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Governor Perry hopes to lure Hollywood back to Texas with new film production incentive law
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With the swipe of his pen on April 23, 2009, Governor Rick Perry signed into law, the new Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. The law was originally House Bill 873 sponsored by Texas State Representative Dawnna Dukes and it's companion Senate Bill 605, which was sponsored by State Senator Bob Dueill. It is the hope of film industry professionals as well as the legislature that the introduction of a better incentive package will bring Hollywood back to Texas and spur economic growth and job development in the film industry. Texas film productions fell off significantly when other states began offering increasingly competitive incentive programs.
The state of Texas is renowned for it's diversity of locales, beautiful scenery and even it's experienced film crews.. However, with belts tightening across the board, many filmmakers have chosen to forgo all of Texas' amenities to concentrate on their bottom line. As a result Texas lost out on significant revenue because those productions went to cities with larger incentive packages. Texas' loss has been New Mexico, Michigan and Louisiana's gain. According to to the Texas Film Commission website, in a article dated Mar 4, 2009, Texas lost about 7,000 jobs over $500 million in production spending to states with more competitive incentive plans. Texas was dealt another blow when Prison Break pulled up stakes and moved back to Los Angeles. Prison Break filmed in Texas for two years, however the second season was cut short by the writers strike.
Bob Hudgins of the Texas Film Commission said that Hollywood studios 'stayed away in droves'. Texas original of a 5% rebate on spending was not enough of a draw to keep studios from turning to states that offered a more lucrative combination of of tax rebates and direct cash returns. States like Michigan which offer up to 42% in incentives to productions.
The new incentive packages will help not only those tied directly to productions but also those companies that make their living in a support capacity. Phil Schriber, the owner of Film Fleet, a company that provides transportation services -everything from dressing rooms and trailers to generators.- admitted that in recent months he's had to lay off employees. Schriber and his daughter were on hand to see the signing of the bills into law.
Some industry insiders like Janis Burklund of the Dallas Film Commission, feel that it could have been far worse. A number of television commercials, reality shows, independent film and PBS stalwart, Barney and Friends continued to be filmed in Texas.
Instrumental in the passage of the new incentive law was the Texas Motion Picture Alliance(TXMPA). TXMPA is advocacy group representing film, video game production and digital media industry professional before the legislature and other governing bodies. They lobbied the state legislature diligently on behalf of HB 873/SB 605 and were on hand to see it signed into law.
Many film professionals, in Texas say that pickin's have been slim. One production assistant who spoke in a video on the TXMPA site said that while she had been used to working six productions a year, in 2008 she'd only worked on two. Success of the new program will be quantified by the jobs it brings back to Texas.
Governor Perry is confident that the passage of the new motion picture incentives bill will put Texas on equal footing with those other states start to bring film industry jobs back to Texas. Bob Hudgins feels that the new plan should bring in about a $400 million increase in production expenditures as a result of the new incentives package.
A number of filmmakers enjoy shooting in Texas and the choice to leave was a pure dollars and cents decision. According to James Marks of Chapman-Leonard Camera, a provider of camera equipment for film and TV production, when he is working in Hollywood, a lot of producers tell him how much they enjoyed their time in Texas and how much they miss it. They are looking forward to the opportunity to come back if the financial incentive is there.
While the decision to leave Texas seems one of financial feasibility, Robert Rodriguez, director of “Dazed and Confused” and the “Spy Kids” franchise didn't really get it. He shares that many productions missed the benefit of Texas' experienced crews. A lot left for the money but when they arrived in those other cities they didn't have crews to work on their films. The money they gained was traded for the time they lost pulling together experienced crews to work on the productions.
Even thought new Moving Image Industry Incentive Program does not go into effect until September 1, there us a great deal of excitement about the increase in benefits and the prospect of making Texas a competitive locale to shoot films.
Some of the highlights of the new incentive program include:
Tiered incentives of 5-15% for film, television and 5% for commercial projects based on amount of Texas spending.
Possible bonuses of 2.5% if 25% of the shooting is done in an underutilized area
Texas spending can include eligible pre-production, production or post-production
No cap on incentive amount.
Minimum Qualifications:(Film/TV and Commercial)
Film/TV spending $250,000, Commercial spending $100,000
60 % of shooting to be completed in Texas
70 % of crew, paid cast and extras must be Texas residents
*This does not include reality or talk shows
These incentives carry over to the Video Game Projects produced in Texas. For a listing of the Video Game incentives or for a complete overview of the Moving Image Incentive Program.
With the introduction of the new incentives law, Texas is sending the message that they intend to be competitive locale and an integral part of movie making into the future.
Welcome Back Hollywood!
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