At American Film Market, ‘Bring Tom Cruise Home’ rings out to bring films to USA
One name is doing the heavy lifting in the American Film Market’s push to bring Hollywood productions back to U.S. soil.
On opening day of the American Film Market, the first packed panel turned into a rallying cry for a national tax break to shoot movies in the U.S. The pitch had a very specific hook: make it attractive enough that Tom Cruise brings his tentpoles — and all the jobs that come with them — back to American sets.
“When Tom Cruise does a movie in France, all those jobs become French jobs. All the taxes he pays, he pays it to the French government,” said Josh Rogin, the MPA’s senior vice president of federal government affairs, per Variety.
Rogin argued that where studios pay their biggest stars is where the largest crews, vendors and tax revenue follow. Then he put it plainly:
“We need to bring Tom Cruise home to make movies here!”
Who’s at the table
Joining Rogin on the panel were producers who’ve been working the politics behind the scenes to get a federal production incentive off the ground.
- Josh Rogin — Motion Picture Association, SVP of federal government affairs
- Stephen Paul — SP Media Group
- Scott Karol — SP Media Group
Paul and Karol appeared after a meeting earlier this year with President Donald Trump alongside actor Jon Voight. Paul told Trump he was planning a movie about Richard Nixon but would shoot it in England because the U.S. was too expensive, according to Variety’s account of the discussion.
Following that meeting, Trump urged Congress on Truth Social to approve a federal incentive for film production, Variety reported — the kind of national program advocates say could counter the pull of richer overseas rebates that have drawn big shoots out of the country for years.
There’s a deadline attached: producers say the measure needs to pass by year’s end to lock in a January 1, 2027 start date for the proposed program.