By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, May 18 (Reuters) – Actor Jon Voight met with President Donald Trump earlier this year to advocate for a federal tax credit intended to help boost film and TV production in the United States, representatives of the actor said on Monday.
The previously undisclosed meeting at the White House on February 11 is part of a Hollywood effort to secure federal assistance to fight the flight of production overseas.
When asked about the meeting, a White House spokesperson said Trump “is committed to Make Hollywood Great Again, and his administration continues to explore all possible policy options to ensure Hollywood remains a potent force of American culture.”
Trump named Voight, who rose to fame following his role in the 1969 film “Midnight Cowboy,” as one of three special ambassadors to Hollywood along with Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson in January 2025.
To fight an exodus of entertainment production abroad, Voight is working with a coalition that includes the Motion Picture Association, the Directors Guild of America and unions representing actors, writers and other talent.
SP Media Group CEO Steven Paul, a film producer and Voight’s agent, and SP Media President Scott Karol have proposed a 20% federal tax credit for labor costs on a film or television production in the United States.
An additional 5% could be earned for independent films or for filming in a disaster zone or a defined “enterprise zone.” Those credits could be used in tandem with state incentives.
The goal is to make the cost of domestic production competitive with Britain and other places around the world that offer tax credits, lower labor costs and world-class soundstages.
Overseas incentives have been luring movie and TV producers to locations outside the United States for years. Filming in the U.S. declined 10% in the first quarter, compared with a year ago, according to ProdPro, which tracks worldwide film and television production.
The United States accounted for roughly 38% of film and television work in the first quarter of the year, while the United Kingdom and Canada together represented nearly one-third of global production, ProdPro reported.
In September 2025, Trump floated the idea of a 100% tariff on movies made abroad as a way to bring production back to the United States.
Industry advocates welcomed Trump’s desire to fight production flight but have urged the president to support tax incentives.
California more than doubled its annual tax incentives for film and television production in June 2025 to $750 million. Early results show the effort helped bring some projects back to Hollywood. Shoot days in Los Angeles rose nearly 11% in the first quarter of this year, according to permitting agency FilmLA.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine in Los Angees; editing by Jennifer Saba and Cynthia Osterman)
