Taylor Sheridan calls his 2016 thriller Hell or High Water a love poem to Texas, but to film it, he had to go to New Mexico.
The movie tracks brothers-turned-bank-robbers through West Texas oil country as they try to save the family ranch and stay a step ahead of the law. But every horse, cow and oil rig shown in the film was shot east of Albuquerque, thanks to state financial incentives for the production.
“They could not ignore the 30% rebate that New Mexico offered,” Sheridan told a panel of Texas lawmakers in explaining the filming location.
The Texas legislature is trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Cheered on by homegrown stars including Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, lawmakers are debating the final details on a bill to provide at least $1.5 billion over 10 years to lure film, TV and video-game makers. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has made the proposal a priority and says it will turn the state into a film capital and help it “export Texas faith and family values.”
But there’s a condition: Texas also wants to police the content of the movies and television shows getting made.
Productions that want a grant can’t portray the state in a negative light, and judgment calls are up to a film commissioner appointed by the governor. Conservative lawmakers are questioning whether taxpayer dollars should go to projects that may clash with religious views or portray the kind of violence, sex scenes and profanity that run through a recent Sheridan hit, Landman.
The legislation positions Texas to vie for more productions just as President Donald Trump tries to boost US filmmaking and threatens to slap steep new tariffs on movies made overseas. The state is trying to compete in a national and international rush to entice show business despite research suggesting that government incentives have limited returns on investment.
While Texas is one of many states increasing its support, it stands apart with its content controls. Other states have rules for film productions but not to the same degree as in Texas, the state’s film commissioner, Stephanie Whallon, told lawmakers in March.
How the state applies such restrictions will go a long way toward determining its success in vying with established rivals such as New York and Georgia. In Hollywood, executives are already questioning the proposed controls.
“I haven’t ever heard of this in another state, but wow,” said Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, a producer who works with FilmLA, a group that seeks to boost film production in Los Angeles. Her career credits include The Maze Runner and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
The Texas Film Commission has rejected more than a quarter of applications over the past decade under smaller-scale support programs. Denials peaked at 59% of applications in 2021 before falling to a decade-low 9% last year. But it’s unclear how many of those were blocked due to their content because the commission doesn’t track the reasons it denies applications.
The curbs are likely to garner additional attention if Texas lawmakers step up incentives. After years of meager allocations, the legislature in 2023 raised funding to $200 million over two years, more than double the highest level over the previous decade. The latest proposal calls for setting aside at least $300 million of sales tax revenue every two years for the next decade, although the state senate initially approved $500 million. The final number hasn’t been approved by the full legislature.
“If it can bring consistency to the mix, where major broadcasters and studios and streamers can feel like ‘We can make an investment in Texas and it won’t change every two years,’ then we can be more focused on setting up multiple productions in Texas,” said producer Martin Jones, head of Austin Studios.
Movie stars have been lobbying for the bill amid the legislative debate. McConaughey said he and Harrelson gave back 15% of their pay to shoot their new show, Brothers, in the Austin area instead of Georgia.
They also reprised their roles from crime drama True Detective in a promotional video backing the grant program. In it, they cruised a Texas highway talking about the proposal with Dennis Quaid, another Texan, shackled in the back of the squad car.
In addition to the concerns about Texas content rules, however, financial doubts are also swirling around whether it’s worth using taxpayer money to entice movies at all. An audit of a film-production tax credit in New York, which is raising film and TV subsidies, found that it “is at best a breakeven proposition and more likely a net cost.”
A national study by the University of Southern California found no employment effect and only a temporary wage impact from many support programs designed to lure film productions. New Mexico, whose desert landscapes stood in for Texas in the Paramount Network series Waco, received just 14 cents for every dollar it spent on film incentives, according to the report.
None of that is stopping a global race to woo the entertainment industry.
Los Angeles, the traditional epicenter of the movie business, fell behind New York and the UK in productions of theatrical releases in 2023, according to FilmLA. All 10 nominees for best picture at this year’s Academy Awards filmed outside Los Angeles.
Trump weighed in earlier this month after meeting with actor Jon Voight and his manager, who called for more federal tax incentives for US film and TV production. Amid questions from Hollywood executives, Trump later said he would meet with them “to make sure they’re happy with it.”
Meanwhile, although the US entertainment industry still exports three times as much as it imports, nations such as New Zealand and the UK have been enticing more projects. California Governor Gavin Newsom, responding to tougher competition at home and abroad, is pushing a $750 million tax-credit program to more than double the state’s existing pot of incentives, even as he has to slash other parts of the budget to close a $12 billion deficit.
“The idea of shooting in a state or jurisdiction that does not have a rebate or incentive is close to a nonstarter,” said Ben Everard, co-founder of Grey Matter Productions and Everard Entertainment, who’s known for movies such as Family Switch and Yes Day.
Georgia has become a center of production, buoyed in part by a big studio backed by the family that founded Chick-fil-A. The state lured some 390 productions that spent $4.1 billion in the fiscal year ending in June 2023, according to the Georgia film office. Recent projects ranged from blockbusters such as Avengers: Endgame to indie films. FX’s English Teacher is filming its second season in Georgia now. The show is set in a public school in Austin – the Texas state capital.
Texas has been making progress in attracting more filming in recent years as it has increased financial support.
Sheridan, the Hell or High Water creator and a Texas native, filmed some scenes of his hit show Yellowstone in the state, as well as Landman. His productions spent $674 million in the state since 2021, he told lawmakers. He’s now teaming with billionaire Ross Perot on a sprawling production facility in Fort Worth.
The Fort Worth city government is also getting in on the act, partnering with the production company behind Sheridan’s shows to train construction workers, electricians and others to work on set.
But if the Texas legislature gives final approval for more financial support, lawmakers will be keeping a watchful eye on the state’s production of movies and shows.
While categories such as obscene material and political ads are clearly boxed out, the governor’s office has leeway to decide what casts Texas in a negative light. Some state senators expressed concern over whether projects would take the Lord’s name in vain. Senator Paul Bettencourt gave Landman one star.
“It’s completely wrong. It’s not functionally correct. It doesn’t explain what a landman does, and no offense, having Billy Bob Thornton F-bomb every other sentence is not, in my mind, Texas values,” he said. “There’s a line here that needs to be drawn.”
The bill would also enable the Texas Film Commission to offer special grants for productions that promote family values, use historic sites and promote workforce development. There are also similar offerings for faith-based projects, rural filming and productions with a certain percentage of military veterans.
“We want Texas to be portrayed in a positive light,” Senator Joan Huffman, the bill’s author, said in a hearing. “That’s the bottom line.”
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