Watch: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Billy Bob Thornton Push Hollywood to Leave California for Texas

Several prominent stars with personal ties to Texas are urging the entertainment industry to say goodbye to California and move their productions to the Lone Star State, which they hope will become the “new Hollywood.”

But as part of the pitch, they want Texas to pony up more money in the form of financial incentives to lure the studios and streamers.

Texas natives Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Renee Zellweger, and Dennis Quaid appear in a new video titled “True to Texas” in which they make the case for Hollywood to pick up stakes and move to the land of cowboys and oilfields.

Also in the video is actor Billy Bob Thornton, whose oil-themed Paramount+ drama series Landman films throughout Texas.

The video paints a dire picture of Hollywood just as Los Angeles is picking up the pieces from the historic fires that caused record amounts of damage in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena, and other areas.

“Hollywood is a flat circle, Wood,” McConaughey says, later adding: “This industry is like somebody’s memory of an industry — and the memory’s fading. I’m talking about a whole new hub for film and television. A renaissance. A rebirth.”

His True Detective co-star Woody Harrelson chimes in, signaling his desire to see Texas boost its Hollywood tax incentives.  “A small fraction of Texas budget surplus to turn this state into the new Hollywood,” he said.

“If all these other states are going to offer an incentive, then that’s where we’re going to keep going,” Renee Zellweger says, sporting her Texas twang. “I just wish we could bring some of these productions home to Texas.”

Texas already offers Hollywood incentives but they aren’t nearly as competitive as those offered by Georgia.

The Lone Star state doesn’t have an individual income tax so households wouldn’t be shouldering the burden of the giveaways.

Still, state tax incentives for Hollywood are a controversial subject among politicians.

Frequently championed by Democrats, state tax credits for movie and TV productions are intended to juice local economies by creating jobs and boosting revenue for small businesses that provide services like catering and transportation. That, in turn, is supposed to generate more overall tax dollars.

But some studies show that states are seeing paltry returns on their investment — sometimes less than 20 cents on each dollar given away.

A recent report prepared for state auditors in Georgia estimated that the tax revenue returned on each dollar spent on incentives was 19 cents. A similar report from New York determined the return was between 15 cents and 31 cents.