Here’s an excellent article on state film incentives from Indy.com In Texas we are HOPING to get the legislature to increase our incentive from the current dead in the water 5% to a comparatively modest 15%. We are hoping that the existing infrastructure will make 15% more competitive. So far, 15% hasn’t primed the pump [...]

Deadline Hollywood Daily has a full posting of all the most recent back and forth between SAG boards and SAG vs the AMPTP. Below is the full text of the email received by SAG membership on Friday, the 15th. August 15, 2008 CONTRACT 2008 UPDATE Discussions Continue SAG negotiators and industry representatives continue to have [...]

“Did anyone talk to you about how we shoot”? When I arrived on the set to shoot a scene as Dr. Campbell, doctor to Grandma Saracen (Louanne Stephens), grandmother of Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) these were the first words I heard from producer / director Jeffrey Reiner. “Hummm…not really” was my cautious reply, not exactly [...]

You Friday Night Lights fans might find this TV Guide article of interest. I’m wondering how this will work out as well. And will the DirecTV run count as first run and the NBC network run a rerun, or vice versa? Whatever the case, it’s just another example of the changing landscape for film and [...]

Given the paucity of film work in the state due to lack of a competitive tax incentive package, the start of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, Season 3 is a most welcome event. That is even more true this year since PRISON BREAK has fled Texas to hide out in the Los Angeles area, leaving FNL as [...]

A MESSAGE TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TEXAS PRODUCTION COMMUNITY Folks, the legislative season is upon us. Long before the session begins in January, much work has already been done — and there’s a great deal yet to be done — toward making Texas’ incentive program more competitive, and regaining some of the ground that [...]

The following columm appears in The Dallas Morning News Online 08:49 AM CDT on Friday, July 25, 2008 By JOE O’CONNELL / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News  filmnewsbyjoe at yahoo.com Don Stokes skipped junior- high classes to watch Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway succumb to a spray of bullets as Bonnie and Clyde. [...]

Don Stokes has been in the film business in Dallas for many years. It looks like TXMPA should be in good hands under his leadership. Here is his recent letter to the masses: “It is my honor to be the newly elected President of TXMPA. Thanks to the leadership provided by past Presidents, Hector Garcia [...]

According to a blurb in today’s Austin American Statesman, Friday Night Lights will commence shooting for the new season on August 6th. As previously reported, the new season will first air on DirecTV where it will kick off on October 1st. Exec. Producer Jason Katims told AAS reporter Diane Holloway that the new episodes that [...]

We’re not allowed to consider shooting in any state without a competitive incentive program. Texas just isn’t in the mix. That statement by an unknown Hollywood film exec, may not be an exact quote but it’s darn close to what a few hundred members of the TXMPA were told last week in Austin. The TXMPA, [...]