Trump Says He Will Implement 100% Tariffs on Foreign Films

[StyxNStone]

Classic Trump move—scapegoating foreign films instead of facing the fact that Hollywood’s stale. The industry’s not dying, it’s changing. People just prefer streamers, YouTubers, and TikTok over the 12th Spider-Man reboot. Tariffs won’t save Hollywood from its own creative laziness.

 

Edited May 5 by StyxNStone

[Sucuk Ekmek]

Oh old national security threat trick, a.k.a. some corporate interest.

[Apparition of Jack]

He’s so fucking stupid 

[Leo Gura]

How do you even tariff a film? What is being tariffed? The sale of the DVD? The stream? Makes no sense.

Most films require shooting in foreign locations to get the right scenery. Does that mean the film is "foreign"?

Edited May 5 by Leo Gura

[Girzo]

@Leo Gura The purchase of theatre-grade hard drives of a movie with rights and to show it in the cinemas I guess.

Edited May 5 by Girzo

[StyxNStone]

@Leo Gura He clearly has no clue how global, digital, and interconnected modern film distribution really is. The last time he paid attention to films was probably when he cameoed in Home Alone 2

[Leo Gura]

If Trump actually cared about re-shoring filmmaking he would give tax breaks for US film production. Many nations do this. Not that he has this power.

Edited May 5 by Leo Gura

[Staples]

Some Hollywood bigshot asked him to do this. It's obvious.

The LA film industry is dead and it's the government and studio's fault. It's being eaten by Australia, New Zealand and others who are offering 45%+ tax rebates. It's cheaper to fly hundreds of crew members to another country than to walk across the studio lot and do it at home. But most American states are too cheap to offer a competitive rebate. So tariffs it is.

Atlanta is really the last bastion for American filmmaking, as far as I know.

Edited May 6 by Staples

[Leo Gura]

2 hours ago, Staples said:

But most American states are too cheap to offer a competitive rebate.

It's not just that. It's about labor costs. Film shooting is done in places where labor is cheap and there are no unions.

[Breakingthewall]

after this movies aren't necessary anymore 

[Staples]

4 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

It's not just that. It's about labor costs. Film shooting is done in places where labor is cheap and there are no unions.

That's not always true. Film labor in Aus/NZ is marginally cheaper, maybe 20% less on non-union jobs. Plenty of Americans are coming here to follow the money.

Unfortunately, the film unions have done more harm than good in America. But they were right to strike. They were striking because pay is low and working conditions were bad, but that is because producers can't pay more because the incentives are so weak.

Edited May 6 by Staples