San Antonio Stars as a Top U.S. Film-Friendly City Six Years in a Row
Published on January 18, 2024
SAN ANTONIO (January 18, 2024) – The City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture and its Film Commission today announced that San Antonio has, for the sixth year in a row, been named one ofMovieMaker’s Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker.Featuring 25 big U.S. cities, San Antonio joins three other Texas cities on the list (El Paso, Dallas and Austin) and is highlighted among other film industry key locales such as Albuquerque, Atlanta and Toronto.
MovieMaker compiles its annual list based on surveys, production spending, tax incentives, additional research, and personal visits whenever possible. Cited reasons San Antonio was selected, which were supported with data provided by the Film Commission, include turnkey film and free permitting on 250 city-owned locations, the San Antonio Supplement Film Incentive, growing film culture and expert Film Commission staff.
"San Antonio is one of the country's best film towns, with the best incentives you'll find in Texas, a film culture that includes some 15 movie theaters, at least a dozen festivals and at least half a dozen film societies, plus very cinematic locations,” said Tim Molloy, Editor of MovieMaker Magazine. “Its very accommodating cost of living means it's a place where filmmakers can enjoy a high quality of life without having to work constantly for other people — they can hopefully assemble a team of trusted collaborators to make their own projects, while paying the bills doing work on commercials and other well-paying gigs. We suspect the number of jobs for hire will continue to rise with the vast new facility coming to San Marcos."
A sample of notable productions filmed in San Antonio in the past year include:
- Feature Films/Documentaries: The Answer to My Prayer, The Beat of a Nation - Kerouac's Road, Haunted History, The Quilt, Stitched, Tamale Season, Rainbow Door and With Love, SA.
- TV/ Streaming: American Historia with John Leguizamo, Planet Barbecue – Season 1, Squid Games: Backstories, Family Recipe with Gordon Ramsay, Why the Heck Did I Buy This House: Season 2, Accused: Guilty or Innocent, 90 Day Fiancé: The Single Life: Season 4, Couple Goals, The Dead Files, YOLO Texas and WWE: Royal Rumble.
- Commercials: Bank of America, State Farm Insurance, BJ's Restaurants and Brewhouse, Whataburger, San Antonio Spurs, H-E-B, Coca Cola, Expedia, Travel Texas, Kendra Scott, Frost Bank and Toyota.
“We have noticed that this year the size and caliber of film productions inquiring about and coming to San Antonio continues to increase, resulting in San Antonio cast, crew, vendors and support services seeing a positive benefit economically,” said Department of Arts & Culture Executive Director Krystal Jones. “With the end of industry strikes and fully funded film incentive programs (both local and state), we are looking forward to nothing but growth for the media production industries of San Antonio.”
The City of San Antonio has furthered its longstanding support of the arts and prioritization of filmmaking with its continued investment in the Supplemental San Antonio Film Incentive Program which provides qualified productions with up to a 7.5-percent rebate on approved San Antonio spending and eligible expenditures. Paired with the State of Texas’ Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP), projects filming in San Antonio can be eligible for a total incentive of up to 30 percent. This is the most competitive city-based film incentive program in the state of Texas.
For MovieMaker’s 2024 list of Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker and complete details, visit MovieMaker.com. For more about filming in San Antonio, including the San Antonio Supplemental Film Incentive, visit FilmSanAntonio.com and @filmsanantonio.