Overview
- Following a Truth Social post on Monday, the president urged Congress to quickly pass a federal production tax incentive to bring film and TV work back to the United States.
- Major industry groups including the Motion Picture Association and unions issued positive statements and said they will work with the White House and Congress on legislative language.
- Lawmakers and lobbyists are discussing competing designs that would target U.S. labor costs, with draft ideas centering on roughly 15% and 20% labor credits that could stack on top of existing state incentives.
- The push responds to a long trend of production leaving the U.S.; reporting and lawmakers say roughly 45% of recent U.S. films and scripted shows have been shot overseas, costing thousands of jobs in places like Los Angeles.
- At the state level California moved this week to protect its film credit by exempting independent productions from a new corporate cap and speeding credit cash-outs, changes that could cost up to about $170 million a year while details are still being finalized.