Texas boosts incentive funding to $300m every two years

Texas has increased its production incentive program funding to $300 million every two years for the next decade, increasing the share of low-budget film and television program grants.

A bill calling for an increase passed to the law on Monday (June 23) after it was approved by the state legislature earlier this month. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott may have signed the bill or refused it, but instead chose not to do either and simply allowed it to become the law.

Funding for programs that provide grants rather than tax credits previously changed, but rose to $200 million over the two years, 2024-2025. But Texas industry figures, including Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and author-producer Taylor Sheridan, have recently sought a bigger boost to compete in production operations with states such as Georgia, Louisiana and New Mexico. The original version of the bill, which is now law, sought $500 million in funding every two years.

Recently filmed projects in Texas include the Paramount + Streaming Series Landman Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming Warner Bros. I’ll fight one after another.

Under the new rules for the program, which came into effect on September 1 and went into effect until 2035, functional and television production grants start at 5% of in-state spending on projects that spend more than $250,000 and rise to 25% for those spending more than $1.5 million. The highest percentage under the current program is 20% for projects with at least $3.5 million in state spending.

The current 55% of Texas residents’ required percentage of cast and crew members is 35% in the first two years of the program, increasing to 50% from 2031. The project should be filmed 60% in the state.

The uplift includes a 2.5% increase in rural filming, faith-based projects and “Texas Heritage” projects, but total grants for a single project will be limited to 31% of in-state spending. Also, the bill says administrators “may reject the application because of inappropriate content or content that negatively portrays Texas and Texans.”

Stephanie Wolon, email director for the Texas Film Commission, said the passage of the law “recognizes the value of high-quality media production, created in Texas and exported to the country and the world, promoting the power of the Texas brand.”