President Trump posted his support Monday for a federal production incentive, a policy studios and unions have pushed for years. The proposal on the table is a 20% credit on labor costs.
Hollywood has spent years asking Washington for a production tax credit. On Monday it got the endorsement it had been waiting on.
President Trump posted support for a federal film and television incentive on Truth Social, calling for Congress to act quickly and on a bipartisan basis.
“I am going to suggest that Republicans and Democrats get together, and immediately craft Legislation to save the Movie, Television, and Entertainment Business in America,” he wrote. “Congress should approve, immediately, a Federal Production Incentive to create Entertainment Jobs in America.”
He added that the policy “will benefit ALL of America,” and closed with “Let’s get this done!”
What Trump said about the state of the industry
His post was blunt about where he thinks things stand.
“Hollywood is a Complete and Total Disaster,” Trump wrote. “Despite the name, it is getting very little work. There is no incentive to be there, and it is hurting California very badly.”
He described production as having “moved to Canada, and other Countries, with very little work being done anymore in the United States.”
The underlying problem he describes is real and widely documented. Runaway production has pulled film and television work toward London, Canada, and other markets offering deeper incentives, and the industry has shed tens of thousands of jobs.
The proposal is a 20% credit on labor costs
The specific plan circulating comes from Steven Paul, CEO of SP Media Group and a film producer, along with SP Media president Scott Karol. It would create a 20% federal tax credit covering labor costs on productions shot in the United States.
That would sit on top of existing state programs. 39 U.S. states already offer film incentives, and the argument is that stacking a federal credit onto California’s or Georgia’s could make American production competitive with what London currently offers.
Jon Voight has been driving this
Trump posted after meeting with Jon Voight, whom he named one of three special ambassadors to Hollywood in January 2025 alongside Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson.
“He is a fantastic man who loves our Country, and feels strongly about the Motion Picture and Television Industry,” Trump wrote of Voight.
Voight has been working the issue with a coalition that includes the Motion Picture Association, the Directors Guild of America, and unions representing actors, writers, and crew.
Charles Rivkin, who heads the MPA, issued a statement applauding the move.
Republicans were waiting on the White House
A federal incentive already had bipartisan backing. California Democrat Adam Schiff has pushed for one, and Republican lawmakers had reportedly been waiting to see whether the White House would get behind it before moving.
In July, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison met with Republican members of a key House committee to argue for the incentive, while his company faced an antitrust suit from a dozen states over its proposed merger.
This replaces a policy the industry hated
For more than a year, Trump had repeatedly threatened a 100% tariff on films produced overseas, a proposal the industry viewed with alarm since it would penalize studios rather than incentivize them.
Industry stakeholders have spent that time trying to redirect him toward a tax credit instead. Monday’s post is the clearest sign that effort worked.
Nothing has been introduced yet
Trump endorsed an idea, not a bill.
No legislation has been introduced, no dollar figure has been attached, and no committee has scheduled anything. Tax policy moves slowly even with presidential support, and a credit of this size would need to clear both chambers.
What changed Monday is that the biggest obstacle, uncertainty about whether the White House was on board, appears to be gone.
The industry has been asking for this since before the strikes. Now it finds out whether asking will get it done.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Variety (August 31, 2026), Gene Maddaus’s report on the endorsement, the full Truth Social quotes, the Voight meeting, and the tariff context
The Hollywood Reporter (August 31, 2026), the bipartisan backing, the Republican wait for White House support, and the Ellison committee meeting
Deadline and IndieWire (August 31, 2026), the Rivkin statement and the runaway production context
GV Wire via Associated Press (August 31, 2026), the 20% labor cost credit proposal from Steven Paul and Scott Karol, and the Voight coalition membership
Bloomberg (August 31, 2026), the federal tax credit framing and the domestic production argument