(Texas Scorecard) – Film incentives took center stage during a recent hearing of the Texas Senate Finance Committee, after the program received a significant $200 million boost last year.
The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, long a target for fiscal conservatives, was the main focus. Under this initiative, Texas taxpayers are forced to subsidize productions filmed in the state. These subsidies are distributed by an agency within the governor’s office, where film companies apply for incentives.
Since the program’s inception, companies creating movies, television shows, commercials, and even video games have received millions of dollars in tax-funded handouts. Corporate giants like Walmart, Nike, and AT&T have been among the recipients, alongside major Hollywood production studios.
Despite the Republican Party of Texas platform calling for the curtain to close on the program, labeling it as a form of “corporate welfare,” the Legislature increased its budget to $200 million during the last session.
In his interim charges for the Senate Finance Committee, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tasked the committee with reviewing “the effectiveness of the program in promoting media production and stimulating local economies through job creation and business growth.” Patrick also requested an analysis of application trends before and after the increased appropriation, along with a comparison to other state and international incentive programs.
While numerous entertainment industry representatives testified, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan dominated the early hours of the hearing, defending the need for the incentives.
“To give you some numbers, we filmed 1883 in 2021, spending $114 billion in Texas over 72 days of filming. That’s $1.6 million a day. We created 2,300 jobs for Texans, between cast, crew, and extras, and spent $7.6 million on hotel rooms,” Sheridan said.
He emphasized that, for Texas to compete with states like Georgia and New Mexico, which provide more generous subsidies, the state would need to incentivize between 22.5 percent and 30 percent of a production’s budget. Otherwise, he argued, Texas might be left out of the picture.
Andrew McVeigh, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, described the program as “one of many unfortunate cases of taxpayer-funded corporate welfare.”
“Some proponents claim the incentives help promote Texas culture worldwide. Even if that falls within the proper role of government, much of the money isn’t spent doing that. Texas taxpayers have subsidized questionable projects, including $10 million for ‘Vegetarian Cable Series Season 5’ and $4 million for the video game Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. We’ve also funded commercials for entities like Grubhub, Taco Bell, and the United States Postal Service,” said McVeigh.
“Instead of spending hundreds of millions on handouts to private companies, we should be lowering taxes and barriers to entry. This would create a more competitive business environment where Texas families and businesses can thrive,” McVeigh added. “Hollywood already hates Texas and its culture—they ought to be able to hate us for free.”
Other proponents of the program, including actor Dennis Quaid, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, and businessman Ross Perot Jr., also testified before the committee.