WATCH: Sen. Schiff Leads Hearing on Promoting American Film Production, Tackling Challenges Facing the Film Industry

Schiff: "We have a special responsibility when it comes to the future of the American film and television industry."

Burbank, CA -Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) hosted a spotlight hearing "Lights, Camera, Competition": Promoting American Film Production to highlight the importance of bolstering American film production, and tackling the challenges facing the industry from generous tax incentives provided by other countries to the potential impacts of Paramount Skydance's proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

The spotlight hearing brought together industry workers and experts alike to draw attention to the ways in which the entertainment industry faces intense competition, along with the impact of a potential merger of two of Hollywood's biggest studios on the industry's workforce, small businesses, consumers, the global media market, and film and television production in California and the United States.

During Schiff's opening remarks, he highlighted how he is working to advance bipartisan legislation to establish a federal film tax incentive, noting, "state programs simply cannot substitute for the kind of globally competitive federal tax incentive that is needed to bring production back to American soil and stop its offshoring. I am committed to introducing a federal film incentive proposal in Congress, with as broad a coalition of support as possible, and today's hearing is part of growing that support; building the record and the case for why we must act. And the urgency could not be greater."

Schiff also spoke about the importance of protecting the more than 800,000 direct industry jobs nationwide involved with producing, marketing, and distributing content, stating: "Two of Hollywood's biggest studios are now seeking to merge, and the decisions made in that boardroom will land squarely on industry workers…. It would be an unprecedented consolidation of media and programming. Representative Friedman and I wrote to both Paramount and Netflix last month pressing for concrete commitments to California's workers. Paramount CEO David Ellison has since responded with a number of pledges, but many of them lack specificity, and we intend to examine them carefully today."

Watch the hearing livestream HERE.

Watch his full opening remarks HERE.

Read a transcript of the Senator's remarks as delivered below:

Hi, everyone. Welcome.

It's great pleasure to be here. And I want to begin by thanking the city of Burbank for being our hosts today. It's wonderful to be here at beautiful Burbank city hall. And I want to thank my colleagues Laura Friedman, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, and Lou Correa for joining this important hearing. And to get us started and before we introduce the witnesses, I would like to introduce the mayor of Burbank, Mayor Takahashi to say a few words of welcome.

[…]

Thank you, Madam Mayor. It is wonderful to be here in the heart of American film and television production.

I want to thank our witnesses for being here. Noah Wyle thank you, grateful for your presence and Matthew Loeb. I will introduce the witnesses more formally later, but Matthew [Loeb] it's wonderful to see you. Thank you for attending. Jim Acosta, really appreciate you bringing your expertise here today. And Jax Deluca thank you so much for coming and for your testimony.

As Members of the House and Senate representing Hollywood, the greater Los Angeles area, and the whole state of California, we have a special responsibility when it comes to the future of American film and television production.

As many in this room know, this industry supports nearly 800,000 jobs nationwide in producing, marketing, and distributing content.

But even more impressive are the jobs that the industry supports - more than 2 million caterers and carpenters, dry cleaners and lumber suppliers, hotel workers and equipment vendors - all whose livelihoods are tied to a production shop setting up in their community.

This is an industry that generates over $200 billion in wages and is comprised of 162,000 businesses located in every state in the country - 93 percent of which are small businesses employing fewer than ten people.

This is not a Hollywood backlot story. It is a Main Street story.

It's the story of an industry delivering America's greatest cultural export to audiences around the world.

It's also an industry that has faced very real challenges over the last few years.

Even as the industry has tried to find its footing following a global pandemic, production has continued to migrate away from Los Angeles, and indeed away from the United States of America.

In the three months between July and September of last year, on-location filming in the greater Los Angeles area was down more than thirteen percent from the year before.

In the two years before that, Los Angeles County's motion production industry lost more than 42,000 jobs.

For the grips, and the drivers, and the set dressers, the makeup artists who bring this industry to life, this is not a data point. This is their livelihood.

Families and communities have been disrupted. Future opportunities have been waning.

And too often, those jobs are not simply moving to another state.

They are moving to another country, lured abroad by foreign governments that decided to invest aggressively in their own film industries.

In 2022, a third of American film and scripted series were shot internationally.

Last year, that number jumped to 45 percent - a frightening acceleration.

Individual states - like California, Geogia, Louisiana, Texas, and others - have tried hard to keep pace.

California's state tax credit has generated more than $29.1 billion in motion picture production wages and supported more than 220,000 jobs.

But state programs cannot simply substitute for the kind of global federal and competitive tax incentive that are needed to bring production back to American soil and stop its offshoring.

I am committed to introducing a federal film incentive proposal in Congress, with as broad a coalition of support as possible, and today's hearing I hope will be a part of growing support for that; building the record and the case for why we must act.

And the urgency could not be greater.

Because on top of all of this - two of Hollywood's biggest studios are now seeking to merge, and the decisions made in that boardroom will land squarely on industry workers.

The proposed acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery by Paramount Skydance - a transaction reportedly worth $110 billion - would combine Warner Brother's storied library and news assets, including HBO and CNN, with Paramount's portfolio of CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, and more.

It would be an unprecedented consolidation of media and programming.

Representative Friedman and I both wrote to Paramount and Netflix last month pressing for concrete commitments to California's workers.

Paramount CEO David Ellison has since responded with a number of pledges, but many of them lack specificity and we intend to examine them carefully.

Because what workers need - what we will continue pushing for - are enforceable, specific commitments, backed by actions that can be measured and held to account.

And what consumers need are lower prices, not increased fees to make the merger pencil out for shareholders. The questions surrounding this merger go beyond jobs, contracts, and consumers.

They also go to editorial independence of two of America's most significant news organizations - CNN and CBS News.

In recent weeks, administration officials have openly expressed their preferences about CNN's future ownership from the White House to podiums in the Pentagon.

Take Secretary Hegseth's comments regarding coverage of the war in Iran - "The sooner David Ellison takes over, he said, the better." This administration couldn't be clearer about what they intend to do: which is to tell the news media not just what to say, but how to say it.

Public reporting indicates that assurances have been made about the future editorial content and direction of those networks. Something that should never be used as leverage to gain favorable treatment of a merger.

These are not normal circumstances, and we would be failing in our oversight responsibilities if we did not examine these issues carefully.

To help us discuss and examine our questions about this pending merger, as well as the need of a federal tax incentive, we are joined today by four witnesses who bring extraordinary talent, expertise, and perspectives to this moment.

Noah Wyle stars in, co-writes, directs and is an executive producer of the medical drama "The Pitt," for which he made history as the first male actor to win all five major television acting awards in a single season.

He previously led the genre-defining TV hit "ER" as 'Dr. John Carter' across fifteen seasons, a role for which he earned three Golden Globe Award nominations and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, he has also starred in, produced, written, and directed many, many other critically acclaimed works.

Didn't know I was going to say so many nice things about you, did you? [Laughter]

That's why we keep your mic muted until I'm done with that, so you don't cut me off.

Matthew Loeb has served as International President of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees since July 31, 2008. IATSE represents workers across the United States and in Canada in motion picture and television production, live events, theater, trade shows, exhibitions, broadcasting, the shops that support these industries and more.

In the context of today's conversation, IATSE represents virtually all behind-the-scenes workers in film and television production. A longtime IATSE president, President Loeb has helped build an organization strategy in motion picture and television production that brought thousands of workers into union contracts with health and retirement benefits.

Jim Acosta is an award-winning journalist and the host of "The Jim Acosta Show" on Substack and YouTube. You should go and subscribe right now. How am I doing Jim?

He was the chief White House correspondent and an anchor for CNN and a correspondent for CBS News.

He was also the author of the New York Times bestseller "The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America."

Jax Deluca is a cultural strategist and former Film & Media Arts Director at the National Endowment for the Arts. She has championed independent film for over two decades.

Currently, she is the interim director for the Future Film Coalition, a newly formed national alliance dedicated to safeguarding and strengthening the independent film and media sector in the United States.

Thank you all for being here and joining us in ensuring that California and Hollywood remain the global magnet for storytelling, innovation, and creative employment.

I'm now going to turn it over to Congresswoman Friedman to give a brief opening statement.

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