U.S. President Donald Trump used Truth Social on Friday to push Congress to pass the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, a bipartisan bill that would create a 20% federal tax credit for film and TV productions made in the United States. Trump named Sen. Tim Scott, Sen. Adam Schiff and more than a dozen other lawmakers from both parties as partners on the bill, and Schiff answered on X that Congress should pass it before January. Check out the official post down below:
Trump's post named the countries he blames for pulling production out of Hollywood. "The Entertainment Industry has largely moved to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries, but the actors, producers, and all others involved want to come back home!" he wrote. He added that meetings "are being set up, routinely, with the Leaders of both Parties in order to, GET THIS DONE!" and called the bill "already very actively negotiated Legislation."
The push comes a year and a half after Trump went the other direction with his vow to place 100% tariffs on films produced outside the U.S., when he directed the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative "to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff" on movies made in other countries.
What The Federal Film Credit Would Pay
Scott introduced the bill in the Senate in September with Schiff, John Cornyn and Raphael Warnock, and Rep. Nathaniel Moran filed a companion bill in the House. According to the bill text and the sponsors' offices, it would:
- Pay a 20% credit on qualified compensation for feature films, TV pilots and TV seasons that cost more than $1 million and shoot at least 75% of their principal photography days in the U.S.
- Count pay for actors, directors, producers and crew, including writers, composers, editors and visual effects workers, but not participations or residuals.
- Add 5-point bonuses, capped at a total of 30%, for work in rural Opportunity Zones or federal disaster areas, independent productions, producers working in 10 or more states and companies that bring more of their slate home.
- Let post-production and visual effects work qualify on its own when at least 75% of it happens in the U.S.
- Stack on top of existing state incentives.
- Apply to productions that begin in tax years starting after December 31, 2026.
Where Marvel And DC Shoot Now
Marvel Studios' next Avengers movie was made in England. Pinewood Studios says Avengers: Doomsday, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo with Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom, filmed on its stages ahead of the film's December 18, 2026 release. Under the bill's 75% rule, a production based at Pinewood would miss the main credit no matter how many American actors or crew members work on it.
Warner Bros. has also based DC Studios in the U.K. In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced an expansion of Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden that adds 10 sound stages, takes the lot from 19 stages to 29 and makes it "a primary production hub for DC Studios," with the work expected to finish in 2027.
DC Studios' first DCU film went to Georgia. James Gunn shot Superman on stages at Trilith in Atlanta after location work in Svalbard, Norway. Because the bill lets the federal credit sit on top of state programs, a future DC or Marvel shoot based in Georgia could claim the 20% federal credit and the state's own incentive on the same production.
Visual Effects, Animation And The Bonus Credits
The visual effects rule reaches films shot overseas. A production that misses the 75% photography test can still count as a "qualified visual effects production" if 75% of its effects costs are incurred in the U.S., with the credit limited to U.S. effects pay. A Marvel or DC film shot at Pinewood or Leavesden could still earn a credit on effects and editing done in the U.S.
Animated projects get their own location test. The bill counts the place where keyframe animation, in-between animation, animation photography and voice recording happen as the location of principal photography, and measures the 75% rule by the share of animation costs spent in the U.S.
Marvel Studios cannot claim the independent producer bonus, since the bill limits it to companies that are not publicly traded and not majority-owned by a publicly traded company, and Marvel is owned by Disney. The onshoring bonus is open to the major studios. It adds 5 points for a company whose added U.S. productions reach 30% of its average yearly foreign output from the 3 years before the credit starts, with that bar rising to 50% by year 3.
Where The Bill Stands
Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterms, and supporters are pushing to pass the bill in the lame-duck session before the new lawmakers are sworn in. The Joint Committee on Taxation has not released its cost estimate, and the Cato Institute estimated the credit would cost between $33 billion and $49 billion. Motion Picture Association CEO Charles Rivkin said in the sponsors' release that the bill "could inject $250 billion into the country's economy and deliver nearly 145,000 new jobs every year across all 50 states."
Would a 20% federal credit be enough to move the next Avengers or DC Studios shoot from Pinewood and Leavesden back to American stages?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.