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| Left: Robert Rodriguez, Barbara Morgan, Marsha Milam and Oliver Stone. Right: Austin attendees Robert Altman and Buck Henry. |
So what makes Austin DIFFERENT from other film festivals? For starters, it's one of the only festivals in the U.S. that primarily honors the role of the writer in the creation of movies. Literary manager and former agent Gayla Nethercott says Austin is the true "contrarian" festival—the only one that celebrates the writer as the heart of the film.
"And what other festival," Nethercott asks, "provides the opportunity for a new or struggling writer to approach, say, Oliver Stone or Buck Henry and have a dialogue over barbecue?"
Participants and attendees seem to agree that Austin, more than any other festival, offers the opportunity not only to listen to the famous and successful, but to interact with them. Screenwriter Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight) says he returns to Austin year after year because it's the only festival where he can sit and exchange ideas with other writers—new and seasoned—over a stein of Shiner Bock into the wee hours of the night. He loves swapping stories with Scott Frank, James L. Brooks and Steven Soderbergh, as well as discussing the joyful pain of writing with writers who are just beginning their journeys out of obscurity. According to Black, Austin is one fest where the creative souls consistently outnumber the "schmoozers."
The Austin Film Festival was created by Barbara Morgan and Marsha Milam after they researched more than a thousand festivals and found none which focused on the artists who are there when the pages are blank and the can is empty—the writers! Ever since, Morgan and Milam have been working to right an ancient industry wrong perhaps best summed up by the studio mogul who once said "The most powerful person in Hollywood is the writer—but don't ever let him find out."
Getting started on any great endeavor is never easy, though. "Ignorance is bliss, Morgan says." She and Milam began with dozens of cold calls to every person who had any possibility of offering assistance. Although both women were excited about the responses received from local writers such as Bill Broyles (Apollo 13, Cast Away ) and Bill Wittliff (The Perfect Storm, The Black Stallion), it was an uphill battle to find sponsorship and financial backing for the first event—which took place primarily in a high school gymnasium.
Six weeks before the first festival opened, 68 panelists had signed up and 86 registrants. Fortunately—after many more calls and lots of midnight oil—the list of attendees grew to a more palatable 300 by opening night.
In the nine years since that first event, the numbers have grown considerably. Last year's screenwriting competition saw the entry of 3,500 screenplays, and this year that number increased to 4,000. Competition Director B.J. Burrow (also a produced screenwriter and novelist) points out that Austin not only offers a competition but, in its dedication to promoting writers, provides readings of winning scripts by professional actors in both Austin and LA.
A similar courtesy is extended to winners of the film competition. The festival arranges screenings not only in Austin, but also in LA after the festival's conclusion. This year almost 900 films were entered—200 more than last year. Eighty films were screened last year, and that number will increase to 100 for the 2002 event.
Because Austin is oriented toward the writer, it is less populated with distributors, and studio executives. Matthew Gross, President of Production for Kopelson Entertainment (U.S. Marshals, A Perfect Murder), thinks that producers and executives may be missing out by overlooking this festival, which is less about economics and more about connecting with talented people.
"It isn't easy to find a really good spec script," he says, "even with people employed for the purpose of finding material." Gross feels that making meaningful connections with writers is a critical part of the business. He says he relishes the opportunity to find a script with engaging characters that leap off the page (shouting "buy me, buy me").
Barry Josephson, formerly a studio executive associated with movies such as Men in Black and Air Force One, also acknowledges the importance of Austin as a forum for writers.
"All talent comes to a movie based on the script. Yet executives too often don't appreciate the role of writers," he says. "For six years I was a ‘suit' in Hollywood. Until I came to Austin, I never realized how much I was perceived that way. This festival gave me the opportunity to drop that persona and become more attuned with the creative side of moviemaking."
Josephson, now an independent producer (responsible for this summer's hit Like Mike), has introduced other writers to Austin, including Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) and Ed Solomon (Charlie's Angels), and has also purchased winning screenplays such as Max Adams' Excess Baggage, which eventually starred Alicia Silverstone and Benicio Del Toro.
Writers entering the screenplay competition also understand the auspicious nature of Austin's access. Ron Peer, a screenwriter who has been going to the festival for seven years, was elated when a producer attending AFF picked up his script, Goodbye Lover. The script was quickly given to director Roland Joffé and soon became a theatrical release. As a result of meeting Joffé, Peer landed a well-known manager, an agent and an entertainment attorney. For him, Austin is a yearly reunion.
Other Austin contenders have met with success in Hollywood. Last year's short film winner, The Accountant, directed by Ray McKinnon, won an Academy Award, while the Audience Award winner, Johannes Kiefer's Gregor's Greatest Invention, also received an Oscar nod.
Despite Austin's success, Polly Platt laments that more is warranted. Platt, self-described as a "confused careerist," is a writer herself (A Map of the World, Pretty Baby). She is also a producer associated with such films as The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, Broadcast News, The War of the Roses and, as she puts it, "the very disliked and misunderstood but wonderful film, Bottle Rocket ."
As a person who has discovered talent herself (including Luke and Owen Wilson), she wishes the festival could provide more help to writers in getting their scripts sold and produced. She'd like to see greater attendance by agents and producers. At the same, time she recognizes that many award-winning, well-crafted scripts aren't the cutting-edge violence or action-adventure genre pieces which Hollywood pursues so ardently.
Whatever limitations may beset the Austin Film Festival, it has been successful enough to warrant the creation of several festivals with similar themes. One which has taken a page from Austin's format is Words Into Pictures, sponsored by the Writers Guild. But Austin's atmosphere and the accessibility it affords are difficult, if not impossible, to replicate.
As Matthew Gross puts it, "Austin can't really be copied because what is unique about it is the vibrancy of a town full of art and music. Where else you can put on your jeans and sit in the bar at the old Driskill Hotel and exchange views with some of the most interesting writers in the film world?"
It might be worth the trip to talk to Shane Black over a beer and hear him say, "An important thing to remember as a writer is to take counsel from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't panic. Writing is painful and difficult. As you try to go deeper and better, it doesn't get easier. But you have to have faith and a routine. If you sit in your office for seven hours and come up with nothing, you have to do it again the next day and the next. If you don't panic, eventually your mind finds something more interesting than your fear."
Not the usual film festival conversation. Not the usual film festival. —Karen Holly
Labor Day weekend is more than just summer's last hurrah to the people of Telluride, Colorado. It's the weekend when thousands of movie buffs and moviemakers annually flock to this tiny town in the southwestern part of the state. Set inside a remote box canyon in the gorgeous San Juan Mountains, audiences are able to screen some of the best independent cinema available anywhere.
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| The cast and crew of I’ll Bury You Tomorrow celebrate their world premiere in Telluride. |
Michael Carr, founder and director of the Telluride IndieFest, prides himself on showcasing a selection of the indie world's most promising new talent. By coinciding with the famed Telluride Film Festival (now in its 29th year), his event allows IndieFest attendees the added exposure that only comes with having the Hollywood scene in town. With 12 feature films, two dozen shorts collections and eight documentaries on the line-up for the 6th annual event in 2002, Carr's eclectic program usually doesn't fail to entertain.
The IndieFest's documentaries were not to be missed. Win Wittaker's Sherpa: Unsung Heroes follows the lives of a group of determined women from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute who are training to become the world's best high-altitude climbers. The film reveals that the famed Sherpas guides, while critical during expeditions, are often taken for granted. Quartzite's Fall: A Wilderness Tale from Kristin Atwell, is an exciting film that explores the criminal destruction of Arizona's most perilous rapid in the Salt River Canyon. Susan Kirr and Rusty Martin presented Bike Like U Mean It, an alternative vision of future transportation dreamed up by members of Austin's famously outspoken biking community.
The short programs had, as they say, something for everyone. Gayle Knutson's Grandfather's Birthday is a poignant film that reveals the anticipation and emotions of a man entering his 79th year. Trailer: The Movie!, from Douglas Horn, is based on the true story of two moviemakers who slapped together a hilariously misleading trailer for their new release when they realized the film was going to be a flop.
Claiming a prime screening spot on Saturday night was the world premiere screening of Alan Rowe Kelly's horror flick I'll Bury You Tomorrow, an entertaining mixture of tongue-in-cheek humor combined with a not-so-subtle nod to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Jeff Howard and Laura Caulfield's feature film Face the Music drew plenty of laughs from the audience with its hilarious tale of a lead singer in a faltering rock band who fakes his own death to increase record sales.
Telluride over Labor Day weekend is a film fanatic's dream: breathtaking views, friendly locals and fabulous films. Even Hollywood would have a tough time conjuring up a concoction so magical. —Julie A. Wood