LOS ANGELES (AP) — The company had struggled for years, tossed around by pandemic-induced production shutdowns that began in March 2020. Last year, though, business for Valentino’s Costume Group had finally picked back up.
Hoping to capitalize on that good fortune, the shop moved in January to a North Hollywood space twice the size of its old building.
Then Hollywood’s screenwriters and actors went on strike. Now, says co-owner Shon LeBlanc, Valentino’s can no longer afford to pay its rent.
“My chest is tightening because the money is so tight,” says LeBlanc, bemoaning the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ apparent lack of urgency to try to reach an agreement with the unions. “When is the mayor going to step in and say, ‘I’m ordering you guys to figure something out because you’re about to collapse the economy in Los Angeles?’”