Texas film industry aims for incentives at Capitol
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Hoping to push a major tax incentives package through the Legislature, the Texas film industry is taking its case to the Capitol on Wednesday with a free and public demonstration of movie set work.
Why it matters: With unexpected support from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the industry is on the verge of winning the long-sought tax incentives.
Driving the news: "The Texas Film Experience," hosted by Media for Texas, is a SXSW event happening from noon to 3pm on the Capitol's south lawn.
- Designed to give the feel of a real film set, the demonstrations include rain machines, costuming, makeup, prop work, prosthetic creations and camera setups.
- Crew members from productions like "Yellowstone," "Spy Kids" and "Dazed and Confused" will be on hand.
What they're saying: "While we can't bring anyone to set, let's bring the set to legislators, and let our community have one-on-one conversations about how important it is to their livelihoods," Chase Musslewhite, co-founder of Media for Texas, tells Axios.
- Media for Texas is a nonprofit with money coming from filmmakers, financiers and others "who enjoy seeing movies on the big screen," Grant Wood, Media for Texas' other co-founder, tells Axios.
The big picture: Some popular TV shows and movies, like "Friday Night Lights" and "Dazed and Confused," have been filmed in Austin, but many that are set in Texas are actually filmed elsewhere, in part because film incentives in other states are more appealing to production companies.
Context: Georgia doles out more than $1 billion in tax credits annually, the Associated Press reported last year.
Catch up quick: Last legislative session, the Legislature plumped up its Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program from $45 million in 2022-23 to $200 million in the current two-year budget.
Yes, but: Those are cash grants, and now the Texas film industry wants something more long-lasting — specifically, tax credits.
- A proposal in the last legislative session to provide tax credits to film companies, except for productions considered "obscene," never made it into law.
Between the lines: This time could be different because of Patrick's endorsement.
- Patrick appeared at a premiere last August at the Bob Bullock Theater of "Reagan," a biopic about the president starring Dennis Quaid — and Patrick and Taylor Sheridan, creator of "Landman," have been forging a relationship for at least a couple years, dining out together in 2023.
- Austin's Matthew McConaughey — and Quaid, Woody Harrelson and Renée Zellweger, all Texans — collaborated on a charming "True Detective"-inspired video to appeal to lawmakers to pass an incentives package.
- "So what do you say, Texas Legislature?" McConaughey says as he turns toward the camera. "You don't like what Hollywood's been dishing? Let's take over the kitchen."
Follow the money: The Texas Senate budget proposal includes nearly $500 million to revamp the Texas film incentive program, "making Texas the movie capital of the world," per a press release from Patrick earlier this year.
- It consists of $48 million in grants for small films and TV commercials, and up to $450 million in new tax credits.
- The proposed House budget includes $68 million for state film agencies and film and television incentives.
The other side: Last legislative session, Every Texan, a nonprofit focusing on social justice, opposed the tax credit legislation, saying it would be costly to implement and that film incentives have a "mixed record of boosting economic activity." Every Texan did not immediately respond to an Axios request about where it stands this session.
- Meanwhile, Bill Peacock, the former vice president for research at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, has criticized lawmakers' support for film incentives as prioritizing spending on "a bunch of new projects than give it back to taxpayers."
- The event on Wednesday is meant "to combat this rhetoric that film incentives are corporate welfare or Hollywood handout that benefit only the top 1%" Musslewhite told Axios.