Taylor Sheridan—the mastermind behind Paramount hits like Yellowstone, 1923, Landman, Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness and more—has opened a film and television production hub in Fort Worth, Texas.

The new facility marks a decisive shift in the country’s entertainment landscape. With Texas investing $1.5 billion in film incentives over the next decade and housing the state’s largest studio facility, industry experts believe Hollywood’s traditional dominance could face unprecedented disruption. For American audiences and workers, the changes could mean new stories—and new jobs—originating far from Los Angeles.

Sheridan’s SGS Studios, created in partnership with Paramount Pictures and developer Hillwood, has established a 450,000-square-foot production campus in Fort Worth’s AllianceTexas development. The two-building complex includes six sound stages, supporting up to four major productions at once, and making it the largest operating film studio in Texas, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The project launched officially in March with Landman season 2 and is already scheduled to host further productions such as Lioness, as well as spinoffs The Madison and the tentatively titled Rio Palo. The campus will also be available to outside projects, with further expansions planned to accommodate more productions and sound stages in the coming years.

Fueled by a new Texas law allocating $1.5 billion over 10 years to attract film and TV work, the region is positioning itself as a formidable contender for large-scale production, especially as Hollywood navigates prolonged industry disruptions. Hillwood’s $65 million investment in the facility and planned educational partnerships aim to boost local employment and training for film professions.

“SGS Studios isn’t just about sound stages or tax incentives—it’s about reclaiming the independence and grit that built this industry in the first place,” Sheridan said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. “Texas offers something rare: the space to dream big, the freedom to build fast and a community that still believes storytelling matters.”

Hollywood Under ‘Threat’

Paul Ardoin—director of the film and media program at The University of Texas at San Antonio—said the Lone Star State poses a “real” threat to Hollywood.

“Texas actually did rival Hollywood, years ago,” he told Newsweek. “In the early days of American cinema, film production in New Jersey, New York and Chicago was hindered by short winter days, so places like Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and especially San Antonio, Texas, saw a fair amount of film production: they offered warm climates year-round and a varied topography. Star Films (run by the brother of famous filmmaker Georges Méliès) shot any number of Western and other films in Texas.”

Ardoin added that while “Hollywood eventually won out, you can see the panic there now, as everyone up to the governor of California is talking about—maybe too-late—ways to save an industry that’s chased tax incentives to Canada, Europe and especially other American states, like Oklahoma, New Mexico and Georgia.”

“The shift is real, and the threat to Hollywood is real. Austin, Texas, is increasingly a hotbed for celebrities and filmmakers formerly of Hollywood, and the state has recently drastically increased its own incentive program to continue to spur that growth.”

Richard Allen—Emmy Award winning professor of film, television and digital media at Texas Christian University, which is located in Fort Worth—said the studio alone won’t threaten Hollywood. That being said, “the fact that technology has globalized media accessibility so widely—and that cities like Atlanta, Chicago and Fort Worth are able to become legitimate hubs of production—THAT threatens the centrality and dominance of Hollywood as the absolute mecca of the entertainment industry.”

Claire Sisco King—professor of communication studies and chair of cinema & media arts and theatre at Vanderbilt University, who wrote the book Mapping the Stars: Celebrity, Metonymy, and the Networked Politics of Identity—argued, however, that although “Sheridan’s SGS Studios will be physically located outside of California, it is important to note that this venture is not removed from the Hollywood industry because this deal is happening through Paramount Pictures, which is a legacy Hollywood studio in the United States that is anchored in California.”

“While Hollywood is the primary locus of the entertainment industry in the United States, productions for films and television series happen in a variety of locations around the country,” King told Newsweek. “Such productions are often incentivized by tax breaks or other financial opportunities; decisions to shoot in particular locales can also be driven by the topography and/or climate of the area.”

“For example, in recent years, Georgia has been a prolific site for production work and is home to a number of studios, including Tyler Perry Studios and EUE/Screen Gems Ltd. Louisiana and North Carolina are other examples of states with considerable investments in the production industry.”

Fort Worth’s Star Power

Allen said there’s likely a reason Sheridan chose Fort Worth, in particular.

The “Dallas-Fort Worth area is a legitimate destination for media makers, and universities like Texas Christian University, UT Arlington and SMU [Southern Methodist University] have excellent media programs that prepare students for careers in the entertainment industry—many of whom are already working on Taylor Sheridan’s shows as well as others,” Allen told Newsweek.

“I’m a New Yorker who spent eight years in L.A. and have been living in Fort Worth 32 plus years. Fort Worth has grown so much in that time, it’s not the same city,” he added. “But if this studio produces what Sheridan is envisioning, Fort Worth will likely become of the top ten media markets in the country… and an elite center for production. It’s going to be hard for the city to maintain it ‘friendly, small town’ appeal if that happens.”

Phase Two

Construction on phase two of the AllianceTexas studio campus is in early planning, with an additional 400,000 to 500,000 square feet anticipated, per The Dallas Morning News. Expansion would support more stages, post-production suites and set-building capabilities. With Texas’ expanded film incentive program, the studio expects to attract outside productions and keep facilities fully booked for years to come.

Sheridan’s studio has already drawn interest beyond his own shows. As the local film workforce grows through educational programs and industry demand rises—with productions such as Landman employing more than 3,800 people—the broader U.S. industry is watching how Texas’s strategy could inspire similar moves in other states. For now, Hollywood faces genuine competition from a Texas hub that provides both financial incentives and creative freedoms.

“Sheridan is in a unique place,” Allen said. “He’s calling his own shots in an infrastructure he’s built by himself. He’s been on a path to reach the level of Dick Wolf, Steven Bochco and Norman Lear as a TV mogul. This move might help him surpass them.”