McConaughey May See Film Incentive Pitch
as Early Audition for Possible Governor Bid
Capitol Inside
March 31, 2025
Matthew McConaughey may have set the stage for a long-anticipated race for governor on Monday when he urged the Texas Senate to double down on a film incentives bill that he portrayed as the seed investment for an industry that could be a reincarnation of Hollywood in the Lone Star State.
But the Oscar-winning actor who made his first movie in Austin with Dazed and Confused told the Senate Finance Committee that he understood that public subsidies from the state would come with expectations that Texas would be treated in movies and television shows in a relatively positive light.
"Now it's my understanding that the rub against the film incentives in Texas is more philosophical than economical," McConaughey said in testimony that spanned a full 20 minutes. "You don't want to help get movie made in Texas that throws rocks at Texas or Texans. Me neither.
"If nobody wants to do that they can shoot in some other incentivized state like Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana - or go to Malta and do it," McConaughey added. "But not here. I'm with you."
McConaughey teamed with fellow Texas native Woody Harrelson to make a pitch for Senate Bill 2 at a Finance Committee hearing at the Capitol in Austin this afternoon. But McConaughey did all the talking for the famous duo - waxing in vintage eloquence on a plethora of benefits that he envisions if Texas lawmakers choose to go all in on an industry that he says would be "sustainable and profitable" if it's done right.
Sponsored by State Senator Joan Huffman of Houston as the budget panel chair, SB 22 earmarks $500 million as bait for movie and television producers who have migrated to others states with superior incentive programs during the past decade.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who was seated behind McConaughey and Harrelson at the witness table in the committee room at the Capitol, has led the charge for a revitalized film industry since Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan made a plug for an incentive boost over dinner two years ago. The exodus got under way after the state reneged on promises of financial assistance for Texas auteur Robert Rodriguez's film Machete Kills due to unflattering depictions of Texans include a migrant-hunting senator.
The filmmakers
sued the state in 2014 amid claims that the incentive program was unconstitutional as an affront to their free speech rights. The legal fight ended in 2019 when a federal appeals court effectively confirmed a state judicial ruling from three years earlier.
Harrelson watched in silence as McConaughey regaled the panel with predictions that Texas could be a "central dispatch" for movies, TV shows and commercials if it chose to be with a homegrown workforce that would be a pipeline for talent here and beyond.
McConaughey said the state could forge partnerships with community colleges for programs designed to train labor for jobs in the entertainment production business from the construction of sets to makeup and hairstyling and assortment of other crafts that are involved in film and television production. Huffman noted that the Senate's proposed state budget contains $30 million for the kind of programs that he described during the next two years.
McConaughey said estimates show that the Texas econony could expect almost $5 for every dollar that's spend on film and TV productions here.
more to come ...
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