Sony Pictures Entertainment’s props house, which has long supplied film and television productions with furniture, lighting fixtures and other items, will shut down Friday, the Culver City studio has confirmed.
The 75,000-square-foot warehouse, on West Slauson Avenue about three miles from the Sony Pictures studio lot, services outside productions as well as the studio’s own movies and series.
The closure comes as many entertainment prop houses and other small businesses that support productions are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down and delayed much filmmaking activity in Hollywood and elsewhere, while raising costs for shoots that resumed during the crisis.
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Movie and TV shoots are now at a virtual standstill again amid the strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA. Screenwriters went on strike May 2, followed by performers last week after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers couldn’t come to agreements with the unions for new three-year contracts.
The writers and actors are seeking increases in residuals for streaming programs and more transparency into how well those programs perform, as the industry’s shift to a direct-to-consumer business model roils how scribes and performers are paid and treated. Both actors and writers have also raised concerns about how artificial intelligence could threaten their jobs.
SAG-AFTRA on Monday accused the studios of stonewalling. The AMPTP, which represents the studios in bargaining, said the union had mischaracterized the negotiations and walked away from generous proposals.
The closing of Sony Pictures’ prop house will affect nine employees. Props will be liquidated by a third-party company, said a source familiar with the matter who declined to be named because they were not authorized to comment.
Items featured on the prop house’s Instagram account have included a vintage sewing machine table, surfboard and solid wood wardrobe cabinet.
Sony Pictures’ costume wardrobe business will remain open, the source said.
