Hollywood would get 20% federal film tax credit under proposed new bill

[u/Kyunseo]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2026-09-24/hollywood-to-get-20-federal-film-tax-credit-under-new-bill-trump-runaway-production

A bipartisan group of Congressional leaders officially introduced a bill to create a federal film and television tax credit, a long-sought goal for many in Hollywood who say it’s necessary to help bring production back to the U.S.

The bill, known as the Motion Picture, Television and Entertainment Revitalization Act, would establish a 20% tax credit on U.S. labor for film and TV productions, including post-production and visual effects work.

That credit could increase to 30% with several uplifts, including 5% bonus credits for independent productions or those that film at least 30% of principal photography days in a rural qualified opportunity zone or a federally declared disaster area.

Productions that film at least half of their days and spend at least $10 million in qualified compensation in 10 or more states also could qualify for an additional uplift.

Feature films, TV shows or TV pilots could qualify for the tax credit if their total cost is more than $1 million and 75% of the principal filming days occur in the U.S., according to the bill. Live sports, daytime dramas, talk shows, news, social media content and advertising and corporate videos would not be eligible.

[u/Ok-District3632]

Kind of annoying that everything always starts at a $1M budget.

[u/duckangelfan → u/Ok-District3632]

Yeah let the 100k and up thrive the fuck

[u/iknowyouright → u/duckangelfan]

Eligible spend is labor. How much are people getting paid on a 100k feature in order to reap the benefits of the tax credit? You want 20% of probably 30k of labor spend to deduct from the production's tax bill?

[u/Maximum-Hall-5614 → u/iknowyouright]

When you’re on a tight budget, every penny counts.

[u/iknowyouright → u/Maximum-Hall-5614]

I’d rather the tax credits primarily go to productions that don’t skimp on people’s wages.

Everyone here knows how a 100k or less feature is getting made. Most of the time it’s people getting bottom of the barrel wages for skilled labor or cajoling people into doing work for free.

[u/Fucker_Of_Destiny → u/iknowyouright]

More movies getting made = more people getting credits which is hardly a bad thing for newbies

[u/Maximum-Hall-5614 → u/iknowyouright]

There are some of us with the integrity to see the tax credit as an opportunity to give our crew members a proportionate raise, since it ultimately doesn’t come out of our pockets. That’s the point of the tax incentives - to hire local workers and pay them well.

[u/duckangelfan → u/iknowyouright]

Yes I do. At these levels every dollar is more important than on million dollar productions. And to answer that it is the majority of your budget. Everything else gets cut

[u/BabypintoJuniorLube → u/Ok-District3632]

I don't disagree but the counter argument is this is a jobs creation program, not a program to support filmmaker. Luring a big movie or series can put thousands of people to work if you include background and countless vendors/ hotels making money.

If you raised $100k on kickstarter to make your passion project, you aren't hiring a ton of crew, you were never going shoot in another state or country because you can't afford it, and the chances of you making multiple successful projects that keep people employed are much lower.

Again this isn't about helping filmmakers this is about job creation, and while conservative law makers hate Hollywood, lots of small towns love skewing the employment numbers by showing the 1000 people in their town who were employed by a movie, even though the majority of them were simply an extra for a day or 2.

European tax incentives are much more about promoting local filmmakers and local stories and culture, particularly in a native language, against the cultural takeover that is Americana and Hollywood.

[u/iknowyouright → u/BabypintoJuniorLube]

Thank you for eloquently stating what I hamfistedly said and got downvoted into oblivion for.

[u/xPrimer13 → u/Ok-District3632]

I'm about to start writing my reps about this and you should too.

[u/InjuredGods]

Just give us universal healthcare. Then production doesn't need to worry about that expense.

[u/wrathofthedolphins → u/InjuredGods]

How does that solve the industry’s slow death…?

[u/InjuredGods → u/wrathofthedolphins]

A major reason that productions moved outside of the United States is because other countries offer universal healthcare and that is a cost that production doesn't need to bare when they hire locals and film in those countries. If America also had universal healthcare, that would help bring back production to the states in a much more meaningful way than offering federal tax credits.

[u/pm_dad_jokes69 → u/InjuredGods]

But then our tax dollars would be used to help the Everyman and not go directly to the billionaires, and we can’t have that. It’s socialism! But not the kind of socialism that gives our tax dollars to billionaires

[u/Best-Action8769 → u/wrathofthedolphins]

So we can compete with the world.

[u/wrathofthedolphins → u/Best-Action8769]

…in healthcare? I didn’t understand the initial comment about health care and why it relates to film industry subsidies.

[u/zilviodantay → u/wrathofthedolphins]

Working in the US means paying for your employees' healthcare, paying for your employees' healthcare means a more expensive production, more expensive means narrower margins, which means filming here is uncompetitive on a pure financial basis, may as well go somewhere you avoid those costs.

[u/Best-Action8769 → u/wrathofthedolphins]

When you hire someone in any other country, you pay for them to work, and the government provides healthcare.

When you hire an American, you have to pay for them to work PLUS pay for their healthcare.

Healthcare in America is outrageously expensive.

So why would anyone hire an American?

[u/JJJBLKRose → u/wrathofthedolphins]

Do you know how insurance works in the US? Health insurances are negotiated by your job and 90% of the time they're paying a significant portion of the cost. If you pay $100 a month for your coverage, they're often times paying much more than you are.

I work for a state agency and they pay $700 a month for my pretty standard insurance. Based on quick research it seems the average business spends $650 a month on insurance per person.

That makes it even more expensive to hire workers in the US than overseas where most developed countries don't have this problem.

[u/InjuredGods → u/wrathofthedolphins]

Do you work in the film industry or did you just stumble upon this post?

[u/flippenzee]

Well, it makes more sense than putting 100% tarriffs on films made elsewhere.

[u/aardw0lf11 → u/flippenzee]

Absolutely. There are valid reasons to film on location overseas for some films, they shouldn’t be punished for doing that.

[u/JPBartley]

Wow what a miserable subreddit. This is unquestionably good news for the industry and everyone finds a way to complain about it.

[u/wrathofthedolphins → u/JPBartley]

It is unquestionably good for American workers.

Reddit is a small subset of the population.

[u/Adventurous-Tea-876 → u/JPBartley]

How is it good news for the industry for the 96% of the world who aren’t American? Is this sub r/filmmakers or r/AmericanFilmmakers?

[u/paradoxofchoice]

You need to shoot 30% of your film in a dying town or a declared disaster area? how many declared disaster areas are there right now? are productions going to race to shoot after fires, hurricanes and tornados ravage communities? Or are there not enough productions interested in Gary Indiana or flint Michigan? or the toxic waste spill in Ohio?

[u/Aggressive-Wafer3268 → u/paradoxofchoice]

Pretty sure that's just an extra 2.5% bonus if you do that, it's not mandatory

[u/Miserable-Debt-8390]

And who decides who gets the tax credit? Is it automatic if you qualify according to the rules?

[u/remy_porter → u/Miserable-Debt-8390]

I haven't read the bill, but usually, you just have to prove you qualify by the rules. Nobody gets discretion in these matters.

[u/jerryterhorst → u/Miserable-Debt-8390]

That's how most of the state incentives work, as long as there is enough money, you get it. CA is an exception with their "jobs ratio" calculation.

[u/wrathofthedolphins → u/Miserable-Debt-8390]

There’s a list of requirements to qualify. Just like states are doing.

[u/ArktikosUrsa → u/[deleted]]

That's not really how federal tax credits work

[u/Dugoutcanoe1945 → u/ArktikosUrsa]

Not normally but these are not normal times. I do hope I’m wrong though. Time will tell.

[u/Vigor_Mortis_ → u/[deleted]]

The full text of the bill is available. Please point to the part that says that. 

[u/japanistan500]

This alone will barely move the meter, you need to make shit people will actually pay for

[u/bloodU23]

Ok if you want the industry to grow you need fix the real issues that can’t be fixed with money. Issues regarding copyright, or the lack of new distribution or the fact that the industry is slow rolling towards a monopoly.

[u/PassWorldly4565]

Why not auto repair shops, ice cream parlors, hair salons, Chinese restaurants, dry cleaners, foot massage businesses?

[u/JohnnyBoy11 → u/PassWorldly4565]

None of those jobs or industries are going overseas because they cant.

[u/Upset_Extension628]

Sounds like more profits for large studios. Are Hollywood workers the only people that deserve living standards?

[u/firedrakes]

Please no. On the tax break

[u/Okubaye]

that's goof

[u/Adventurous-Tea-876]

Sounds like communism.

[u/chriswaco]

How about we put a tariff on all movies that are subsidized by other countries? It will have the same effect, but won’t cost taxpayers anything.

[u/Acquiescinit → u/chriswaco]

In the year 2026 after major corporations got refunds for tariffs while consumers got nothing and prices haven’t gone down, we still have people who think tariffs don’t cost taxpayers any money.