Editor's note: This story is part of an ongoing series for Arts Access examining the health and well-being of our North Texas arts economy.
Senate Bill 22, which invests $1.5 billion into Texas’ film incentives program over the next decade, has been passed into law and will go into effect starting Sept. 1.
The piece of legislation was not among the 334 bills that Gov. Greg Abbott signed and publicly endorsed on Sunday, but bills can become law without his signature, per the state constitution.
In Texas, film incentives are cash rebates for productions. The more money a production spends in state, the higher a rebate the production could receive.
SB 22 establishes a $300 million biennial fund for the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. It’s less than the $500 million figure lawmakers had considered, but is still a new record for the program, which was previously boosted with $200 million in 2023.
“This bold investment will attract high-quality film and television projects to production hubs like Dallas,” Katie Schuck, the Dallas film commissioner, wrote in a Monday email. “This is truly a gamechanger.”
Lobbying in support of increased film incentives brought star power to the state Capitol, with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson — two Texas-born actors who have recently been shooting in Austin for an Apple TV+ comedy — making appearances.
Fort Worth-raised Taylor Sheridan also testified before lawmakers in a pre-legislative session meeting last fall, expressing his frustration with the instability of the incentives program.
Past fluctuations in incentives funding made it difficult for him to assure studio executives that Texas was a stable place where they could shoot and invest. The 10-year duration of the fund could quell such concerns.
Among the bill’s key provisions, there is a new crew residency minimum requirement.
It has been lowered from 55% to 35% with incremental increases back up to 50% by 2035. Some North Texas filmmakers had struggled to meet previous minimums, citing a dearth of crew in the area.
The bill also includes several new incentive boosts of 2.5% for projects that meet certain criteria, such as shooting in rural areas, shooting at historic sites, having at least 5% of crew be veterans and being faith based.
What remains to be seen is how language around applications that could be denied for containing “content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion” will be addressed.
The Texas Film Commission, housed within the state’s Office of Economic Development & Tourism, oversees the review and approval of applications.
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