Dukes, Perry and the Other Troublemakers
Big boost for film incentives, and great news for fans of Friday Night Lights and Grindhouse
By Richard Whittaker, 1:56PM, Thu. Apr. 23, 2009

Nice break for the capitol press corps this morning: A quick field trip to Troublemaker Studios, the movie-making base of Robert Rodriguez, for some film-related hob-nobbing and some celebrity bill-signing.
With the vehicles from Grindhouse as a backdrop, Gov. Rick Perry signed HB 873, the long-awaited reform of the Texas film incentive program. Bill author Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, was there, along Rodriguez and game guru Richard Garriott. From the lege there was bill co-sponsor Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, and Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who has his own film-related bill, SB 1929 in the works, giving tax incentives for production facilities.
But enough about the lawmaking: What film news was there? NBC has confirmed Friday Night Lights will stay in Austin for "at least two years," Dukes said.
Rodriguez confirmed his upcoming slate: To rapturous applause every time he name-dropped a project, he announced that because of the incentive boost, "I'm going to be able to shoot my upcoming Machete here, a sci-fi action film called Nervewrackers, a re-boot of the Predator series called Predators, and a couple of smaller movies called Sin City 2 and The Jetsons."
Check back later today for footage from the bill signing.
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Richard Whittaker, Feb. 23, 2014
Jordan Smith, Jan. 24, 2014
Feb. 26, 2021
Friday Night Lights, Dawnna Dukes, Rick Perry, Film Incentives, Robert Rodriguez, Sin City 2, The Jetsons, Predator, Predators, Machete, Grindhouse