It’s been clear for months that David Ellison is a supporter of the idea of a federal film tax incentive, which has been gathering support in the legislature. Why wouldn’t he be? As the head of one studio and the aspiring leader of a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery, his entertainment empire stands to benefit from the U.S. offering a stackable incentive on top of states’ individual tax credit programs.
But on Monday, the same day that California attorney general Rob Bonta and 11 other state regulators filed suit to block the proposed $111 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, new details of Ellison’s actions to support such a bill came to light beyond his former declaration of support.
The Paramount Skydance CEO and his chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim, are meeting with Republican members of the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee about a bipartisan bill on Monday night, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. (Politico’s Daniel Miller was the first to report on the trip.) The trip is one of several that Ellison has been making in support of the bill, a source in D.C. confirmed.
Previously, Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Laura Friedman were gathering support for a federal tax incentive bill, though President Donald Trump’s enmity with Schiff was largely seen in the industry as a liability. While it was unclear on Monday night which legislators would be carrying the bill that Ellison is lobbying for, a separate source noted that Friedman and Schiff are still involved.
While it’s not surprising that Ellison is backing the initiative, his involvement may be helpful in swaying Trump to consider the idea. Since proposing a “100 percent tariff” on movies made in other countries a couple of times in 2025, the president has been largely silent on the topic of domestic film and TV production. Still, he appears to remain interested in domestic entertainment production, in May meeting with one of his “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, actor Jon Voight and his team of Steven Paul and Scott Karol, about the federal film incentive idea.
Trump remains friendly with David and his father, Larry Ellison, in June of 2025, calling David “great” and saying he would “do a great job” running a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery. On June 12, the Department of Justice signed off on the proposed transaction, though the lawsuit filed Monday by 12 state attorneys general throws a wrench in Ellison’s plans.