Staff Reports
Spencer Pratt showing up in the Oval Office to push a federal film tax credit and Paramount Skydance promising 30 theatrical films a year are more than a Hollywood subplot. They are the latest scenes in a fight over where American movies are made, who shows them, and who pays for the jobs that follow. Both moves landed this week and they deserve a clear-eyed conservative take: bring production home, protect theaters, and stop letting coastal elites outsource American work.
Pratt in the Oval: Lobbying for a Federal Film Tax Credit
Yes, Spencer Pratt. A reality-TV figure and one-time Los Angeles mayoral candidate. He met with President Donald Trump and urged a 25% federal film tax credit to keep filming in the United States. Call it unlikely theater company politics — or call it common sense. Other countries and many U.S. states already use tax credits to lure productions. The result is jobs, hotel stays, catering, and small-business income wherever movies shoot. Conservatives should ask: if a federal credit brings American jobs back, why oppose it?
Paramount’s Pledge: Thirty Films and Longer Theatrical Windows
At the same time, Paramount Skydance’s CEO David Ellison has been promising theater owners a big theatrical slate and longer exclusive windows — 45 days in theaters and a 90-day delay before streaming, with an offer of three-year deals to big chains like AMC and Regal. That pledge is tied to the studio’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s smart PR and a tactical move in the face of a multistate antitrust suit. If the studio really signs enforceable contracts, theaters and local economies could get a steady drumbeat of releases that actually drive ticket sales and concessions.
Don’t Buy the Hype Without the Fine Print
Promises sound good. Contracts matter more. The real question is whether those 30 films per year and the 45‑day windows come with real penalties and teeth. Will box-office bombs count toward the quota? Are there clawbacks if the theater guarantees fail? Theater chains deserve protection, and communities deserve jobs, but the devil is always in the enforcement. Conservatives who favor free enterprise should still insist on clear, enforceable terms that protect theaters and workers — not vague pledges the next CFO can undo.
Here’s the conservative case: support a federal film tax credit that brings production back to America and insist on real, written guarantees that protect the theater ecosystem. Let the President and Congress act to stop “runaway production” and give middle‑class Americans the steady jobs that film shoots create. If California’s leaders would rather ship work overseas while lecturing the rest of us, then good — let the federal government be the adult in the room. And if movie executives want public goodwill, they should put their promises in ink, not press releases. Hollywood can be saved with common sense, not just celebrity selfies in the Oval.
