Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday afternoon, Dec. 12, that Breckenridge, having completed the multi-step training and certification process, has been designated as a Film Friendly Texas Certified Community by the Texas Film Commission.

“Congratulations to Breckenridge on earning the Film Friendly Texas designation and joining more than 175 other Texas communities that have received this recognition,” Abbott said in a news release. “Texas is brimming with promise, and I look forward to continuing to work alongside all of our communities to ensure they have the knowledge and tools needed to succeed. Through the Film Friendly Texas training and certification process, Texas communities are prepared to help match local businesses with production-related needs, creating jobs for Texas-based crew members and local residents, as well as spurring on-site spending at local businesses. I thank the Texas Film Commission for helping communities like Breckenridge market their unique appeal and support local job creation through media production.”

Breckenridge joins more than 175 Film Friendly Texas Certified Communities from across the state that receive ongoing training and guidance from the Texas Film Commission on media industry standards, best practices, and how to effectively accommodate on-location filming activity in their community.

“Congratulations to the City of Breckenridge for earning the Film Friendly Texas Community designation,” said Sen. Phil King. “This designation is a testament to the dedicated local leadership, the compelling history, and the natural beauty of Breckenridge. Thank you to the Texas Film Commission for this designation, which will create exciting economic opportunities for this community. I look forward to the continued growth of the film industry in Stephens County and across Senate District 10.”

Breckenridge City Manager Cynthia Northrop said City officials are excited to receive the Film Friendly Texas Community certification. “The City of Breckenridge is rich in unique history, boomtown legacy, and the rugged beauty of West Texas that features two lakes, prairie land, and breathtaking landscapes,” she said. “The Mayor and Commissioners continue to promote tourism in alignment with our strategic plan, and this partnership with the Texas Film Commission will serve to welcome the film industry to discover our diverse and beautiful community.”

At their June meeting, the City Commissioners approved an ordinance setting guidelines for filming in Breckenridge. Having such guidelines in place was one of three requirements for the city to become certified as a film-friendly city by the Texas Film Commission. The other two requirements were for City staff members to attend a workshop and to provide the commission with photos of potential film locations.

“So (the ordinance) really fulfills one of our strategic goals of promoting economic development and promoting Breckenridge as … a tourist destination,” Northrop said at the June meeting.

A couple of weeks before that meeting, Northrop and City Secretary Jessica Sutter attended a related seminar in New Braunfels, fulfilling that requirement, as well.

The guidelines passed in the ordinance authorize the City Manager to permit the use of any street, right-of-way, park, public building, equipment, or personnel for commercial uses in the filming or taping of movies, television programs, documentaries, commercials, training films, or other media, and related activities pursuant to the requirements of this article. Additionally, the City Manager can prohibit all filming or order cessation of filming when necessary to promote public health, safety, and welfare.

The ordinance also sets the permit requirements and the rules once a permit has been issued, such as notifying residents who might be affected by a film project in their neighborhood. For example, the guidelines state that the permit applicant will provide a written description of the schedule for the proposed production to the owners, tenants, and residents of each property in the affected neighborhood(s) or areas where filming is to occur. Click here to see the complete ordinance.

Last year, the city of Strawn in the southwestern corner of Palo Pinto County was used to film scenes for the miniseries “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” which premiered on Paramount+ in November 2023. Some scenes were filmed in Stephenville and other Texas communities, even though the story is set in Arkansas.

“This is great news for the City and another great step toward accomplishing our goals,” Sutter said in an email Thursday afternoon about the official Film Friendly Texas designation. A representative from the Texas Film Commission will make a presentation on the designation at the City Commission meeting in January.

For more than 50 years, the Texas Film Commission has helped grow local jobs and economies by promoting Texas as a destination for film, television, commercial, animation, visual effects, video game, and extended reality production. The Texas Film Commission in the Governor’s Economic Development & Tourism Office has attracted more than $2.5 billion in local spending and created more than 189,000 production jobs across the state from 2007 to 2024.

To explore all that Film Friendly Texas Communities offer, visit: gov.texas.gov/film/page/fftx_overview.

For cast, crew, and digital media job opportunities in Texas, visit: gov.texas.gov/film/hotline.

 

Cutline, top photo: Downtown Breckenridge offers brick streets and several 1920s-era buildings that might appeal to film makers. Other sites in the community, such as the parks, historical homes, the lakes, ranches, etc. also could be of interest. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

 

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The Texas Department of Public Safety announced Friday, Oct. 11, that a 14-year-old murder case in Stephens County has been solved.

On Jan. 18, 2010, Jimmy Earl Whitt was discovered fatally shot in his residence in Stephens County. The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, Breckenridge Police Department and the Texas Rangers began an investigation into Whitt’s death, interviewing multiple individual and ultimately developing Charles Larry Johnson as a suspect.

The investigation continued through 2015 but was suspended due to the lack of new leads or developments that would enable successful prosecution of the murder.

In 2024, the Texas Rangers Unsolved Crime Investigation Program (UCIP) assisted the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, re-investigating the case. During this new investigation, multiple interviews with individuals related to the original investigation were conducted revealing new details. Through the new investigation, Johnson was confirmed to be responsible for the murder of Whitt and was also found to be in possession of firearms and jewelry which had been removed from Whitt’s home at them time of his murder.

The case was presented to the 90th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which agreed that sufficient evidence had been uncovered to prosecute Johnson for the murder of Whitt, but it was also discovered the Johnson had died in March 2022.

Stephens County Sheriff Kevin Roach said that when he returned to the Sheriff’s Office in 2017, he began investigating unsolved cases in the county and one of them was Whitt’s murder.

“(Johnson) was developed as a suspect in the original investigation, but for whatever reason, he was never prosecuted,” Roach said. “But what we were looking at is, with advancements in technology, seeing if there was maybe other DNA testing or something we could do to help confirm him as a suspect. … The Rangers re-interviewed some people that were originally interviewed during the initial investigation to just confirm some things.”

Roach said he and the Texas Rangers investigator came to the same conclusion — that Johnson, a convicted felon who had served time in prison, was responsible for Whitt’s murder. Since Johnson is dead, the case is now considered closed.

The Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate several other cold cases in the county, including two unsolved murders and a missing person case. “We have several cold cases that we have open as cold cases that we continue to try to investigate,” Roach said. “Some of them are so old that I don’t have much hope we’ll ever resolve them. But we do have more.”

The Texas Ranger UCIP was created to assist Texas law enforcement agencies investigating unsolved homicides or violent serial crimes. Since there is no statute of limitations on the offense of murder, investigators pursue these cases to a successful resolution or until no viable leads remain.

 

 

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