FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014 Hollywood is making its mark on North Texas as some cities start to reap the rewards of the state\u2019s film incentive program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At Madea\u2019s Down Home Cookin\u2019, a Fort Worth restaurant inspired by owner Elbert Penson\u2019s mother\u2019s cooking, the Hollywood connection came unexpectedly.<\/p>\n
Penson said actor Samuel L. Jackson visited the restaurant in May, surprising staff and customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, a lot of my staff didn\u2019t even realize he was here until the end of his meal. And he actually got up and went and spoke to one of the employees,\u201d said Penson.<\/p>\n
Penson, who was born and raised in Fort Worth, said he is proud to see productions coming to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cFort Worth is where I was born and bred. Went to school here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Taylor Hardy with the Fort Worth Film Commission said the growing production industry has generated significant economic activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first 10 years since we launched the film commission, we saw an economic impact of nearly $1 billion in Fort Worth,\u201d said Hardy.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Texas lawmakers approved a record $1.5 billion film incentive package intended to be available over 10 years through the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund.<\/p>\n
Productions must meet certain requirements, including hiring Texas residents and filming in qualifying locations, to receive the incentives.<\/p>\n
Producer Taylor Sheridan, the creator of \u201cYellowstone,\u201d has brought a string of productions to Fort Worth, including \u201cLandman\u201d and \u201c1883.\u201d More recently, production wrapped on the third season of \u201cLioness\u201d and \u201cFrisco King.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hardy said productions can create jobs for hundreds or even thousands of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Landman season two, 101 Studios hired 1,092 crew members. So that was 192 cast and over 2,500 extras,\u201d Hardy said, referring to everyone hired, not just Texas crew members.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The economic impact can extend well beyond the production crew, Hardy said, benefiting businesses throughout the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they\u2019re working with lumber yards on construction. They\u2019re hiring locals like hair and makeup artists, working with local dry cleaners. Some of the cast members are staying in our hotels and working with restaurants and catering,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n
One North Texas production crew member who worked on \u201cLioness\u201d said off-camera that they would like to see more local hiring for productions filming in the area.<\/p>\n
North Texas may not be the new Hollywood, but local business owners such as Penson say it\u2019s a pleasant development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome the company,\u201d Penson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014 Hollywood is making its mark on North Texas as some cities start to reap…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1011468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,74132,159074,169914,359,5281,1596,31126,171,7371,7372,169915,50,7202,358,41035,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":["post-1011467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-america","tag-app-arts-entertainment","tag-app-latest-arts-entertainment-stories","tag-app-latest-entertainment-stories","tag-austin","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-entertainment","tag-fort-worth","tag-fortworth","tag-michael-lozano","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vod"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117124293554673896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1011468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}