t’s a city that is often defined by what it is not. It is not Houston. It is not Dallas. It’s not Fort Worth, El Paso, or San Antonio. It is a little-big city with three-quarters of a million people. Students. Professors. State workers. And talent. Lots of it. Big-named entertainment types - musicians, writers, directors, and actors. Small names, too. And, very likely, the names that you will read about tomorrow. They call the town, Austin. Why, in the middle of one of the largest Red States, has this spot of green - MSN designated Austin the “greenest” city in America - why has Austin become the undisputed capital of independent film?One could point to the PBS music show Austin City Limits -- the show that brought new and established musical talent to the country beginning in 1976. It may be the longest running music show on television today. It certainly is at the heart of Austin’s love for all things indie.
In 1987 Austin’s annual South by Southwest Festival, referred to simply as SXSW, was launched. Since then it has enjoyed a significant degree of growth and popularity not just among the young filmmaking population within the city limits, but worldwide. As the festival has grown from a simple music festival into several music and film festivals and conferences, so has the filmmaking base grown and produced some of the most talked about new talent on the indie platform.
The past ten years have seen the establishment of the Austin Studios and a big increase in support from the Austin Film Society. Texas filmmakers have begun to graduate into the bigger distribution venues such as Cannes, Sundance, Venice, and Toronto while still basing their work locally.
In 1994, the Austin Film Festival (AFF) was established, further expanding the city’s artistic landscape. AFF celebrates the unique creative contribution made by writers to film and television. Now in its fourteenth year, the festival has achieved a reputation for putting filmmakers and festival goers in close proximity. It’s an intimacy that seems to suit this city on the Colorado River.
Asked why Austin has become known as the indie capital of the world, Barbara Morgan, Executive Director of the AFF, characterized Austin as a “maverick, spirited town.” She explained, “They do things their own way. It’s a very artistic and entrepreneurial city. Musicians are here, writers, artists of all sorts…it’s become a melting pot for independent film and independent thought.
One filmmaker that’s taken advantage of what Austin has to offer is Kyle Henry whose feature Room screened at Sundance and Cannes in 2005. He feels that directors like Mike Judge, Robert Rodriguez, and Richard Linklater have really been able to support the film community by shooting around Austin with a professional base that hasn’t been lured to New York or Los Angeles.
“One of the most important things is that there’s a real film community here,” says Henry. “Filmmakers actually spend time viewing and critiquing each other’s work, whether at rough-cut screenings or informal gatherings, and I mean active, theatrical, working directors. I never saw that kind of community in New York. Once a filmmaker reached a certain level there, they completely dropped into the black universe of their own ambition.”
Fellow Austin filmmaker Kat Candler (Jumping off Bridges) concurs and expounds on the level of camaraderie within the community. “What makes Austin unique is the family of filmmakers and their distinct voices. From Kyle Henry’s ethereal Room, to the Zellner Brother’s whack, weird cinematic world, to Heather Courtney’s politically-charged documentaries addressing immigration issues. Everyone here supports and carries each other. There’s a lot of love in this town.”
Mike Curtis, who runs the comprehensive web resource HD for Indies (and a blogger at Boxoffice.com) says there are pros and cons to working in the city. “The most vexing thing about filmmaking in Austin is that local productions are chronically under-funded, and, my personal pet peeve, don't go about post-production intelligently,” said the Austin native.
“But the latter is true everywhere. Austin is a good place to make small-level stuff and learn and work with friends, but is a very tough place to pull together something big.” He also revealed that it’s hard to pull off shoots that require large infrastructures but, if your production is based in NY or LA, they’ll charge all types of infrastructures the same rates, whether you are a film student or a studio project. In Austin permits and locations are very easy and cheap to come by.
The much touted if not ill-defined Mumblecore movement is a prime example of this collective filmmaking. Filmmakers Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha), Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs), and the Dupless Brothers (The Puffy Chair), among others, have enjoyed a significant level of festival success and generally cross-collaborated on one another’s films. Although the term Mumblecore is incredibly broad and actually misleading in some cases, it stands as a testament of collectivization among filmmakers, something apparently instinctive in the Austin world.
Thus, it’s no surprise it was the SXSW film festival that really helped push Mumblecore films into the limelight without relying on Sundance to generate the buzz. SXSW director Matt Dentler has been adamant about championing films outside Sundance’s premiere window.
There are a number of other significant resources for filmmakers to take advantage of including The Alamo Drafthouse, Reel Women, Screen Door, and the Austin School of Film. But one of the best organizations that has been growing rapidly in recent years is the Austin Film Society.
Co-founded in 1985 by Richard Linklater, this not-for-profit organization has been a cornerstone for the Austin filmmaking community. On its board sits directors such as Robert Rodriguez, Charles Burnett, Guillermo del Toro, Jonathon Demme, Steven Soderbergh, and Quentin Tarantino. A 2000 deal with the Austin government allowed for several airport hangers to be converted into production studios. The studios boast a 20-acre film and video production facility with 10,000 square feet of production office space and over 100,000 square feet of production shooting space. The space includes five production stages two production office buildings.
Austin Studios is also home to the Austin Film Society break room and screening room with 35 mm, 16 mm and HD projection capabilities. Films recently shot there include Grindhouse, A Scanner Darkly, Friday Night Lights, and The Hitcher.
In addition to the studios and screenings, the Austin Film Society also helps out with thousands of dollars worth of grants for Texas filmmakers. Benjamin Steinbauer (A Thousand Words) a filmmaker and film instructor at the University of Texas had this to say about the organization: “The Austin Film Society is an amazing resource for independent filmmakers. Every year they award between ten and twenty projects with enough money to either start or finish a project. They also provide filmmakers with fiscal sponsorship, that enables documentary filmmakers, like me, to solicit funds from corporations.”
Austin Film Society vice president Janet Pierson is no stranger to independent film production. When asked about filmmaking in the city she had some very sobering advice. “There’s a mythology that Austin is the “third coast,” Pierson revealed. “Austin is extremely fortunate in having accomplished, talented filmmakers choosing to live and work here. Their presence has a real effect. But newcomers have to realize that there’s not much of an economic infrastructure to tap into. You can’t just move here and expect to work in film.”
This is a stark contrast to the Los Angeles or New York production world where entry-level jobs are easy to obtain given the prolific production that comes out of those cities. But Pierson also admits that the community in Austin is much more collegial then NY or LA and stresses the interconnected interaction that takes place among the filmmakers.
Many movies are being filmed in and around Austin; however, most of the financing still comes from non-Texas sources and many directors who utilize Austin’s facilities are not native to the region and often arrive with Hollywood money.
This is a problem that also plagues New York and Los Angeles: film production is still a big boys club and the player with the most clout still gets his or her way. At the very least, the spirit of the Austin filmmakers is commendable and something rarely seen in the shark pit that is the world of film production.
Whether or not Austin is a force to be reckoned with remains to be seen. Although recent years have given the city, its filmmakers, and their films a certain degree of celebrity, the non-mainstream Austin directors still have an uphill battle ahead of them. A battle they seem to be winning as they help to redefine the city of Austin for what it is, the capital of the Lone Star State -- and independent film.
The Late Mitchell Warren said:
I prefer Fort Worth to Austin. But yep, Austin is quickly becoming a city associated with film making. Outside of CA or NY, it's probably better for film students to live in or around Austin. I wish Galveston were a movie city...I'd move there in a second.
November 3, 2007 1:53 PM