How Texas film money made Fort Worth into ‘Landman’ creator’s Taylorwood | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Fort Worth emerges as a major film hub with new SGS Studios at AllianceTexas.
- State film incentives allocate $1.5B to fuel $6B in film-driven business growth.
- DFW Airport access aids Fort Worth in attracting global talent and investors.
Fort Worth is about to become Taylorwood, Texas’ newest home for a TV and movie industry that has wandered from Las Colinas to Austin in search of a “third coast.”
Cowtown is the new home of one of the two largest studio complexes between New York and California, and for three reasons:
• Taylor Sheridan, once an actor in “Grease” at Paschal High School, is now a prolific writer and producer turning out hit shows at a lightning pace;
• Hillwood, a Perot Company, and its political effort won even Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s support for devoting $1.5 billion in film incentives over 10 years to bring $6 billion in business;
• And, as with nearly every success in North Texas, the convenience of DFW Airport can bring talent and investors nonstop in hours from almost anywhere in the world.
The announcement of the new SGS Studios, 2701 Spirit Drive, was months in the making.
The way the players describe the history, it started as a simple way to get Sheridan’s “Landman” and “Lioness” shows out of their makeshift warehouse studios. Instead, Hillwood Properties offered two vacant industrial buildings in the AllianceTexas development.
Texas film incentives went from $22 million a year to $150 million
But the heaviest lifting came in Austin, where less than 10 years ago Texas only set aside $22 million to invest toward creating film jobs and growth. Lawmakers mad over abusive behavior in the industry and what they called disgusting content talked about doing away with film incentives.
That began turning around in recent sessions of the Legislature.
The wagon train really began to roll in January, when actors Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey, Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton (of “Landman”) and Renee Zellweger starred in a TV commercial named “True to Texas.”
In the commercial, McConaughey is driving as he talks about a “whole new hub” for film and television without Hollywood policies, regulations and politics.
Harrelson asks: “Why should all of these other states take advantage of this investment but not Texas?”
McConaughey ends by turning to the camera and asking: “What do you say, Texas Legislature? You don’t like what Hollywood’s been dishing? Just take over the kitchen.”
But it was Sheridan who brought the argument home with his multi-million-dollar success with TV shows such as “Yellowstone.”
Shows like “1883,” “Landman” and “Lioness” had budgets of $150 million to $170 million, he told a Senate committee.
(Disclosure: A dog I know well is in the background at a shoot for the new season of “Landman.” She is not in line for a film incentive. I compensated her in treats.)
Keeping jobs in Texas and ‘Landman’ within budget
At the time, Sheridan made a second season of “Landman” in Texas sound iffy, with better offers to shoot in states like Oklahoma.
“With an investment as big as we’ve made ... for the show to not go three or four years makes no sense from an investment standpoint for the network,” he told a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
“What becomes a real challenge,” he said, “ ... is not knowing how much, if any, incentive is going to exist for that year.”
Sheridan’s budget tension with Paramount is well-chronicled. Texas’ added tax incentives helped keep more shows in Texas and more Texans working.
It still wasn’t easy.
State Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, argued that “I don’t find that profanity is limited in any way. ... There’s no value at all in using God’s name in vain.” (She later voted for the bill.)
Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, even complained about “Landman,” the third most-streamed show in 2024.
Bettencourt objected to “the f-bomb” and said the show is “completely wrong ... It doesn’t explain what a landman does.”
He later voted for the bill.
Five Fort Worth-area Texas House members voted ‘no’
But the incentives bill eventually passed the Senate 22-8 and the House 114-26. Five Fort Worth-area Republicans voted “no”: Andy Hooper of Wise County, Mitch Little of Denton County, David Lowe of North Richland Hills, Mike Olcott of Parker County and Tony Tinderholt of Arlington.
Then Sheridan and Hillwood executive Mike Berry put the accelerator down to get SGS Studios running.
The studio has been operating in part for several months before the announcement.
Hotels and restaurants near Westport Parkway are nearby for visitors and the more than 3,800 workers on “Landman” alone.
Berry talked about building more studios to make room for other productions besides Sheridan’s.
“I think the people really like living and staying in the city,” Berry told a Star-Telegram reporter. “It’s sort of the perfect combo.”
I don’t know whether to call this Taylorwood or Tinseltown of the Cow.
This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 10:13 AM.
