Bad solution, but a real problem

Don't tell anyone I said that, but President Trump is right. There is a disastrous situation against Hollywood with the decline of television and the film produced locally and it is completely legitimate for the government to be concerned and to seek to improve this. Unfortunately, the first indications of the new tariff regime proposed by Trump will not do much or nothing to mitigate the concerns of producers, talents and production employees, not to mention consumers.

If you have missed the president's publication on social networks among the floods of daily dams, he suggested a 100% rate on all cinematographic production outside the United States according to Trump “” We want films made in America, again! “(Caps not added by me). Apparently, it was born from a Mar-A-Lago dinner With Jon Voight and his manager. Jon Voight is a film star as legitimate as we have done in the past 50 years, but I don't think I want him to conduct the world economy policy.

Meanwhile, the president seems to have somewhat remote that, saying that he wanted to speak to the industry first to “make sure they are happy”. Umm… This is not the case. And of course, the end of the evening talk show universe had a day on the ground, Jimmy Kimmel noting that “The white lotus I will be settled next year in an Inn Hampton. »»

On a more serious note, the concerns about the infrastructure of the Hollywood production community are real and have been the subject of In -depth report For a while. COVID-19 closed production for a while in 2020, and health protocols added time and expenses to productions once they have taken over. Long -sloping frustrations in the face of the changing economic models of the company led to painful strikes by writers and artists, stopping production more and providing significant financial consequences for the members of the union and the studios. Devastating fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena left thousands of television and cinema professionals and added another time to production hours.

Of course, the most substantial threat to the traditional home production and film production is the dramatic upheaval of fundamental commercial models for American television and cinema. From 2007, when Netflix began to broadcast, Google bought YouTube and Fox, Nbcuniversal and Disney launched Hulu, the television sector was never the same. Cable subscriptions are more than 30% lower than that they were 10 years ago. Even streaming, advanced television sharp Several years ago. Cinema attendance has resisted for years, but is now a lot below where it was before Covid and the accelerated passage to streaming. Consumers, especially the youngest, spend their time with Tiktok and his social media brothers rather than pouring out on the television guide or the Fandango theater lists.

Faced with all these shots on television and film income products, the industry has sought to reduce costs. Its main Modus Operandi was to move productions abroad, especially in Canada, Ireland, and a host of other international destinations (I don't think The white lotus However, the “money economy” category). Toronto And Vancouver often represents Boston, Chicago and New York. In the United States, states such as Georgia, New Mexico and others have offered significant tax incentives to produce from the Grand Los Angeles.

Here is the president. So many questions before they can even start digesting this. Put aside if the Trump administration would be embarrassed by this question, would the prices on the production of films and television be legal? Television and films are legally classified as intellectual property and service, therefore not traditionally subject to prices. Trump has declared the challenge for cinema to be a concern for “national security”, but it seems exaggerated, especially when some of the production movements are inside the United States, it reminds me of when I worked on Capitol Hill and there were a lot of Sturm and Drang on “Japanese studios” when Sony and Matsushita bought Colimbia and Universal Studios. It did not go far, and I do not see a national emergency argument forcing the next James Bond film to be shot in Encino.

How would it work? Collect prices in studios based in the United States like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount? Independent producers? The cinemas that show these films? Netflix and the platforms that broadcast them? Consumers at the box office and on their monthly cable and streaming bills?

The biggest problem with the prices is that they simply increase the cost of production for everyone without meeting any of the challenges that face the company's income. Hollywood filmmakers and California legislators continued to fight with new forms of tax incentives to make cinematographic production less heavy, no more. Increase the price of television and movies production and no matter how you cut it, production levels are falling. It is bad for all those who make or consume content.

So, should the government remain outside this right? No. A thoughtful and seriously committed effort among the production community, streaming platforms and government representatives who seek to protect employment could be legitimately useful. But it looks like a potentially long collaborative process, carefully considered and above all. Trump's pricing regime from his departure has none of these descriptors.