After the writers’ and actors’ strikes, the pandemic, and structural shifts in technology, LA’s trying to find its footing in a changed industry

The veteran Hollywood cinematographer Bruce McCleery knows all about Los Angeles’s struggles to maintain its dominance in the entertainment industry, because for most of the past 16 years he has lived on the road, never short of work but unable to land a major job within striking distance of his home and family in southern California.

It’s an increasingly common experience for many successful professionals in Hollywood who are hired by studios and production houses still largely based in Los Angeles, but do the actual work in Atlanta, or Toronto, or London, or Budapest.

Some parts of LA saw more than 11in of rain, with flooding, road closures and debris flows reported across the region

A strong rain and wind storm, carried by an atmospheric river from the Pacific, has been blamed for a third death in southern California as flooding, road closures and debris flows are reported across the region.

A flood watch was also extended through Thursday for almost all of the area, as more than 11in of rainfall was measured in some parts Los Angeles county as of Wednesday night and evacuation warnings were issued for mountain communities in San Bernardino county.