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The Texas Round-Up
Notes from working in Texas film.
What Texas has actually paid in film incentives since 2008.
We re-keyed every grant on the state’s paid-projects list, 1,259 of them. Where $372.2 million went, and what it says about the new program.
A guide to the indie resurgence: how independent films make money in 2027.
Three cast tiers, the budget each can carry, and the five ways an independent film earns its money back after the festival run.
Where to screen your independent film in Southern California
Most of Southern California's screens belong to chains, and the list of rooms a filmmaker can actually book is short. The pattern repeats from Santa Barbara to San Diego. A nonprofit art house or two. A repertory house that shows only film prints and rents to nobody. A museum or...
Every festival deadline in December 2026.
The third month-ahead festival ledger. Every submission deadline in December 2026, every festival running in it, and the eight December deadlines that are not on the festival’s own website.
Five terms to read before you sign a distribution agreement.
An offer for your film arrives as a PDF. Five of its terms decide whether the film earns you anything and when it comes back to you.
Spotlight: San Antonio Film Commission turned 40 after issuing 586 film permits in 2025.
Film San Antonio turned 40 with 586 permits in 2025. Who runs it, who helps filmmakers, and how to start with permits, SAFI and crew calls.
SMPTE vs. Interop, and the name on the folder.
There are two kinds of DCP. One is the standard, one is the leftover. And the long name on the folder is a label any projectionist can read. Here's both.
Places in the Heart was shot in its writer’s hometown, and Waxahachie is in every frame.
Robert Benton shot all of Places in the Heart in Waxahachie, where he grew up, in the fall of 1983. A hotel became the bank, and a cotton gin came back to life.
Spotlight: Robert Rodriguez made his first feature for $7,000 and built a studio in Austin.
How Robert Rodriguez turned a $7,000 debut into Troublemaker Studios, Texas crews, DIY film lessons and new Austin productions in 2026.
This week in independent film: November 6, 2026.
Texas first: AFF winners, Lone Star at 20, a documentary at No. 1, new deals, filmmaker lessons, and this weekend’s festivals and deadlines.
Shot in Texas for November: festival deadlines, Houston's film plan and Selena's Alamodome day.
Twelve festival deadlines still open in November, with the fee beside each, plus Houston's five-year film plan, the Texas residency test and the Alamodome day on Selena.
Spotlight: Houston Film Commission has a five-year plan to make Houston the film capital of Texas.
Houston First launched a five-year film plan on October 7, run through the Houston Film Commission. Who runs it, who helps filmmakers, and what’s next.
Inside the DCP folder: ASSETMAP, PKL, CPL and MXF.
A DCP is a few huge files and a few tiny ones. The tiny ones are how a cinema server knows the huge ones are right. Here's what each file does.
Selena filled the Alamodome with about 34,000 unpaid extras in one day so it could play the Astrodome.
Selena was shot in San Antonio and Corpus Christi in 1996. The Alamodome played the Astrodome, Poteet played Monterrey, and a college played the Grammys.
How to make your own DCP with DCP-o-matic.
DCP-o-matic is free, runs on any computer, and builds DCPs that play in real cinemas. Here's the whole process, from new project to a verified package on a drive.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was shot on 16mm reversal stock in a Round Rock farmhouse in August.
Former UT film students made it near Round Rock in the summer of 1973 for about $140,000, on 16mm stock rated ISO 25 and a very small lighting package.
Prepping your master before anyone makes a DCP.
Most DCP problems are master problems. Frame rate, aspect ratio, color range and audio layout, and what to hand over so the DCP comes out right the first time.
Blank Check’s castle is a real Austin house, and it started life as a water tower.
Blank Check is set in Indiana and was shot in central Texas: an Austin castle, a San Antonio bank hall and theme park, and a Dallas fountain.
Every festival deadline in November 2026.
The second month-ahead festival ledger. Every submission deadline falling in November 2026, every festival running in it, and a Berlinale correction with six days left on it.
What a DCP costs: DIY, lab or service.
A feature DCP runs from free to roughly $700 before the drive, depending on who builds it and how fast. Here are the published rates, the math, and the costs that don't show up on the rate card.
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