Why Trump was persuaded to back a US federal production incentive: “That really moved the president”

S P Media Group president Scott Karol remembers the three occasions when he joined company CEO and veteran producer Steven Paul and actor Jon Voight to lobby Donald Trump on a suite of measures to bolster US production.

The first encounter in spring 2025 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida led to the now-notorious Truth Social post on tariffs after the US commander-in-chief fixated on punitive measures to support the industry. When the trio met the president again in February 2026 at a White House screening of 2004 feature National Treasure, they focused specifically on a federal production incentive. Trump was made aware of the robust bipartisan political and industry support coalescing around a bill and paid attention. The clincher came in August, when Paul, Karol and Hollywood special ambassador Voight brought persuasive topline data on the likely economic benefits of an incentive from an upcoming Olsberg SPI report. Paul relayed his disappointment over having to take his historical thriller Nixon’s Gamble to the UK because he could not afford a US shoot.

“That really moved the president,” says Karol. Trump summoned his executive assistant Natalie Harp and “they just started writing”, recalls the SP Media Group exec.