The Otis College Report on the Creative Economy examines the influence and impact of creative industries on California's overall economy. Initiated in 2007 as an annual publication, the report has expanded into a comprehensive research program. It now includes a series of timely studies, an interactive digital dashboard showcasing data and trends across various creative sectors, and related events.
The 2024 report assessed the immediate impact of the Writers Guild of America (WGA)-Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes and also looked deeper into the very nature of recent changes in the industry, from the onset of the streaming era in 2013, when Netflix released its groundbreaking drama, House of Cards, to the immediate post-strike period in 2024.
Westwood Economics and Planning Associates collaborated with Otis to produce this major research initiative, providing the latest research methods and data analysis techniques to produce reliable and credible economic, policy and planning analysis. Westwood’s analysis precedes conclusions, meaning that politics and ideology do not shape the company’s products. The company’s team comprises economists, urban planners, as well as policy and data analysts, many of whom were originally drawn from academia. Members of Westwood’s team hold PhDs from some of the most prestigious universities in the country and some are still affiliated with economics and urban planning departments across different universities.
Patrick Adler, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, at the University of Hong Kong; is one of the co-founders of Westwood Economics and Planning Associates, and a seasoned economic development practitioner and researcher, specializing in projects related to the creative economy. For more than a decade, Dr. Adler has conducted urban economic research on behalf of The University of Toronto, The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and The University of California, Riverside.
His client-facing work has included comprehensive economic development strategies, downtown revitalization plans, workforce analyses, and airport planning strategies. His research has been published in journals of planning and economics, and he's been quoted in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and the NFL Network, and his analysis has been regularly featured at Bloomberg's CityLab.
