U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 100% tax on films produced abroad has divided industry professionals. Operators are still in a state of uncertainty. For some, this reversal “will certainly have an impact, but not much” on foreign productions shot in Morocco, according to one industry operator. According to another professional, nothing is clear yet.
According to the 2023 balance sheet of the Moroccan Film Center (CCM), of which L’Economiste has a copy, 50 foreign productions were shot in the Kingdom during the same year, for a total invested budget in excess of 1.1 billion dirhams (USD 119 million), the highest amount achieved since 2015.
Only three foreign productions filmed in the Kingdom in 2023 were of American origin, according to the same source. These were the series Testament Moses (episodes 1 to 6); the feature film Dirty Angels and the animated film Good News.
The operators impacted by President Trump’s decision will be Moroccan production companies directly responsible for the executive production of feature films and TV series of American origin, explains a manager from Atlas Studio, one of the largest film studios in Ouarzazate, in the south-east of the Kingdom, where part of Gladiator, Game of Thrones, The Mummy and The Odyssey were shot.
730 filming authorizations
In 2023, according to the balance sheet of the Moroccan Film Center (CCM), Morocco allocated 109 million dirhams (USD 12 million) to the foreign production assistance fund. Five of the productions receiving the cash rebate in 2023 were of American origin. These included three feature films and two TV series.
During the same year, 730 filming permits for foreign productions were granted by the CCM, far outstripping those granted for domestic shoots, which amounted to 564.
The Kingdom also offers investment facilities for foreign directors. If a director’s budget allows him or her to invest at least 10 million Dirhams dirhams (USD 1 million) in pre-tax expenses and to shoot in Morocco for at least 18 days, including set construction days, then the country reimburses between 20% and 30% of his or her expenses.
Collaboration with operators other than the Americans is also conceivable, confides our source at Atlas Studios. “We offer studio rentals, which would enable us to work with the English, the French, the Germans and the Spaniards”, she explained, while pointing out that the Americans remain the biggest investors in this field.
As far as production companies are concerned, nothing is yet clear. A professional explains that for the moment, no official communication has been sent by the supervisory authority.
“Neither I nor my colleagues have received any information from the Ministry of Culture”, she explained. Contacted, the Ministry of Culture had not yet responded to our questions, as we went to press.
The acting director of the Moroccan Film Center, Abdelaziz Bouzdaini, had also not responded to our requests, citing a meeting. Was the Trump tax on the agenda? Quite likely, given that Morocco has introduced a subsidy to attract foreign film shoots.
On Sunday May 04, 2025, Donald Trump announced that his administration would «immediately begin the process of instituting 100% tariffs» on films shown in the USA but produced abroad.
The announcement has plunged the industry into uncertainty: studios are seeing their shares plummet on the stock market, and unions are trying to make sense of the decision, particularly if it also applies to series. “The only answer I can give is that I don’t know, like everyone else here, what the mechanism will be, and whether it’s even possible,” writes Moroccan director Khadija Alami from Los Angeles.
What future for the workforce?
«In Morocco, we receive projects from all over the world, and it’s not just the Americans who bring film shoots back to our country. We can’t logically and honestly talk about impact until we have real official information», explained Khadija Alami, a Moroccan director living between Marrakech and Los Angeles, the American city where the iconic Hollywood district is located.
U.S. filmmakers are particularly fond of shooting in destinations like Morocco because the labor pool of technicians, location managers and scouts is generally inexpensive compared to that in the United States.
Morocco is also the setting for many Middle Eastern films dealing with war and terrorism, with directors, producers, and actors finding that its desert landscapes can easily evoke those of Lebanon or Iraq. Some feature-length films, sometimes subsidized, help promote the Kingdom. This is a real asset for the country, especially when it is featured in blockbusters such as The Bourne Supremacy.
Akram OUBACHIR
