What Texas has actually paid in film incentives since 2008.

The Texas Film Commission publishes a list of every grant it has paid under the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, back to May 2008. It runs 68 pages, and it is the only public record of where the money actually went. We re-keyed all 1,259 rows into a spreadsheet and checked every two-year subtotal against the totals the state prints. They match to the cent.

Here is what the list says, through August 31, 2026.

The totals.

Texas has paid $372.2 million in grants to 1,259 projects. Those projects reported $2.18 billion in Texas spending, which is $5.84 spent in the state for every grant dollar, according to the commission’s paid-projects list.

Television takes most of it.

99 TV projects drew $257.8 million, 69.3% of everything paid. 102 feature films drew $55.8 million, 15%. On average a TV project got back 20.9% of its Texas spend and a feature 16.5%. Series are the projects whose Texas budgets most often clear the top tier.

Commercials are most of the projects.

797 commercials, 63.3% of every project paid, drew 2.9% of the dollars: $10.7 million. Each of those grant dollars came with $16.50 of Texas spending, the highest of any kind of project on the list. Under the current rules commercials top out at 10%, so their grants sit near the floor of the program.

A few checks are most of the money.

72 grants of $1 million or more account for 82.1% of every grant dollar the state has paid. In the last two budget periods, the ten largest checks are 90.9% of the money. The largest single grant on the list is $14.66 million for Lawman: Bass Reeves, paid August 14, 2026. Landman Season 1 is next at $13.52 million.

The new program has barely shown up yet.

Senate Bill 22 puts $300 million into the program every two-year budget period through 2035, per the bill. Through August 31, 2026, the first year of the current period, the state had paid $41.8 million to 39 projects. One of those 39 was a feature film.

Most of that is timing. The grant is a cash payment made after a project wraps and passes verification, so the checks on this list went mostly to projects that applied under the earlier rules. Under the current rules a feature or series earns 5% of eligible Texas spend from $250,000, 10% from $1 million and 25% from $1.5 million, applied to all of the spend, and all grants together are capped at 31%. A project that begins principal photography before September 1, 2027 needs 35% of paid crew, and separately 35% of paid cast including extras, to be Texas residents. That rises to 40% on September 1, 2027, 45% in 2029 and 50% in 2031. The Texas Film Commission decides every grant: 512-463-9200.

How to read the numbers.

Paid, not approved. Approved projects still waiting for a check are not on the list.

Jobs are counted per project. Added up, the projects report 177,253 Texas jobs, but a crew member who works five shows counts five times. Read it as job slots.

Spend is as reported. It is what each project reported as eligible Texas spending.

Get the report and the data.

The full report runs five pages: totals by budget period and by year, what each kind of project gets back, the largest checks, and the method. The spreadsheet has all 1,259 rows. Both are free: fill in the short form on our Texas incentives page and they arrive by email. If you use the numbers, cite “Goldsmith Production Services, State of the Texas Film Incentive, November 2026 edition.”

For what the rules mean on a budget, start with the Texas film incentive, in plain English and why your residency requirement depends on when you shoot. The rebate calculator runs the tiers on your numbers, and Filming in Texas covers who to call if you are coming from out of state.

Most of the money on this list was kept or lost in the paperwork after wrap. Goldsmith Production Services keeps that file as you shoot, from Austin. Tell us about the show.

Compiled from the Texas Film Commission’s TMIIIP Paid Projects list (report created September 1, 2026), checked November 12, 2026. Corrections to info@goldsmithpictures.com.