Giving your political enemies government handouts is both bad policy and politically foolish.
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced that he wants a bailout for Hollywood. He called on Congress to pass “a Federal Production Incentive to create Entertainment Jobs in America.” Trump is upset that so much production work has moved away from California.
“Hollywood is a Complete and Total Disaster!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Despite the name, it is getting very little work. There is no incentive to be there, and it is hurting California very badly.”
Trump is right that TV and film production in California went down. In 2019, California averaged around 132,000 people employed in the film and television industry. That number hit almost 150,000 in 2022, but was barely over 100,000 in 2024. This isn’t just part of an overall slowdown in the industry. In 2010, California had 54 percent of the country’s motion picture production employment. In 2023, it was at 46 percent.
Part of California’s problem is self-inflicted. The 2023 writers’ strike noticeably reduced film industry employment and hit California disproportionately hard. Even for movie studios, California remains a mess of red tape. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, with an assist from part-time Nevada resident Aaron Ford, is trying to stop Paramount from buying Warner Bros.
Another factor is that other states and countries have thrown increasing amounts of money to lure TV and film projects. Georgia offers studios and streaming platforms transferable tax credits of up to 30 percent of expenditures.
Note: This isn’t merely a reduction in the amount of taxes paid. Studios can sell their credits for cash to other taxpayers. Transferable tax credits act as de facto subsidies. Georgia loses around 80 cents on every dollar it spends on its film tax credit program. In 2025, California expanded its available film tax subsidies from $330 million to $750 million.
This is why Nevada dodged a major bullet last year when legislators narrowly defeated a film tax credit proposal. Hollywood handouts would have created major financial problems in future years. In May 2025, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development released an analysis of one film tax credit proposal.
“State and local governments will recover 52 cents of every dollar in tax credits based on the Summerlin Studios analysis,” the report found.
Not a great return on investment. While it’s unclear exactly what Trump supports on the federal level, the alarm bells should be blaring. Government shouldn’t pick winners and losers in the economy.
If another country wants to shower film productions with taxpayer giveaways, the U.S. shouldn’t follow suit. It’s hard to win a game when the reward is losing tax money.
What’s especially bizarre about this is that Hollywood hates Trump and Republicans more generally. Now, Trump wants to reward the industry with potentially billions of dollars. Using tax dollars to shield leftist organizations from market realities isn’t a good investment. Just look at higher education.
Trump shouldn’t give handouts to Hollywood.
Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen to him discuss his columns each Monday at 2 p.m. with Kevin Wall on AM 670 KMZQ Right Talk. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.
