The Texas Round-Up

Every other source says world-class crew base. Here is which departments actually are, which are adequate, which are thin, and the one you should import, from my own shows. With the method, so you can argue.

Every city owns the how-to-apply page. Nobody says how long it takes. Here are the published lead times for eight Texas jurisdictions, side by side, from their own pages, and the one clock that isn't the city's.

The eight documents the rule requires at the end of a Texas grant, the 60-day clock, the no-additions trap, and what the Austin Film Commission told me in August about where productions actually lose it.

I directed and produced Odie in Austin this spring. Three things I'd budget differently, one thing Texas gave me that no other state would have, and no company-level claims.

You already have a line producer. Here is what the Texas half of your production office does that they can't, from the Odie shoot, and the honest cases where you don't need it.