Where Screenwriters Live: Screenwriting Hubs Around the World

We all know LA is the film capital of the world with an over 100-year-old infrastructure, incomparable education programs, and an incredible film history. It remains the number one place to go if you want to break into the industry. While technology is giving more opportunity to writers outside of LA, if your interest is specifically in television writing, then odds are you’ll need to Hollywood to do it.

While an expensive place to film, New York remains a film hub thanks to its pure and authentic New York-ness. Attracting television and films alike, New York is the second-largest film production hub in America. Home to well-known festivals like Tribecca and leading film schools, New York is a fantastic film hub outside of LA.

The heart of Bollywood. Producing more movies per year than Hollywood, Mumbai is an incredibly busy film hub. While Hollywood is the largest film producer in terms of box office revenue, Bollywood is the largest in terms of films produced and tickets sold.

Atlanta has been growing into a major film production location for a while now and is the third-largest film production industry in the United States. Georgia’s film tax incentive is well known and considered one of the best in the country. With the massive Pinewood Studios Atlanta, and the recently officially opened Tyler Perry Studios, Atlanta has been building an infrastructure that is sure to continue bringing work there for the foreseeable future. With the cost of living being far less than Los Angeles or New York, it makes sense why people in the industry have made the move to Atlanta. 

Frequently referred to as “Nollywood,” Nigeria has an interesting and lengthy film history dating back to the 19th century. Ever-growing in popularity, Nigeria is home to filmmaker Genevieve Nnaji her film “Lionheart,” which sparked some controversy when it was disqualified from the International Feature category at the Academy Awards in 2020 on the basis that the film’s primary language is English. Nollywood movies now streaming on Netflix are sure to help Nigerian films reach an even wider audience, aiding in the growth of this film hub.

Actively building more studio space, Toronto is a highly sought-after filming location. The incredible tax incentive maintains Toronto as a financially attractive place to shoot, leading to many popular shows and movies filming there. This “Hollywood North” will continue to grow and thrive, especially as CBS Television Studios opens CBS Studios Canada, their new studio space in Toronto.

Albuquerque has quickly grown from a small boutique place to film to the third-largest option, bringing in over 50 major productions in the last three years. Netflix chose Albuquerque for the location for their new production company, and NBCUniversal is opening a studio space there as well. 

Another location with long and storied film history, London, is referred to as the “Hollywood of Europe.” Home to Pinewood Studios and Warner Brothers, many giant blockbusters have filmed in London, such as the new “Star Wars” films, “Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Wonder Woman.” While it’s still unknown how Brexit will affect the British film industry, it remains one of the largest film hubs in Europe.

With the rise in popularity of all Korean media, their film and television industries have also benefited from global interest. Acclaimed films such as Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite are waking up the rest and of the world up to this exciting time in South Korea’s film industry. With the government’s push to have a significant percentage of films in theatres be domestic, this has led South Korea to be a major production hub.