In many ways deep red Texas could not be further from the liberal movie sets of Hollywood.

Now, a group of high-profile celebrities and politicians sees this location as ideal for establishing a film industry that not only competes with Hollywood but potentially surpasses it entirely.

Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Renée Zellweger are among the actors leading the charge.

They have recently played a role in passing legislation that will channel $300 million into the Texas film sector over the upcoming two years, including offering tax breaks for the following decade.

Nevertheless, the new legislation, effective from September 1, includes certain uniquely Texan criteria for eligibility to receive the funding.

Officials plan to be far more selective about who gets taxpayer money than their Californian counterparts, with Governor Gregg Abbott given veto powers under the new law.

But despite the strict parameters, the decision has been heavily criticized by conservatives in Texas, who described the bill as an ‘abomination’ and fear it will turn the Lone Star State into a new La La Land.

Subsidy Rules

Supporters of the new Texas law say they want to be as influential as Hollywood, but without the same liberal cultural values.

As a result, they have created a series of hoops filmmakers must jump through if they want to secure any state cash. 

‘We are not trying to make Texas the next Hollywood – we don’t like Hollywood. We want to export Texas values,’ Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, one of the biggest proponents of the scheme, recently said in a campaign update.

Patrick is a staunch conservative who despite his opposition to legal marijuana, gambling and abortion, wants to make Texas ‘the film capital of the world’.

He and other legislators have devised a system which will reward films with, ‘export Texas values’, according to Patrick.

For projects that spend at least $1.5 million in Texas, the new law offers tiered grants worth 25 percent of that in-state spending.

Films that are faith-based, shoot in historic sites or employ a percentage of crew who are Texas-based military veterans can get a grant as high as 31 percent.

Additionally, the governor’s office has broad powers in determining which projects do and do not get funding.

If films are deemed to have content that is ‘inappropriate,’ has obscene content or portrays Texas negatively – they won’t get a dime.

Celebrity backing

None of this would have been possible without the support of several towering figures in the entertainment industry. 

In January, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Renée Zellweger and several others appeared in a video that campaigned for Texas officials to bring increased film incentives so people can make movies in the state without breaking the bank.

The four-minute video begins with Harrelson and McConaughey barreling down a highway in a sedan as they’re deep in conversation about this very issue.

‘You ever wonder if this industry of ours is just chasing its own tail?’ Harrelson asks.

‘No, I don’t wonder. Restrictions, regulations, nickel and diming productions, political lectures,’ McConaughey replies.

The video had a surprising level of credibility, considering the fact that McConaughey, Harrelson, Zellweger and Dennis Quaid (who also appeared) were all born in Texas.

McConaughey, whose social media feed focuses almost exclusively on Texas sports, attended a March hearing with state legislators and had the final word.

‘If we pass this bill, we are immediately at the bargaining table for shooting more films and TV and commercials in our state,’ he said while wearing a cowboy hat. 

‘That is money that’s going to local Texas restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, dry cleaners, street rentals, home rentals ― even Woody’s barber,’ in reference to Harrelson, who was also in attendance.

Two months after McConaughey’s overture, the Senate voted 23-8 in favor of the bill and it became law by June. 

The Opposition

But these restrictions weren’t enough for the many conservatives who opposed the law when it was being debated over the last few months.

Some were concerned that the bill would allow Texas to go down a path of unrighteousness, while others thought the subsidies were taxpayer theft.

‘The Bible warns us of the consequences of the government wrongfully taking money from some and handing it out to others,’ Texans for Fiscal Responsibility said in one of its papers against the bill.

Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison has emerged as the main enemy of the bill, calling it an abomination.

‘And shame on everybody who voted for it,’ he has said.

‘This is big government liberal redistributive socialism,’ Harrison told the LA Times. ‘The governor and lieutenant governor of the supposedly Republican-controlled state of Texas chose to keep property taxes billions of dollars higher so that you can subsidize a rich liberal Hollywood movie industry – how embarrassing.’

He plans to introduce legislation at a special hearing later in July that would repeal the law.

The bill deepens the growing rivalry between California and Texas, which has already poached several major companies once based in the Golden State, including Tesla and Hewlett-Packard.

These businesses were largely lured by lower taxes and a business-friendly environment, both things the bill signed by Abbott seeks to address with the film industry specifically.

It couldn’t come at a worse time for California, a state that is already bleeding talent and expertise.

When Hollywood writers and actors went on strike in 2023, California lost roughly 40,000 film and TV jobs that year alone, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

California also has to worry about the tax subsidies being offered in the other states, not just Texas, and even other nations. 

That’s why in late June, California legislators doubled their own tax incentive ceiling to a staggering $750 million a year.

While Texas isn’t spending nearly as much tax money as California on movies and TV, experts believe that this could be the start of a real competition.

‘Texas now has a program that is going to be competitive,’ Fred Poston, the executive director of the Texas Media Production Alliance, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘When you really take a close look at it, you realize this is a big deal. We have this new level of funding to start building more industry around it.’

A Return to the Glory Days

Proponents of the law feel that without the incentives, Texas is leaving tons of economic growth on the table. 

Texas, while not Hollywood, has been the filming location for many highly-celebrated pieces of media, including but not limited to the 1956 western ‘Giant’, the 1974 slasher film ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and the high school football drama TV series ‘Friday Night Lights.’

By the early 2000s, nearby states became more attractive to film because of better incentives being offered to producers.

‘Texas had been highly competitive, we had all of these ingredients,’ Rebecca Campbell, CEO of the Austin Film Society, told the LA Times. ‘Then all of a sudden, Texas stories were getting shot in New Mexico and Louisiana.’

Texas introduced its first program for film incentives in 2007, earmarking $20 million for it.

Because of how underfunded it became over the years, the producers of ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ decided to move production in 2021 from Austin to Georgia.

Richard Linklater, a Houston-born director, filmed his 2024 romantic crime thriller ‘Hit Man’ starring Glen Powell in his hometown. But because there wasn’t enough incentive funds, he had to move the operation to New Orleans.

‘We’re completely surrounded by states that have very active film incentive programs,’ he said on the podcast ‘Friends on Film.’

‘They really support this industry, and you have to do that to compete,’ he added.