Georgia film industry braces for impacts of proposed movie tariff

How would movie tariffs impact Georgia?

President Donald Trump says he wants to slap a massive tariff on all movies made outside the United States. White House officials are trying to figure out how that would work and say they’re exploring all options.

ATLANTA - President Donald Trump has made overtures about placing tariffs on all foreign-made films.

The Hollywood of the South has some things to say about that.

What we know:

The past few years have been tough for film and TV production in Hollywood and here in Georgia. "We’ve been hit significantly," said Darius Evans, co-president of the advocacy group Georgia Production Partnership. "A lot of the production houses and stages I have talked to are about 40 percent down in business."

Streaming, the pandemic, Hollywood strikes, and rising labor costs have taken their toll. Add to that, a number of foreign countries now offer lucrative incentives to lure productions abroad.

President Trump now wants to impose a 100 percent tariff "on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands." He believes that will bring more on-screen productions back to the U.S.

What they're saying:

"It’s a terrible idea," Evans said. He says a tariff on foreign productions would create a tax that would hammer an already battered industry. "It would be totally destructive for us as a new economy here in the state of Georgia."

So far, the White House has said little on how it would levy those tariffs.

"How does it get taxed and tariffed in a traditional way? It’s too early to tell," said Randy Davidson, CEO and founder of the advocacy group Georgia Entertainment. "On the surface, a tariff sounds great, ‘hey, let’s get these productions back to America that are going overseas,’ but it’s not as simple as that.

"There are multiple entities that own a production, there are multiple locations that are included in a film. There are productions I know of right now, 80 percent were shot in Australia, 20 percent here in Georgia and in America," Davidson said.

Tariffs are usually applied to goods, not services like film and TV. "It’s not a car, it’s not an iPhone. It’s a varying, moving target, so it’s very hard to figure out how that would happen," Davidson said.

Evans says the consumer would end up paying more. Both men say they’d rather see a federal tax credit instead of a tariff. They say a tax credit would go further to persuade productions to stay in the U.S.