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A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Texas Music office. This week I'll continue with a look at another division within the governor's office, the Texas Film Commission (TFC). The TFC is one of 14 divisions of the Office of the Governor and offers a great deal of assistance to filmmakers and the citizens of Texas. Since 1971, TFC has provided information to filmmakers on locations, talent, crews, laws, housing and much more. One of TFC's main roles is to bring the film industry to Texas. Some of the ways that they entice business are by promoting the advantages of filming a movie in Texas and by offering a database that allows filmmakers to search for over 1,100 talented Texas crew vendors and other video-related entities. When film crews come to Texas they boost the state's economy by staying in Texas hotels, eating in Texas restaurants and shopping in Texas stores. They also help by hiring local extras and crew members. The TFC not only assists filmmakers, but also aids individuals who are interested in acting or working on a film crew. In order to help Texans who desire jobs in the entertainment industry, the TFC offers up to date information on current casting and crew calls and explains the expectations and responsibilities of specific film-related professions. Additionally, not everyone who visits the TFC site is looking to make a movie or become famous--sometimes they want their property to become famous. TFC offers information to individuals who would like to have their property listed in the organization's location library. This information includes what type of locations are in demand, what type of payment is received for allowing a location to be filmed and tips on sending photography to TFC. One appeal of filming in Texas is that with so much land and so many different landscapes, Texas can appear as many different foreign locations. Over the past 10 years, more than 500 film and TV projects have been filmed in Texas, sometimes with Texas appearing to be such exotic locations as Manhattan, Morocco, Africa, Afghanistan and others. For example, in 2003, a film that was set in New York was actually filmed in the Austin area, and a 2002 movie used scenes of Dallas and West Texas to convey the landscape of Iraq. For additional information on TFC you may visit: www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/film. Please feel free to contact me if I may be of assistance to you with any matter of state government. You can contact me by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by e-mailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us.
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