A Message from the Local President

A Message from the Local President

By Brent Anderson
SAG-AFTRA Dallas-Fort Worth Local President

I don’t know about you, but as a Texas resident (primarily) for roughly 40 years now, I think this may be the first time I can’t wait for the heat of summer to get here. Or at least, the 35-degree temperature shifts to settle down. As I write this, we’ve experienced 80s on the weekend, 40s on Monday, back to 70s at the end of the week … definitely ready for a little consistency!

Ironically, our industry here in Texas has seen some similar up-and-down patterns in terms of growth over the past several years. 

As you may remember, the establishment of the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP) back in 2005 to compete with other states’ incentives was a big first step towards increasing production in the Lone Star State. However, it was two more years before the program was funded, with $22 million allocated for 2007. At that time, the TMIIIP was expanded to include video games and digital media as well. As a result, we experienced a considerable increase in production work as compared to the previous two years. 

Based on this early success, the program was expanded in 2009 to include educational and instructional videos, and the minimum spend to qualify for film and TV incentives was lowered. Additional incentives were offered for productions shooting in historically underutilized areas, and the two-year budget for the fund was increased to $62 million.

However, as part of statewide budget cuts in 2011, funding to the TMIIIP was slashed nearly in half, to $32 million. This was better than no incentive program at all (and actually more than the initial amount funded), but it clearly put Texas at a disadvantage when trying to lure projects away from other states offering more aggressive incentives.

The drop in production was noticeable, and I remember personally hearing from many members asking, “Where did all the film and TV work go?” 

Apparently, SAG-AFTRA members weren’t the only ones noticing the drop-off. After cutting the TMIIIP budget for 2011-2012, the Texas Legislature approved a whopping $94 million for the program for the 2013-2014 fiscal year! Since then, we’ve seen a large increase in work across the spectrum of available jobs, including film, television, and educational and digital media. I’ve personally noticed an upswing in the number of union television commercials recently, in addition to available voiceover work. More projects equals more potential jobs for members. And that is a good thing.

So as summer approaches, here’s hoping that production in Texas continues to heat up along with temperatures. Right now, the forecast is looking very sunny indeed.