US-based Motion Picture Association (MPA), IFTA, and California Democratic senator Adam Schiff are among those backing a call by president Donald Trump urging bipartisan support for a federal production incentive.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday that efforts were underway to fast-track a nationwide apparatus to support US film production, after a White House meeting with his special Hollywood ambassador Jon Voight, producer Stephen Paul, and Paul’s SP Media Group president Scott Karol.
In that meeting Paul told Trump that he feared he would have to shoot a film about Richard Nixon’s early years outside the US without a viable federal incentive. Details of the meeting emerged on Tuesday.
The president posted, “Hollywood is a Complete and Total Disaster! Despite the name, it is getting very little work. There is no incentive to be there, and it is hurting California very badly.”
Trump added the amount of money spent on tax incentives would be “made up tenfold by the money pouring into the Treasury’s coffers”.
Screen had not verified that claim at time of writing.
Trump posted: “Meetings are being set up with the Leaders of both Parties in order to get this done. It should be Bipartisan, especially since so much money is being lost in California, and other largely Blue States […] It can be done quickly, accurately, efficiently and, importantly, will benefit ALL of America.”
MPA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin praised Trump’s post, saying: “A federal incentive would be a landmark step toward bringing more production to local communities in all 50 states, strengthening our nation’s economy, and making our country a more competitive place to produce, create, and tell great stories.”
“I am in strong agreement with the President”
Meanwhile, Schiff, a longtime advocate for a federal incentive, posted on X: “I am in strong agreement with the President. Congress should immediately take up and pass a federal film tax incentive to bring back these good-paying jobs that we’ve lost to other countries. Let’s work together — Republicans and Democrats — to get this done, and bring the movie magic back to America.”
The sight of Schiff and Trump backing the same cause is unusual. The Democrat most likely does not enjoy high standing in the president’s estimation after he served as lead manager of Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. Schiff also clashed with Trump’s pick for FBI director Kash Patel during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing into the Jeffrey Epstein files last autumn.
Jackie Brenneman, president & CEO of Independent Film & Television Alliance, welcomed the development, calling it ”a very encouraging step for America’s independent film and television industry”. Brenneman added, ”A federal tax credit incentive could be transformative, helping unlock financing, move more projects into production and build a stronger, more sustainable industry in states across the US. We look forward to seeing this important incentive move swiftly from proposal to action.”
Directors Guild of America is also behind the move and has been in talks with the Trump administration and Washington leaders. National executive director Russell Hollander said, ”A stackable federal tax incentive is critical for ensuring that the United States remains a competitive marketplace for production […] We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress on a bipartisan bill that will have the greatest possible impact on promoting domestic film and television production, creating good jobs, and strengthening America’s homegrown film and television industry.”
Outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom has been in favour of more robust production incentives, and last year he doubled the state’s annual tax credit allocation. Representative Laura Friedman is an advocate, and there is a groundswell of support from gubernatorial candidates Xavier Becerra for the Democrats and Steve Hilton on the Republican side.
A federal incentive that potentially stems the exodus of shoots to attractive international jurisdictions like the UK, Australia and Eastern Europe could become a timely pro-jobs card for the Trump administration heading into November’s mid-term elections. However, it remains to be seen how rapidly the support of the president could help the issue muscle its way through the legislative agenda on Capitol Hill.
Voight, whose screen roles include Deliverance, Coming Home, and Runaway Train, has previously advocated for a national production incentive.
According to FilmLA, feature production in the second quarter declined by 12.7% year-on-year to 4,711 shoot days. A separate economic impact study published in mid-August found that were the $111bn Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger to close, the transaction could result in the loss of 4,500 film and TV jobs in Los Angeles County over the three years it would take the companies to combine operations.
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