Film Tax Credit Backers to Congress: Get It Done This Year

The architects of the federal film and TV tax credit took the AFM stage to turn up the heat on Congress, and they came with a deadline. Josh Rogin, the MPA's SVP of Federal Government Affairs, said the money the bill would unlock runs out on Dec. 11 if lawmakers don't pass it. SP Media boss Steven Paul and COO Scott Karol — special advisors to Donald Trump's Hollywood ambassador Jon Voight — sat on the panel alongside him.

Rogin didn't hide where he sees the opening. According to Deadline, he told the room, “We need to get this done while Donald Trump is in office,” calling it “the opportunity that we may not have at other times.” Paul was just as blunt: “We have to get this accomplished before the end of the year, so that we can start planning for 2027.” The bill, which reportedly counts 50 co-sponsors, would take effect Jan. 1 if it clears in December.

Karol framed the stakes as livelihoods, not line items. “If this doesn't happen in December, then when will it take effect? Many films will be impacted,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is a jobs bill.”

The proposed incentive starts at 20% on all labor spent on a production, with four 5% upticks — and a production can claim only two of them. The options: 5% for qualifying as an independent production not made by a publicly traded company, 5% for shooting 30% of production days in a FEMA-declared disaster zone or rural area, 5% for shooting across multiple jurisdictions, and 5% for a U.S. company bringing production home after shooting abroad. It applies to a production's federal income tax and sets the floor states can build on. “It's not a rebate,” Karol noted. “The producer who incurs the expense, gets the deduction.”

Rogin said the bill's language could still shift — “We don't want it to have a cap” — and called on incoming speaker Jefferies and majority leader Schumer to make it a priority, warning it “can't just be a Republican ask, or a Democratic ask.” He added that a Democratic takeover isn't bad for the bill's prognosis, and pointed to a shrinking domestic footprint: 39% of the American film industry shoots stateside, down from 60% years ago.

Paul predicted a stampede once the credit lands. “You're going to see a roar come into the industry like you've never seen before,” he said, forecasting that “investors, funds and banks” return and that “everyone will want to be part of the entertainment business again.”