Join the Crew
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
Tom is a filmmaker, producer, and marketing specialist based in Los Angeles.
At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.
As the second-largest state in both area and population, Texas offers a staggering diversity of filming locations and an equally wide range of storytelling opportunities.
In the sunbaked desert of West Texas, you’ll find sweeping vistas that evoke the mythos of the American frontier. To the east, you have Hill Country’s lush green hills and limestone cliffs, while the Gulf Coast offers sandy beaches and coastal towns. Whether you need a stand-in for Mars or Main Street, Texas has the landscape to bring it to life.
And there’s much more to Texas than just beautiful open spaces. Cities like Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio each offer their own rich history, architecture, and production ecosystems.
Amarillo can provide a small-town Americana feel, while San Antonio’s Spanish colonial heritage contrasts with Austin’s indie spirit and high-tech edge. Texas’s range is a huge asset for filmmakers looking for versatile locations with character.
That’s part of the reason why so many iconic films and television shows have called Texas home. From The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to Dazed and Confused and No Country for Old Men, Texas has long served as fertile ground for landmark cinema.
More recent films including Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood and One Battle After Another continue the Lone Star State’s legacy. And television series such as 1883, Landman, and Bad Thoughts—alongside unscripted programming like HGTV’s Fixer Upper—underscore Texas’s wide-ranging appeal.
Backing it all is the Texas Film Commission. With a mandate to attract and support in-state production, the Commission helps connect filmmakers with experienced local crew, production vendors, and an ever-growing roster of studio facilities.
At the center of the Texas Film Commission's support are Texas film incentives—one of the most robust state-backed financial programs available to filmmakers today.
Texas has starred on the big screen for a long time, but it wasn’t until relatively recently that the state formally stepped into the spotlight with its own production incentive program.
In 2007, lawmakers created the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP) to encourage more film production in the state.
Since then, the Texas Film Commission has provided grants to qualifying projects through TMIIIP, boosting local economies, employing in-state crew, and showcasing Texas on screen.
Hungry to bring even more film production to Texas, industry advocates pushed for expanded incentive funding in 2025—and got it.
Following a high-profile campaign that featured vocal support from native Texans and Hollywood heavyweights Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, lawmakers recently overhauled the Texas film incentive program.
As a result, TMIIIP will officially sunset on August 31, 2025, and its successor—the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund (TMIIIF)—will take effect on September 1.
The newly created fund will significantly expand the reach and reliability of Texas film incentives. Not only will TMIIIF increase the maximum grant percentage available to qualifying productions, but it will also increase the program’s total funding and ensure the program remains in place through 2035.
For filmmakers, the update offers more than just bigger savings—it provides long-term stability and a clear signal that Texas is serious about competing with major production hubs like California, Georgia, and Louisiana.
The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program currently provides Texas film grants of 5% to 22.5% on qualifying production expenses.
When TMIIIP sunsets on August 31, 2025 and is replaced by TMIIIF, the maximum grant available will increase to 31%. In other words, beginning on September 1, 2025, TMIIIF will provide Texas film grants of 5% to 31% back on qualified in-state production spending.
Obviously 5% to 31% is a broad range, and we’ll explain how you can determine your potential return more precisely in a moment. But first, let’s talk about what Texas Film Commission grants actually are.
Film grants are cash rebates paid directly to a production company for qualifying expenditures. Unlike film tax credits, which can be claimed only after a production company files a tax return with the state, Texas Film Commission grants do not require producers to file a state tax return.
Ryan Broussard, Wrapbook’s VP of Sales and Production Incentives, describes grant programs like Texas’s as essentially “buckets of cash” that can be accessed by productions that meet certain requirements.
In order to qualify for Texas film incentives, productions must meet a minimum spend threshold by spending a certain amount of money on production in the state.
Film and television projects must spend at least $250,000 on production in Texas and commercials, educational and instructional video projects, and digital interactive media projects must all spend at least $100,000.
Texas film grants are also tiered according to production type, with benefits increasing as in-state spending grows. The breakdown is as follows:
Currently under TMIIIP, film, television, and related visual effects work can receive grants of:
Come September 2025, the new TMIIIF Texas film incentive will raise the upper grant percentage for these projects. Productions spending $1.5 million or more will be eligible for a 25% grant, while projects in the $1 million to $1.5 million range will continue to receive 10%.
Importantly, this category excludes reality television programming, which has its own tiered breakdown.
Reality television projects can earn grants of:
The two tiers for reality television grants will remain exactly the same under TMIIIF.
Digital interactive media projects—a category which includes animation, visual effects, video games, augmented reality, and virtual reality—can receive grants of:
Beginning in September 2025, interactive projects with eligible spend of $1.5 million or more will receive a 25% grant, mirroring the film and television grant structure.
Commercials and educational or instructional videos can earn grants of:
Like reality television, this category will also retain its current structure under TMIIIF.
If you have questions about which category your project would fall under, or its eligibility for Texas film incentives, the Texas Film Commission provides a fantastic overview of the grant tiers on their website.
Grants for all production categories come from the same funding pool. The current TMIIIP is backed by $200 million per biennium (that’s every two years), which equates to $100 million in funding per year.
With the launch of TMIIIF, biennial funding will rise to $300 million, effectively adding $50 million per year in available Texas film grants.
The result? A stronger, more competitive landscape for productions of all sizes—and a clear signal that Texas is committed to growing as a top-tier production destination.
A wide variety of productions can qualify for Texas film grants, including:
Certain types of productions are not eligible for Texas Film Commission grants, including news, current event or public access programming, political advertising, weather and market reports, local events or religious services, sports events, awards shows, and galas.
If your project qualifies for Texas film incentives and you’ve cleared the required minimum spend thresholds, congrats! You’re on your way to securing a Texas film grant. But before you start calculating your return, it’s critical to understand exactly which expenses count toward your incentive.
Texas film grants are awarded as a percentage of eligible in-state production spending. The exact percentage is determined by your project type and how much you spend in Texas, according to the tiers we covered above.
And the amount you get back hinges on the expenses that qualify. The more you understand what counts, the better you can budget—and the more you can maximize your rebate.
For most projects, payroll is one of the biggest line items. In Texas, it’s one of the biggest opportunities for savings.
To qualify for a Texas film grant, labor costs must be paid to verifiable Texas residents. This includes both above-the-line and below-the-line crew, making the state an especially attractive destination for productions seeking to hire local talent.
To confirm residency, all qualifying crew members must submit a valid Declaration of Texas Residency (DTR) form.
Importantly, the incentive places a cap on individual payroll costs: only the first $1 million in compensation paid to any one individual will qualify for the Texas film incentive. That means if your Texas-resident star actor commands a $2 million fee, only half of that paycheck will be considered eligible spend under the program.
In addition to payroll, a wide range of physical production expenses can be claimed through the Texas film incentive. These include:
Texas even recognizes certain travel costs as eligible, so long as they meet specific criteria. The cost of hotel stays in Texas counts toward your rebate, as do flights booked through Texas-based airlines—namely, American Airlines and Southwest.
In other words, if you’re spending your production budget within the state, odds are good it’s eligible for a rebate. The Texas Film Commission offers detailed guidance on what counts in their TMIIIP guidelines, and Wrapbook’s Production Incentive Center can help you strategize and forecast your qualified spend with precision.
The current Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP) also offers a few targeted opportunities to lift your Texas film grant even higher through production bonuses.
It’s important to note that, currently under TMIIIP, productions may only apply for one of the three available bonuses (or “Additional Grant Awards” as the program terms them). Applicants must elect to apply for the bonus on their TMIIIP application.
Projects completing postproduction in Texas may be eligible for a 2.5% bonus if they expend 10% of their total eligible in-state spending on eligible expenditures during postproduction.
Postproduction is defined as the period after the end of production, including but not limited to, animation, bug-fixing, codebase completion, compositing, editing, lighting, music, patch-creation, sound testing and visual effects.
Eligible postproduction expenditures include labor, Texas vendors and music costs. Applicants must submit copies of their postproduction schedule in advance.
Qualified production in certain areas of the state may be eligible for a 2.5% bonus if 25% of total production days occur in an underutilized or economically distressed area.
Underutilized areas are all locations outside the 30-mile radius zones of Austin and Dallas. Economically distressed areas exist within the 30-mile radius of either Austin or Dallas and are noted in purple on these maps from the Texas Film Commission.
Projects hiring Texas resident veterans may be eligible for a 2.5% bonus if 5% of their combined total paid crew and paid cast, including extras, are Texas resident veterans.
Veterans are defined as those who served in and have been honorably discharged from the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force or Coast Guard; the National or Air National Guard of the United States, the Texas Army National Guard the Texas Air National Guard, or a Reserve component of any of these military organizations.
In addition to a valid Declaration of Residency (DTR) form, productions must submit sufficient information confirming the Veteran’s status, including but not limited to military-issued discharge documentation, DD214 Form.
Beginning September 1, 2025, the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund (TMIIIF) will add a suite of new bonus opportunities that can further increase the value of your Texas film grant. These bonuses are designed to reward productions that invest more deeply in Texas communities, talent, infrastructure, and culture.
Better still, these new bonuses can be stacked. While each production is still subject to an overall cap of 31% of total in-state qualified spend, savvy producers who meet the right conditions can layer on uplifts for up to a 31% rebate.
Here’s a closer look at the bonuses available under TMIIIF:
This will modify the existing post-production bonus. If your project allocates at least 25% of its total eligible in-state spend toward qualifying post-production work within the state, you’ll unlock an additional 1% bonus.
That includes editing, sound mixing, visual effects, and other post services—as long as they’re performed in Texas by Texas vendors.
Replacing the previous “underutilized and economically distressed area” bonus, this 2.5% uplift supports productions filming outside of the state’s urban centers.
To qualify, at least 35% of your project’s total filming days or man hours must take place in a Texas county with a population of 300,000 or fewer. That includes wide swaths of the state—from Hill Country towns to West Texas plains—offering a beautiful variety of landscapes, plus the potential for additional savings.
Still going strong under the new program, this 2.5% bonus encourages the hiring of Texas veterans.
Just as before, at least 5% of a production’s total paid cast and crew—including extras—must be Texas resident veterans to qualify for this bonus.
One of TMIIIF’s more thematic bonuses, the Texas heritage grant offers a 2.5% uplift to projects that, in the eyes of the Texas Film Commission, promote “family values” and/or portray Texas and Texans in a positive light.
Eligibility for this bonus will be determined solely at the discretion of the Commission, which will issue further rules and guidance for qualifying content.
Also new with TMIIIF, this 2.5% bonus supports faith-based content. Like the heritage grant, the faith-based designation will be determined by the Texas Film Commission based on official criteria still to come.
Historical adaptations, take note. If your production uses a recognized Texas historic site as a filming location, you may qualify for another 2.5% uplift.
It’s a compelling incentive to explore the state’s rich architectural and cultural landmarks.
Finally, this forward-looking bonus rewards productions that invest in the next generation of Texas film professionals. Productions that partner with a Texas institution of higher education to provide workforce development opportunities during production can unlock a 2.5% bonus.
Texas film incentives are among the most accessible and transparent in the country—but they still come with a few critical rules productions must follow to secure their grant.
First and foremost, your project must be fully funded before applying. Next, your production must complete at least 60% of its total production days in Texas. That means a majority of your shoot needs to take place on Texas soil, no matter how large or small the production is.
Under the current TMIIIP guidelines, 55% of your paid cast and crew must be Texas residents. But when the new TMIIIF program kicks in on September 1, 2025, the residency requirement will follow a tiered phase-in schedule that gradually raises the bar for in-state hiring:
To verify residency, every qualifying cast or crew member must complete a valid Declaration of Texas Residency (DTR) form. This form must be backed up by a Texas-issued driver’s license or ID card that was valid at least 120 days before the start of production.
You’ll also want to give credit to Texas for their support. To receive your full grant, your production must feature the Texas Film Commission logo as specified in the program guidelines.
Finally, the Texas Film Commission will conduct an audit to verify eligible expenses before a grant payment is issued. This audit ensures that the project met the requirements of the program and that the funds are spent as intended.
For all questions related to eligibility criteria, the Texas Film Commission provides a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions online.
The application process is straightforward—but timing, paperwork, and preparation are key.
Your first step should be to review the program guidelines. Make sure your project qualifies under the latest Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP)—or if applying after September 1, 2025, the new TMIIIF guidelines.
Once you’ve confirmed eligibility, head to the Texas Film Commission’s website and submit an Incentives Inquiry Form. You’ll be asked for some basics—your project’s title, estimated in-state spend, and tentative production dates. After your form is received, a member of the incentives team will reach out to discuss next steps.
If your project meets the qualifications, you’ll receive a link to the official online incentive application. With the application, you’ll need to submit:
Timing is crucial. Your application must be submitted no earlier than 180 days before your first day of principal photography—and no later than 5 PM Central Time, five business days before the first day of principal photography or production.
Because funds are allocated on a rolling basis and availability can shift daily, it’s smart to apply as early as possible within your eligibility window. Early communication with the Texas Film Commission can help clarify your standing and increase your chances of approval.
Also remember—Texas film grants are awarded on a case-by-case basis—with selective approval dependent upon both the Texas Film Commission’s judgement and availability of funding.
Once your application is approved, you’ll receive a grant agreement outlining your projected reimbursement and responsibilities. After production wraps, you’ll submit your final reporting and undergo a third-party audit to verify all qualified expenditures.
If everything checks out, the Texas Film Commission will then disburse the funds for your Texas film grant.
Yes—and if you're not exploring them, you could be leaving money on the table.
Regional film commissions throughout the Lone Star State can help productions find locations, hire local crew, and secure all the necessary permits. A few even offer their own grant programs. Best of all, these regional Texas film grants can be combined with the statewide Texas film incentive, making them highly valuable for producers looking to stretch every dollar.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular regional incentive programs across Texas.
Austin isn’t just the live music capital of the world—it’s also home to a competitive film incentive tailored to support local production.
Administered by the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department, the Austin Creative Content Incentive Program offers up to 0.75% back on qualifying expenditures.
Projects can receive 0.50% back on wages paid to Austin Metro Area residents, plus an additional 0.25% if the production is helmed by an Austin-based company or promotes the city itself. It’s a targeted boost that rewards filmmakers for investing in the local creative community.
Corpus Christi offers more than beautiful coastlines. The Corpus Christi Film Incentive provides a 5% city grant to local productions, designed to attract filmmakers and production companies to the area.
Corpus Christi also offers project-based filmmaker grants—awarded on a case-by-case basis—for work that uplifts underrepresented voices or tackles socially resonant themes. If you’re producing a story that aligns with local priorities, Corpus Christi might just help you bring it to life.
For eligibility requirements and deadlines, producers are encouraged to contact the Corpus Christi Film Commission directly.
San Antonio has quietly emerged as one of the most production-friendly cities in Texas, thanks in large part to the Supplemental San Antonio Film Incentive Program (SSAI). This local incentive offers a 7.5% cash rebate to qualifying productions that shoot primarily in the Greater San Antonio Metropolitan Area (GSAMA).
To qualify, productions must:
Eligible formats include everything from feature films and TV series to documentaries, music videos, and webisodes.
When combined with the current statewide TMIIIP, San Antonio’s local rebate can bring the total of your Texas film grants up to 30%—one of the most competitive rates in the country.
In addition to SSAI, San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture also funds the city’s creative class through annual Artist Grants of $7,500 or $15,000, supporting new work across media, performance, and visual art disciplines.
From the plains of Amarillo to the streets of Houston, Texas film incentives unlock a sprawling wealth of production potential in the Lone Star State.
And with the enhancements coming in September 2025 through the new Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund, Texas is only becoming an even more competitive destination for production.
To continue exploring how Texas film grants compare to other states and tailor your next shoot accordingly, visit Wrapbook’s Production Incentive Center. There you’ll find detailed incentive breakdowns and valuable insights to help you make informed decisions, wherever you decide to shoot.
They say everything's bigger in Texas. Thanks to Texas film incentives, that can certainly be true of the production savings you’ll find in the Lone Star State.
Recent enhancements and increased funding have made Texas film incentives more enticing than ever. Combine these generous Texas film grants with the state’s beauty, diverse rural and urban settings, and supportive filmmaking community, and you’ve got everything you need to flourish in Texas.
In this post, we’ll guide you through all you need to know about Texas film incentives, including how the program works, which expenses are eligible, what’s new in 2025, and how you can apply for a grant to maximize your Texas production budget.
There’s a lot of ground to cover in Texas. But before we begin, we encourage you to take a moment to explore production incentives offered all across the United States with Wrapbook’s Production Incentive Center.
The Production Incentive Center is your go-to resource for all things related to film grants, rebates, and film tax credits incentives. With tools like the State Incentive Map, you can easily navigate incentives offered across the country. Or give the Incentive Comparison Tool a spin and learn how film incentives in different states stack up beside each other.
You can even talk to an AI Incentives Expert to learn about the latest legislation and to get a clear, concise explanation of how to make incentives work for you.
Wrapbook’s Production Incentive Center puts nationwide production incentive information at your fingertips, making it easier than ever to plan where to shoot—and save—next.
