{"id":340553,"date":"2025-10-29T10:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340553\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T10:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:36:11","slug":"san-antonio-officials-joining-statewide-push-to-lure-in-film-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/340553\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio officials joining statewide push to lure in film industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Antonio is considering a boost in incentives meant to bring more movie, television show and commercial productions to the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

San Antonio has had a film incentive program since 2017 \u2014 it offers a rebate to productions that spend money in and film in San Antonio. At an Oct. 23 Community Health Committee meeting, city officials proposed increasing the rebate that film projects can receive, adding commercials to the list of eligible projects and including a workforce development <\/strong>initiative for local students and artists.<\/p>\n

The proposal will be reviewed at a Nov. 6 City Council meeting for final approval and comes as state officials try to bring a bigger chunk of the movie industry to Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the next decade of commitment from the state level,\u201d said Krystal Jones, the director of the city\u2019s Arts and Culture Department. \u201cWe want San Antonio to be a part of the conversation.\u201d <\/p>\n

The city\u2019s young program has already made some in-roads in the industry. In 2024, the Paramount show \u201c1923\u201d filmed<\/a> on Broadway. Local film festivals have returned in force<\/a> after the COVID-19 pandemic, with some cast and crew members lauding the opportunity from Hollywood productions and other filmmakers concerned that independent, local projects would not receive the same kind of support.<\/p>\n

\"\"Krystal Jones, the director of the city\u2019s Arts and Culture Department, proposed increasing the rebate for film or television projects made in San Antonio from 7.5% to 10%. Credit: Brenda Baz\u00e1n \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Right now, San Antonio has a 7.5% rebate for film or television projects that shoot in San Antonio. The city gives out rebates from a $250,000 fund, made up of hotel occupancy tax dollars, but rarely uses all of the money, Jones said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe productions only get a rebate for what they spend in San Antonio,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s big business for our local cast and crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

She proposed raising that incentive to 10% of a film\u2019s San Antonio-based expenditures, with extra 2% available if films meet certain thresholds for hiring local cast and crew and military <\/strong>veterans for productions. The amount of money budgeted by the city doesn\u2019t change \u2014 it\u2019s still $250,000 \u2014 but productions have an opportunity to access a greater share of that pool.<\/p>\n

Raising the rebate to 10% would also put San Antonio on par with Houston, which announced its own 10% rebate earlier this year, Jones said. Those incentives can be stacked on top of a statewide rebate that can repay productions up to 31% of their in-state expenditures \u2014 the Texas Legislature decided to put $150 million into its own film incentive program every year for the next decade.<\/p>\n

Jones said movie and television show production slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic and during writer and actor strikes in 2023, but has picked up during the last two years. So far this year, 2025 has almost double the number of film shoot days as it had in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a giant opportunity here in San Antonio to, at least, become the film capital of Texas,\u201d said Councilman Marc Whyte (D10).<\/p>\n

Jones acknowledged that there are still challenges to the local film industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not have a large studio facility,\u201d she said. \u201cThe big remaining factor in San Antonio is to have a large sound stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones added that city officials are meeting with local studios and production companies to discuss incentives and development of a large-scale filmmaking space.<\/p>\n

San Antonio officials are also trying to take advantage of the statewide push by adding educational and workforce requirements to its film incentive program. Productions who receive the rebate must provide trainings, workshops, panels, internships or job opportunities or work with local universities or colleges to give San Antonio residents learning opportunities.<\/p>\n

This addition received support from city council members present at the committee meeting, who wanted to see local students gain experience in the film industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to see the component for workforce development,\u201d said Councilwoman <\/strong>Teri Castillo (D5). \u201cUTSA and San Antonio College in particular have really great programs and I think this provides opportunity for students to gain experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Antonio businesses open to incentives<\/p>\n

Barbara Thomas and Mariam Bah share a storefront on Broadway in downtown San Antonio. Their businesses Pandora\u2019s Bookstore and Coffee Bar and Pure Aloha Beauty had to close temporarily when \u201c1923\u201d filmed on the street in 2024.<\/p>\n

They were reimbursed for the closures and said they would do it again in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a cool experience to be a part of it,\u201d Bah said. \u201cThey did go above and beyond to make sure our businesses weren\u2019t affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas added that Paramount has stayed in touch. The company set up a display to market another movie in her bookstore this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt created relationships,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re all about making connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Antonio\u2019s film industry is small, but workers on the technical side have also said they would be open to more big productions. In a July interview<\/a>, Diego Cantu, who runs local film company Mighty Industries, said filmmaking requires a variety of technical jobs that give local film crews more employment.<\/p>\n

At the SAFILM Festival<\/a> that same month, local filmmakers also noted the importance of supporting local productions, not just big budget movies or television shows. The San Antonio Film Commission does offer grants to local filmmakers.<\/p>\n

Texas pushes for more film productions<\/p>\n

San Antonio\u2019s bid to bring in movies and television shows coincides with a larger effort to make Texas a bigger part of the film industry.<\/p>\n

The same week that Jones put proposed changes in front of city officials, Women and Film in Texas, an entertainment industry association, hosted a discussion on the movie and television industry in Texas at the Magik Theatre in Hemisfair.<\/p>\n

Panelists at that Oct. 21 event said that they were encouraged by the Texas Film Commission\u2019s increased funding for film incentives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want people to get the most money they can get back so they can go out and make more interesting films,\u201d said Ashley Robinson, a production incentives specialist for the Texas Film Commission. \u201cWe want to get rid of the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson was anticipating more expensive films and longer running television shows would make their way to Texas with the increased funding.<\/p>\n

Alisa Perren, a professor in University of Texas at Austin\u2019s Department of Radio-Television-Film, said the length of Texas\u2019 funding also matters. The state will put $150 million into film incentives<\/a> annually for a decade, Perren said. That long-term commitment helps support television shows that could be running for multiple years.<\/p>\n

State officials see filmmaking as an economic opportunity<\/a>, bringing in film productions and their spending dollars that would not have been in the state otherwise. <\/p>\n

So far this year, 35 commercials, television shows and movies have utilized the state\u2019s program, according to the Texas Film Commission<\/a>. They have spent a $73.7 million and created 3,503 jobs in Texas collectively and received a total of $12.8 million in incentives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio is considering a boost in incentives meant to bring more movie, television show and commercial productions…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":340554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[42645,167761,5229,167762,49257,167763,49500,167764,7202,40658,42646,167765,7203,49502,358,67419,3187,7593,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7594,167766],"class_list":{"0":"post-340553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-42645","9":"tag-alisa-perren","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-film-incentives","12":"tag-film-industry","13":"tag-krystal-jones","14":"tag-marc-whyte","15":"tag-movies-in-san-antonio","16":"tag-san-antonio","17":"tag-san-antonio-city-council","18":"tag-san-antonio-film-commission","19":"tag-san-antonio-film-industry","20":"tag-sanantonio","21":"tag-teri-castillo","22":"tag-texas","23":"tag-texas-film-commission","24":"tag-tx","25":"tag-typefeature","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-united-states-of-america","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-usa","32":"tag-wc-1000-1500","33":"tag-women-in-film-and-television"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115457018410404662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340553","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=340553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}