Los Angeles Center Studios

What Los Angeles Center Studios does

Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) is a privately held, full-service production facility operating on a 20-acre secured campus in downtown Los Angeles, originally built in 1958 as the Union Oil Center and repurposed into a studio complex in 1999. The company rents six sound stages (including the Stage 4 LED Volume virtual production stage with AOTO RM2.3 tiles, Brompton SX40 processing, and Stype camera tracking operated in partnership with Synapse), more than 20 practical filming locations (police precinct, jail cells, bank lobby, hospital, courtroom, enclosed city streets, park), 72 dressing rooms, a 350-seat Beaudry Theatre, the ET Lab, and a range of production support services including grip, lighting, heavy equipment, and basecamp parking. It serves feature films, streaming and broadcast television series, commercials, music videos, and live performances for major studios, streamers, agencies, and musicians.

The business monetizes the campus through multiple streams: per-project stage and location rentals, short-term production offices, long-term Class A creative office leases, coworking memberships at The Refinery ($200/month or $2,200/year via spacebring.com), and special event venue rentals for corporate and entertainment clients. Pricing for production and event bookings is custom/quote-based, while coworking is a published subscription. Customers include Netflix, HBO, Amazon, major motion picture studios, agencies such as those behind Top Gun: Maverick, Mad Men, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Masked Singer, and Family Feud, as well as Sony PlayStation, the Grammy Awards, NBA Players Association, and touring artists including Beyonce, Foo Fighters, and Eminem.

Go-to-market is predominantly direct enterprise sales via dedicated phone lines and website inquiry forms, supported by organic social media, an extensive public production credits library, press coverage in Variety and IndieWire, and Matterport virtual tours that allow location managers to scout remotely. The company is privately held with no disclosed ownership, funding rounds, or financial statements, and operates as an independent, founder/management-led facility.

Name

Los Angeles Center Studios

Legal name

Los Angeles Center Studios

Website

https://lacenterstudios.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Los Angeles Center Studios is a privately held, full-service production facility on a 20-acre downtown Los Angeles campus, renting six sound stages (including an LED virtual production volume), practical filming locations, offices, event spaces, and coworking to film, TV, commercial, music, and corporate clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Film and Television Production Facilities

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Production (51211), Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)

SIC

Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819)

akta.pro primary industry

Studio Campus / Production Facility Operators (MPADAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Soundstage & Stage Rental (Film/TV) (MPADAIAA), Production Office Space & Support Facilities (MPADAIAD), Locations Services (Scouting, Permits, Management) (MPADAFAE), Studios, Stages & Location Services (Facilities, Location Scouting/Permits) (MPAAAMAG)

Keywords

• Sound stage rental
• Film production facilities
• Virtual production stages
• Special event venue
• Creative office leasing

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Sound Stage Rental: Rental of six sound stages for film, television, commercial, music video, and photography productions. Stages include features like in-ground pools, floating wood floors, elephant doors, and audience-rated spaces.
2. Location Rental: Rental of practical filming locations including police precinct, bank lobby, jail cells, hospital sets, courtroom, outdoor spaces, and street sets for on-campus filming.
3. Office Space Leasing: Class A office spaces available for short-term (production offices) and long-term (creative offices) leasing. Includes turnkey production offices with 24/7 access and custom pricing.
4. Coworking Membership (The Refinery): Monthly ($200) or annual ($2,200) membership to The Refinery co-working space with open seating, bookable desks, conference rooms, parking, and campus amenity access.
5. Special Event Venue Rental: Rental of campus spaces for events including sound stages (approx. 18,000 sf), 350-seat theater, enclosed city streets, private park, rooftop decks, and restaurant for corporate events, galas, and private functions.
6. Production Services: Additional services including basecamp parking, grip and lighting equipment, heavy equipment rental, production supplies, and access to 72 dressing rooms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Los Angeles Center Studios operates a 20-acre downtown Los Angeles production campus where it rents six professional sound stages (including a Stage 4 LED Volume for virtual production), more than 20 practical filming locations, production and creative offices, 72 dressing rooms, a 350-seat theatre, and event venue space to film, television, streaming, commercial, and live-event clients. Beyond stage space, the company also runs The Refinery co-working membership, on-campus amenities, and production support services such as basecamp parking, grip and lighting, and heavy equipment.

Product overview

LA Center Studios operates as a unified production campus offering multiple interconnected services: six sound stages (Stages 1, 2, 3|5|6, and Stage 4 LED Volume) as the core production infrastructure; practical filming locations throughout the 20-acre campus including standing sets and enclosed city streets; office spaces comprising The Refinery coworking, production offices, and Class A creative offices; and event hosting services. Supporting amenities include 72 dressing rooms, 350-seat Beaudry Theatre, ET Lab for entertainment technology innovation, and full campus amenities (parking, fitness, dining, EV charging). The facility serves film, television, streaming, commercial, and digital media productions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Refinery: LA's premier co-working destination for creatives and industry changemakers, offering private workspaces, communal areas, and cutting-edge meeting rooms for post and production work.

Products and services

• Sound Stages (Stages 1, 2, 3, 5, 6) Five classic sound stages (excluding the LED Volume) used for feature film, television series, commercial, and game show productions. Each stage is approximately 18,000 sq ft, features silent air conditioning (NC-25 or better), floating wood floors, and 16-foot elephant doors; Stage 1 includes a 50'2" x 30'2" x 16' deep in-ground pool and Stage 2 is audience-rated for live-audience shows. Production clients include Top Gun: Maverick (Stage 2), Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, The Masked Singer, and Family Feud.
• Stage 4 LED Volume (Virtual Production) Virtual production stage on the LACS campus featuring AOTO RM2.3 LED tiles, Brompton SX40 processing, and STYPE RED SPY 3.0 camera tracking with a rolling wild wall, operated in partnership with Synapse VP for real-time visual effects integration with live-action photography. Used by music video and streaming productions (e.g., Eminem's 'Houdini,' nominated for a 2025 Telly Award).
• Practical Filming Locations More than 20 dressed and built practical filming locations spread across the 20-acre downtown campus, including a police precinct, interrogation room, jail cells, bank lobby, office space with cubicles, nurses' station, airport lobby, boiler room, cafe/restaurant, club, conference/office, hospital set, morgue/lab, parking garage, street and overpass bridge, street intersection, tunnel, and more, all available for on-campus filming via location booking.
• Production Offices Turnkey, production-friendly office space available for short-term lease during film and television shoots, with 24/7 access and custom pricing that can include office space, parking, internet, phones, and on-site location filming. Aimed at production companies running multi-week shoots on campus.
• Creative Offices Class A office space for entertainment and creative businesses available on short-term (production) and long-term (2+ year) leases, with pre-built move-in ready floors or build-to-suit options, 24/7 access, and full campus amenity access.
• The Refinery Co-Working LA's premier co-working destination for creatives and industry changemakers, offering private workspaces, communal areas, conference rooms, open seating, bookable desks, parking and coffee, and access to most on-campus amenities. Membership is $200/month or $2,200/year, with $30/day guest passes beyond five included passes; sign-up is self-serve via spacebring.com.
• Special Events Venue Rental Event hosting across the campus, including the sound stages (approximately 18,000 sq ft), the 350-seat theater, enclosed city streets, private park, rooftop decks, and the Flix Cafe restaurant, accommodating 100 to 2,500+ attendees for launch parties, corporate presentations, food and music festivals, grad nights, film screenings, and award after-parties. Hosts include Sony PlayStation (E3), NBA Players Association (All Star Party), Bethesda, and the Grammy Awards official after party.
• Beaudry Theatre (350-Seat Theatre) A 350-seat on-campus theatre with a presentation stage and Matterport virtual 3D tour, available as a standalone venue for film screenings, corporate presentations, and special events.
• Production Support Services Production support offerings including basecamp parking, grip and lighting equipment, heavy equipment rental, production supplies, and access to 72 fully furnished dressing rooms with 24/7 HVAC, private shower and restroom, direct stage access, and hair and makeup rooms. Sold as standalone rentals to productions on campus.

Quantifiable outcome

• Hosted iconic productions across 25 years spanning blockbusters, award-winning TV series, and groundbreaking digital content
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• SynapsecoreTechnology or IntegrationSynapse operates the LED Volume virtual production stage (Stage 4) at LA Center Studios. The partnership provides AOTO RM2.3 LED tiles, Brompton SX40 processing, and Stype RED SPY 3.0 camera tracking for real-time visual effects integration with live-action photography. This enables productions to create virtual environments without leaving Los Angeles.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Amazon MGM Studios / The Culver Studios: Amazon's Culver Studios is a Culver City full-service production campus with sound stages, offices, and backlot that actively rents to third-party productions. It mirrors LACS's independent studio-campus business model and shares LA sound-stage customer overlap.
• Sunset Las Palmas Studios: Sunset Las Palmas Studios is an independent Hollywood sound-stage campus with multiple stages, production offices, and dressing rooms serving independent and major productions. Highly comparable to LACS in scale, independent ownership, and third-party rental positioning.
• Warner Bros. Studios (Burbank): Warner Bros. operates one of the largest studio complexes globally with multiple sound stages, production offices, and extensive backlot. Comparable to LACS in serving Hollywood feature/TV productions with full-service facilities, though vertically integrated and at significantly larger scale.
• Paramount Pictures Studios: Paramount's Hollywood studio lot offers sound stages, production offices, dressing rooms, and a backlot under a facility-rental model. Like LACS, it rents stages to third-party productions in addition to in-house projects, with comparable stage inventory and downtown-Hollywood adjacency.
• Sony Pictures Studios: Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City operates multiple sound stages, production offices, and backlot facilities serving major feature films and television. It is directly comparable to LACS as a full-service LA sound-stage campus with similar stage-rental and production-services revenue models, though it is owned by a major studio and vertically integrated.
• Netflix Studios (Sunset Bronson / Hollywood): Netflix's Hollywood-area sound-stage facilities serve high-end drama and film production while occasionally accommodating third-party rentals. Comparable to LACS as a downtown-adjacent full-service production campus targeted at premium scripted content.

Regional players

• Trilith Studios: Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, Georgia is a 700+ acre purpose-built production campus benefiting from Georgia's film tax credit. Comparable as a full-service studio campus with stages, offices, and community amenities, but located outside California and competing for the same runaway-production budget pool.
• Pinewood Studios (UK): Pinewood Studios is a UK-based full-service production campus with sound stages and backlot serving Hollywood-caliber film and TV productions. Comparable as a global full-service studio facility competitor winning the same runaway-production economic benefits; primarily serves European-region productions.
• Steiner Studios (Brooklyn Navy Yard): Steiner Studios is a full-service production campus at the Brooklyn Navy Yard with multiple sound stages, offices, and backlot. Comparable to LACS in campus-based facility model with NYC tax-credit-driven demand, though regionally focused on East Coast productions.

Broad incumbents

• Universal Studios (Universal City): Universal's studio operations include significant sound-stage capacity at Universal City for major feature and theme-park-adjacent productions. Comparable at the broad industry level but distinct from LACS as a theme-park-and-studio conglomerate rather than an independent facility operator.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/LACenterStudios
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/lacenterstudios
• Facebookfacebook.com/LACENTERSTUDIOS
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/los-angeles-center-studios
• Instagraminstagram.com/lacslife

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Los Angeles Center Studios