Shedding shoot days

On Sunday, President Trump posted on Truth Social advocating for a 100% tariff on foreign-made movies, calling them a “national security threat.” This followed a meeting with Jon Voight, appointed ‘Special Ambassador to Hollywood’ in January. Hollywood has seen a decline in TV and film production days in Los Angeles, dropping from about 9,500 during 2017-2019 to 5,500 in the last year, according to FilmLA. Our previous sketch, film exodus, highlighted the shift of US production from the states California to Georgia and countries such as the UK and Canada, partially due to tax incentives. Although the US remains the largest film producer with a global share of 45%, spending has decreased by 28% between 2021 and 2024.

Source: FilmLA, April 2025.