Austin Film Industry Could See Big Growth
As the Austin Film Festival and Conference celebrates its 20th year this weekend, the city's film industry is gearing up for the potential for big growth thanks to an expanded incentive program and the reputation filmmakers have been building for years.
The State Legislature voted last session to expand incentives to the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, almost tripling funding for the program, from $32 million this year to $95 million next year. The incentive program provides film, television, commercial, visual effects and video game projects and companies cash grants based on a percentage of how much the project spends in Texas, including wages.
“It’s reasonable to expect that the increase in the incentives for gaming and film will create more business in Texas and in Austin,” said Jim Butler, who works in the film division of the City’s Economic Development Departments, adding that although the department doesn’t have a hard projection, “our expectations are that those changes will have major positive influence.”
Since 1910, more than 1,800 projects, from films to television shows to commercials, have been filmed in Austin. The Texas Film Commission formed in 1971, and three years later, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out. However, the industry started receiving major attention in the 1990s with Richard Linklater’s Slacker. The low-budget cult hit set the stage for Austin to become known as a hub of independent filmmaking, producing other local talent like University of Texas graduates Wes Anderson and Robert Rodriguez.
More at http://www.austinpost.org/austin-film-industry-could-see-big-growth .
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maybe I can get some work out of this somehow. and other people too, of course. 
I know that it is difficult to remain employed in the A/V professions. 
