AUSTIN, Texas — On their day off from filming a comedy miniseries in Dripping Springs, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson came to the Texas Capitol. Their sights were set on Senate Bill 22, a bill that would incentivize film and television productions in Texas.
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“It’s a series that we both gave back 15% of our personal salaries to shoot here in Texas, to keep us from having to go to Georgia,” McConaughey testified to the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. “One of the only regrets of my 33-year career in film and television is not making more films, more of my films, here in Texas.”
Texas already has a film incentive program, but SB 22, if approved, would more than double the program, investing half-a-billion dollars every two years into entertainment productions in Texas. It would issue grants of $500,000 to films that are produced in Texas and meet a threshold of hiring Texas residents on their productions (35% of the cast and crew must be residents when the bill takes effect; 50% must be residents by 2031).
“Every grant dollar rewarded returns $4.69 to the state of Texas,” McConaughey said. “That’s a 469% [return on investment]. That is money that’s going to local Texas restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, dry cleaners, street rentals, home rentals, even Woody [Harrelson’s] barber.”
Behind the legislation is a bipartisan push: Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick named the bill among his priorities for the Senate, while Senator Carol Alvarado, who chairs the Senate Democratic Caucus, has signed on as a coauthor.
“The bottom line here is about how do we continue to diversify our economy in Texas,” Senator Alvarado said to the committee on Monday. “To me, I see this as a workforce issue.”
Some conservative Republicans have criticized the legislation, though. One question is Texas incentivizing films and television with sensitive content, including, as Senators Donna Campbell and Paul Bettencourt brought up on Monday, foul language.
“That whole genre of Landman is incorrect,” Senator Bettencourt said, referencing the Paramount Plus series based in Texas. “It doesn’t describe the Texas oil field. And having a guy that his primary claim to fame is using an F-bomb every other two seconds, it’s not something that I want to see on television, and I certainly don’t want us to put our money behind it.”
Other conservatives say the greater question is simply whether or not taxpayers should be funding the entertainment industry at all. Representative Briscoe Cain, agreeing with the notion, wrote on social media, “They could make movies about William F. Buckley and I’d oppose it.” Freshman Representative Daniel Alders wrote, “I’d love for [Matthew McConaughey] to make films in TX. They can throw rocks or idolize Reagan – either one. Just don’t use taxpayer $$$ to incentivize it!”
Senator Joan Huffman, who Chairs the Senate Finance committee and authored the bill, said the committee will vote on it later on Monday. Upon publication, they had not yet done so.
