A bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled a bill on Thursday to create a 20% federal film incentive, with bonuses that could bring the total rebate to 30%.

The Senate bill is led by Sens. Adam Schiff and Tim Scott. The identical House bill is led by Reps. Nathaniel Moran, Linda Sanchez, Laura Friedman, Brian Jack, David Kustoff, Judy Chu, Mike Carey and Tom Suozzi.

The proposal covers a broad section of the production economy. Films, scripted and unscripted TV shows with a four-episode minimum, TV pilots and animation all qualify. So do pre-production and post-production, standalone post-production and visual effects, and both above-the-line wages for producers, writers, directors and actors and below-the-line wages for crew. The credit is transferable and stackable with state incentives.

Productions must meet two thresholds. They need a minimum spend of $1 million, calculated per film or per TV season, and at least 75% of production days must take place in the U.S. For animation, 75% of the production cost must be domestic.

The exclusions are extensive. Pornography, commercials, talk shows, interview shows, game shows, award shows, news programming, live sports, daytime dramas, corporate and industrial videos, and social media videos are all out. So are non-labor expenses, non-U.S. labor, backend compensation such as residuals and profit participation, and refundability.

The bill builds in 5% "uplifts" that can raise the total credit to 30%. Productions qualify for the bonus by filming in a rural opportunity zone or federal disaster area, with a five-year limit on disaster declarations; by operating as independent productions; by spending at least $10 million across 10 states in a single year; or by increasing domestic production relative to overseas production.

One provision carries particular weight for California. All of Los Angeles County was declared a federal disaster area in 2025 after the Palisades and Eaton fires. If the bill is adopted, the disaster-area bonus would extend until January 2030 for the county — a potential draw for productions weighing a return to a region still recovering from the fires.

The inclusion of above-the-line wages and visual effects distinguishes the proposal from many state programs, which often exclude one or both. For VFX houses in particular, a standalone federal credit with stackability could reshape where post-production work lands.

The legislation now awaits committee action in both chambers. Its fate will test whether a divided Congress can agree on industrial policy for an industry that has spent years lobbying for federal support as production migrates abroad.