Kerry Washington calls for film and TV productions to return to Los Angeles

Kerry Washington has lamented the fact that most film and TV productions take place outside of Hollywood these days.

While Los Angeles is still seen as the heart of the film and TV industry, it is nowadays rare for projects to shoot in Hollywood because it has become so expensive in comparison to other countries and U.S. states.

Speaking on the Therapuss podcast, the Scandal actress noted that her new Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man, filmed in London, even though the story is set in upstate New York.

Explaining the state of the industry, she said, "It's just so much cheaper to shoot overseas right now, which is sad. We have to do something about that in the state of California. We really do... We have to bring more work back here."

Washington added that there is less work available for film and TV talent who are based in Los Angeles and unable to travel out of town for projects.

"It always comes down to money and there's just so many more incentives in other states and countries to shoot so we just have to work on getting more of those incentives here in LA so that people can work and be with their families," she said.

"We have so much talent here in Los Angeles and a lot of that talent is constantly being flown to other places or just out of work. We don't want to squander our creative community here. We want to provide work for people to do what they do well and chase excellence while still being able to be home for dinner."

The 48-year-old, who has two children with husband Nnamdi Asomugha, added that she was "really proud of" the fact that her production company, Simpson Street, recently made two projects in LA.

These are the Apple TV+ series Imperfect Women, starring Washington, Elisabeth Moss and Kate Mara, and the thriller, Animals, in which she stars alongside Ben Affleck.

Wake Up Dead Man is now streaming on Netflix.