Michelle Pfeiffer Sounds the Alarm: “L.A. Is Losing Its Grip as an Industry Town — We Need to Bring Back Tax Incentives”

Michelle Pfeiffer is back filming in Los Angeles, but she’s under no illusions — Hollywood’s longtime home turf is slipping away fast.

Currently shooting Margo’s Got Money Problems for Apple TV+ alongside Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, Pfeiffer said that out of 23 projects she’s worked on over the last two decades, only three have actually shot in L.A.

“That’s crazy,” the three-time Oscar nominee told me on Friday after her hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theater. Like so many veterans of the business, Pfeiffer is watching the city’s dominance in film and TV production fade — and she’s not sure if it can be reversed without real change.

“I don’t know a lot about the politics of it all, but I know you need to bring back tax incentives,” Pfeiffer said bluntly. “People look at the bottom line. Where are we going to get the most for our dollars? You want all that money to end up on screen. And if you’re saving $4 million by shooting somewhere else — or even just a million — that’s huge.”

She didn’t pretend it’s a simple fix, but made one thing clear: “The jobs aren’t gone. They’ve just moved. We gotta bring them back.”

Pfeiffer’s concerns echo what Ben Affleck recently said to the Associated Press, warning that California grew too comfortable while other regions aggressively courted productions with better tax breaks. “Other places understand how stimulative it is for their economies,” Affleck said. “Part of the problem with California is they came to take this industry for granted a little bit.”

For Pfeiffer, the state of Hollywood today is a long way from where she started — as a cashier at a Von’s grocery store in Orange County, dreaming of a paycheck for acting. Her very first gig? A Ford truck commercial shot in Malibu. She took the day off from bagging groceries to film it.

“When I started out, all I thought was, ‘Can I make a living?’” she said. “If I could just make a living doing this, that would have been fantastic.”

Fast forward 45 years, and even with a celebrated career behind her, Pfeiffer admits some nerves crept in before she stepped up to the podium for Friday’s ceremony.

“I was just so nervous,” said Pfeiffer, who will next be seen in Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming series Madison. “I get really nervous about public speaking.”

In her remarks, she reflected on how she fell in love with acting unexpectedly — in a theater class during her junior year of high school.

“I caught the bug,” she said. “I didn’t expect it. I thought theater people were kind of odd. But very soon I discovered that I fit right in. Apparently, I was an oddball too, all this time.”

Dakota and Elle Fanning, who have both worked with Pfeiffer, showed up to celebrate her milestone moment. The crowd also included her husband David E. Kelley, powerhouse CAA agents Kevin Huvane, Chris Andrews, and Franklin Latt, and Madison co-stars Patrick J. Adams, Kevin Zegers, Amiah Miller, and Elle Chapman.

The event was part of the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival, hosted by Ben Mankiewicz — another reminder that while some traditions in Hollywood endure, others are slipping through our fingers.