As sweetened production incentives roll out in Texas, an Austin-based company wants to help filmmakers capture the maximum possible rebate from the Lone Star State and beyond.

Its new platform called Goldenrod is now live for productions based in Texas, with pilot projects in Kentucky and Louisiana. The launch announcement is timed to the Toronto Film Festival at a moment of great attention to state incentive packages and a potential national benefit that’s currently being drafted by lawmakers in Washington.  

Goldenrod offers productions (film, television, commercial and video game) purpose-built technology alongside in-person incentives consulting. Filmmakers are welcome to bring early-stage projects to strategize before shooting starts. Goldenrod monitors compliance during production and manages final submissions through approval and payment.

The expanded Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program that passed last fall established a $1.5 billion fund, or $300 million every two years for a decade. The base incentive rate for qualifying film and television projects is 5% to 25% depending on in-state spend (a minimum of $250,000), with uplifts possible. It’s a cash rebate system, which pays out faster than a tax incentive.

“Incentives compliance is genuinely hard to get right,” says producer and Goldenrod co-founder Russell Wayne Groves (Family Movie, Stages), founder of The Ranch Productions in Austin. “The administrative load pulls you off set, off the creative work, and if you miss something, you’re either leaving significant dollars on the table or facing disqualification entirely.” He compares Goldenrod to a TurboTax for production incentives. “You focus on the work, we make sure you’re maximizing every dollar you’re entitled to, and your financiers always know exactly where things stand.”

The other founders are Ted Griffis and Brandon Thomas of Austin-based post production studio TBD Post (Iron Lung, Netflix’s The Long Game, Apple TV documentary Fathom), and Tara Khanna, former Incentives Team Lead and Senior Production Incentives Specialist at the Texas Film Commission.

The company takes a deposit upfront and a percentage of incentives captured.

Texas’ production profile has been rising, including a shoutout by David Ellison last month. The Paramount CEO named it as one of a few states he’d consider to relocate the Hollywood studio absent settlement talks on an antitrust lawsuit. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a dozen states to block Paramount’s planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

A federal tax incentive like those available in many other countries was recently resurfaced by President Trump and is creating major industry buzz. It could be paired with state benefits to offer a substantial package encouraging projects to film in the U.S. Production drives jobs and spending in local economies across both red and blue states.

Groves tells Deadline he was the first to onboard Goldenrod with his SXSW-premiering film Stages and about 10 productions have beta tested the service. The ideal scenario is “someone that has a budget and a schedule, and we help make sure the budget is optimized for the benefit of that project. In the state of Texas, if you don’t use it, you lose it. So we want to make sure that you’re getting the most out of whatever your budget is.”

Texas has 35% residency requirement for cast and crew to qualify for the rebate. “So, if you if you were at 30% and you were on week four of five, you 
 need to hire an extra five people to fit in that box. That is what we’re trying to flag.”

At least 60% of production must be completed in state.

“We’re going to move extremely quickly after TIFF,” Groves says. Beyond Texas, Kentucky and Louisiana, Goldenrod has a list of about 16 more states to tap, hoping to eventually expand across the U.S.

“I love Texas. I’m from Texas 
 But I think this has to be state agnostic. Each state is different. Something we want to do on the front end is to say, before you apply, let’s do a review. If this is not the appropriate spot for you to do this, in this state, let’s look at another state.”

At TIFF, The Goldenrod team will be meeting with filmmakers and film commissions and host a party with XYZ Films on Sunday where it will be handing out ‘golden tickets’ for prospective clients to log into the platform and crunch some numbers.

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