President Donald Trump promised to “Make America Great Again” — and that includes making Hollywood, California great again. The president announced Sunday that he would be imposing a 100% tariff on all foreign-made films, in an effort to revive the American film industry.

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” the president said in a Truth Social post. He continued, “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” He explained that he intends to impose a “100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

However, Hollywood insiders — including Trump allies — have suggested that a tariff may not benefit the film industry after all. Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight, an outspoken conservative and one of Trump’s Special Ambassadors to Hollywood, shared Monday night that he met with the president and recommended alternatives to film tariffs, such as “certain tax provisions” and co-production treaties with foreign countries, urging that film tariffs only be used in “certain limited circumstances.” At a subsequent press conference, the president confirmed that he would meet with filmmaking industry insiders to ensure that his actions are helpful. “I’m not looking to hurt the industry, I want to help the industry,” he said. He continued, “The industry was decimated. … It’s a big industry, but it’s an industry now that’s abandoned the USA, where it started, and we’ll get it back.”

Moviguide Founder and Editor-in-Chief Ted Baehr, who also teaches film industry classes and serves as chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, spoke to The Washington Stand about why Hollywood films aren’t made in Hollywood and how tariffs might impact the film industry. “Most movies are shot outside of California and outside of the United States, they shoot all over the world,” Baehr said. He explained that the question to answer is, “What is the problem with shooting in California? And I guess nobody will discuss that.”

Baehr, who has a background in law and decades of experience in Hollywood, explained that regulations in California often make it difficult for profitable films to be produced there. For example, he pointed out that California law does not allow film agents to “cross-check” with talent agents on matters such as salaries. “So let’s say somebody like Brad Pitt comes in, and the agent says to Brad Pitt, ‘How much did you make on your last film?’ And Brad Pitt says $20 million. So the agent would call Brad Pitt’s agent … ‘How much did Brad Pitt make on the last movie?’ And they say $5 million,” Baehr explained. He continued, “But California, for some strange reason, thinking that it’s protecting the movie industry, said you can’t make those calls. Well, that means the actors can come in and say, ‘Oh, I made $100 million the last movie, you got to pay me that.’” When Baehr asked Hollywood agents how they intended to respond to this law, he was told, “We just won’t make movies in the United States — at least we won’t make them in California, because we can go and get better accents in Australia, which is booming right now, and England, which is always booming, and they speak English and they don’t have these rules.”

“So a lot of this is very complex, and it could easily just put tremendous shackles on the industry,” Baehr warned to TWS. He explained that California officials have introduced so many regulations that film production costs would likely increase significantly if films had to be shot in the U.S. “The budgets now are out of sight. One hundred sixty million is the average budget — ‘Dune’ is over $200 million. So what are you going to do? Bring them all back to California, where the prices are 10 times more?” Baehr asked. He explained that so many regulations have been introduced in an effort to help the film industry that have simply “been wrong.” 

In response to the president’s proposed film tariff, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) asked the president to “partner” with California to offer the film industry a $7.5 billion tax credit instead of imposing a tariff. Baehr commented that Newsom’s proposal shows that the governor “clearly doesn’t know the industry.” Baehr continued, “Newsom doesn’t understand the things that he’s done that have driven the business out of Hollywood. He’s done a lot that has driven the business out, and he’s got to wake up to that.” He continued, “Giving tax credits is not everything that Hollywood needs. They need locations. They need staff. They need a lot of other things.”

To illustrate the issue with tax credits for the film industry, Baehr recounted the story of a film studio, responsible for “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” horror movie, which opened in Texas and benefited from tax credits. He said, “A few conservatives in Texas, rightly so, said, ‘Why are we giving money to make movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre?’” So the studio moved to Vancouver. “They were giving good tax credits until conservatives in British Columbia said, ‘Why are we giving money for lousy films?’ And then it moved to Australia, and then it moved to New Zealand, and then it moved to North Carolina,” where Baehr explained that a Republican legislator complained of child sexualization in the films the studio was making and had tax credits revoked. Baehr explained that film industry tax credits in Georgia have yielded returns of 19 cents per dollar. “And once conservatives find out they’re making 19 cents on the dollar, they start saying, ‘Why are we doing this when so many films are terrible?’ It’s sort of a liberal knee-jerk reaction to give a tax credit.”

The film veteran quipped, “It’s more complex than most politicians understand. And where is Hollywood going to go to produce their movies? Where are they going to produce ‘Dune 3?’ In Death Valley? I don’t think so.”