The federal film tax incentive just went presidential, and bipartisan in the same afternoon.
Donald Trump officially backed a federal film and TV tax incentive Monday following a meeting with Jon Voight, his Hollywood ambassador, calling on Congress to craft the legislation immediately.
The endorsement came via Truth Social, where Trump declared, “Hollywood is a Complete and Total Disaster!”
Hours later, Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff — the man who managed Trump’s first impeachment — posted, “I am in strong agreement with the President.”
Trump: Approve A Production Incentive ‘Immediately’
There is currently no national film incentive in the U.S., so productions chase tax rebates state by state and, increasingly, abroad, with the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Eastern Europe offering studios a chunk of every dollar spent there.
That’s the drain Trump’s post targets: the industry “has moved to Canada, and other Countries,” he wrote, and “it is hurting California very badly.”
His fix is the one Voight and others have been pitching: “Federal Tax Incentives in order to Make our Movie and Television Production Business GREAT AGAIN, perhaps GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
Trump says meetings are being set up with leaders of both parties, framing it as a bipartisan rescue since the money is bleeding out of “largely Blue States,” and wants Congress to approve “a Federal Production Incentive to create Entertainment Jobs in America” immediately.
Per Deadline, the consensus number floated by backers is a credit in the 25% range, meaning productions would get back roughly a quarter of what they spend shooting in America.
Schiff, The MPA, The Unions, And Newsom All Said Yes
The pile-on was instant.
Schiff’s full post called on Congress to “immediately take up and pass a federal film tax incentive” and to “bring the movie magic back to America.”
The Motion Picture Association — the lobbying group for the major studios, Paramount included — put out a statement from CEO Charles Rivkin applauding Trump and calling a federal incentive a “landmark step.”
SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, and the WGA are all in favor, per Deadline, and Gov. Gavin Newsom — who more than doubled California’s own program to $750 million — is on the same side.
Sacramento is moving too: a post-production incentive passed the California state Senate on August 30 and is headed to Newsom’s desk.
Ellison Built This Coalition Months Ago
Cosmic Book News readers have seen this bill before.
As we reported on July 13, David Ellison has been quietly backing the first-ever federal film tax incentive, spending at least six months in exploratory meetings on the legislation, including dinner with top Republican leadership in Washington the same day twelve states sued to block his Warner Bros. purchase.
The idea’s origin is no mystery either.
Trump named Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone his ambassadors to revive Hollywood, and the plan Voight delivered to the White House had a federal incentive at its center.
Christopher Nolan’s DGA even wrote into its new contract that studio executives must lobby for domestic filming incentives.
Monday, the president made it official, and the loudest Democrat in the anti-Trump column crossed the aisle within hours.
The Jobs Coalition Leaves Bonta Standing Alone
Now count who’s on the jobs-first side of Hollywood’s future: Trump, Schiff, Newsom, the MPA, SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, the WGA, IATSE, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and the studio boss writing checks for it.
The odd man out remains California AG Rob Bonta, whose lawsuit argues Hollywood jobs depend on blocking the Paramount-WBD merger, a position Newsom’s own office has urged him to settle, warning the blockade is what’s costing California jobs.
And it lands the same day as our exclusive on the other half of the employment picture: per our source, the coming wave of re-release campaigns is “a great way to keep Hollywood employed,” with royalties and convention visibility flowing to actors from three decades of catalog.
Incentives to bring production home. Re-releases putting checks in veterans’ pockets. Both point the same direction, with the October 1 ticking fee and Ellison’s deadline to move Paramount out of California a month away.
Washington just picked its lane. Sacramento’s AG is still parked in the other one.
