Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that the Texas Film Commission has designated Celina as a Film Friendly Texas Community.
Celina joins more than 175 cities across the state that have been granted this distinction by the state agency responsible for promoting and supporting the film industry in Texas.
“I am grateful the Texas Film Commission selected Celina as a Film Friendly Texas Certified Community. This adds great value to multimedia projects and professionals in and around our city,” Celina mayor Ryan Tubbs said.
“This also ranks us in a unique group of cities from which we can draw experience and expertise while offering some of the most talented people and resources in the industry who live in our community. This distinction further allows Celina to market our unique hometown resources directly to media industry professionals working in Texas.”
Abbott congratulated the city on earning the distinction.
“Texas is brimming with promise, and I look forward to continuing to work alongside all of our communities to ensure they have the knowledge and tools needed to succeed. Through the Film Friendly Texas training and certification process, communities large and small are prepared to help match local businesses with production-related needs, creating jobs for Texas-based crew members and local residents, as well as spurring on-site spending at local businesses,” Gov. Abbott said.
Dallas-Fort Worth is also a certified community of the Film Friendly Texas program. Memorable partial filmography occurring in the metroplex includes The Chosen series (2017-2019), Dallas series (2012-2014, 1978-1991), and Bonnie and Clyde (1967), per the Commission’s website.
Other recognizable titles partially filmed in Texas span Yellowstone, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Selena, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, No Country For Old Men, Friday the 13th, True Grit, Hope Floats, and Dazed and Confused.
To become certified as a Film Friendly Texas Community, designated community representatives must attend a workshop hosted by the Texas Film Commission, the community must pass filming guidelines that promote media production, and the community must submit at least five photos of filming locations for inclusion in the Texas Film Commission location database.
According to the press release, the Commission has brought in more than $2 billion in local spending and created more than 183,000 production jobs in the past 16 years.
