Texas Film Industry: A Tourism Resource
This week I want to discuss the film and video game industries in Texas and how they can create opportunities for growth and development in our state, as well as our region. The motion picture or moving image industry encompasses film, video games, and other entertainment ventures. It’s an exciting time for this industry, as the state sees more and more commercial, television and motion pictures being developed here. Our South Texas and Coastal Bend region is particularly well-suited to film and moving image production because of low costs, an excellent climate, and a wide array of geographic locations, including cities, small towns, beautiful beaches and farmland.
In particular, the film industry has had a long history in the Lone Star State. The earliest documented moving image in Texas was of the Galveston hurricane aftermath in 1900. Many film production companies established themselves in the first half of the century, particularly in the South Texas/San Antonio area. While Hollywood and New York City grew into two major entertainment hubs of the nation, Texas remained an important shooting location. The 1950s and 1960s saw an increase in Western movies, particularly with the popularity of John Wayne and the iconic film “Giant.” In the 1970s, the Texas Film Commission began coordinating shooting locations throughout the state. As Texan filmmakers established themselves in Hollywood in the late 1970s, they would later return to Texas, allowing the state to emerge as a top area to both produce and shoot movies. Movies shot and set in Texas have proliferated. In the last twenty years, Austin has been a premiere destination for film producers, and that influence has spread throughout the state.
In Texas, we value the film industry and its competitiveness by allocating funds to the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. This program allows Texas to compete with neighboring states such as New Mexico and Louisiana, who have also enjoyed economic benefits from the film industry. The Texas Film Commission has estimated that, between 2007 and 2013, the $94 million that was spent on incentives has led to $744 million in direct spending in Texas. To put that in perspective, for every dollar spent in the moving image industry, there were seven dollars spent in the Texas economy. In 2011, the Bureau of Business Research reported that, between June 2007 through December of 2010, $598.3 million in “direct moving production spending” in Texas could be attributed to the Texas Moving Image Industry Program. This report includes other entertainment industries, such as video games. The total effect of the incentives is estimated to be around $1.08 billion through 2010.
The moving image industry (which includes both the film and video game industries) has a long history in the state of Texas. After Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope invention in 1891, the first Kinetoscope booths in Texas opened in Austin. The first “film” in Texas was technically a documentary. Several movies have been made or partially shot in South Texas, including “Pearl Harbor” (2001), “Selena” (1997), “The Open Road” (2009), “The Legend of Billie Jean” (1985), “Los Pequenos Gigantes” (1960).
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this week’s article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. Please always feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or issues regarding a Texas state agency, or if you would like to contact my office regarding constituent services. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces County (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
