Paul W. Downs Makes Plea for More Production in L.A. at Critics Choice Awards
Hacks actor, co-creator and co-showrunner Paul W. Downs called on studios to shoot more projects in Los Angeles at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards.
Downs took the stage during the ceremony to accept the award for best comedy series, thanking his cast and crew before issuing a charge to decision-makers in the audience. “This show has been shot a little bit in Las Vegas, but mostly in Los Angeles since day one, and the more we tell people that we shoot in Los Angeles, the more we hear, ‘you are so lucky,’ and that shouldn’t be the case because this is an industry town, and we should have more productions in L.A.,” Downs said to a round of applause.
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“I feel like the people in this room have the power to make that happen, so we need to ask to shoot our shows here in LA,” he added.
In January, the latest report from film permitting office FilmLA found overall production in Los Angeles hit a historic low last year with a total of 23,480 shoot days recorded in 2024, the second lowest figure reported by the non-profit outside of the 2020 pandemic. A bump in filming seen in the final quarter of 2024, which showed a nearly six percent increase in shoot days over the same period in 2023, was a sign of hope; however, the mass devastation left from the wildfires that blazed through L.A. in January threatens progress on the local production front.
Downs’ Hacks co-star Hannah Einbinder also used her acceptance speech for best supporting actress in a comedy series to make a public plea, specifically calling out the fossil fuel industry for its contributions to climate change. “We are on the brink of a really dark era of climate denial,” Einbinder said. “The fossil fuel industry is to blame for the climate crisis and they need to pay to clean up the mess that they made.”
In addition to Hacks‘ best comedy series and best supporting actress wins, lead star Jean Smart also won the 2025 Critics Choice Award for best actress in a comedy series. Smart and Hacks co-showrunners Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky weren’t in attendance at the awards as they’re currently filming the fourth season of the HBO comedy.
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