TMIIIP is a grant, so a Texas incentive arrives as a check after the Texas Film Commission reviews your spend. It pays like a cash rebate. Since SB 22 passed in 2025, the program gets $300 million every state fiscal biennium from a dedicated fund, and the law runs through August 31, 2035. With funding set by statute, the tiers are what producers need to plan around.
The tiers for film and TV
The rate is set by how much eligible Texas spend you have, and it applies to the whole amount:
| Eligible Texas spend | Base grant |
|---|---|
| $250,000 to $1,000,000 | 5% |
| $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 | 10% |
| $1,500,000 and up | 25% |
Commercials and nationally syndicated reality, talk, and game shows top out at 10%. Video games use the film tiers but start at $100,000.
The jump between the second and third tiers is big. A show with $1,490,000 of eligible spend gets $149,000. At $1,500,000 it gets $375,000. If you're close to the line, it's worth moving post or a stage build into Texas to cross it.
What counts as Texas spend
Qualified spend in Texas is narrower than "money spent in Texas." Nonresident wages and per diems are out entirely, including the out-of-town DP's hotel. Vendors must be Texas companies, so a camera package rented from an Austin branch of an out-of-state house needs checking. Shipments must originate in Texas. Pass-through companies, facility overhead, music and story rights, and marketing don't count.
Resident labor includes above the line and counts up to $1 million per person per project. Every resident needs a Declaration of Texas Residency backed by a Texas driver's license or ID, a current Texas voter registration, or a Texas college ID, valid 120 days before the first day of production.
Two headcount tests apply on top of the spend tiers: 35% of paid crew and 35% of paid cast (paid extras included) must be residents, and 60% of the production must be completed in Texas. Productions that lean on imported day players can fail the cast test even with plenty of spend.
A $1,000,000 feature and a $5,000,000 feature
A $1,000,000 feature in San Antonio has $780,000 of eligible Texas spend after removing nonresident wages and out-of-state rentals.
- Tier: 5%
- Grant: 5% x $780,000 = $39,000
Getting $220,000 more eligible spend moves it into the 10% tier, which would pay $100,000 on $1,000,000.
A $5,000,000 feature has $3,900,000 of eligible Texas spend. It shoots 40% of its filming days in a county under 300,000 people, and Texas resident veterans make up 5% of paid cast and crew.
- Base: 25% x $3,900,000 = $975,000
- Rural filming: 2.5% x $3,900,000 = $97,500
- Veteran percentage: 2.5% x $3,900,000 = $97,500
- Total: 30%, or $1,170,000
A 1% postproduction award (25% of Texas spend in post) would take it to the 31% maximum.
Timing the application
The window is tight at both ends. You can apply no earlier than 180 days before principal photography and no later than 5 p.m. Central, five business days before it. Add-on awards have to be selected on the application and aren't granted retroactively. If the start date slips more than 60 days, the commission asks you to withdraw and reapply. Documentation of Texas spend is due within 60 days of your last Texas expenditure, formatted in the commission's worksheet templates. A CPA audit opinion hasn't been required since March 27, 2017. Under SB 22 the office can deny an application over content and reviews the final cut before payment.
Texas against its neighbors
Texas borders Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Each has its own resident rules and payment method, so compare the cash each would actually pay on your spend. The incentive calculator helps with that, how film tax credits work explains credits versus grants, and the incentives hub lists every state.
Storiara's Funding page estimates an incentive from a project's Texas locations, shoot days, and budget and can apply it to the budget. It uses a single base rate, so check the tier and any add-on awards against the table above.