MICHAEL'S MUSINGS - May 2025
Industry disruption reached a fever pitch this month. The U.S. President’s proposed tariff on the global entertainment industry is the thing nightmares are made of.
The initial scare over how the tariff would damage film, television, and commercial production had us tossing and turning in our sleep. But – true to Trump form – it also served as a catalyst. U.S. industry executives, trade and union leaders rallied to denounce global competition and level the playing field. They’re compelling U.S. lawmakers to adopt changes which include a federal incentive boost. That translates to the U.S. Capitol acknowledging the wide-reaching economic impact of our industry. In a world where more than 80 countries woo filmmakers with cash and tax incentives, that’s a wake-up call for U.S. leadership.
Tariff-induced unrest did not deflate the festive atmosphere amongst commercial producers in Los Angeles this month. At the AICP Cinco de Mayo party and Shots Out Of The Box and Awards events, our PSN Liaison, Carolyn Hill, found these professionals resolved to grin and bear their own survival of the fittest. An increasingly diverse media landscape populated by camera-wielding influencers is reducing brand appetite for the premium commercial storytelling they’ve built their reputations on.
The gloves are off. As brands move increasingly toward in-house production, the Advertising Producers Association hosted Production Unplugged in London. PSN was in the house to witness the event “designed to drive direct partnership & collaboration between brands and the UK creative production industry.” Long-form branded storytelling is emerging as an opportunity to reach consumers with elevated craft.
Continue reading for my curated selection of industry news about upending workflows plus emerging investors and formats.
FILM AND TELEVISION
Thinking Through The Trump Tariff Threat To Entertainment Industry
“Eight key questions the industry will be pondering and considering as potential ammunition to push back against the president’s characteristically blunt opening salvo on the film sector.” (THR)
London’s Claim To New Hollywood
As L.A. sound stages sit empty, fat tax incentives and saner politics are turning Britain’s capital into a mecca for streamers, studios, and stars. Will Trump’s tariffs halt the exodus? (THR)
DON’T MISS this series highlighting the added value of working with PSCs when filming abroad
Qatari Finance Positioned To Engage With Hollywood At Cannes
“Qatar is trying to diversify from the energy sector and into forms of soft power, such as culture and media. The emirate have initiated discussions with U.S. showbiz executives about co-financing and producing original content.” (Variety)
Vertical Microdramas in TelevisaUnivision Upfront Push
“Given the surge of TikTok and how this audience now lives on their phones and vertical content now is what they’re used to,” she says. “There’s a huge opportunity here, and we really believe that we’re going to seize the moment.” (THR)
The Jon Voight Plan That Prompted Trump Call for Industry Tariffs
“It applies to content produced for theatrical distribution; U.S. broadcast networks; U.S. cable channels; streaming services (including, e.g., Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple, Peacock, Paramount+ and Hulu); and digital platforms (e.g., YouTube, YouTube TV, X, Facebook)” — aka everyone.” (Deadline)
Global Entertainment Organizations Call For Unity In Face of Trump Film Tariffs
“We are witnessing increasingly aggressive attempts by powerful political and corporate actors to dismantle the regulatory protections that ensure the diversity and accessibility of cultural expression.” (Variety)
Hollywood Trade Group Joins Ambassadors To Urge Trump For Tax Breaks
“Numerous productions that could have been shot in America have instead located elsewhere. Returning more production to the United States will require a national approach and broad-based policy solutions…as well as longer term initiatives such as implementing a federal film and television tax incentive.” (Screen Daily)
LA City Council to Reduce Location Permitting Obstacles
“It calls for reduced regulatory red tape, offering fee waivers, and solving reported price gouging on crew parking and base camps in order to make the city more competitive with other filming locations.” (Screen)
VFX Companies Want Leverage Global Trade Association May Provide
“If it’s not changed, we’ll continue to see companies go out of business and creative, wonderful people be unemployed.” (Variety)
Authentic Locations A Grounding Force For Summer Blockbusters
“As Hollywood aims to bring audiences back to theatres, it’s not just the stars or the stories that are drawing viewers in—it’s the worlds they inhabit. And this summer, those worlds are as real as they are spectacular.” (TLG)
Blumhouse Defends Chatbox Experiment with Meta
“It’s not us saying, ’Come to a movie theater and randomly be on your phone.’ It’s about enriching the experience. Younger audiences love to interact with their entertainment.” (The Washington Times)
China To Spend $130M To Boost Box Office
“Promotional events such as Watch a Film Together on Weekends will be introduced, while airline mileage can be used to redeem cinema tickets. Both local consumers and overseas visitors are also encouraged to travel to filming locations and dine out in partner restaurants to enhance film-induced tourism and boost local consumption.” (Screen Daily)
Sports In Standalone Streamer ESPN & Disney Bundles
“The push into direct-to-consumer streaming does not signal an abandonment of traditional pay-TV distribution. We are ultimately going to judge ourselves based on the totality of people subscribing to ESPN.” (Deadline)
Olympics Broadcast Center Conversion To Movie Studio Defies LA Production Trend
“We want it to be recognized around the world. The studio is part of Hollywood Park’s master development plan focusing on media, entertainment and technology, anchored by SoFi Stadium, YouTube Theater and the NFL Media office building.” (LA Times)
Cannes Coming Out Party For Nollywood
“There’s a surge of untapped talent and original content ready to break out. The energy on the ground is electric, and with the right support, Nigeria is set to become a major global content powerhouse.” (Variety)
INCENTIVES
Jordan Jumps Film & TV Incentive Up To 45%
“The new package includes a scalable cash rebate ranging from 25% to 45% on qualifying in-country spend, determined by a points-based system assessing the project’s size, incorporation of Jordanian cultural content, and its artistic, cultural and economic value.” (Screen Daily)
Moves To Gather Bipartisan Support of Federal Film Incentive in U.S.
“Maybe this is the president’s way to jumpstart a larger conversation about tax incentives. My gut tells me it’s going to morph into a more righteous proposal coming out of the White House so Trump can take the win.” (Variety)
Screen Australia Invests $7.6M In Bumper Slate of 102 Projects
“For the right content, the right story, targeting the right audience, there are really bullish deals from international [partners] and extraordinarily competitive deals from our local commissioners.” (IF)
Africa Cultural Influence Amplified With $1bn Film Fund
“The establishment of the Africa Film Fund is timely as it will help accelerate the growth of Africa’s creative sector, which has witnessed rapid growth but continues to face significant challenges including funding, scaling and accessing global markets.” (Screen Daily)
Film Subsidy Boost Approved for New York
“The state is facing a downturn in production work, and competition from across the Hudson River. Governor Hochul signed a bill that creates a new $100 million pool of money for independent films. The bill also loosens the requirements on other provisions, including lifting the $500,000 cap on “above the line” costs that are eligible for a rebate.” (Variety)
Netflix Digs Garden State – 40% New Jersey Incentive Spurs Lasting Investment
“The gigantic renovation project, in which Netflix will turn a long-abandoned U.S. Army base into a dozen soundstages, a backlot, state-of-the-art post-production facilities, general office space and basically 500,000 square feet of all things Netflix, was brought to you by one thing: tax credits.” (THR)
Greece Rebate Delays Struggles To Get Back On Track
“The industry is frittering away the ‘trust capital’ it’s spent years establishing with foreign producers. What it takes a lot of time to build can easily go away, and we are now facing the consequences of a poorly managed transition by the administration and the ministries.” (Variety)
Screen Australia Funding Overhaul Aims To Boost Local Storytellers
“Its purpose is to ‘build a vibrant and viable screen industry that reflects the depth and diversity of Australia’s stories’, delivered under the pillars of Empower, Enrich, Enable, Engage and Elevate.” (IF)
ADVERTISING
“Zuckerberg said his plan was to more or less eliminate the entire advertising ecosystem, from creative on down. AI has already improved ad targeting, but now Meta is thinking about the ads themselves. ‘There’s still the creative piece, and that’s pretty hard to produce and I think we’re pretty close.'” (The Verge)
Amazon Sellers Lean Into ‘Made in USA’
“There’s a big push, in terms of updating creatives right now, to really put the flag at the forefront. There’s a lot of curiosity about ‘Made in the USA,’ but it’s not driving a lot of revenue growth, at least not yet.” (Modern Retail)
Premium Brands Appeal to Top 10% in Pursuit of Self Discovery
“The Global Affluent Collective remains united by values that are stronger than the geographical boundaries that divide them. The most provocative finding is how they’ve moved beyond asking ‘What do I own?’ to ‘Who am I becoming?’ This transformation demands an entirely new approach from premium brands.” (LBB)
CTV U.S. Ad Revenue Gains Result in Losses for Linear TV
“The video industry continues its transformative shift towards streaming driven by content, creators, technology, and improved measurement. However, it is important to acknowledge that ongoing economic uncertainty, including tariffs, geopolitical conflicts, and changing consumer confidence, the marketplace in 2025 is more difficult to predict than ever before.” (TV Technology)
UK Ad Revenues Jump 10.4% in 2024
“Online display, which includes social media and retail media, gained 15.1 percent in 2024. Television overall was up 3.8 percent to £5.3 billion ($7.1 billion), encompassing BVOD, SVOD, AVOD and FAST.” (WorldScreen)
Steady Ad Agency Earnings in Q1 Can’t Erase Tariff Uncertainty
“For those hurt by tariffs, the agencies they work with are likely to feel a downstream impact if they pause or pull back on marketing investments.” (Adweek)
Branded Storytelling Studio Launched At Digitas Pictures
“Our work is designed to stand alongside top-tier content. There’s just a whole universe of things that you can do that a six-second or 15-second ad can’t.” (Adweek)
CRAFT
Cannes Welcomes Tech-Driven Storytelling Aboard World’s Largest Catamaran
“The Immersive Market is the first business-to-business platform in Cannes dedicated exclusively to immersive storytelling and experience design. It brings together VR/AR creators, museum and cultural curators, distributors, and tech partners under a single floating venue, symbolising both literal and figurative movement into uncharted narrative waters.” (TLG)
Application Of Photogrammetry For The Non-Techie
“Buying assets drastically cuts the creation process, however it limits the creator to the assets available online. By building, creativity is the only limit. Building unlocks unlimited possibilities for asset creators, and in turn for the games and films they are playing a part in making.” (TVBEurope)
Ghibli Anime Replicates Fuel AI Debate in Asia-Pacific
“Before AI, if you wanted a specific look or feel, you didn’t just copy someone, you hired them. An illustrator, a voice-over artist, a filmmaker—each brought their distinctive style and they were paid accordingly. The same should apply now.” (Campaign Asia)
Being Human
Cannes Festival Shows Support for France #MeToo
“Cinema has always had a mission to inspire, but in the past it has too often done so at the cost of behaviors that can no longer be tolerated today. The conditions under which work is produced matter.” (Variety)
Kevin Spacey Returns To Cannes
“A lot of people really like him, so you’ll have a lot of people going, ‘This is really cool.’ And then you’ll have some people that’ll be like, ‘What the fuck is he doing here?’ But hopefully the people who say, ‘What the fuck is he doing,’ when they realize why he’s here they’ll give him a second chance.” (Variety)
Women’s Participation In Global Film Industry On Slow Rise
“There is still a steeper climb to the top leadership position in film for women no matter what country they work in. The encouraging finding across this analysis is that there has been change in some countries and particularly in the U.K.” (Variety)
Carbon Footprint of Hollywood’s Runaway Production
“All of a sudden in order to see their families, who moved here originally because of the entertainment industry, they have to fly somewhere else, which means they have to fly back and forth. It’s an environmental, economic and emotional issue.” (THR)
Techniques Empowering Sustainable Set Design
“These innovations are helping us achieve both sustainability and strong design outcomes, which is the sweet spot.” (Shots)
Thanks for tuning in for our latest. Drop us a line when you’re ready to make some filmmaking news together on location.
Michael
