Details on Donald Trump‘s desire to use tariffs to have “MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” have been thin since POTUS let loose the missive on social media late Sunday. Now it looks like Jon Voight may have given Trump partial roadmap that may provide insight into where the White House is going with all this.
One of Trump’s Special Ambassadors to Hollywood, Voight and members of his team met with the president over the weekend on a proposal to revive film & TV production in the home of Hollywood. That proposal, which Deadline first told you about last week, has now been made official by the Oscar winner and his SP Media partners.
Voight and his Special Advisor, Steven Paul, and SP Media Group/Atlas Comics President Scott Karol submitted a comprehensive plan to Trump at Mar-A-Lago over Saturday and Sunday which intends to boost stateside production. This comes after the trio met with myriad Hollywood guilds, unions, studios and streamers.
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Their proposal includes federal tax incentives, changes to tax codes, the establishment of co-production treaties with foreign countries, and infrastructure subsidies for theater owners, film and television production companies, and post-production companies. The Voight, Paul and Karol plan also includes points on job training, and “tariffs in certain limited circumstances.”
From left: Jon Voight, Steven Paul, Donald Trump and Scott Karol
Courtesy
“The President loves the entertainment business and this country, and he will help us make Hollywood great again,” said Coming Home Oscar winner Voight.
The official news comes in the wake of POTUS insisting yesterday upon 100% levies on movies produced offshore, and then taking a more cautious tone with the White House today that “no final decisions” have been made on foreign film tariffs, with Trump saying he’s meeting with entertainment industry representatives.
That might be news to the C-suites.
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Deadline has reached out to a number of the studios and streamers. So far, no heads of industry have yet to scheduled time with the former producer and host of The Apprentice. In fact, one studio source told us, “We don’t even know when this is suppose to happen. It was sprung on us this morning when Trump made the announcement.”
The MPA, Hollywood’s top lobby group in DC, has been typically silent so far on the entire Trump movie production subject.
Close to his goal of raising California’s film and TV tax incentive program to $750 million annually, Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s office said late Sunday that Trump has “no authority” under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act to use tariffs to force much needed Stateside production. Two-term Democrat Newsom has long a foil for Trump, and verbally attacked by POTUS yesterday. Monday, a spokesperson for Newsom told Deadline that “If the President announces a proposal with more details, we will review it.”
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The trio that has brought their plan to Trump are already pitching it hard.
“The American film industry, and Hollywood, is a beacon for teaching the American Dream to the world and is an engine for job growth and career opportunity,” said Steven Paul who prepped a $3 billion offer last year for Paramount Global. “It’s essential that we preserve America’s leadership in film and television production,” added the SP Media Group Boss, whose company has a co-fi agreement with Paramount Pictures to co-produce feature films.
“We look forward to working with the administration, the unions, studios, and streamers to help form a plan to keep our industry healthy and bring more productions back to America,” added Voight himself. “By creating the right environment through smart incentives, updated policies, and much-needed support, we can ensure that American production companies thrive, more jobs stay here at home, and Hollywood once again leads the world in creativity and innovation.”
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“We’ve spent months meeting with top leaders across the film and television industry, and there is broad agreement that runaway production has become a serious issue that needs to be addressed now,” said Karol. “This plan is about leveling the playing field so that producing right here in America is not only a competitive option, but the first choice.”
The Voight proposal arrives as Hollywood’s unions and Governor are pressing hard to bring production back to California, which has seen a hard double digit drop in recent years. Tax incentives or credits are the most straightforward of methods at the guilds and politicians’ hands. If passed by the state legislature (which it will be) in Sacremento, Gov. Newsom’s proposed increase to $750 million a year in incentives would make the Golden State the second-largest film and television tax incentive program in the U.S. after Georgia, which has no cap on its spending.
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After jarring the Hollywood and the global film industry with news about the production tariff on Sunday Trump sought to quell the press earlier today at the White House saying “I’m not looking to hurt the industry; I want to help the industry.”
“We’re going to meet with the industry. I want to make sure they’re happy with it, because we’re all about jobs,” added Trump. Trump hasn’t specified who he or others at the White House would meet with or when it would take place. On this side of the country, studio chiefs’ assistants are still waiting for the invite in their inboxes.
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Media stocks dropped this morning in wake of Trump’s announcement for a 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S.
As Deadline’s Katie Campione exclusively reported on May 2 with the news of Voight’s sit-downs around town, Trump’s other two Hollywood ambassadors, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson, haven’t been involved in the Midnight Cowboy star’s “Make Hollywood Great Again” pitch.
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