USA's Biggest Cultural Export is Dying

The Fed Needs to Get Competitive for the Film and TV Business

The US needs to create a Federal Film Tax Credit, as soon as possible, or the long-dominant US film industry, and primary American cultural export, will be gone completely. And very soon.

I’ve talked about the death of the film business before, but to lose it completely just because the United States wasn’t being competitive, seems Un-American.

I was at an event last night for one of the entertainment unions, and film crews are suffering. There is virtually no work. We already knew that film production overall has been down 40% from pre-covid-shutdown numbers, but that number seems to be 50-60% in Los Angeles, itself. As many of the film industry’s 500,000 working professionals are based in Los Angeles, that is a dire situation. And, as many “support businesses,” such as restaurants and dry cleaners are dependent on film industry business in Los Angeles, it’s a disaster.

I was at another event where there were a number of film production department heads, and they were stunned at the lack of work. As department heads are responsible for bringing in an entire 3-40 person department, this is a bad ripple effect. But, here’s what’s most alarming about the lack of work these two groups expressed: these people are all at the top in the business. If some of the best people in the business are not working, you have a very serious “canary in the coal mine” situation.