CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Will increased state incentives bring more TV and film productions to Houston?

Houston Public Media: Last year, the Texas Legislature passed a much larger budget of incentives to support television and film production in the state. The previous legislative session earmarked some $45 million for those incentives while the latest regular session increased that number to $200 million.

2 comments:

Ella McCullough said...


This is cool. I had no idea that states had incentives for things like this. I guess it makes sense to do it but I would not have guessed that it would be that much money. I do think it is a really smart idea. I think that the government should be providing more funding for the arts. Both in incentives and other ways such as better funding for arts education in our schools. However, I recognize that I say that as someone who really does not know a lot about how much funding goes where, so I could be wrong about the underfunding. I also wonder if the same amount of incentive is being placed for the performing arts or if it just the film industry. I would hope there would be the same amount of funding for both or at least equivalent amounts that match the need each of the arts.

Helen Maleeny said...

Wow, that’s a large legislative incentive, and awesome that it’s going towards increasing jobs in the entertainment industry! I am a bit unclear on the usage of incentives however, so I wonder where exactly the money is going, if it is to free up space or availability for studios, or to pay studios or to make it easier to work there. It seems that incentives help ease the financial situation of those within entertainment in the state, which can be greatly helpful to many artists and filmmakers who wish to create in Texas. I wonder if now Texas will become a much bigger place for film productions and possibly another hotspot for studios? It would certainly be beneficial for studios and artists to work there now that there are more financial benefits in place, and would bring a lot of jobs to Texas for extras, stagehands, and so many more careers which would benefit the society’s economy too I’d assume. It’s cool to see that states are helping support the arts, and I’m excited to see what happens in terms of film developments in Texas.