“The Valley” is now Hollywood

Southern California’s San Fernando Valley now accounts for 58 percent of all motion picture industry jobs in Los Angeles County and 44 percent in the state, according to a study conducted by the California State University at Northridge. In less than ten years, the study observed, the number of Valley jobs in the entertainment sector increased from 35,000 to 105,383. The study noted that the industry’s largest employers, Disney, Warner’s and Universal, are all located in the Valley. So too, it said, were most of the producers of pornographic films, also included in the survey. (A summary of the study’s findings that appeared in Saturday’s Los Angeles Daily News, did not break out the employment numbers by individual employers.) Although the reported growth in jobs would seem to offset any losses due to runaway production, the Daily News quoted several public officials as saying that the report underlined the importance of protecting a key component of the area’s economy. “We need to do everything we can to keep those jobs here,” Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn told the newspaper.