Louisiana film tax credits may not be enough as Texas announces two major film studios

Bizjournal: 'Project Dark Monday,' a $267M, 820,000-square-foot film studio, to be considered for incentives in San Marcos

"Another massive film studio project could rise in the Austin area.

The San Marcos City Council on June 7 will meet to discuss potential incentives for an 820,000-square-foot "state-of-the-art motion picture studio facility" at 6202 West Centerpoint Road in the La Cima master-planned development. Public documents indicate the project could include 12 sound stages, four workshops, backlots, production offices and a commissary.

Hill Country Studios, a subsidiary of Hill Country Group LLC, has proposed building the studio on 75 acres of a 209-acre-plot in three phases, starting in April 2023 and completing everything by 2025, according to council documents. Phase 1A would include seven production stages, two workshops and a welcome center, while Phase 1B would include 250,000 square feet of office space. Phase 2 would include five additional stages, two workshops and support space.

The San Marcos project has an estimated capital investment of $267 million and would employ at least 44 people with an average salary of $100,000. Additionally, officials estimated that the project would result in the employment of 1,400 contract workers with an average of 1,200 on production projects at an $80,000 average salary.

The project would mark the second known massive film project in the Austin suburbs. The Bastrop 552 project, which owner Alton Butler has said will eventually have 486,000 square feet of studio space, 300,000 square feet of warehouse/mill space and 200,000 square feet of office space in a horseshoe bend of the Colorado River, remains on track to open on 546 acres near the city of Bastrop in August 2023.