Texas seeks to promote Rio Grande Valley region in film industry

MCALLEN, TX – Texas Governor Greg Abbott invited the communities of the Rio Grande Valley, the south and the rest of the state to participate in the Film Friendly Texas workshop in the city of McAllen.

According to information from the Texas government, the workshop will be held on Wednesday, October 5 and is organized by the state Film Commission; in addition, it will be open to community representatives interested in learning about the media production industries.

As part of the activities, registrants will be taught how to become Film Friendly Texas certified to attract new jobs and investment.

For more than 50 years, the Texas Film Commission has helped communities grow jobs and local economies by promoting the state as the premier destination for film, television, commercials, animation, visual effects, video games and extended reality (XR) production.

“By promoting the state as a premier destination for moving image production, the Texas Film Commission has attracted $1.74 billion in local spending and created more than 162,000 production jobs statewide from 2007 through 2021,” said Governor Abbott.

“Through the Film Friendly Texas training and certification process, certified communities are prepared to help match local businesses with production-related needs, stimulating the local economy by creating jobs for Texas-based crew members and local residents, as well as creating on-site spending at local small businesses,” he added.

The target audience for this workshop is representatives from the Rio Grande Valley community, who will serve as a community point of contact to facilitate media production requests.

The McAllen Film Friendly Texas workshop is being held in partnership with the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, Visit McAllen and the Texas Office of Economic Development and Tourism.