This prop house supplies Hollywood’s biggest movies, now it’s struggling to survive

After decades of supplying props to some of Hollywood’s most iconic films, including “Titanic,” “Forrest Gump” and “Oppenheimer,” History for Hire Prop House recently laid off employees and cut worker hours.

“With so much production leaving the United States, it absolutely has affected my business a lot,” says History for Hire Co-Founder Pam Elyea. 

“I have definitely seen a pretty serious decrease in the amount of rentals that we’ve done over the past three years.”

History for Hire has supplied military uniforms to “Forrest Gump” and “Wolverine”, guitars to “Walk the Line” and “A Complete Unknown,” old-fashioned cameras to “Anchorman,” old-fashioned telephones to “Mad Men” and “Bonnie and Clyde,” and even Ryan Gosling’s piano stool for “La La Land.” 

Now the small business, founded in the 80s, is struggling to survive as it increasingly ships props to sets overseas instead of to sets in Los Angeles. 

In 2025, the number of shoot days recorded in LA County was down about 50% since 2018, the lowest figure ever recorded, aside from 2020, according to FilmLA.  

That’s happening as other states and countries are luring Hollywood productions away with major financial incentives, and filmmakers struggle with LA’s excessive red tape and fees.

History for Hire’s props are increasingly traveling to the places stealing productions from LA. 

Watch the video to find out where they’re going, and how this trend is negatively impacting the company’s bottom line.