AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas legislature passed several bills this legislative session to incentivize more film, television and commercial production in the state.
During the session, Texas lawmakers introduced a record-breaking 19 bills aimed at incentivizing film production in a variety of ways. Though not all passed, the Texas Motion Picture Alliance – an entity for film, TV, commercial, video game and digital media production industries – said what did make it through was a win for the industry.
“We ended up with an amazing historic session,” said Mindy Raymond, communications director for TXMPA. “We are beyond happy with the outcome,” she continued.
Perhaps most notably, the legislature approved a $200 million budget for Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program – an entity designed to build the economy through the moving image industry – which is a 400% increase from what it received last session. Raymond said this money, in turn, will pump $1 billion back into the Texas economy.
“That’s a really big business when we have an industry bringing in a billion dollars. That’s something to talk about,” she said.
Easing Requirements
Another bill, which will go into effect Sept. 1, reduces the Texas residency requirement – the threshold to qualify for the film incentive program – from 70% to 55%. A 55% requirement rate is still quite high compared to other states. For example, Georgia and Oklahoma have no residency requirement thresholds to meet.
“We’re still one of the higher ones at 55%. The good news is the majority of the cast and crew will be Texans,” Raymond said.
Others in the industry, like Sean Doherty, brother of actress Shannon Doherty and CEO of Texas-based Sharpened Iron Studios, said the state could go even further. “That’s still high, I’ll be honest, but at least it’s going in the right direction,” Doherty said.
He said currently, there is not an abundance of Texans working in film production making it sometimes challenging to meet that requirement. Doherty said in the past, this has led filmmakers who could have shot their projects in Texas to choose other states, like New Mexico or Oklahoma, with lower thresholds.
“[This] is why we’re just not seeing, up until now, the types of productions that should be getting filmed here. So it’s a step in the right direction, but we would like to see it reduce a little bit more,” he continued.
Another law passed this session gets rid of a population requirement in the Media Production Development Zone Act (MPDZ), which was established in 2009.
MPDZ allows tax exemptions for the construction, maintenance, expansion, improvement or renovation of media production facilities. Before this session, to qualify, the facility had to be in a city of over 250,000 people, Raymond said.
Doherty’s company will benefit from this as his company, Sharpen Ironed Studios, is slated to soon break ground for a new facility in Amarillo, which has a population of around 200,000. He said this will encourage others to choose the Lone Star State.
“These bills collectively will put Texas towards the top in terms of film incentives and draw the types of productions here that we’re seeing going to New Mexico and Oklahoma,” Doherty said.
“I got to tell you, as a Texan, it is a sin that Oklahoma is beating us at anything. But we’re about to fix that with these bills,” he continued.