These days, I’m lucky enough to hear from dozens of entertainment and media professionals every month – one of the perks of this gig – and among the deluge of disparate, career-related questions that I’m asked (ranging from the esoteric to the mundane), one, in particular, seems to be appearing with greater frequency. It’s a good one, though it’s also pretty limiting:
“Where should I move if I want to develop my media career?”
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For some reason, I think they’re expecting – or at least hoping – that I reinforce their availability heuristic and point them towards one of the usual suspects: Los Angeles, New York, or maybe, if they’re feeling progressive, Atlanta, Austin, or Albuquerque (aka “Tamalewood,” which is great branding, if nothing else). If they’re looking for production capabilities and creative opportunities, New Orleans and Chicago generally find themselves on the shortlist, too.
This mindset is not as outdated as shooting on film, publishing with newsprint, or logging onto Facebook. It’s empirically – and strategically – wrong.
Just as Hollywood shifted from a Los Angeles neighborhood to an eponym for the entertainment industry, how Madison Avenue became shorthand for the top advertising agencies, and how Nashville became a shibboleth for the country music industry, the correlation between location and entertainment opportunities is becoming increasingly tenuous.
As media expands its audience from regional to global and the global monoculture becomes increasingly homogenized, it’s important to recognize that careers have followed a similar trajectory. The industry has gone global, not because it’s fashionable, but because of the seismic shifts we’re seeing in both workforce economics and labor markets.
It’s a Small World, After All
In the media industry, most jobs have already been expatriated. According to UNESCO data, employment within the creative economy has grown exponentially faster than within the United States (where it’s been slowly contracting for years, now) since 2020, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and a handful of European markets – all regions where creative job growth has exceeded 25% over the past five years.
While production has slowed to a crawl in markets like LA, New York, or even Vancouver (the 818 of the Great White North), the UK screen sector alone has added tens of thousands of jobs in the years after the pandemic. This has been driven by production demand that consistently outstrips the supply of local talent, the growth of regionalized streamers, and existing production infrastructure.
Similarly, India’s media and entertainment workforce is projected to exceed 4.5 million full time jobs by 2027, fueled by streaming, gaming and the expansion of regional, highly niche microindustries (beyond Bollywood, the increased production demands and growing audiences for Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood, Mollywood and Bengali-language cinema led to the release of around 2,500 feature length films last year, compared to 500-600 releases in the US and Canada).
Their reach, of course, is no longer limited to specific regions but is increasingly embraced by global audiences as well.
At the same time, the mature US entertainment market is consolidating and cutting costs, freezing hiring, and decimating its production pipeline to a handful of tentpole productions or franchise-driven IP. The BLS projects that US film, video, and publishing employment will remain flat over the next few years, after five consecutive years of net job losses. So, that’s the good news, I guess.
This structural reset hasn’t made Hollywood or the US media market irrelevant; it’s just no longer the dominant player in an increasingly decentralized, global industry. Content financing is moving across borders, with productions driven more by financial incentives than by talent density or the availability of skilled workers. Entertainment and media are effectively becoming localized at scale; streamers are location-agnostic, and so too are the audiences for these platforms.
Global entertainment growth isn’t limited to above-the-line talent like writers or directors. Data show exponential increases in demand for niche specializations, including production technologists, localization and audience strategists, formatting developers, VFX and media designers, and production operations roles, outside the US, particularly in South Asia and Latin America.
These fast-growing, highly in-demand roles sit at the intersection of the most critical factors driving media job growth today: creativity and technology at scale. The talent pools aren’t limited to the traditional media hubs.
That’s why this week’s stories matter; for this edition of the Mediabistro Weekly Drop, we’re looking around the world, past celebrity gossip, clickbait or algorithmic induced panic and looking at where investment is flowing; how talent pipelines are being relocated and rebuilt; and, most importantly, which markets matter most for career growth and job stability over the next decade in the entertainment industry.
But first, here are the headlines that mattered most for media professionals this week.
The Five Stories Shaping Global Entertainment Careers This Week
1. The Mouse House and the End of an Era
The Walt Disney Company this week announced that the chief of their parks and experiences group, Josh D’Amaro, will succeed Bob Iger as the CEO of the world’s largest entertainment conglomerate. There seems to be general optimism about this announcement, despite the fact that the last time a Parks chief was tapped by Iger for a top job, Tom Staggs (my former boss while TWDC CFO) was an unmitigated (albeit brief) disaster for shareholders and “Cast Members” alike.
Iger’s decision to step aside and spend some quality time with Willow Bay and to cosplay as an angel investor was reportedly long in the works, and D’Amaro’s selection reinforces Disney’s doubling down on experiences, IP licensing, and global brand monetization at the expense of streaming. In other words, Disney is staking its future – and its shareholder value – outside of its traditional bailiwicks of TV and film.
Read More: Disney Taps Parks Head Josh D’Amaro as CEO To Lead in Post Iger Era (Reuters)
Career Implications:
The new regime on the top floor of the Team Disney Building matters more for careers than any single content slate. It reinforces that experiential media, operational leadership, immersive design, and global execution roles are more important to major conglomerates than traditional entertainment experiences. Coincidentally, a significant percentage of these roles exist outside of the United States.
If your skill set in entertainment is limited to traditional content production or legacy mediums, career options are quickly closing – and unlikely to return. If you want to climb the new corporate ladder, particularly at the majors, focus on building expertise in experiential entertainment, global business, and operational efficiency (or, optimally, some combination thereof).
If not, you’d be better served trying to sell scripts on spec; the odds of success today are about the same. Which is to say, not so great.
2. National Heritage: The UK Turns Entertainment Into Infrastructure
The United Kingdom has renewed its push to provide governmental funding for film and television talent, with the supply of available talent lagging behind the demand created by a significant uptick in British productions. This public-private push is also being underwritten by both trade associations and studios, a tacit admission that the country’s past reliance on apprenticeships or subsidized job schemes is broken.
According to the Guardian, studios and UK production companies are struggling to find below-the-line and support staff fast enough to keep pace with slated projects – particularly in post production, VFX, and technical operations roles.
This isn’t a job creation scheme, nor is it being funded as a social program. It’s a restructuring of entertainment and media talent that looks a lot like workforce triage.
The UK understands that without domestic talent, its ability to attract international projects and financing – an unquestionable success story – could quickly stall, with long-term implications for both the industry and the domestic economy. For now, though, UK production recorded its highest year to date, generating a staggering $9.2B, suggesting that the center of the entertainment universe may well be shifting across the pond.
Read more: Film and TV Chiefs Back Youth Scheme to Reduce Skills Gap (The Sun)
Career Implications:
The UK government’s push to formalize training pathways across film, TV, and media isn’t a social subsidy or a political initiative. It’s a decidedly practical response to a growth industry that lacks the talent supply needed for traditional media business models.
The new governmental scheme fundamentally alters the career landscape – and the outlook for the UK media industry. Paid apprenticeships, accredited training programs, and public-private partnerships, largely funded by studios and broadcasters, provide clear entry points and predictable career paths, along with regular, reliable income.
The larger implication is a bit more muddled. The UK is implicitly acknowledging that making creatives work for free isn’t a sustainable strategy for long-term industry growth – or even short-term demand. By essentially professionalizing media jobs and standardizing career paths, the British are approaching media careers less as an outlier and more as a labor market and an economically essential industry.
This facilitates creativity by making media careers possible without professionals essentially mortgaging their financial future in pursuit of passion – a trend every US film school grad really wishes would make it across the Pond sooner rather than later.
3. Media Consolidation and the Changing Geography of Media Jobs
We’ve extensively covered the ongoing consolidation of media jobs across studios, streamers, publishers, and production companies, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down any time soon – nor do the job cuts that inevitably follow every closed transaction or M&A deal. The jobs that remain, however, tend to be much more complex and business-focused; the industry is becoming dominated by MBAs, not BFAs, for better or worse.
As Variety reports, the most in-demand skills major media companies are prioritizing hiring for include cross-platform efficiency, projects and properties built to scale globally, and having the operational acumen to transform creative chaos into sustainable revenue growth. Much of this is driven by the influx of foreign financing that’s transforming the industry’s fundamentals, with the domestic media industry increasingly beholden to sovereign wealth funds rather than studio execs.
Read more: Hollywood & Media Job Cuts in 2026 (Deadline)
Career Implications:
Pedigree or professional experience matter less today than business acumen and agility. The traditional power structure has shifted, with a focus on properties that can succeed across markets and platforms, with creative vision being a minor consideration compared to commercial success.
Media professionals need to realize that the fabled thirty-mile zone has shifted from the West Side to worldwide. Globalization has finally reached an industry that has long resisted it, and media professionals must broaden their perspectives and connections beyond borders.
From LA to London, from New York to New Delhi, the geography of media jobs is rapidly changing, which doesn’t look like a great long-term trend for US workers or for an industry that’s quickly contracting.
4. The Global Economy Now Driven by the Creative Economy
The World Government Summit just released its annual Creative Futures report this week, and the takeaway isn’t exactly subtle: the creator economy is no longer a side gig or driven by a handful of “influencers.” It’s emerging as a core engine for global economic growth, and it’s already profoundly, but quietly, impacting the US media industry.
Globally, the creator economy now accounts for an eye-opening 3.1% of total GDP and 6% of global employment. Surprisingly, the US is a frontrunner in this shift, with the creator economy generating around 4.3% of GDP in 2025. This is no longer a niche industry, but one that’s now almost as large an economic driver as manufacturing – only with fewer smokestacks and more MacBooks.
Read more: Creative Futures: The Springboard for Sustained Economic Growth (WGS)
Career Implications:
The WGS benchmark report makes it clear that the creator economy isn’t just focused on creative or media roles; it includes design, digital content, gaming, and technical operations, and while it’s hard to get a clear view of the bigger picture, the relatively invisible creator economy is now embedded across every modern industry and market.
For media and entertainment professionals, the implications are uncomfortable, but straightforward. First, creative jobs are becoming project-based, freelance-heavy, and far more volatile in terms of income and monetization potential. Traditional employment structures, compensation and benefits, and job opportunities are still firmly entrenched in what’s becoming an outdated, obsolete legacy model.
Creative skills are no longer optional in the global economy, with demand now extending beyond traditional industries such as media, publishing, and entertainment. Employers across sectors and functions want problem-solving, storytelling, design thinking, and originality in every role – reinforced, of course, by a high degree of technical competence and business acumen.
Degrees and professional experience no longer matter as much as portfolios, proof of work, and adaptability when building a sustainable, stable career in entertainment and beyond.
While the US remains the world leader in the creative economy and will continue to produce talent, without a systemic shift in education, IP protections, and real support for freelancers and gig workers, industry churn will only accelerate. Creative careers will continue to grow; stability will not. It’s going to take policymakers and employers to stop treating creators like a hobby and realize that, increasingly, the creator economy is actually infrastructure.
Mediabistro Weekly Job Spotlight
For all the noise about contraction, consolidation, and whatever euphemism we’re using this quarter, the thing is, the entertainment and media industries are still hiring. Sure, it’s a little uneven, and the jobs look pretty different from what they used to be, even a couple of years ago. “Storyteller” job openings, for example, have actually doubled. But there are opportunities out there, particularly for people who understand that the meaning of “media careers” is undergoing a seismic shift.
That’s why we’re highlighting some of the newest openings and hottest job postings on Mediabistro this week. Check out these roles, and thousands more, available right now, only on Mediabistro.
- Director, External and Performance Marketing — Hadassah New York City, NY · Full Time · $110,000–$130,000
- Senior Engagement Editor, Quanta Magazine — Simons Foundation New York, NY · Full Time
- Product Marketing Manager — TS IMAGINE Montreal, QC · Full Time · Hybrid
- Digital Media Campaign Strategist — Schaefer Advertising Fort Worth, TX · Full Time
- Editorial Assistant, UC Press (Hybrid) — University of California Oakland, CA · Full Time
- Marketing Campaign Specialist — Guilford Publications New York, NY · Full Time · $50,000–$55,000
The Bottom Line
The global entertainment and media industries are no longer American by default, with a smattering of international offices to provide regional support. It’s now global by default – both structurally and economically – whether or not legacy power players and their leadership are ready to admit it.
Careers in this industry are now forming wherever talent, incentives, infrastructure, and audiences intersect, which means that prestige, logos, and proximity no longer matter as much as content and capability. This trend towards globalization expands the competitive playing field and the opportunities available. The question is no longer “will it play in Peoria,” but instead, “will it play in Pune or Pretoria?”
These changes don’t mean the death of media or entertainment careers. It just means the map is being redrawn, and careers are no longer centered on a physical location but on an interconnected digital audience. And while that might sound scary, the truth is, the upsides are endless.
As Tony Montana reminded us, the world is yours. Just don’t blow it.
So from all of us here at Mediabistro, adios, auf wiedersehen, zàijiàn, and namaste – until next week.
Matt Charney
Executive Editor, Mediabistro
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