It’s become normal now for actors and others with the means to do so to ditch woke California so that they can live better, freer, and less expensive lives in states without the high taxes and high crime present in California. Among them is actor Dennis Quaid, who recently talked about the trend to Fox News Channel host Jesse Watters on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” explaining why many actors want to move the film industry from California to Texas.
Speaking on that, he said, “We want to make Texas the film capital of the world. That’s what Texas used to really have – a great film incentive program and a great film crew base. About nine or 10 years ago, I made some great movies there and [I] love working there.”
Continuing, Quaid then added that there is “more business friendly” legislation brewing in the Texas State House to increase film funding from $40 million to possibly $300 million and that having the film industry located somewhere like Texas would draw people in the industry back to one spot. “It would bring back a lot of people who moved to other states like Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, surrounding Texas, actually, and Georgia,” he said.
Continuing, he noted that many films are filmed outside of California anyway right now, saying, “I can’t remember the last time I made a film in California, to tell you the truth. You know, they still do their game shows there and talk shows and stuff that. Everybody films in Georgia or Oklahoma or whatever – because it doesn’t matter where it’s supposed to take place cause – it’s cheaper.”
Quaid then added that Texas has already stolen the tech industry from California, so Hollywood might as well be next, saying, “Texas did a really good job at taking a big share of the tech industry away from Silicon Valley. You go down to Austin and you can see that really clearly. And the same thing can be done with movies and television shows. It’s a great place to shoot. Think of the California gold rush, you know? It’s like a few people did strike it rich, but the people who really made money were the shopkeepers and people selling shovels and spades and stuff like that who were doing other things besides mining for gold. And that’s kind of what happened here.”
Quaid isn’t the only one to leave California with an eye to creating a new movie industry. Mark Wahlberg does as well, as he shared in a recent interview, saying that it was “absolutely” his goal to build such a studio and create thousands of jobs. “We’re looking to create 10,000 jobs on the studio alone,” Mr. Wahlberg said.
Continuing, he emphasized that those would be good, high-paying jobs, saying, “The average salary would be $100,000 more than what it is now. We want to train people both in front of and behind the camera, create jobs, most importantly, first and foremost, for locals.”
Adding to that and explaining why he thinks he can draw talent out of California and into Vegas, he said, “And then, after that, I think we can attract a lot of people. The housing market is great.” Emphasizing that point with anecdotal, personal evidence, Wahlberg said, “When I moved here, I brought probably like 15 or 20 people that work with me also moving here. They went from three-bedroom houses that they were really struggling to pay rent for. And now they have a six-bedroom house. And it’s, you know, half the cost.”
He also noted that the quality of life is better in Vegas than in California, saying, “And, you know, they walk their dogs. They’re in a gated community. They’ve got the school right there two blocks down the road. It’s just a much better lifestyle here and more affordable.“
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