From the Production Office of the ‘Friday Night Lights’ TV Series
In celebration of the Texas Film Commission's 50th Anniversary, we went to the archives to see how our history has been shaped by the initiatives, programs and productions from the past 50 years. View more from the archives here. #TFC50.
December 15, 2005 | Austin,Texas
On an episodic television series, the Production Office is the center of all communication for the show and is always an active, busy place, full of ringing phones, chatter, and bustling with crew coming and going. For TFC Production Incentive Specialist, Leigh Davis, the only time in her entire career that she has ever experienced a quiet Production Office was when a new script would be distributed to the crew for the upcoming episode of Friday Night Lights. “Most of us immediately stopped what we were doing to read that script,” she said. “We could not wait to find out what was going to happen next and were always ready get to work on it.”
"Working on the Friday Night Lights TV series is one of my very favorite memories as a Texas-based Production Coordinator. The cast, crew, community and viewers were so enthusiastic and supportive, it was infectious. During production, it felt lean and scrappy, but we had the best cast, crew and writers, and so much spirit. That magical energy kept us going - we all worked together like a well-oiled machine, and the making of the series itself truly embodied the show’s famous tagline: “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” 20 years later, and people still want to talk to me about working on the show." – Leigh Davis, Production Incentives Specialist, Texas Film Commission
The Emmy-winning series for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, Lead Actor in a Drama Series – Kyle Chandler, & Outstanding Casting in a Drama Series, Friday Night Lights, ran for five seasons over six years. It was filmed throughout Texas, in communities including Austin, Bastrop, Buda, Dallas, Del Valle, Elgin, Granger, Kerrville, Pflugerville, San Marcos and South Padre Island.