Lawmakers in both chambers of Congress introduced bipartisan legislation on Thursday to create a national film tax credit that would incentivize Hollywood productions to stay in the United States.
The bill, called the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, has been a long time in the making and comes at a time when film and television productions have been increasingly fleeing the U.S. for foreign countries with competitive tax incentives.
The measure would amend the Internal Revenue Code to provide a 20% base tax credit for labor done in the U.S. on qualified film and television productions. A qualified production can be a feature film, television pilot, or television season produced commercially. In order to be eligible for the tax credit, such projects would need to exceed $1 million in total costs and have 75% of their principal photography days shot within the U.S.
Some productions that would be exempt are those that fall under the following categories: news, live sports, talk shows, daytime dramas, social media content, advertising, and corporate videos.
The base credit could be raised to a 30% rate in increments of 5% if the productions meet certain requirements. For instance, productions completed by independent producers would receive a 5% bonus tax credit.
The legislation was introduced to the House by Reps. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Brian Jack (R-GA), and Laura Friedman (D-CA). The companion legislation in the Senate was spearheaded by Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Friedman, in particular, has been working hard to consolidate support for the federal film tax credit among her fellow lawmakers ever since she was elected to the House in 2024. Before that, she spent more than 20 years working as a film and television producer in Hollywood.
“For over a year, I’ve worked to build a coalition of unions, studios, Republicans & Democrats, and the White House, because we knew that a national film tax credit would bring hundreds of thousands of jobs back to our country,” Friedman said. “This bill is a result of that coalition. It tells every country that has been outbidding us for American work that we are done losing.”
The effort to create a national film tax credit started gaining significant traction after President Donald Trump voiced support for the draft bill last month. His endorsement of the bipartisan legislation was a direct result of his conversations with actor Jon Voight, whom Trump appointed as one of his special ambassadors to Hollywood in January 2025.
The two met in late August to discuss what the federal government can do to protect Hollywood jobs. The fruit of that meeting is the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act.
The U.S. is now on track to become the latest country that offers generous tax incentives for film and television productions. It just needs to pass Congress. The effort’s proponents are hopeful the legislation can become law by the end of the year.
“The Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act would deliver a true gamechanger for American creators, workers, and businesses — a federal incentive that supercharges production at home, fuels jobs and growth in local communities, and makes the United States a more competitive destination for the next generation of great film and television,” Motion Picture Association Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin said.
The trade association, which represents the major U.S. film studios, released an economic study earlier this month that laid out the financial benefits that would come with an enacted film tax credit. Rivkin recapped some of those benefits in his latest statement.
“There’s a reason everyone from President Trump to a bipartisan group of members in Congress to studios, unions, guilds, and more want to get this done,” he added. “Passing this legislation could inject $250 billion into the country’s economy and deliver nearly 145,000 new jobs every year across all 50 states. That’s a story we can write together by enacting this bill, to ensure that more stories are crafted, created, and made here in America.”
CONGRESS AND HOLLYWOOD TOUT ECONOMIC STUDY IN PUSH FOR FEDERAL FILM TAX CREDIT
The legislation also received a ringing endorsement from a major figure in the film industry: writer-director Christopher Nolan. He spoke in his official capacity as president of the Directors Guild of America, calling the measure the “most significant legislative effort in a generation to promote domestic film and television production, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports.”
“This moment is the culmination of years of work by the entertainment guilds and unions, in partnership with the MPA and lawmakers from both parties,” Nolan said. “We look forward to working with our partners in Congress, labor, the Administration, and at the studios to get this bill signed into law.”