A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working on legislation that would create a 20% federal tax incentive for movies and television shows filmed in the United States
Jon Voight, an actor serving as special ambassador to Hollywood, said the shift of film projects overseas has led to job losses in the industry.
“The result is massive unemployment of the great people who made this industry work for so long,” Voight said to reporters.
In recent years, more film and TV projects have moved overseas as other countries such as Canada, the U.K., and Australia offer incentives to filmmakers, according to experts.
Brian Papworth with the Coalition for American Production is one such expert who recently took to Capitol Hill, talking with lawmakers and encouraging politicians to support the possible tax incentive.
“It’s gotten so ridiculous that a show that’s as American as Little House on the Prairie is shot in Canada,” Papworth said. “And this is solely due to the incentives that are offered.”
The proposed federal incentive could be combined with existing state incentives and include additional bonuses for productions filmed in rural areas, or those that spend a certain amount in various states.
Papworth said it’s more than just entertainment – the film and TV industry has a broad economic impact in both local markets and nationwide.
“The film and TV industry, and I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, in a nutshell is a multibillion dollar factory on wheels,” Papworth said.
Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., one of the driving forces behind the upcoming legislation, agrees.
“In my district, when movies were being filmed there, it had a big impact on our underlying economy,” Jack said.
Even the White House is behind the initiative, with President Donald Trump commenting on the struggles of the film and television industries in the Oval Office.
“I mean Canada’s booming because they give tax incentives,” Trump told reporters earlier this month. “We don’t give anything, and we should,”
Trump said the cost of the legislation, sure to be hefty, would be recovered “tenfold” by revenue generated by U.S. filmmakers.
Advocates are hoping to see the legislation passed this year.
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