Posted on 05/05/2025 12:48:12 PM PDT by sphinx
“This makes no sense,” a U.K. producer railed. “It implies that a U.S. film is meant to shoot in the U.S. But the ‘Harry Potter’ films, ‘Lord Of The Rings,’ ‘Schindler’s List,’ ‘Mission Impossible,’ ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Avatar’ and so many more are U.S films that shot overseas for obvious reasons. Do these films have to shoot in the U.S. from now on? It’s an absurd announcement with no meaning nor understanding of storytelling or creative impulses....”
Echoes another London-based producer: “If this goes the distance, it will decimate the industry. But you can’t just stop production,” he said. “When does it come into effect? What about movies in pre-production, that are shooting or in post? Would you just double their costs. None of this has been thought through. So I think the calm response is: Let’s see what this means, let’s see the fine print.”
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
Destination shoots will soon be totally unnecessary. Everything and place can be created in a computer. Soon the tech nerds will become outrageously expensive due to their specialized technical skills. The only reason to live shoot on location will be to accept humongous stipends from foreign governments that are craving the showcase of a major film.
Yep. It's not easy to live our lives as ordinary Americans. If you're a member of the "ruling class" obviously, you're not going to face the similar struggles.
Thanks for that analysis.
Sounds like Trump is channeling the old time penny-pinching producer’s response to the director’s request to film on location: “A tree’s a tree - shoot it in Griffith Park.”
“Destination shoots will soon be totally unnecessary. Everything and place can be created in a computer.”
Yeah... and it shows in the films. I wish he would put a 1000% tariff on any CGI in a movie.
Old Hollywood had actual skill. Now everything is fake and looks like it.
I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer and don’t play one on FR.
But I think most of us agree that the inexorable expansion of the administrative state has been a cancer, and things have gotten seriously out of hand.
I am NOT blaming this on Trump. “Stroke of the pen, law of the land, kinda cool” was Paul Begala, defending autocratic overreach by Obama. And we were all incensed when Obama and Biden shattered all norms with regard to due process and started tossing out unilateral diktats to overturn fundamental understandings.
Trump is now giving the left a hard dose of the same medicine. But we need to find a way to rope this in or we will devolve into a country ruled by an elected autocrat.
Who pays to see movies? You can see almost anything for free. You just have to be able to wait (or break the law).
Trump has to make the Dems shiver in their boots for all the horse shit he received during the years. Who know what Trump is going to do. Now is his time to laugh. He’s on top of the world.
“Destination shoots will soon be totally unnecessary.”
There are 360-degree cameras.
One person could walk and get the imaging needed.
What Trump needs to do is to negotiate to phase out the subsidies. If more is needed, Newsom can set up a study team. If the “wolf’ is scratching the doors of leftists, I’ll not worry much.
There is no basis to claim “Snow Whack” is a national security issue.
In a way I see it like the EPA. The EPA's problem begins with the fact that environmental protection act put the EPA into the executive branch and, therefore, gave the president's team sweeping power to change rules willy nilly. If I understand you correctly, you're not saying that Trump has no authority to raise tariffs, you're just saying that it shouldn't be done so willy nilly at one person's whim. We'd be better if Congress rescinded the Reciprocal Tariff Act of 1934 and chose at the Congress level when to raise tariffs on who. Is that right?
I say let Trump play the bulldog for now and get the other countries to lower their tariffs and restrictions. Then in a year or two have Congress nullify the Reciprocal Tariff Act and put tariffs back into the hands of Congress...but perhaps with a proviso that if another country raises their tariffs then our president can do the same at least on a temporary basis.
This is stupid.
Lefties don’t care.
Poor choice here.
Ditto
And Canada is not a cheap location. In terms of government interference in the film industry, its probably worse than the U.S. In terms of overall government overregulation of business, it's definitely worse.
If California can't compete with Canada, California is a lost cause ... but that's pretty much the default opinion on FR, and I share that view.
The question is whether California can compete with Georgia, New York and many other states that are offering tax incentives.
The UK, Ireland, and Hungary aren't low cost, sweatshop countries either. The UK and Ireland are peer group countries with the U.S., and Hungary is towards the top of the "best of the rest" list.
If U.S. film and tv production can't compete with the UK, Ireland, Hungary, etc., it's because the unions, the big legacy studios, and now the streamers that have bought out most of the traditional studios (to get control of their film libraries, not to make good movies), have placed their bets on a production and distribution model that has turned out to be a disaster.
Let that burn, by all means, but we should be attentive to what will replace it when the dust settles. A healthy recovery will require an ecosystem that allows independent, rising studios to be creative, take risks, and (with good judgement and a little luck) find an audience and grow.
Turning the entire industry over to government bureaucrats, in the U.S., Europe and Asia alike, handing out subsidies to client companies is exactly the wrong answer.
As to the tax incentives that are helping pull U.S. studios to Europe ... well, I dislike those as much as I dislike U.S. subsidies. But if Georgia, New York and most of the other states can do it, then the UK, Ireland and Hungary should be able to do it.
None of them should be doing it, of course, and that would be the better target for Trump to be shooting at.
Well, yes. That's why they call it a US film.
Echoes another London-based producer: “If this goes the distance, it will decimate the industry.
Make that your film industry, kemosabe. Isn't that the point? How about your London-based industry produces U.K. Films and Hollyweird continues putting out its own garbage.
One thing I did not see in any of the analysis is whether or not any other countries are currently charging any tariffs on America productions. Or, asked another way, is it possible this is a reciprocal tariff on existing charges?
I think we agree. I just don’t know anything about the Reciprocal Tariff Act of 1934, so I’m hesitant to offer an opinion.
I’m looking forward to the first major movie that is released with an accidental (or not so accidental) Google Earth label in one of the background shots. LOL.
“The legitimate core issue is foreign production tax credits that are essentially bribes to U.S. studios to shift production abroad.”
Canada offers tax breaks (or at least British Columbia does). Lots of films with the story set in Seattle or Northern California are filmed in B.C. and Vancouver.
I watched “First Blood” with my young son 15 years ago and he swore that one of the logs was the same one he had climbed over while in the woods of Washington State. He was adamant - even after telling him that it was filmed in Canada!
I don’t know. I am aware that some foreign countries do impose local content requirements on their tv and streaming platforms. Whether this extends to local content requirements on theatrical releases, I don’t know. Their concern is that U.S. productions are so dominant in the industry that there’s the risk of local writers, directors and actors being frozen out, unless they come to Hollywood and join the Borg.
This is part of what is pulling Netflix and several of the other streamers into creating foreign subsidiaries. If they’re big players in those markets, it makes production, marketing and political sense to have a footprint in-country. It’s like American automakers that found themselves with growing market share in Europe, South America and Asia; at some point, they accepted the importance of developing foreign supply chains and manufacturing complexes. Just as all the big Asian and German automakers now build cars in the U.S.
U.S. movies with crossover appeal have always been major export products. As the film industry matures in an increasing number of other countries, we should be ready to accept British, French, German, Japanese and Korean films in the U.S. It’s no different from a great book or piece of music that has cross cultural appeal. What are we going to do here: impose punitive tariffs on performances of Bach, Beethoven or Mozart because they are “foreign,” or block traveling art exhibitions from the great museums around the world because American consumers should only view painting and sculpture done by Americans in American studios? MAGA!!!!
Sahara in 43 was filmed at the Desert Training Center in California.
“Wake Island” was filmed at the Salton Sea in California, and you’d swear it was on an island in the Pacific, Wildcats, PBY, correct 5” 51 cal coastal artillery... etc.
Sands of Iwo Jima was filmed in Malibu, Catalina Island, Camp Pendleton etc. Even the realistic Tarawa beachhead.
Casablanca? Van Nyes Airport that foggy night, and sound stages. They used a few existing stock street scenes in Paris France.
The Green Berets with John Was filmed at Fort Benning and Hurlburt Field Florida.
The Ten Commandments from Cecil B DeMille was filmed in Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, California, Muroc Dry lake (Edwards AFB is there now).
And amazingly, none of Bridges of Toko-Ri was filmed in Korea. They went to Japan for the hotel scene, but the air work was all on carriers right off California, Holden’s damaged F9F Panther was leaking chocolate milk from the tip tank. He crash landed in a ditch in Thousand Oaks California...not Korea.
The entire Chinese city in Richard Gere’s Red Corner was filmed in a giant set in California and they flew in hundreds of Chinese speaking people who didn’t speak English as extras.
55 Days in Peking was filmed in Spain where they build the massive Legations Zone as a set. But none of it was filmed in China.
John Wayne’s cavalry base in Rio Grande was in Moab Utah.
Stalag 17, Hogan’s Heroes, and Gilligan’s Island were filmed at Paramount Studios and CBS Studios.
Except for a few non-critical background shots, the film 12 O’Clock high was filmed at Eglin AFB in Florida. All the flying scenes, when the old officer walks into the abandoned base, the damaged plane belly landing... etc.
There is no end to the ability to make good movies here in the USA, and films free from CGI as in 55 Days in Peking.
They can create anywhere on earth right here in America.
They are lazy, simple as that. Might be good for them.
” I just don’t know anything about the Reciprocal Tariff Act of 1934, so I’m hesitant to offer an opinion.”
Well hell, that never slows me down! lol
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