A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced legislation that would offer federal subsidies to film and television productions that shoot in the United States, aiming to reverse a trend of studios moving work overseas or to other countries offering more generous incentives.
The Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act was introduced late in the current legislative session in both chambers of Congress. U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran introduced the House version, while Sens. Tim Scott and Adam Schiff introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
Moran told The Center Square the legislation is intended to protect jobs tied to film and TV production beyond the actors and directors on screen.
“This bill is about American jobs,” Moran said. “When a production comes to a town, it hires local caterers, stays in local hotels, eats at local restaurants, and brings in tradesmen to help build sets and run equipment. Those are the jobs this bill protects.”
According to Moran, the bill includes additional incentives for productions that film in rural communities or in areas recovering from a federally declared disaster, extending the subsidy’s reach beyond the traditional production hubs of Los Angeles and New York.
“We built in extra incentives for productions that film in rural communities and in areas recovering from a federally declared disaster, so this bill reaches past Los Angeles and New York into places like Georgia, Texas and everywhere in between,” Moran said.
Moran emphasized the cross-party nature of the effort.
“This is bipartisan and bicameral legislation, and that matters,” Moran said. “Senator Scott and Senator Schiff introduced the companion bill in the Senate, and we’ve got Republicans and Democrats from across the country joining us in the House.”
Moran also said the bill has drawn support from within the entertainment industry itself.
“We’ve also heard directly from unions, guilds, and studios across the industry who want to see this bill pass,” Moran said.
The legislation comes amid a years-long shift of film and television production away from California, long the industry’s home base, toward states and countries offering tax credits and lower costs, including Georgia and Texas, both of which have built up production infrastructure in recent years.
No vote schedule for the bill has been announced in either chamber as of this writing.
