Did Donald Trump Just Save Filmmaking in America?

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1:30Matt Belloni:It is Wednesday, September 2nd. For years, if not decades, Hollywood studios and producers have wished for some kind of a federal tax incentive to make movies and TV shows in America. Despite little benefits here and there, it always seemed like a pipe dream, even as 100 countries around the world now have them. and Canada and Bulgaria and lately the UK have aggressively courted productions, effectively kneecapping the US of one of its signature industries and making everyone in town fly all over the world just to work. When Trump appointed his so-called ambassadors to Hollywood, John Voight, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, many laughed, including myself.

2:09Matt Belloni:And then Trump started talking about tariffs on foreign-made movies, which just confused the issue. But then on Monday, all of that changed. After months and months of lobbying by John Voight and tons of other industry advocates who aren't John Voight, the Trump post finally appeared on TruthSocial. Quote, Congress should approve immediately a federal production incentive to create entertainment jobs in America. It can be done quickly, accurately, efficiently, and importantly, will benefit all of America. End quote. That all of America part is key here. and the Trump endorsement now clears the path for Republicans to support the legislation, which appears to be called the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act.

2:53Matt Belloni:So, where does that leave us? What will this bill actually look like, and how big will the incentive be? Today, I've got two of the key figures behind the incentive push here to discuss. Tony Armour and Katie Pryor are the heads of Film USA, which is the National Film Commission. It's relatively new, and they advocate for film productions across the country, not just in one state or city. They've been in the middle of all this push, and they're going to explain what's going on, and most importantly, what's next. Today, it's the long-awaited federal tax incentive. Is it really happening? From The Ringer and Puck, I'm Matt Bellany, and this is The Town.

3:33Matt Belloni:Okay, we are here with Tony Armour and Katie Pryor of Film USA. And I want to first welcome you guys to the show. Thanks. Good to be here. Yeah, thanks for having us. And I want to get right into this because I will admit, the Trump post surprised me. I did not think this was going to come to this. I thought it was a long shot to get him on board. I laughed at the tariff stuff. I was like, is Jon Voight really going to be the guy who gets this done? But the reality of the situation is there have been dozens and dozens of people behind the scenes lobbying for this for a long time. Am I right? You're 100 % right.

4:14And it's funny. I think a lot of people were surprised. But for those of us that have been living in this space for over a year, well, many years now, we were all very hopeful this would come. So we're elated and didn't have quite the shock everybody else did. But it's been really fun to watch the surprise on a particular face.

4:30Matt Belloni:So let's get into how this happened. And then we'll get into what this bill and this law might potentially look like. So how did this happen? Explain, you know, let's start with Trump decides that he's going to have these ambassadors to Hollywood. Where did it go from there? And how did you guys mobilize to get this done? All right. I think that's a perfect place to start. Obviously, anybody listening knows what the industry has been through and where we were. So Trump gets in, announces his three ambassadors. That's the first time you've really seen any forward-facing presence from the Oval Office helping this industry.

5:04And then from that, obviously, the first thing that we need to stay competitive globally is a federal film incentive. And Ambassador Voight was the first to make recommendations to the president.

5:15Matt Belloni:Ambassador Voight. I love it. Yeah. yeah i really hope he got some sort of pendant or plaque or something that he can hang on his office wall at least a tattoo something yeah that's a great idea we'll get a massage no he's been he's been incredible and you know every time he meets with the president or meets with the coalition or the group but it always goes in the right direction which is hence this hence yesterday but uh so the so he starts advocating meanwhile you have all of these groups that typically advocate for the future of film in the country and recognizing there was a federal need, groups like ours, other groups.

5:54We all joined together in one large coalition.

5:56Matt Belloni:So that's the unions. That's the MPAA. That's everybody. Anybody with a stake in the federal production tax credit. All the initial people. Yeah. Anyone with initials. IATSE, SAG, everybody. And just to be clear, this is advocating for a federal incentive, which the states could then stack on top of and they could compete amongst themselves. But what it would do is it would head off this competition from places like the UK, Bulgaria, Canada that are offering these 20, 30, 40 percent incentives that the individual states can't really keep up with. It would create essentially a new floor for incentives that the states could then compete amongst themselves to lure productions.

6:43You have got this 100 percent right. Yes, absolutely. This is stackable. This also gives us the opportunity to be just globally competitive. For so long, the U.S. was the birthplace and then the leader of this industry. And now we're past even proactive states. We're totally reactionary now trying to fix it. And this is the first step in making it happen. There are how many other countries, 81 in the world, that have federal film level incentives. And now it could be affordable to film in the U.S. and people can stay home and film, which would be fantastic. All right.

7:16Matt Belloni:So the acronym groups all get together. And what does this mean? What does the actual process look like in lobbying for this? Well, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. And so, you know, a lot of these groups are making their own individual trips to D.C. and talking with senators and legislators and, you know, letting everybody know, hey, this is something that the country needs for those reasons that Katie explained. And then individually in our individual states, you know, Katie's in Louisiana, I'm in Florida. We have, you know, other commissioners, 120 of them scattered all, you know, throughout the 50 states.

7:46And so each of us and our members across the states, you know, advocating and letting not just the state politicians know, but our federal politicians, hey, this is something important. And so that process starts, you know, well over a year ago. It was right before CAN 2025 when Trump first did that post about tariffs. And so that's when the conversation really got started. So now you're looking at a year and a half later that these groups have been working together and kind of trying to push this ball forward behind the scenes while no one else really, really knows what's happening.

8:16Matt Belloni:And I imagine the messaging, especially outside of the core blue states, is this is for everybody. The worst thing that this could have as a label on it would be this is a Hollywood production credit. You are. That's, yes, that's going to go nowhere. I almost wanted like when Adam Schiff, put out a statement saying he agreed with Donald Trump. I was like, just stay quiet. Don't say anything. Just like let this happen. Yeah. You know, the Hollywood Reporter variety, all of the Penske media publications need to stop saying the word Hollywood. You know, if we can start talking about this is a national incentive, this is going to benefit Florida, North Dakota and Colorado and Louisiana and, you know, every state across the country.

9:00That's the message that we want out there. We want people to stop talking about New York and L.A. Everyone knows that production happens in New York and LA. What can we do to increase production everywhere else in the country?

9:11Matt Belloni:Yeah. Well, they're going to benefit too. I mean, don't get me wrong. If this passes, then you essentially have the Hollywood studios are turned into farmers because they are going to have the federal government subsidizing their product, which will be great for these companies that are for the most part still at least based in California. But the messaging on this from the beginning has been this is going to benefit Georgia. This will benefit Louisiana, New Jersey, Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, these places that want to be players and are either red or purple states. This is going to benefit everybody.

9:46And it's not, you know, yes, the messaging is important in how we talk about it. And that's because people have different levels of interest and attention span and what we're doing. But at the end of the day, it's messaging because that is the message. This is beneficial for everyone, whether you're an incentive state or you're not an incentive state. If you're not an incentive state, then this gives you entry point. And if you are, this is stackable that keeps you, keeps it even better for, for what you have. You know, in Louisiana, we have a incredible program. We were the first state to have a program and this would be an amazing compliment.

10:16And then you have other states that don't have an incentive. And then now you've got an option, Vermont, you know, they, they work hard in the film industry and now they have an incentive.

10:27Matt Belloni:So what put it over the top? What caused Trump to post? Can anyone predict that? I don't know. But was there a meeting last week with Jon Voight? Did Larry Ellison make a call? Yes, yes. It was a debrief from Ambassador Voight. So he was there last week and he... He was there. He met with them. He's been... His team, he has an incredible team. They've been very active with the whole coalition and have heard it from everybody. Every stakeholder know what's going on. And he was able to be that messenger to go to the president and say, this is what's going on. It benefits the country on the whole, not to mention the cultural value of the export of entertainment and every other reason that we need to support the industry.

11:15So he had he had his ear and he was able to make the compelling case.

11:19Matt Belloni:And stop talking about tariffs, basically. I don't know what was said behind closed doors. You don't? You didn't give him a cheat sheet? No, no. He wrote his own cheat sheet. Yeah, he did. And we have to give a lot of credit to the MPA. Josh Rogan and Hat Rigby, who are the VPs based in D.C., they are really, you know, kind of leading the charge and wrangling all of us cats, you know, with all the letter companies to work together on this. And so really a lot of credit goes to the MPA. And they're supportive independent film. You know, obviously they, you know, work a lot for the studios, but it's really the independent producers who are going to benefit a lot from this as well.

11:57And, you know, that's very much a part of the conversation. Yeah. To echo that, the MPA really has supported the entire ecosystem in this effort. They have seen the benefit of every branch of the industry being supportive here, and they have led that.

12:10Matt Belloni:OK, so we have the contours of a bill coming together. Let's talk about how this is going to play out, because Trump posted on True Social that it's going to be called the Motion Picture Television and Entertainment Revitalization Act, the MPTRA. What's going to be in this? What are you guys hearing? So that's a great question. I think, you know, at the beginning stages, there's a lot that that's going to be discussed. but generally you're hearing a 20 % stackable incentive on labor. And there are upticks that are being considered as most programs do have. We don't know what those will be yet.

12:49Some of the traditional upticks are usually in specific towards like a content like independent film or, or, you know, expanding out of normal production zone regions and things like that. But I think you're going to not have to wait long for those answers. I think you're going to see some of that movement really quickly.

13:07Matt Belloni:So who's going to sponsor this? Because Laura Friedman, the congresswoman from Burbank, she's on the Democrat side. She's been talking a lot about this. Don't know if she'll be the sponsor. But on the Republican side, there's been a lot of outreach going on to different Republicans. Do we have any idea yet who's going to step up and be the sponsor? No, I don't think so. But it's, you know, we're the prettiest girl at prom right now. I think people are ready to jump onto this. Yeah, now that Trump's for it, why wouldn't you want to be the one that delivered Trump something he wants. Not to mention something he wants that really does benefit the country at an extreme level in this industry.

13:42And it really is bipartisan. I mean, you can ask any of the groups that are up on the Hill regularly advocating for this. It's positive reception on both sides.

13:50Matt Belloni:Truly. Yeah. I was just going to say, you guys have done surveys. So like what, what kind of support do you think? Is this, is this going to pass for sure? I mean, obviously it depends on the contours of the bill, but you think this is going to pass? Yeah. I think Katie and I can both agree and everyone in the coalition, I think, can agree as well that we wouldn't have spent a year and a half working on this and be so excited to talk to you and everybody else about this right now if we didn't think that this had a very good chance of passing. Okay, so 20 % would be the goal that you guys want?

14:21I mean, sure, we could go higher, but yeah.

14:24Matt Belloni:Yeah, I mean, essentially, the way to do this, there was a coalition of groups that said last year that they wanted an extension of the tax code that would essentially provide the deductions for manufacturing in some cases to film and TV production, and then an extension of deductions under what was Section 181, which was a previous effort to get some tax incentives that was pretty moderate, but that expired. Yeah, 181, they're still talking about, and they're still talking about extending that or re-extending it. It's expired and been extended in the past. But that's not a true film tax incentive like you have at the state level.

15:05Matt Belloni:Okay. So that would be separate and not something that would be part of this new thing. Correct. Yeah, correct. The conversation is transferable tax credit, the thing that everyone understands from a typical state level and making it mirror that so that if you've done this at the state level before, you're going to be able to do the same thing at a national level where you can sell that tax credit, utilize it, whatever that might be. And so that's the conversation. That's what we expect. We'll go into a bill. Okay. And deductions for past expenditures as well? We don't know yet. We can't say, I don't know.

15:41Matt Belloni:I mean, we have no idea, but I doubt that. But is that what you guys are going to advocate for? I think the goal is only, you know, from the time it's, you know, enacted in the law moving forward. And there won't be anything retroactive, I don't believe. But again, that's above our pay grade, but, you know, from our understanding. And I assume there will be some opposition to this, some tax reform groups and maybe some conservative Republicans. I was always skeptical of this because I thought at their core, Republicans would not want this incentive to benefit Hollywood liberals. But make the case for why this is necessary.

16:20I mean, I really think the numbers speak for themselves. And it's kind of an outdated argument to be like, okay, everyone in this industry is exactly who I don't want to support. You know, this is an industry that has now a 50 state industry. This has hundreds of thousands of jobs. This has billions of dollars. This puts us in a global standing culturally. There's a value here that you could ad nauseum discuss. And I think that the idea, that's one of the reasons we want to stay away from the word Hollywood. I love California, nothing against it at all. And it is a great place for the industry.

16:52But Hollywood now is a term for moviemaking in the U S and you see that when you travel abroad and people talk about Hollywood here, they don't just mean a city in California anymore. It's the industry as a whole. So I, I, I, I hear the argument and every film commissioner has had this discussion at the state level as well. But the, the numbers I think are, if you really understand the economics of it, I think the argument makes itself.

17:16Matt Belloni:Yeah. I mean, Charlie Rifkin, who is the MPAA head and he represents the studios, even in his statement, he said a federal incentive would be a landmark step toward bringing more production to local communities in all 50 states. That's not an accident that that's what he said. You don't have to look any farther than what Taylor Sheridan does in the state of Texas and ask people in Weatherford, Texas, you know, how it's working out for them or in Waxahachie, where they film the Chosen TV series or, you know, a lot of these rural communities that are really benefiting from things like that. And, you know, Texas is as red as it gets.

17:52That's true.

17:53Matt Belloni:But but this would help Hollywood in and in the Los Angeles, California sense, because so many of the bigger movies that typically would have filmed on sound stages at the studios have been shipped to London. London is where the big blockbusters are all made. And it doesn't matter what California has done. They have a$750 million incentive for each year now. It doesn't matter. There's a new bill before the governor right now for a$10 million post-production incentive that Governor Newsom should 100 % sign. I don't know why he would waver on that. But it doesn't matter because of these foreign subsidies.

18:40Matt Belloni:these. They're just too big. Yeah. The state's programs were never built to compete with other nations. That's why I say it's outdated argument. That's what, as a association of film commissioners, the first question we get is don't y 'all hate each other? Aren't you all competition? It's like, no, rising tide lifts all ships. Like we get this. We understand. And we have not been participating in the global market because we can't, we haven't been competitive. We, our state programs aren't enough to, to do all this. And so I, it evens the playing fields for all the states and yes, it will benefit California and New York, but it will also benefit Montana and Rhode Island and everywhere else.

19:17It's so it is all 50, you know, and I think there's I think there's magic in that. You know, a lot of the argument that we see a lot of times from, you know, I'll use Florida as an example. A lot of the film crew in Florida, you know, moved to Georgia, moved to Louisiana, and it's kind of become nomads a little bit. And they're like, I just wish I could work at home, but it's not feasible. You've got a lot of.