Donald Trump’s victory on Nov. 6 left many in what the incoming president has called “liberal Hollywood” stunned and soul-searching.
Left-leaning Hollywood activists aren’t exactly throwing up their hands and giving up — though several are taking a beat and reflecting on their apparent disconnect with many American voters. Instead, some political liaisons in the business predict that the industry’s advocates will shift their focus. Rather than mounting a broad “resistance” against a president that has so far narrowly won the popular vote, industry activists may focus on shoring up policies and advocating for Democrat-favored and/or progressive legislation down-ballot, including closer to home.
“I do think that the approach will be much more micro than macro this time around,” says Hannah Linkenhoker, the chief engagement officer at the industry law firm Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. “The work a lot of us are looking to do is protecting vulnerable communities [and] fighting for the preservation of rights or policies that are under threat.”
Adds Natalie Tran, the executive director of the CAA Foundation: “We’ll see more of a focus on state and local levels. The fight to protect abortion is a good case study. You’re seeing states ratifying abortion at the state level. The abortion movement has pivoted there.”
Climate change, reproductive rights and immigration will likely be top concerns for the left-leaning, industry-activist set moving forward. On the campaign trail, Trump stated his intention to roll back the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which directs billions to clean-energy and climate initiatives, and promised a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants while saying he would leave abortion laws up to the states.
A couple of Hollywood-backed organizations focused on climate solutions emphasize that a regional approach may be increasingly important in the next four years. Climate advocates can surmise that “any action to increase community resilience to climate disasters or build more renewable energy infrastructure is absolutely going to fall to the states, to cities, to civil society, to industry leaders, religious organizations, nonprofit organizations and to everyday people,” argues Sarah Shanley Hope, the managing director of narratives strategies at The Solutions Project. The Mark Ruffalo co-founded nonprofit, which leverages celebrity supporters, training and grants to support community climate initiatives, “will be very much focused there,” Hope adds.
Though this year the Jane Fonda Climate PAC endorsed Kamala Harris and congressional candidates that it believed would effectively combat the fossil fuel industry, it primarily focused on supporting candidates in down-ballot races, says the organization’s executive director, Sarah Lane. “We see these local and state and county-level electeds as a fire wall against what might be coming from the Trump administration,” Lane says.
It’s likely, too, that moving forward, L.A.-based Hollywood figures will continue to throw their weight behind local politicians. During the 2024 election cycle, comedians Adam Conover, Joel Kim Booster and Nick Kroll and Hacks actor Hannah Einbinder all donated to city councilmember-elect for District 14 Ysabel Jurado, the challenger to incumbent Kevin de León, who was embroiled in a leaked audio scandal in 2022. Jane Fonda, meanwhile, co-hosted a party for Jurado. Documentarian Rory Kennedy put out a statement supporting L.A. County District Attorney-elect Nathan Hochman, to whom Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer also donated. And Conover and comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan headlined an event for Jillian Burgos, who lost her bid to represent District 2 on the City Council.
Some advocates argue that the industry can have a greater impact on local races than on national contests. When Hollywood types donate in national races, “We’re not under the illusion that we’re swinging the balance of the election,” says Conover. “But in the local races, that’s actually a power base that’s a wellspring of support.” The Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles chapter has an active Hollywood Labor subcommittee populated by assistants, crewmembers, writers and directors who support DSA-LA-endorsed candidates.
“In some ways, as crazy as Nov. 5 was, we succeeded locally,” member Alex Wolinetz says, citing the re-election of city councilmember for District 4 Nithya Raman and Burbank city councilmember Konstantine Anthony and the election of Jurado.
Democrats are reportedly rethinking their approach to deploying celebrities after 2024’s presidential election results. And it’s certainly unclear how beneficial star endorsements can be to political candidates, even as a recent study found that famous faces can help increase civic engagement. But Jane Fonda Climate PAC’s Lane has observed firsthand that “the reality is that celebrities really do bring a certain volunteer recruitment and fundraising prowess that you just can’t get otherwise,” especially in down-ballot races that don’t raise the kind of funds that major federal races do.
While it’s still early, this more targeted focus could represent a shift from the diffuse anti-Trump Hollywood activism that unfolded in the early days after Trump’s 2016 election, when celebrities turned out in force at Women’s Marches across the country and the United Talent Agency held a rally to protest Trump’s travel ban in lieu of its 2017 pre-Oscars party. With major U.S. distributors already shying away from films perceived to be potentially divisive or politically charged — such as Union, The Bibi Files and The Apprentice (indie distributor Briarcliff Entertainment picked the latter up) — pre-election, it remains to be seen how much appetite the business and its leaders will have for blatantly anti-Trump protests and/or projects.
TV writer Hayes Davenport (Dickinson, Divorce) hopes Hollywood will get more involved locally during Trump 2.0, as he did during the president-elect’s first term, when he began to volunteer with SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, which provides services like device charging and help with EBT applications to unhoused individuals in L.A. “I think a lot of people are feeling a loss of agency in their careers with the issues that the industry is facing and when it comes to national politics,” says Davenport, who later had a stint working for Councilmember Raman. “Working on the city can give you some of that feeling back.”
Rebecca Keegan contributed to this report.
This story first appeared in the Dec. 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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