
So here's some news worth sharing: Kaufman is officially a Film Friendly Texas Certified Community.
The Texas Film Commission handed us the certificate on September 16, after Governor Abbott announced the designation back in August. It puts us on a list of more than 200 Texas towns that productions look to when they need a place to shoot. And we earned it the real way.
This wasn't a form we filled out. Our folks sat through the Film Commission's certification workshop. We passed actual filming guidelines that spell out how productions and residents work together without stepping on each other. And we sent the state photos of our locations so they go straight into the database scouts dig through when they're hunting for the right backdrop.
What do we get out of it? Access, mostly. When a production is looking for a location or putting out a casting call, the Film Commission can blast that request to certified communities in one email. We're now on that list. That's the difference between hoping someone finds Kaufman and the state handing us to them.
Now the part that actually matters around here: money and jobs. When a crew rolls into town, they don't just film and leave. They book rooms. They eat lunch. They buy lumber and gas and coffee and whatever else a shoot eats through. They hire local hands. Statewide, the Film Commission says media production pumped more than $2.5 billion into local economies and created north of 189,000 jobs between 2007 and 2024. We'd like a piece of that.
And honestly? Kaufman's got the goods. The historic downtown, the wide-open scenery, the kind of small-town character you can't fake on a soundstage. Filmmakers chase that stuff. The designation just tells them we're easy to work with and ready to go on day one.
So that's where we're at. Kaufman's open for business, the welcome mat's out, and we're ready for our close-up.
Come shoot here. We'll make it easy.