The Military Entertainment Complex: Hollywood's and the Pentagon's Mutually Beneficial Relationship

Movies are expensive to make – especially the ones filled with the intense action and adventure that audiences like, and that have the greatest potential for becoming blockbusters. It is thus unsurprising that Hollywood’s bean counters are always on the lookout for ways to cut costs. When it comes to any movie that involves the military, one of the best cost-cutting ways is to get help from the Pentagon. However, as seen below, that comes at a price.

The Military Entertainment Complex

Movie poster for 'Saving Private Ryan' featuring soldiers in military uniforms and a central figure holding a weapon, set against a dramatic background. — Saving Private Ryan was one of many movies helped by the Pentagon. Imgur

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is always more than happy to help Hollywood make movies. For more than a century, the Pentagon has lent its military gear to filmmakers, and allowed them to shoot scenes on military bases and other installations. However, in order for the US military to scratch the backs of Hollywood producers, it wants them to scratch its back in return. Movie scripts for war films have to get approved by the Pentagon as a precondition for its assistance.

That assistance can be valuable, so movie producers have a strong incentive to make sure their war films please the US armed forces. The Pentagon gets to have a say in every movie that wants to use US military resources that are not available on the open market, and it has an office dedicated to that: the DoD’s Entertainment Media Unit. As a result, there is a mutually beneficial relationship between Hollywood and the Pentagon, known as the “military-entertainment complex”. As seen below, movie producers have to meet certain criterion if they want production assistance from America’s armed forces.

The Pentagon’s Conditions for Helping Hollywood

Movies get help from the US military if they meet certain conditions — United States Air Force personnel act as extras during the filming of 2007’s Transformers at Holloman Air Base. US Air Force

Action blockbusters don’t come cheap, and the costs of production can add up pretty quick. It is thus advantageous for movie producers to borrow military gear from the Department of Defense as a cheap way to put cool stuff on the screen. Want to have Tom Cruise tangle with baddies in the skies in America’s most cutting edge fighter? Do you want film of a massed helicopter assault? Want to shoot a US carrier task force majestically slice through the waves? The DoD is happy to help Hollywood – so long as Hollywood makes it happy in return.

Movies that want US military support have to submit their scripts in advance, to be vetted by the Pentagon’s Entertainment Media Unit. Assistance that can be worth millions of dollars will be offered if the movie meets the Pentagon’s conditions. First, the movie has to portray America’s armed forces accurately and authentically – and it is the Pentagon that gets to decide what is “accurate” and “authentic”. Second, the movie has to depict the US military in a positive light. Finally, the movie has to have a positive impact on US military recruitment and retention.