Transformed back in time this week, Dealey Plaza in Downtown Dallas has been the set of the mini-series, 11/22/63, that will appear on Hulu in 2016.
And while fans gather to catch a glimpse of lead actor James Franco, the Dallas Film Commissioner said citizens don't realize just how much having the production in town benefits the city.
"The people who services the business – be it hotels, camera rental companies, restaurants – they're all getting business out of it," said Dallas Film Commissioner Janis Burklund. "The additional thing that comes is film tourism. People like to visit where they've seen film and television."
Burklund said, on average, Dallas makes $200 million from the television and film industry per year.
And this year, there's an even bigger production in town.
The show Queen of the South began filming in Dallas this week as well. But unlike 11/22/63, it will stay in town for the next six to seven months.
"That comes into somewhere of $40 million in economic impact from one show," said Burklund.
Panavision, which has a location in Dallas, is providing the show with equipment.
"We have very specialized equipment and lenses we provide to productions, whether it be a feature film, television series or commercial," said John Schrimpf, with Panavision.
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Schrimpf said he more than agrees with Burklund about the importance for the film industry to find a home in North Texas.
"They spend a lot of money with restaurants. They spend a lot of money with dry cleaning, with seamstresses. They spend money at Home Depot and hardware stores building things," he said.
However, despite 11/22/63 and Queen of the South both filming in Dallas, Schrimpf said business is lacking.
"My business in Texas has been shrinking somewhat," he said. "Louisiana and Georgia are through the roof right now."
Schrimpf said the main reason is other states are providing better incentives for productions than Texas.
A lot of that, he said, is based on decisions stemming from the Texas legislature.
Burklund said she's hoping in the future she'll be able to offer better packages to productions looking to come to North Texas.
She wants both citizens and law makers behind her.
"It's going into our tax base. It will help fix potholes. You don't have to put their kids through school when it's people coming in, so there's a lot of benefits that come from that," she said.
