This is a first. The website 'MovieMaker' has included Fort Worth and Dallas on its list of best places to live and work as a moviemaker in 2022.
Fort Worth makes the list at No. 25 largely because Texas-born screenwriter Taylor Sheridan recently returned to his home state, buying a ranch outside Fort Worth.
Sheridan, an Oscar nominee, filmed much of the Paramount+ series '1883', a spinoff of 'Yellowstone', in and around Fort Worth in 2021. Multiple commercial shoots have also been undertaken in the area recently, as well as those of feature-length movies including 'The Senior' and '12 Mighty Orphans'.
"Another reason to be happy: no income tax!," Gilman says. "But, on the flip side, that hinders the state’s ability to be as competitive as several other states in offering lucrative income tax credits on film and television productions. The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program offers between five and 22.5% cash back rebates, depending on the budget, for qualifying in-state expenditures. Filmmakers also benefit from up-front sales tax exemptions, refunds on fuel tax, and state occupancy tax on hotel rooms."
Meanwhile, Dallas has been ranked highly at 15. Again, Sheridan's return is cited, as well as other series' including Hulu's 'Cruel Summer' and Netflix's Love is Blind'. Gilman points out that shooting such series' "can mean great day jobs for camera operators and other production crew members who are looking for reliable income as they moonlight on their own creative projects."
"Texas does not collect income tax (as we mentioned before); sports fans have their choice of professional teams in the city; the average temperature is 77 degrees; cost of living is -2.7% lower than the national average; and perhaps most importantly, homes are so much more affordable than they are in Los Angeles and New York," Gilman says.
Two further Texas cities feature in the list, with San Antonio at 22, and Austin - home of the South By Southwest Film Festival - leading the way at eighth.
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