The leaders of the major Hollywood studios and streaming companies gathered on Zoom on Friday for a special meeting with Motion Picture Association chief Charlies Rivkin to strategize about how to address President Trump’s threatened film tariffs.
The goal was to find a delicate way to educate the White House on the complexities of the film business, as well as the difficulty of applying a tariff on a product that is not a traditional good in the sense of a car or a hammer. Moreover, many films are shot in multiple foreign locations both because a story calls for a certain setting, and because of the costs. Post-production work on visual effects and editing also can take place in different countries to take advantage of subsidies.
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The executives argued on the call that many films are still shot in the U.S, including in such production hotspots as Georgia, New Jersey, and New York that offer generous production incentives, according to three people with knowledge of the discussion. They hope that they can convince the president that the problem of runaway production mostly impacts the state of California, which does not offer the same level of subsidies as other states.
The group of roughly 20 executives included Universal Pictures chair and NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios chief Donna Langley, Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman, Paramount Global co-CEO Brian Robbins, Amazon MGM Studios’ chief Mike Hopkins and film chief Courtenay Valenti, Sony Pictures Entertainment head Ravi Ahuja and Sony Pictures film chief Tom Rothman, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Warner Bros. film chief Michael De Luca and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. The meeting was a follow-up to a call the executives held on Monday with the MPA.
President Trump has signaled that he is open to meeting with the studio chiefs, though no sit-down has been scheduled. If one takes place, the MPA and the studios for whom it lobbies plan to stress that the U.S. maintains a $15 billion trade surplus when it comes to film exports and that the sector is net positive. The goal is to find a way to work collaboratively with Trump and to get in front of the potentially disruptive moves from the president.
The executives continue to be confused about whether or not the tariff that the president floated would apply only to movies, or if TV and streaming films would also be subject to the levy. If these tariffs are enacted, there are concerns that it would shatter the model for how films are financed and made, leading to a dramatic drop in production. They might also inspire foreign countries to impose their own tariffs and taxes on U.S. films.
Rivkin called the meeting earlier this week as the industry debated how to respond to Trump’s social media message that an 100% tariff would be slapped on “any and all” movies produced in “foreign lands.”
A spokesperson for the MPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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