The Brief
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A new Texas law is fueling Fort Worth’s film boom, offering $1.5 billion in incentives over 10 years.
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Industry leaders say the funding is drawing major productions like Taylor Sheridan’s Landman and Lioness.
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The Fort Worth Film Commission calls it a “new era” that’s creating thousands of jobs and keeping talent local.
FORT WORTH, Texas – A new state law is helping to shine the spotlight on the Fort Worth film industry. It’s giving producers like Taylor Sheridan even more reason to bring big projects to North Texas.
New Texas film legislation
The landscape is now massive, thanks in part to TV producer and Fort Worth native Taylor Sheridan, whose TV series include the shows Landman, Yellowstone, and most currently in production, the special-ops thriller Lioness.
Mayor Mattie Parker, along with industry leaders, lobbied for and won passage of Senate Bill 22, which provides incentive funding for film projects to choose Texas.
Texas competes with Louisiana, Georgia and New York for film projects. The new state legislation allocates around $1.5 billion dollars over the next 10 years, putting the state in a top spot to attract all types of projects.
Red Sanders is the co-founder of Red Productions. FOX 4 first met Sanders during the COVID-19 pandemic. His company was instrumental in a Kendrick Lamar video that featured the rapper all around Fort Worth.
Fast-forward to today, when the work has multiplied many times over. Sanders’ company now keeps around 10 to 15 projects in production at any given time, he said.
Booming Fort Worth film scene
What they’re saying
“We only had incentives guaranteed for two years at a time before this new law,” Sanders said. “Now, this new law sets the 10-year runway for it. And with this new runway, we’re going to see, I hope, more and more projects and companies come here from out of state because they see Texas is serious about this now. And Fort Worth has such a great seat at that table.”
Taylor Hardy is head of the Fort Worth film commission, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary.
“It’s people like Taylor Sheridan who really want to build roots in our community. It started with some scenes for Yellowstone and 1883 that was based in Fort Worth, and now this year he has five shows filming that are based out of our city,” said Hardy.
Hardy attributes much of the expansion to the producers who come to the area.
“I think it’s kind of a new era for film in Fort Worth,” Hardy said. “Landman season two hired over 3850 people between cast, background, talent and crew. When you think about film production, people don’t always recognize the magnitude of these businesses and why it’s helping to drive so much economic impact and job creation.”
What’s next
Sanders says he looks forward to a more stable future for the industry in the state.
“There was a lot of time when we didn’t have properly funded incentives and didn’t have a film commission. There were a lot of people that worked in the industry here, but had to go work elsewhere. Now they get to actually be at home with their families at night,” Sanders said.
The Source
Information in this story comes from FOX 4 interviews with Fort Worth film industry experts.