A new three-story, 45,463-square-foot studio is officially open at La Mirada’s Biola University, enabled by an undisclosed donation from Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson, president and heiress to Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger Inc.
The facility, which broke ground in fall 2024, opened Oct. 15 this year along with the In-N-Out Scholars Fund, an annual scholarship also funded by Snyder-Ellingson for at-risk and foster youths at the Snyder School of Cinema & Media Arts. The studio includes a 3,000-square-foot soundstage, a 277-seat theater and the university’s first dedicated game design studio, among other tech-forward spaces.
Adapting to a fast-changing industry that monetizes content beyond the silver screen, Biola is taking an all-around approach to entertainment across film, TV, computers and personal devices.
The new center will join two more studios at Biola as the largest addition, said Tom Halleen, founding dean of the school. Students could expect industry-grade equipment in a space designed to rival “the most technologically sophisticated buildings,” he said, while the school focuses on cultivating teamwork and professional work ethics.
“We need to ensure that we are equipping students for the reality of the industry today and tomorrow,” Halleen said. “We wanted to reflect the industry, so students are actually learning on the equipment that the industry uses, not equipment of the past … technology though is the tool. You can’t do it absent of the core.”
Industry winter
The center opened at a time when studio utilization sat at historic lows in the City of Angels. Local soundstage occupancy dropped to 62% in the first six months last year, according to FilmLA – a drastic fall compared to 2016, when the rate almost reached 100%.
The industry first saw the rate dip below 90% in 2023, partially due to the double strikes of Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, but even then, it reached 65%.
On-location production in the city, in addition, saw a continual decline. Shoot days were down 4.8% during the third quarter this year compared to the same period in 2025. The number was also significantly lower than the first quarter this year, reported FilmLA.
To reverse the trend, Mayor Karen Bass has pushed for ease of access across bureaucratic red tape for filmmakers using public spaces in the city. Gov. Gavin Newsom, furthermore, signed a standalone post-production tax credit bill into law in September this year, adding an attractive bonus on top of an already expanded $750 million tax credit for film and TV productions across California.
