Stars turn out for Texas film bill

Texas has the opportunity to become among the best places not only to shoot movies, but also to build a world-class film industry that brings more and more productions to the state, native Texan and Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey told the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. 

Members considered a bill that would build on the state’s successful film incentive program, which the Uvalde-born actor believes could build a film production infrastructure and native workforce that rivals Hollywood. 

“California doesn’t have the incentives to compete,” McConaughey said. “We make very few films there.” 

McConaughey wants to see Texas step into a leading role when it comes to filmmaking. 

“One of the only regrets of my 33-year career in film and television is not making more of my films here in Texas,” he said. “Especially the ones that were about Texans or set in Texas.” 

The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program was launched in 2007 to entice film productions to the state with a combination of tax breaks and reimbursements – up to 20 percent of funds expended within the state – as long as those projects hire more than half of the cast and crew from among Texas residents, and complete most of their of total production in the state. The program has been a boon for the state and for communities who welcome film and television projects, says the office of the governor, with the industry laying out $4.69 in in-state spending for every dollar granted through incentives. Since its inception, the program has brought in $2.5 billion in economic impact and nearly 200,000 jobs. 

Despite its success, the program has at times struggled to bring productions to Texas due better deals offered by other states and the lack of a reliable funding mechanism each biennium. 

“Producers who want to film in Texas have difficulty convincing the capital management side of film production companies to allow filming here when presented with more robust and consistent incentives offered by other states,” committee chair and Houston Senator Joan Huffman said. 

Huffman’s bill, SB 22, would create a dedicated revenue stream of $500 million each biennium for the next decade to further support the growth of the film industry in Texas. It will keep in place the program’s existing framework, including discretion to decline to award grants to productions based on inappropriate content, content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative light, or violates “general standards of decency.” The governor’s office also reserves the right to review completed material before awarding grant reimbursements. The bill lowers the threshold for the size of productions to qualify for the program’s top-tier incentives and bumps up the cap for total reimbursements. 

Appearing with McConaughey was Woody Harrelson; the two are currently co-starring in a new family comedy series shooting in nearby Dripping Springs. McConaughey said that both men took a fifteen percent pay cut to keep the production in Texas instead of moving to Georgia, one of the state’s top competitors in attracting productions. That production, he said, has already spent $12 million on Texas goods and labor, with most of the production still left to shoot. 

“That is money that’s going to local Texas restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, dry cleaners, street rentals, home rentals, even Woody’s barber,” McConaughey said. Passing this bill immediately puts the state at the table in negotiations for more productions, he said. 

More than just bringing productions to Texas, McConaughey wants to see the state grow its own infrastructure and workforce to the point that productions choose to come here because it’s the best place, not just visually but economically, to shoot a movie. 

“We do this, and we start to create our own industry. We do this, and we create our own pipeline for film and television,” McConaughey said. “We do this, and there will be a point when we are not going to need financial incentives from the state.” 

SOURCE Texas Senate News