Tarrant County College/Fort Worth Film Collaborative classes were mentioned in this article from The Dallas Morning News.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and actor Dennis Quaid also testified in front of the State Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The committee convened to assess the current incentives program, which includes a record $200 million set aside by the Legislature in 2023 that will expire next year.
One of Sheridan’s past projects, however, was shot in a neighboring state because its incentives program was more competitive, he said.
Sheridan also said there needs to be more resources to build Texas’ production workforce. He said he used a past incentive to train students at Tarrant County College to work as film crew technicians.
“We graduated our first class, and I hired them all,” he said. “We desperately need the employees. I would much, much, much rather hire a Texas local than fly in somebody from another state.”
His projects are intended to run for several seasons, he added.
Quaid, who is from Houston, briefly testified after Sheridan. He presented a video featuring him and other actors from Texas — including Matthew McConaughey, Glen Powell and Owen Wilson — addressing the importance of incentives.
Quaid said he wants to see the state’s filming incentives rise to $500 million or $1 billion. Georgia, for comparison, offered $1.3 billion in tax credits in 2022.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker also spoke before the committee, making the case for the financial gains reaped from incentives.
Legislators appeared open to the suggestions from supporters of the incentives. In 2017, state Sen. Bob Hall called to abolish the program, saying “it is not the proper role of government to be meddling with the free-market system,” The Austin American-Statesmen reported at the time. On Wednesday, though, he said he was impressed by the apparent return on investment to taxpayers.
“I don’t know where we could ever put any money that we would get that kind of return,” he said.