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Monday, April 21, 2025
Higher Costs Are Hitting Film and TV Producers
www.hollywoodreporter.com: Hollywood is bracing as President Trump’s promised (and ever-fluctuating) tariffs threaten to balloon the price of materials required for physical production, from lumber to fabric.
I am becoming more concerned with the implications of higher costs for things like wood and fabric that are so prevalent in theatre. Low budget productions will suffer, especially school theatre programs that operate on an already extremely limited budget. In many cases, it might mean that students will be losing the opportunity to experience live theatre, whether as performers or designers and crew. This is a terrible blow to the next generation of students who may not be able to truly develop an interest in theatre, where they otherwise would have. In an earlier article from a few weeks ago, it was mentioned that the percentage of students choosing to study in drama programs is going down rapidly in the UK. I would not be surprised if the higher costs due to the tariffs will do the same in the US. I guess we shall see within a few years.
I am becoming more concerned with the implications of higher costs for things like wood and fabric that are so prevalent in theatre. Low budget productions will suffer, especially school theatre programs that operate on an already extremely limited budget. In many cases, it might mean that students will be losing the opportunity to experience live theatre, whether as performers or designers and crew. This is a terrible blow to the next generation of students who may not be able to truly develop an interest in theatre, where they otherwise would have. In an earlier article from a few weeks ago, it was mentioned that the percentage of students choosing to study in drama programs is going down rapidly in the UK. I would not be surprised if the higher costs due to the tariffs will do the same in the US. I guess we shall see within a few years.
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