Texas Still Ranks Dead Last In State Filmmaking Incentives.

Not the sort of headline you want to read if you’re trying to grow a prosperous filmmaking industry in your state, especially a state like Texas that is so incredibly rich with filmmaking talent. Sadly, it’s a frustrating fact. But if Bob Hudgins, and The Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA), have anything to say about it, headlines like the one above will be a thing of the past.

If Texas wants to regain the competitive filmmaking edge it once held and nurture the talent pool and creative resources available in Houston, Dallas and Austin (to name just a few cities)…if it wants to draw in out of state productions and money to help support and grow the film industry that kicks and screams to be heard each and every day on this website and countless others…it’s gonna take ALL of us. It’s gonna take people standing up and making their voices heard. Join the TXMPA. Call your local Film Commission. Get mad! Do SOMETHING because it’s slipping away people.

Ahem. That said, I really just wanted to point out this article in the Dallas Morning news but I guess watching the Hulk tonight got me angry. And you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry….(sorry, I had to say it.)

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Dallas Morning News

Family-friendly may be the catch phrase in 2009 as the Legislature looks at increasing the financial incentives offered to films shooting in Texas.

One proposal has a little bump for films shot here and deemed family-friendly, says Bob Hudgins, head of the Texas Film Commission. He discussed the proposal last week during the Austin Film Festival.

Texas launched its film incentive program in 2007 with the caveat that it not fund films that “portray Texas or Texans in a negative light.” According to Mr. Hudgins, that provision was the handiwork of state Sen. Steve Ogden of Bryan and harks back to the filming of the high school football comedy Varsity Blues 10 years ago.

“The filmmakers were not completely straightforward with information on the film,” Mr. Hudgins says. The movie, shot partially at a stadium in Georgetown, included scenes in a topless bar and of high school football players drinking to excess. “They felt the production lied to them,” Mr. Hudgins says of Georgetown school officials.

Mr. Ogden’s content provision is vague enough to not be an issue, Mr. Hudgins says. What is a problem, though, is the size (5 percent) of the state’s incentives.

Texas ranks dead last among 42 states offering cash or tax rebates, he says. Neighboring Louisiana and New Mexico each offer incentives of 25 percent, and Michigan’s is 40 percent to 42 percent. The Texas Motion Picture Alliance, a film lobby group, is pushing the Legislature to up the Texas amount to a 15 percent rebate on funds spent in-state.

CLICK HERE to read the entire article on the Dallas Morning News website.

JOIN THE TXMPA: Texas Motion Picture Alliance