What’s happening with the Texas movie industry? Curious Texas investigates

Not a single frame of the Oscar-winning film, Dallas Buyers Club, was shot in Dallas — or in Texas for that matter. Why was the location outsourced when there’s so much Texas to share?

The simple answer: money.

A Curious Texas reader asked us, “What’s happening with movie making in Texas? Why doesn’t Texas have a major movie studio?” We reached out to Dr. Derek Kompare, a professor of film and media studies at Southern Methodist University, to find out.

“Other states have more production incentives,” Kompare said. “Production companies could come to those states and get tax rebates and other kinds of benefits that they can’t get from shooting in Texas.”

While Texas does offer incentives, other states offer more lucrative deals to movie productions. Louisiana, for example, offers up to a 40 percent tax credit on eligible in-state expenditures, compared to the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program’s 22.5 percent of compensation on Texas expenditures.

Though the state has attracted film crews in the past, Texas is losing many potential productions to higher benefit states. This has been a problem for years. Robocop and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, movies shot here in Texas, are the minority in the landscape of films set in “Texas.”

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However, the incentive program has paid dividends for the state. A 2022 TMIIIP report shows that the economic impact of the program saw a 504 percent return on investment.

Larry Rodriguez, the President of the Dallas Producers Association, a professional networking organization for producers and production staff, would like to see the Texas incentive program grow more robust in order to attract more movie productions.

“There’s no reason something couldn’t be successful here. We have the infrastructure, we have the talent and education. So, you know, what is that reason? The financial situation,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez believes film companies have opted to shoot in other locations due to incentives.

“[If] it’s a western, Texas would be a great place to shoot it. Well, they’re gonna shoot in Louisiana, New Mexico or Georgia. And I mean, I’ve seen stuff that was set in Dallas that went through this, and some other Texas-specific projects that went to Louisiana,” Rodriguez said.

Though the state has lost out on landing some big-budget productions, it has successfully attracted a variety of television productions, from Barney & Friends to Friday Night Lights.

“Most of what they’re shooting are commercials, promotional films, industrial films, [reality TV] those sorts of things,” Kompare said.

Curious about what films were shot in Texas? Check out our list of popular movies that were filmed in Texas and see a full list of TV and film productions shot in Texas here.