--- title: 'Adam Schiff''s Film Credit Push Would Take the Subsidy Fight National' type: 'blog post' section: 'Industry' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'Sen. Adam Schiff is backing a federal film production tax credit as shoots leave Los Angeles for cheaper markets. The plan could spread help beyond the states with the richest incentives, but Reason points to years of evidence that these credits often cost more than they return.' author: 'CinePixo' published: '2026-08-24' updated: '2026-08-24' about_people: - 'Jon Voight' tags: - 'Adam Schiff federal film tax credit' - 'Hollywood production tax incentives' - 'US film production subsidies' - 'Georgia film tax credit audit' - 'California film incentive program' - 'Marvel production United Kingdom' - 'movie and TV production costs' sources: - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/federal-film-tax-credit-could-help-boost-production-in-all-states/ar-AA2au6EX' - 'https://reason.com/2026/06/17/adam-schiff-wants-federal-tax-credits-for-movie-and-tv-production/' - 'https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-05-18/actor-jon-voight-met-with-trump-to-advocate-for-hollywood-tax-incentives' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/adam-schiffs-film-credit-push-would-take-the-subsidy-fight-national' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Adam Schiff's Film Credit Push Would Take the Subsidy Fight National *Sen. Adam Schiff is backing a federal film production tax credit as shoots leave Los Angeles for cheaper markets. The plan could spread help beyond the states with the richest incentives, but Reason points to years of evidence that these credits often cost more than they return.* By CinePixo, 2026-08-24 · Industry Sen. Adam Schiff wants Congress to create a federal film production tax credit, Reason reported on June 17, 2026, after Schiff told Variety that the United States needs to compete with overseas incentives to keep movie and TV work at home. For film readers, this is not a dry tax item. It touches the thing that shapes what gets made, where crews work, and why Los Angeles can still be the symbolic center of the business while fewer productions actually shoot there. ## Adam Schiff Wants Congress in the Incentive Race According to Reason, Schiff has been pushing a federal answer to a problem Hollywood keeps running into: shooting in Los Angeles costs more, and productions are looking elsewhere. Variety's Gene Maddaus, as quoted by Reason, wrote that Los Angeles still has a deep concentration of talent and production infrastructure, but globalization has weakened the city's edge. Reason also cited Maddaus on the cost problem: labor, the high cost of living, union agreements, and rival states and countries with their own crew bases and richer incentives. Schiff's pitch is blunt. He told Variety, according to Reason, that saving the industry in America requires competitive tax credits. Reason reported that Schiff said in March he had largely drafted a bill but still needed bipartisan support. That matters because a federal credit would change the playing field. State incentives already shape production maps. A national credit could, in theory, make it easier for productions to stay in the United States even when a single state cannot match the math of the United Kingdom or another lower-cost location. ![Sean McNamara, director of“Reagan”, poses for a photo with Sailors in the hangar bay onboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), Naval Base Kitsap, in Bremerton, Washington, Aug. 26, 2024. McNamara, and actor Jon Voight participated in a panel discussion on the upcoming featur…](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/e7743738-1308-4a09-8c3d-10a35a4c1c65.webp) *Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan Estrada-Eguizabal · Public domain · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Ronald_Reagan_(CVN76)_hosts_Jon_Voight_and_Sean_McNamara_(11).jpg)* ## Los Angeles Is Still the Name, but Not Always the Location Hollywood remains the word people use for the American screen business. Reason's point is that the word and the work are no longer locked together. Box office receipts and ticket sales remain below pre-pandemic levels, Reason reported. Studios trying to cut costs have been shooting more films and TV series overseas. The pressure is not only cultural. It is accounting. That is the part worth taking seriously, even if one dislikes subsidies. Movies do not shoot in a place because the place has romance. They shoot where budgets can survive. Crew depth matters. Stages matter. Permits, housing, wages, exchange rates, and credits all end up on the same spreadsheet. Schiff's argument is aimed at that spreadsheet. If federal help lowers the cost of filming in the United States, more states could have a shot at work that now leaves the country. The possible gain is not only for California. It could reach crews and vendors in places without Georgia-size incentive machines. ![Jon Voight addressing the Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/454b6c8b-0726-4740-b4de-c97cdf095f26.webp) ![Jon Voight (22811479478)](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/53c8860a-2ea3-42a4-8f8f-dda9b9315f15.webp) *Photos: James McNellis from Washington, DC, United States · [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Voight_addressing_the_Make_America_Great_Again!_Welcome_Celebration_(32107882890).jpg); Greg2600 · [CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Voight_(22811479478).jpg)* ## Georgia Shows Both the Promise and the Trap Reason gives Georgia as the clearest test case. The state's program began in 2005 and lets a studio that spends at least $500,000 in Georgia claim a tax credit worth up to 30 percent of in-state production expenses. That helped turn Georgia into one of the most visible production hubs in the country. But Reason argues that the model also created a race among states to offer more public money. California has joined that fight too. Reason reported, citing Maddaus, that Gov. Gavin Newsom doubled California's program to $750 million in 2025. Maddaus also wrote, according to Reason, that many want the program to grow and to cover above-the-line salaries for actors, writers, and producers. The hard lesson is that even rich credits may not keep a studio in place. Reason reported that Georgia's program is uncapped, but Marvel Studios still moved production of new Spider-Man and Avengers films to the United Kingdom, where labor and production costs are lower. The Wall Street Journal, as cited by Reason, reported in January that millions of square feet of Georgia production facilities were sitting empty. That sentence should chill anyone who wants a tax credit to act like a permanent anchor. It may bring a shoot. It may not build loyalty. ![Jon Voight presented Melanie Griffith with the Timeless Beauty Award at the 2nd Hollywood Beauty Awards](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/e8b03c0a-c577-47d3-a9b7-638fc3bd5535.webp) ![Jon Voight Steven Bauer Patrick Millsaps Linda Hall and Pooch Hall celebrating Voight's birthday](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/08/72238143-7924-4075-b26f-67bae65ac6da.webp) *Photos: Pamela Price · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Voight_HBA_Timeless_Beauty_Award_recipient_Melanie_Griffith_cropppe.jpg); HollywoodReporter3 · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jon_Voight_Steven_Bauer_Patrick_Millsaps_Linda_Hall_and_Pooch_Hall_celebrating_Voight%27s_birthday.jpg)* ## Studies Keep Finding Weak Returns Reason's case against a federal credit rests on the numbers. The outlet pointed to a 2016 Variety piece by Maddaus about a study that found little or no film industry job growth in states that adopted production incentives. Reason also cited a 2023 Georgia State University audit that calculated Georgia's fiscal return on investment at 0.19 for fiscal year 2024, which the audit described as an 81 percent loss. The structure of the credits matters too. Reason reported that studios often have little state tax liability, while Georgia allows unused credits to be sold to other taxpayers. A 2022 Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts report, cited by Reason, found that about 97 percent of credits generated in tax year 2016 were transferred to another taxpayer, while less than 1 percent were used by production companies against their own income tax liability or employee withholding. Virginia's experience was no stronger in Reason's account. A 2017 report found that the state's tax credit had little effect on location decisions, a small economic benefit, and a weak return on investment. The job math is rough. Reason cited the 2023 Georgia audit finding that incentives cost the state $160,009 for every net job they created. It also cited a 2015 Massachusetts finding that its credit cost taxpayers $118,000 per job. ## A Federal Credit Could Spread Work and Spread Risk The fairest version of Schiff's argument is easy to understand. If productions are leaving the United States because other countries make the numbers better, a federal credit could give every state a stronger hand. It could help keep shoots domestic without forcing each state to build its own bigger subsidy program. But Reason's reporting makes the danger just as clear. If state credits already struggle to prove their value, a federal credit could take the same weak bet and make every taxpayer buy in. It might help some productions stay in America. It might also pay studios for decisions they would have made anyway, or fail to beat cheaper labor and production costs abroad. For movie lovers, the location of production is not trivia. It decides which crews get steady work, which stages stay lit, and whether the American industry is concentrated in a few tax-credit winners or spread across more places. The question is whether a federal credit buys lasting production capacity, or just another temporary discount in a business built to chase the next cheaper shoot. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - [Jon Voight](https://cinepixo.com/people/jon-voight) ## Sources - https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/federal-film-tax-credit-could-help-boost-production-in-all-states/ar-AA2au6EX - https://reason.com/2026/06/17/adam-schiff-wants-federal-tax-credits-for-movie-and-tv-production/ - https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-05-18/actor-jon-voight-met-with-trump-to-advocate-for-hollywood-tax-incentives Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/adam-schiffs-film-credit-push-would-take-the-subsidy-fight-national Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.