Filming in Dallas-Fort Worth: A DP's Guide to Locations, Permits, and Getting Around
A working director of photography's guide to shooting commercials across Dallas, Fort Worth, and the suburbs: who handles permits, how the Metroplex moves, what the weather does to a schedule, and the looks each side of DFW gives you.
Dallas-Fort Worth is one production market with two downtowns about thirty miles apart, a ring of suburbs that run together, and a lot of road in between. I am a cinematographer based here, and most of my commercial work starts somewhere in the Metroplex. This is what I would tell a producer flying in, or a brand team planning its first local shoot.
Treat DFW as one market, but schedule it as many places
On a map, Dallas and Fort Worth look close. On a shoot day, the drive between them can eat an hour or more once traffic is in play, and the suburbs add their own distances. A day that moves from a Fort Worth restaurant to a Plano office to a lake east of Dallas is three company moves, not one.
So I plan the schedule around the drive. If a job has locations on both sides of the Metroplex, the cleanest version usually groups them by side, one day in Fort Worth and Tarrant County, another in Dallas and Collin County, so the crew is not burning daylight on the highway.
Who handles permits
Permits depend on where the camera is standing.
- Dallas: the Dallas Film Commission, part of Visit Dallas, is the first call for filming in the city, especially on streets and public property.
- Fort Worth: the Fort Worth Film Commission, part of Visit Fort Worth, does the same job on the west side.
- The suburbs: cities like Arlington, Plano, Frisco, Irving, and Grapevine handle filming on their own property through their own city offices. Ask each one early.
- Texas incentives: the Texas Film Commission, in the Office of the Governor, runs the state's production incentive program. If a project is big enough to qualify, start that conversation before the budget is locked.
Private property is a different conversation. A restaurant, an office, or a ranch is a location agreement with the owner, and the owner's rules come first. When I shot Visit Fort Worth's Unexpected Flavors inside Lonesome Dove, Abe Fromage, and Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez, the restaurants were working, and the plan was built around their service, not ours.
Drones are their own subject. DFW sits under some of the busiest airspace in the country, with two major airports and several smaller fields. I wrote a separate guide to drone videography in Dallas and DFW that covers authorization and Texas law.
Getting in and around
Two airports serve the market: DFW International, between the two cities, and Dallas Love Field, close to downtown Dallas. Out-of-town crews usually fly into whichever is nearer the first location.
Once you land, you drive. There is no practical way to run a shoot day on public transit here. Plan for parking at every location, because a grip truck or a Sprinter van needs somewhere to sit, and downtown streets, Deep Ellum, and the Stockyards all get tight.
What the weather does to a schedule
North Texas weather is the variable I watch most.
- Summer brings long stretches of 100 degree days. Exterior work moves to the early morning and the last hours of light, and the crew and the talent need shade and water built into the plan.
- Spring brings storms, wind, and hail. Keep a weather day or an interior backup in the schedule from March through June.
- Fall and winter are the friendliest months for exteriors, with lower sun and softer light for more of the day.
Wind matters more than people expect. On the Tigé boat walkthroughs, the on-water days were decided by wind, glass, and the sun, and the same logic applies to anything with smoke, fabric, or hair in the frame.
The looks each side gives you
Dallas gives you skyline, glass, and contrast. Downtown and the Arts District read corporate and modern. Deep Ellum has murals, brick, and night life. Bishop Arts reads small town inside the city. A lot of national brands keep offices in the northern suburbs, so corporate and product work often lands in Plano, Frisco, Irving, and Richardson.
Fort Worth gives you the West. The Stockyards, with brick streets and the arena, read Texas without trying. I shot Ryan Bingham's Backstage Pass at Billy Bob's Texas, and one of the frames is a roper on horseback in the Stockyards arena. The city's restaurant scene carried the three Visit Fort Worth spots I shot with Nametag Films.
The edges give you space. Fields, ranch land, and lakes are a short drive from either downtown. The Kubota campaign I shot through Grit Productions started in Grapevine before it moved on to Tennessee, Kansas, and Georgia. West of Fort Worth, the Tigé films put boats on Possum Kingdom Lake.
Local crew and gear
DFW has a deep bench of commercial crew: gaffers, grips, ACs, sound mixers, and production assistants who work agency jobs every week. A local DP who already works with them can staff a shoot fast, and that matters when a job books on short notice.
Gear is local too. I shoot on my own package through Geared Like A Machine, which also rents to other crews: RED V-Raptor (X) and Komodo-X cameras, Aputure lighting, and a Sprinter grip van. The rentals page has the full list. When the DP brings the package, there is one less vendor to coordinate.
A short checklist for a DFW shoot
- Group locations by side of the Metroplex, and put the drive times in the schedule.
- Call the right film office for each city you will shoot in, early.
- Get written location agreements for every private property.
- Build a weather plan for spring storms and summer heat.
- Confirm parking for every vehicle at every location.
- Hire a local DP who knows the crew, the roads, and the light.
If you are planning a shoot here, my pages for a Dallas cinematographer and a Fort Worth cinematographer cover the work I have done on each side of the Metroplex. If the job fits, email me and I will tell you how I would build the day.