Tariffs are an odd way to do this. The EU does it by mandating that 40% of content on a service is of EU origin. This appears to be about trying to kerb runaway production though, and tariffs on foreign production would be one extreme way to go about things. It would screw over Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros etc who have made massive investments in foreign production facilities.
Well, sure, you can write a law and mandate that X amount of productions are local, but that would mean going through Congress and writing that law. Tariffs are something the President can institute on an emergency basis (which he’s already abusing, obviously, but Congress isn’t interested in standing up to him). Tarrifs are collected at the border when you’re importing a good, which isn’t really something that works with streaming a movie, especially if the film is actually edited and finished in the US. The only thing you’re actually importing is raw footage if you’ve been shooting the movie abroad, and it’s hard to put a value on that.
To me it looks like this EO hasn’t been anywhere near a lawyer.
It’s not hard to put a value on footage. In fact that is literally how the global film production system works currently, with subsidies and tax credits having to be credited to a verified and meticulously accounted dollar spend value in that jurisdiction. Trump will just be adding an extra tax on any film entering the US with a certified origin of anywhere else. It’s insane but it is also practicable. Ish.
So if Disney make a Marvel film in the UK to get the high-end film production tax credit, they have to satisfy the terms. Disney has to certify the film as British according to a set of criteria (such as percentage of spend in the UK, number of British crew and cast, etc). They have to spend at least a minimum amount of money in the UK (and provide the receipts), they have to jump through other hoops. Meticulously documented. They will be able to prove every British hotel room and catering burger they spent money on just as much as how much they spent on camera rental and gaffer tape.
Then they have to bring that back to Burbank. But wait, Ireland, Canada and Australia have tax breaks on VFX. Back we go to each authority, with the receipts of how much was spent where. Sometimes it’s a minimum amount, sometimes it’s a percentage of spend, whatever. It’s documented.
So for a tariff what does trump need? If he wants to be the shitbird he is, he can mandate a 100% tariff on any film not certified as fully US made.
You are, you’re importing the film.
Tariffs are an odd way to do this. The EU does it by mandating that 40% of content on a service is of EU origin. This appears to be about trying to kerb runaway production though, and tariffs on foreign production would be one extreme way to go about things. It would screw over Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros etc who have made massive investments in foreign production facilities.
Well, sure, you can write a law and mandate that X amount of productions are local, but that would mean going through Congress and writing that law. Tariffs are something the President can institute on an emergency basis (which he’s already abusing, obviously, but Congress isn’t interested in standing up to him). Tarrifs are collected at the border when you’re importing a good, which isn’t really something that works with streaming a movie, especially if the film is actually edited and finished in the US. The only thing you’re actually importing is raw footage if you’ve been shooting the movie abroad, and it’s hard to put a value on that.
To me it looks like this EO hasn’t been anywhere near a lawyer.
It’s not hard to put a value on footage. In fact that is literally how the global film production system works currently, with subsidies and tax credits having to be credited to a verified and meticulously accounted dollar spend value in that jurisdiction. Trump will just be adding an extra tax on any film entering the US with a certified origin of anywhere else. It’s insane but it is also practicable. Ish.
So if Disney make a Marvel film in the UK to get the high-end film production tax credit, they have to satisfy the terms. Disney has to certify the film as British according to a set of criteria (such as percentage of spend in the UK, number of British crew and cast, etc). They have to spend at least a minimum amount of money in the UK (and provide the receipts), they have to jump through other hoops. Meticulously documented. They will be able to prove every British hotel room and catering burger they spent money on just as much as how much they spent on camera rental and gaffer tape.
Then they have to bring that back to Burbank. But wait, Ireland, Canada and Australia have tax breaks on VFX. Back we go to each authority, with the receipts of how much was spent where. Sometimes it’s a minimum amount, sometimes it’s a percentage of spend, whatever. It’s documented.
So for a tariff what does trump need? If he wants to be the shitbird he is, he can mandate a 100% tariff on any film not certified as fully US made.