It’s unclear how it might work. Nobody is aware of what it might price. And it’s anybody’s guess whether or not it’s going to ever really occur. However within the days since Donald Trump floated the seemingly loopy concept of slapping tariffs on foreign-made movie and TV productions, one thing surprising has began to occur in Hollywood: befuddlement has became murmurs of approval — not less than in sure corners of the business.
“That is the primary time I’ve ever seen this type of divide,” says Diego Mariscal, an IATSE member who runs Crew Tales, a well-liked on-line discussion board for below-the-line employees. “Folks I’m speaking with are saying, ‘At the very least Trump’s doing one thing. When’s the final time a president even tried?’ He’s making a dialog.”
That dialog, like so many sparked by Trump, is sorting itself alongside sharply drawn class strains. Whereas the chief class is sort of universally against the proposed tariffs — calling them impractical, dangerous for enterprise, and politically unserious — the crews they make use of are, on the very least, intrigued. Some are outright cheering.
“These gigantic companies line their pockets by recklessly reducing corners, abandoning American crews and exploiting tax loopholes overseas,” learn a fiery joint assertion from Teamsters common president Sean O’Brien and Hollywood Teamsters chief Lindsay Dougherty. “Whereas these firms get wealthy fleeing to different international locations and gaming the system, our members have gotten screwed over. We thank President Trump for boldly supporting good union jobs when others have turned their heads.”
In different phrases, Hollywood should still be indigo-blue politically, however on this explicit difficulty, the category divide is rising tougher to disregard.
Mariscal says the resentment towards studio brass — the individuals who determine the place and when a film shoots — hasn’t been this uncooked because the twin strikes final yr. “Even just some years in the past, a proposal like this could’ve been 70 p.c opposed by the rank and file. Now? It’s cut up down the center.”
To be truthful, it’s not like home manufacturing is dying “a really quick demise,” as Trump claimed in his Reality Social announcement. However it’s not precisely thriving both. On-location taking pictures in Los Angeles fell 22 p.c within the first quarter of 2025 in comparison with final yr, in accordance with FilmLA. Movie and TV employment statewide has dropped by roughly 20 p.c since 2022.
In the meantime, enterprise is booming in locations like London, the place Marvel, DC, Mission: Not possible and Star Wars now routinely arrange camp. So, whereas executives are scrambling to evaluate how a lot of their upcoming slates could be affected, lots of the below-the-line unions had been cautiously optimistic — or, just like the Teamsters, outright enthusiastic.
SAG-AFTRA, for example, issued a notably heat assertion. “We’re open to the concept and stay up for advancing a dialogue to realize our widespread targets,” mentioned nationwide government director Duncan Crabtree-Eire. A shocking stage of diplomatic openness for a guild that additionally represents family names like George Clooney and America Ferrera.
As a bit of coverage, the proposed tariffs are nonetheless vaporous. No mechanism has been outlined. No price estimate has been floated. And the administration has already began to melt a few of its language. However as a bit of political theater — which, let’s be trustworthy, is Trump’s specialty — it has hit its mark. A wedge has been pushed, and it’s splitting the business proper down its socioeconomic backbone.
“My first response to Trump’s movie tariff proposal was shock,” says actress Miki Yamashita. “Prior to now, I had usually considered Trump as a petty and vindictive brute who would revel within the alternative to precise revenge on Hollywood. As a substitute, he presents this big international manufacturing tariff idea to reignite filmmaking within the U.S., which I feel reveals a stunning stage of character progress on his half.”
That could be beneficiant. However Trump’s knack for weaponizing resentment — significantly class resentment — is effectively documented. He’s a billionaire who’s by some means satisfied hundreds of thousands of working-class voters that he’s one in every of them. In Hollywood, the place most executives hail from Ivy League campuses and reside in zip codes far faraway from set life, that disconnect is now being laid naked.
“After all, folks would like to shoot in L.A. and sleep in their very own beds,” says one studio exec, “however that’s not the truth anymore — not except an A-list actor or director insists on it.”
A part of the issue is California’s tax credit score system, which applies solely to below-the-line prices. Different areas — each home and worldwide — supply broader rebates that make them way more engaging to producers. California at the moment offers a 20 to 25 p.c tax credit score. Governor Gavin Newsom just lately proposed increasing that to 35 p.c and rising the annual pot from $330 million to $750 million. That may assist, a number of execs mentioned, however not sufficient to stem the tide.
The state of affairs has gotten so bleak that Hollywood is now being in comparison with Detroit — a onetime industrial powerhouse now struggling to reinvent itself.
For now, studio management appears to be in a defensive crouch, hoping the entire tariff saga will simply blow over. As of Wednesday, the Movement Image Affiliation — which represents the most important studios and streamers — had but to difficulty any official remark. However prime execs are scheduled to huddle with MPA chairman Charles Rivkin later this week to debate subsequent steps.
Will the Trump proposal ever change into regulation? Presumably not. However as a cultural litmus take a look at — a flashpoint in Hollywood’s ongoing identification disaster — it’s proving surprisingly efficient. Yet another instance of how even in showbiz, class is now the largest divide of all.