Ross Perot Jr. still remembers showing Taylor Sheridan a slice of what Perot describes as his dealmaking paradise: a working barn in North Texas for an award-winning Black Angus cattle ranch that doubles as a corporate retreat.
Sheridan, the creator behind the Paramount limited series "Yellowstone," had already been filming airport scenes for the series "Landman" within Perot Field at Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The site is an industrial and executive airfield named for Perot's father, Ross Perot Sr., who ran for president as an independent candidate in 1992.
The younger Perot, chair of property developer Hillwood, invited Sheridan for lunch last year at what is called The Barn, a hospitality venue created by the Perot family to help spur business at Circle T Ranch within Hillwood's 27,000-acre AllianceTexas master-planned development on the western side of Dallas-Fort Worth.
The 32,000-square-foot, mass timber barn with stables and views of the ranch seemed to spark some inspiration, with Sheridan asking during lunch if he could film at the location, Perot told CoStar News in an exclusive interview. Perot quickly granted access, and scenes from the last season of Sheridan's "Lioness" series were filmed at Circle T Ranch. The second season wrapped up filming in October 2024.
"We've talked about Hollywood for a while," Perot said. "We have wanted to promote Fort Worth as a film destination, but it was Taylor Sheridan who kicked it off."
Recently, Hillwood leased nearly 450,000 square feet of space to Sheridan's production company to house about eight sound stages at AllianceTexas across two buildings in Fort Worth, Perot said. One of those sound stages includes a replica kitchen for "Landman" character Tommy Norris, who is played by Billy Bob Thornton, Perot said.
Hillwood built the two industrial buildings at 2601 and 2701 Spirit Drive on a speculative basis at AllianceTexas. Terms of the leases were not disclosed.
Both buildings have been nominated to be designated as qualified media production locations, part of Fort Worth getting approved for an incentive program through the Texas Film Commission meant to encourage development of permanent production sites. To qualify for the incentives, land or real estate must be used exclusively to build or construct one or more media production facilities.
Sheridan's production company didn't respond to a request to comment on whether it intends to seek incentives through the program.
Perot, who began a two-year term as chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this month, said he expects Texas to continue to be a destination for Hollywood executives to film movies and television series after a recent bill passed by state legislators goes into effect Sept. 1. The law that has received lobbying support from Texas native and Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey offers $1.5 billion of economic incentives to filmmakers over the next decade.
The new state law helps support the expansion of the filmmaking industry in Texas, Perot said, and provides more funds for cash rebates for productions filmed in the state.