VIDEO: Okanagan film commissioner imagines a nice Hollywood ending amid Trump tariff threats

"When I first heard it, I thought 'Oh, no, doomsday!' Like most people," said Okanagan Film Commissioner Jon Summerland.

But then he began thinking of the impracticality of it all.

"Who is he going to tariff? I don't understand that part," he said.

"Is it the distribution company?" he asks. "Any money they make in the States, they have to tariff?, Is it the financiers of the film?"

All this while his phone was ringing off the hook, and the emails were flooding his inbox.

On Sunday, Trump announced a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the US, saying the American movie industry was dying.

"We've got to remember it's a social media post, and he does a lot of those things," said Summerland, referencing Trump's chaotic track record on tariff announcements.

Summerland said none of it makes much sense, and the early reaction from people in the industry is as good as can be expected.

"I've talked to the producers here, and they're all going forward," he said.

But with the uncertainty, there are some questions about new productions.

He said some might be paused while the industry figures it out, be he suggested that can't last.

"You've got to fill the void in the streamers, in the movie theatres, we need to have product."

And the appetite for TV shows will not pause.

"We are a long-format place mostly in BC," he said.

"We make television series for the most part, that's the bread and butter of BC."

And Trump's tariff tweeting didn't point to that.

"He said 'movies'," said Summerland. "So I don't even know."

Still, he admits the whole thing could be disruptive.

"We might have a couple of months, three months of eating Mr. Noodle," said Summerland, and that's where he sees the script taking a positive turn.

We can start making our own productions," he said, and maybe we're the next Spielberg."