining power in dealing with the Hollywood studios.

In related news, the renaissance in TV has resulted in plenty of work in LA for people in the industry. While many movie productions have moved out of Hollywood over the years, TV shows are still mostly made in Los Angeles. So the growth in TV productions is allowing many movie/TV industry people to stay in LA, working on TV shows. Apparently, the pay is lower in TV than in movies, but there is more stability and job security.