In the middle of a tit-for-tat battle to welcome Hollywood, Texas has strengthened its incitement program for films and television programs that positions a block from the southern states as a leading destination for entertainment and the media.
On Sunday, Governor Greg Abbott left a bill which increases the amount allocated to productions every two years. With Greenlit funding until 2035, expansion will shower up to $ 1.5 billion in Hollywood grants during the decade.
This decision comes as the neighbors of Texas are increasingly attracting production money thanks to generous incentive programs. Last year, Netflix announced its intention to extend its new-mexic production campus in order to increase its presence in the state.
With the increase, Texas will distribute $ 150 million a year to movies and television programs, more than New Mexico ($ 130 million), Arizona ($ 125 million) and Louisiana ($ 125 million). The figure is less than California, New York and Georgia cinema, but could see the state constantly attract productions in the future.
“Texas will be a new media coast,” explains Chase Musslewhite, co-founder of the media defense group for Texas. “It’s cheaper. There is no income tax. There are great people here, and it’s halfway between the east and west coast. ”
As part of the program, productions with budgets of at least 1.5 million dollars are eligible for cash grants of 25% of qualified spending in the state. There are 2.5% of uprisings available for filming in a rural area or a historic site, by implementing a subsidy to develop labor and hiring veterans who live in the state, among others.
In particular, Texas joins Oklahoma in a handful of regions whose incentive programs grant subsidies.
To qualify, at least 60% of production must be shot in Texas. There are minimum thresholds to residents who degenerate until 2031, when 50% of the crew must come from the state.
And reaching other regions that allow unicated productions to obtain incentives, reality TV emissions with budgets of at least 1 million dollars will obtain 10% of qualified costs.
Certain oddities of the program could allow Texas to exert a certain level of influence on productions: cinema can reject incentives for productions which include “inappropriate content or content which represents Texas or Texans in a negative way”. There are also additional bumps of 2.5% for productions and denominational securities which promote family values or favorable characteristics of Texas.
When examining the legislation, some legislators wondered whether certain productions were to receive taxpayers’ money.
“It is not functional. Man When the legislation was in place for a vote. “It is just a bad product and not something that the taxpayers of Texas would like to support.”
The legislation will not require additional financing of the State or requests for credits every two years. Unlike the current program, the new regime will be funded through the Texas insurance and franchise buckets.
The titles that draw in Texas include Bernie, the tree of life And Fear the dead. Local talents like Taylor Sheridan, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have grown to the legislation.
During a hearing earlier this year, McConaughey said that Harrelson and both agreed to restore 15% of their salary to shoot an Apple television series Brothers in Texas instead of Gerogia. He underlined: “If we spend this bill in Texas, we are immediately at the negotiating table to shoot more films, television and advertisements of our state.
