"It's amazing, it's historic, it's the best result we could have ever hoped for." That's how Austin Film Commission Executive Director Brian Gannon described the new funding totals for the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. But how much is it ... and what's the catch?
During the recent regular session of the Texas legislature, groups like the Texas Media Production Alliance were lobbying for lawmakers to allocate $200 million to the state's tax rebate program for film, television, and gaming production. That would be a 344% increase over the $45 million allocation for the 2022-23 biennium, and more than double the highest previous appropriation ($90 million in 2012-13). However, they argued such a massive raise would finally put the program at the kind of funding levels it needs.