Georgia film industry eyeing trade wars, tariff impacts

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Narratives on tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are shifting by the hour. First, a minimum 10% tariff was imposed on dozens of countries with a larger 104% tariff imposed on China. Then on Wednesday, all the new tariffs were paused, except those on China.

For Georgia entertainment executives and workers, tariffs could be a good or a bad thing.

“The only certainty we have right now is that we are all uncertain,” said Melissa Simpson, the executive director of the nonprofit Film Impact Georgia. The nonprofit helps indie filmmakers get projects funded.

But getting off the ground is hard when you don’t know where you’re going.

“It can go in several different directions,” Simpson said.

Georgia’s film industry – and Hollywood at large – has struggled this decade, with the pandemic and writer’s strike halting an industry that can take years to ramp up. Another stoppage could devastate the industry.

“Right now, uncertainty is at an all-time high,” she said.

The back-and-forth on tariffs has raised anxiety levels. Productions are leaving the U.S. for Europe and Australia.

“We want to give the benefit of the doubt to the current administration that maybe production is to drive production back to the U.S.—same thing with all goods, not just with entertainment,“ said Joshua Harris, a Georgia-based film producer and president of Peachtree Media Partners.

Harris’ latest film, The Surfer, starring Nicolas Cage, will be shown at the Atlanta Film Festival later this month.

Under former trade agreements, China committed to release 34 foreign films per year.

However, the ongoing trade war could cause China to reduce or ban U.S. films altogether.

Even so, Harris says American production companies don’t lean on Chinese distribution like they did even five years ago.

Tariffs could level the playing field by making it more expensive to film internationally, which could drive productions back to Georgia and Hollywood.

“For those of us providing financing to the film industry, we never bank against any China distribution or box office sales,” he said.

Even if production is brought back, Simpson says the rising tariffs on China, where specific equipment and camera parts are made, could make renting gear more expensive, a plague on low-budget films.

“Those rental houses are going to have to pass those costs on,” Simpson said.

Regardless of where the trade wars lead the economy, the film industry won’t hit pause again.

“We can’t really afford another shutdown to pause and see what happens,” Harris said.

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