‘This is a jobs bill’: Jon Voight, film industry leaders make push for federal tax credit

Jon Voight is joining a bipartisan group of lawmakers touting the need for a federal film and TV production tax credit, saying a new report shows such an incentive would “level the playing field and bring jobs back to our country.”

The “Deliverance” star, whom President Trump named last year as one of his “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, was on hand on Tuesday as the Motion Picture Association (MPA) released a study by Olsberg SPI that it commissioned to measure the potential economic impact of a federal tax incentive.

According to the report , such a credit would add an average of more than 143,000 jobs annually across the country and boost production expenditures in the U.S. by more than $125 billion from 2027 to 2035.

Voight said American film producers — often enticed by generous incentives offered by other countries — have told him that they “would like to work in the United States, but it’s not economically possible.”

“I received a call from one of the producers of one of our big blockbuster series of films, and he said to me, ‘Jon, we can’t make films in Hollywood. We can’t make films in the United States,'” he said.

“Now thousands upon thousands of our people are out of the work they love and are struggling to find ways to put to put food on the table for their families. It’s a very serious situation, and it breaks my heart,” Voight said.

While acknowledging “Congress is not my bailiwick,” the 87-year-old Academy Award winner said lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have shown “strong energy” to back legislation in support of a federal tax incentive.

“This legislation will create a massive number of jobs in the entertainment industry throughout the entire United States,” Voight said.

In a Truth Social post earlier this month that drew rare bipartisan support, Trump pushed for a federal tax incentive for movie and TV productions, urging Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together to “immediately craft legislation to save the movie, television, and entertainment business in America.”

“The federal incentive will be a game changer for our industry,” Charles Rivkin, MPA’s chairman and CEO, said on Tuesday.

Reps. Laura Friedman (D-Calif.) and Brian Jack (R-Ga.) emphasized the bipartisan “tremendous momentum” behind the issue, stressing that it’s not “about movie stars” or Hollywood handouts.

“We’re not talking about abstract, large companies. We’re talking about our neighbors,” Friedman said.

“We’re talking about the people who live and are supported by the economy in so many of our cities and states. These are costumers, set designers, drivers, carpenters, caterers, dry cleaners, cafe owners,” she said.

“They are people just looking to do something that they think is aspirational and that will provide a good union job for themselves, and that they could raise their family on,” Friedman noted, saying she and Jack are currently working on drafting legislation.

“Most of the Marvel films filmed from the mid-2010s up until a few years ago, were made in my district,” Jack said.

“Unfortunately, in recent years, many of those movies have left for overseas,” the House freshman said.

“The real-world impact is that I represent craftsmen, technicians, electricians that now are on second, third, fourth jobs because the jobs they thought they were moving to Georgia for are no longer there,” Jack said.

“Global investment and global spending on the entertainment industry is at an all-time high — just not here. It’s diminishing here,” said SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin, citing the MPA-commissioned report.

“The value of this art form, of this craft, of this storytelling, is being recognized by governments all over the world,” Astin said.

“They recognize that it’s a good investment to put their money where their mouth is and bring the jobs and the business to their areas,” he said.

“At the end of the day, this is a jobs bill,” Rivkin said at the virtual briefing, also attended by International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, producer Steven Paul, former Directors Guild of America president Thomas Schlamme, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees president Matthew Loeb and other members of the U.S. Film and Television Production Coalition.

“When any major motion picture films in the United States, it injects about $1.3 million a day into the local economy, and the people that that impacts are not necessarily just the stars on the screen,” Rivkin said, adding he had never experienced such “broad and powerful bipartisan” support on any effort.

Friedman stressed that getting the federal tax incentive done is a “top priority” for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

“In terms of the timing, the best time to have done this would have been maybe four years ago, five years ago,” Friedman said.

“The second best time would be tomorrow.”