Fort Worth has spent a decade quietly turning itself into a production town. This year the state made it official policy.
Senate Bill 22, which took effect September 1, 2025, commits about $1.5 billion over ten years, $300 million every two years, to attracting film and television work to Texas. Productions that hire Texas crews and shoot primarily in the state can qualify for rebates of up to 31 percent of what they spend here, a rate meant to compete directly with Georgia and California.
The effect is easiest to see in Fort Worth, hometown of producer Taylor Sheridan. Five of his series are filming in the city, including the second season of "Landman," the special-operations drama "Lioness" and "The Madison," a "Yellowstone" spinoff. Sheridan's earlier work, "Yellowstone" and "1883," helped establish the local crew base those shows now draw on.
The jobs are not abstract. "Landman" season two alone hired more than 3,850 people across cast, background talent and crew, according to Taylor Hardy, who leads the Fort Worth Film Commission. "It's kind of a new era for film in Fort Worth," Hardy said.
City officials put the cumulative economic impact of film production in Fort Worth at more than $700 million since 2015. A large production spends on the order of $100,000 a day locally on location fees, crew, equipment and vendors, money that lands with caterers, hotels, hardware suppliers and lumber yards as much as with anyone on camera.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker was among the local officials who lobbied for the incentive in Austin. "Each of us spent time in Austin working with legislators," Parker said. "The smartest thing we can do for our community is make this synonymous with other industries."
Two recent productions show how far the work spreads beyond the city. "Dutton Ranch," the "Yellowstone" sequel that became the biggest series launch in Paramount+ history, shot across North Texas from August 2025 to March 2026, using Fort Worth, Dallas, Ferris, Boyd, Weatherford, Cleburne, Grandview, Rio Vista and Mineral Wells to stand in for South Texas.
"Frisco King," the Samuel L. Jackson crime drama named for Frisco, began production in Fort Worth in late March before moving to Dallas, Plano, Denton, Haslet and Granbury.
