Dr. Diane Howard's Publications

 

 
 

Keeping Track of the Texas Pulse
in Film and Visual Media
 

 
 



Dr. Diane Howard
               Personal/Professional Mission-               
 People's Positive Potential and Productivity
 


UMHB Film Program

 Film Examiner  

Cru Film '10, Facebook

Central Texas is rich with Best Practice Art in a broad range of forms. We are fortunate in Central TX to be in one of the Independent Film Capitals in the World. We have opportunities to be involved with and to see substantive films and visual media.  I am tracking some of the opportunities and posting some of my thoughts, as we participate in meaningful visual media and artistic projects.  2010 is already an exciting year with significant projects in development. Increasingly, we are seeing great success for Austin personalities and/or feature films that are positive, substantive, and inspirational such as The Blind Side and Temple Grandin.     

                     
                     (See updates on Texas film and visual media projects on the Texas Film Commission hotline.
 

                                                                           Incentives Bring Lights, Camera, Action to ...Texas
                                 http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/Incentives-Bring-Lights-Camera-Action-to-North-Texas-99513819.html
                                                                                           

                                                                                           Lone Star tries to go viral
                                                                                                  By Joe O'Connell
                                                                                                    July 29, 20010 

Fox is doing some interesting early promotion to get the word out on new Dallas-shot series Lone Star. That includes putting DVDS of the first episode in issues of Vanity Fair, and a glitzy premiere of the show last week at The Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles.  Other avenues include cruise ships and hotels. Plus Vanity Fair will also stream Lone Star through its iPad app. Note that the show's title again is two words instead of Lonestar. The pilot shot as Midland. Why can't TV shows pick one name and stick with it? 

Here's a description of the show: “Robert/Bob Allen” (newcomer James Wolk) is a charismatic and brilliant schemer juggling two identities and two women.... 

Spy Kids 4 is in production? I'm used to the secretiveness of the Robert Rodriguez camp (I even had to sign one of those ubiquitous confidentiality agreements when my nephew was an extra in the first Spy Kids), but it's always surprising how quiet the ramp up of production of a new film is. Here's a little hint from The Hollywood Reporter that the production of Spy Kids 4 is under way for the Weinstein Company with a release date set for August 2011. (IMDB.com lists the complete title as Spy Kids 4: Armageddon.) I know that casting has been active. Anyone know anything else?

Here's what Rodriguez told me in May: Rodriguez said the Spy Kids reboot is for the Weinstein Co. and will include new child secret agents with actors — whom he did not identify — already in line to play the roles. “I thought it could be good to reboot my own series,” he said. “That's my most loyal audience — not the film geeks, but the kids.”  The film's script already has been turned in. “The Spy Kids Division has been closed down seven years ago,” Rodriguez said. “We will see some of the characters from the previous films.”


                                                    Austinites, Central Texans invited to Utopia as extras with Robert Duvall 
                                                                                                     July  21, 2010
                                                                                                  Dr. Diane Howard  

Texas casting director, Sarah Dowling, is looking for extras for the movie Seven Days in Utopia, which stars Robert Duvall and Lucas Black. The open casting call is scheduled for Saturday, July 24, from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. and Sunday, July 25, from Noon- 4 p.m. . The call will be held at Utopia School, 258 School Street, Utopia, TX 78884. The casting call will involve a brief talk with a member of the casting staff and possibly an on-camera interview. Those who audition are to bring a non-returnable photo. 

If anyone is interested, they are simply to report to the casting area. No appointments are necessary. If talent has questions, they can call the casting office at (830) 965-6601 or reach the staff by e-mail at UtopiaExtras@gmail.com. The casting staff is looking this weekend for the following: Two Steppers, Church Choir Participants, Men, Women, and Children of all Ages. 

Veteran actor, director Robert Duvall ( who has an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards) has been a long-time Texas favorite. Texas talent enjoyed working with him in Secondhand Lions. Duvall performed in To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies, both written by Texas playwright, Horton Foote. (Both of these movies were awarded Oscars for Best Screenplay.) Duvall played a former Texas Ranger, Augustus McCrae, in the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove. He watched a special screening of his television film Broken Trail with President George W. Bush, former Texas governor, at the White House. 

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.


                                                         Austin’s My Generation creatively looks at contemporary events/issues
                                                                                                    July  18, 2010
                                                                                                  Dr. Diane Howard  

Casting is in process for the ABC television series My Generation, which is due to air this fall. On Location Casting is currently casting extras for scenes. OLC needs talent for full days. Casting Directors Toni Cobb Brock and Sally Allen are casting some of the roles. Filming is taking place in Austin, TX under AFTRA contract. Submissions by union and non-union talent are accepted.

My Generation is an ABC Series produced and written by Noah Hawley, who has co-produced the shows Bones and The Unusuals. The My Generation series is a faux-documentary drama about nine high school classmates who come back to Austin, their hometown, when they are 28 years old. The series alternates between scenes of the group's senior year of high school in 2000 and footage of their lives in 2010.

Hawley has set the show in Austin because he wanted a setting with a cultural life that would realistically draw smart, ambitious, creative people back to it. The pilot in Austin has successfully paved the way for the series. Production on My Generation is creating cast and crew jobs in Austin just as Friday Night Lights ends this summer in the Texas capitol. A 100,000-plus square foot converted cold storage warehouse near the Austin airport serves as the production base for the show.

Beginning July 15, episodes are shooting in the capitol city. Parts of the Driskill Hotel and the Texas Capitol buildings are excellent stand-ins for Washington, D.C. in the story. In the pilot, Hawley has focused on the characters more than the setting, but in the series he intends to capture the color and culture of Austin. He plans to take advantage of local events to blur the line between fiction and reality.

The story in the series follows a group of young adults who have been filmed in a documentary just before their graduation from Greenbelt High School in Austin, Texas in 2000. The group includes high school types. When the high school graduates reunite ten years later, contemporary events and issues have affected them. They see that their dreams for the future have not materialized exactly as they had hoped. The series is set in the present with flashbacks to the past. The show takes a serious look at contemporary events and issues through the lives of the characters. 

The cast includes the following: Daniella Alonso as brain, Brenda Serrano; Mehcad Brooks as jock, Rolly Marks; Kelli Garner as punk, Dawn Barbuso; Jaime King as beauty queen, Jacqueline Vachs; Julian Morris as rich kid, Anders Holt; Keir O'Donnell as nerd, Kenneth Finley; Michael Stahl-David as over-achiever, Steven Foster; Sebastian Sozzi as rebel, The Falcon; Anne Son as Caroline Chang; and Elizabeth Keener as the filmmaker.

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

                                                                    Austin favorite nomination refreshing: David/Mel
                                                                                                     July 13, 2010
                                                                                                  Dr. Diane Howard  

It has been sad and sickening to hear of Mel Gibson's violent and obscene rants in public and private. It has been sad because he has produced such good movie work in the past, especially with The Passion of the Christ. It has been sickening to hear obscene language come out of his mouth again, just as it has become increasing commonplace and repulsive  to hear expletives out of the mouths of movie stars and leaders of our nation in public and private.

It has been refreshing to see and hear civil and gracious role models in movies, in public, and in private. David Strathairn is such a refreshing role model, who has been nominated for an Emmy for his work in Temple Grandin. Not only was David a role model as an actor on the screen as Dr. Carlock in Temple Grandin, but he was a role model on the set here in Austin. Many of my film students from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in the Austin region were a core of actors on set with David for many days. He knew all of their names and was consistently gracious with them. They looked to him as a role model on and off the set.  

It has been encouraging to see movie stars like David Strathairn and Sandra Bullock, who have been associated with Austin, live with civility in contrast to the increasing crass behavior of many in the movie industry and in public life. We need more positive and redemptive role models on and off the screen.      

I pray for Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan and their loved ones. Mel and Lindsay have been out of control and abusive in public and private. I pray that they can find redemption and civility again.  I am also thankful that we still have some civil and gracious role models in our public and private lives. 

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.


 

                                                                           Austin celebrates Emmy's 2010 nomination nods
                                                                                                          July 9, 2010
                                                                                                     Dr. Diane Howard  

Austin has received significant nods in the 2010 Emmy Nominations. We are proud of Beth Sepko with her Austin Third Coast Casting and Beth Sepko Casting for her nominations. They have included Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series for Friday Night Lights and Outstanding Casting For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special for Temple Grandin. Congratulations, Beth, and thank you.

Friday Night Lights, filmed in Austin, has been nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor has also been nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series for FNL. Further, Connie Britton as Tami Taylor has been nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series for Friday Night Lights.

HBO's Temple Grandin, in which many local talent have performed as they have in Friday Night Lights, has been nominated in many categories. The lead actors have been all nominated as best actors: Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, David Strathairn as Dr. Carlock, Julia Ormond as Temple's Mom, and Catherine O’Hara as Aunt Ann.

Further nominations have included the following: Outstanding Made For Television Movie; Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special; Outstanding Art Direction For A Miniseries Or Movie; Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Miniseries Or A Movie; Outstanding Hairstyling For A Miniseries Or A Movie; Outstanding Main Title Design; Outstanding Makeup For A Miniseries Or A Movie (Non-Prosthetic; Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special (Original Dramatic Score); and Outstanding Sound Editing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special.

It has been a joy and a privilege for us Central Texas talent to participate in and support these outstanding projects. We cast and crew for on-camera work continue to work hard at raising the bar of our performances so that we can continue to draw and participate in such worthwhile television and movie productions. We are grateful to our regional casting directors and agents for their diligence and support. 

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

                                                              Brock, Allen casting for Austin's My Generation tv series
                                                                                                            July 1, 2010
                                                                                                         Dr. Diane Howard  

Casting Directors Toni Cobb Brock and Sally Allen are searching for the following talent for Episode #102 of the ABC Television Series, My Generation, shooting in Austin. They are searching for Series Regulars, which are speaking roles, for which no acting experience is necessary. The roles include the following:Tom Chung, who is nine years old. Tom is also half Asian and half Caucasian. As the son of Caroline Chung and Steven Foster, he is being reared by his mother and is preparing to meet his father for the first time.  Other Series Regular roles include PFC Riggs, PFC Yang, PFC Waterhouse, and PFC Jenkins. These characters can be males or females. These roles are open to those of various ethnicities, who are in their 20s-30s.

The characters are soldiers, who are serving in Afghanistan in the same camp. They're good-humored but deadly serious when under attack. The casting directors are seeking real veterans, who are willing to share their own stories of war experiences and/or military personnel with arms and combat training. These  characters are Recurring Co-Stars.

The casting directors ask that talent not submit themselves, unless they fit the above roles and specifications. If talent fits what is required, they can e-mail brockallencasting@gmail.com and include the following: name, age, height, weight, ethnicity, city in which they reside. If talent submits themselves for one of the PFC roles, they are asked to include military experience and training in detail.

OLC is casting non-speaking roles and extras.  The director is Michael Katleman. Producers are Noah Hawley, who is also the writer, and Warren Littlefield. The filmmaker is Elizabeth Keener. The location casting associate is Jennifer Kelly. Series cast members include the following:  Michael Stahl-David as Steven Foster, Jaime King as Jacqueline Fox/Holt, Keir O'Donnell as Kenneth Finley, Kellie Garner as Dawn Barbuso, Medhcad Brooks as Rolly Marks, Daniella as Brenda Serrano, Julian Morris as Anders Holt, Sebastian Sozzi as The Falcon,  and Anne Son as Caroline Chung.  

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.



                                                                                           My Generation tv series in Austin
                                                                                                             June 30, 2010
                                                                                                         Dr. Diane Howard  
 

More and more television and movie production is coming to Texas, especially to Austin and Dallas. This is due to a number of favorable elements: Texas tax incentives, good crews, talented casts, good locations, use of non-union employees (Texas is a right-to-work state, where employees do not have to be part of unions), and general user-friendliness. Further, Texas is drawing work and workers from other states with more severe financial problems (especially L.A., California). Austin’s Friday Night Lights has in recent years demonstrated the viability of these positive factors for film projects. It has paved the way for other television production in Austin. Recently the television pilot in Austin, Generation Y, has led to the new ABC series My Generation, which is also slated for production this summer and fall in Austin. This project is a fictitious documentary that covers characters in a group of Austin high school students ten years after their graduation in Austin.

On Location Casting is set to cast paid extras for My Generation, which is due to start in mid July and continue through the fall of this year. Actors should give OLC time to prep and should not inquire about My Generation until mid July. At that time OLC will be looking for all ages and types of Austin area talent, who do not necessarily need previous experience. (OLC is not casting principal talent.)

Those who are already registered with OLC, will automatically be considered for this project! All those who are registered need to do is to make sure that their OLC profile and contact information is up to date. They should also keep special skills and other information current. For My Generation, OLC will be looking for a broad range of types, including the following: military personnel, high school students, business men, professional women, college students, high school football players, high school cheerleaders, Hawaiian surfers, up-scale professionals, politicians, parents, and teachers. OLC will also be searching for Hispanic and African American extras, stand-ins, and photos doubles for several principal actors. These roles are to be paid at non-union rate, $7.25 per hour with an eight hour guarantee ($58.00) plus overtime after eight hours. 

In order to be considered for extra work, talent needs to go to the OLC Web site to complete a free talent application.( The optional upgrade offered on OLC to an “Active Talent Account” is not required in order to work on My Generation or any other OLC project. Talent is automatically active in the OLC talent database, when an account is approved. Texas residents are preferred for this project. There is no pay for travel or accommodations in or to Austin. Talent must have valid proof of Texas residency (Drivers License, Voter Registration Card, or Full-time College ID Card). 

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviewsrecommendations and publications.


                                                     TV series 'Lonestar' to shoot at Las Colinas; 'Chaos' has uncertain future
                                                                                                  June 3, 2010
                                                                                                By Joe O'Connell

The Fox series Lonestar will be shot at the Studios at Las Colinas this summer, but the status of the CBS series Chaos remains unclear.

Also Online TV series discover 'whatever look you need, it's here' in Dallas area -
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/052710dngddallastv.929df54.html .

More television coverage- http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/tv/#tvg.

Lonestar, starring Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy) and Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), will follow in the footsteps of short-lived ABC series
The Deep End at the Studios at Las Colinas beginning July 27, 20th Century Fox Television spokeswoman Shari Rosenblum confirmed Wednesday.

Show creators had given a late look at Austin as a filming locale before confirming the North Texas shoot. The show's pilot, titled Midland, also was shot in North Texas.

An expected announcement by Gov. Rick Perry and Mayor Tom Leppert last  week of a Dallas Chaos shoot turned into a maybe as CBS and 20th
Century Fox tried to come to an agreement, including how many episodes will be ordered.

Negotiations continue for the spy show that would be a midseason replacement and shoot in the fall, Bob Hudgins of the Texas Film
Commission said Wednesday.

Lonestar joins a busy North Texas television slate this summer that will include NBC's Chase and Fox's already-in-production The Good Guys.

 

                                                        Paid television summer work for dramas filmed in Austin, Dallas
                                                                                                     May 30, 20010
                                                                                                  
Dr. Diane Howard  
 

ABC, NBC, and Fox all have television series scheduled for Austin and Dallas this summer. ABC's My Generation (Generation Y was the title of the pilot) is due for production in Austin. NBC's Friday Night Lights is continuing production in Austin. ABC is is casting featured extras in Dallas for The Deep End. Also, in North Texas, NBC is producing Chase. Further, Fox is filming Lonestar (former Midland) and The Good Guys in the  Dallas area. Television jobs are available for cast and crew. 

More and more television shows are being shot outside of L.A. Texas Film Incentives, good locations, and available cast/crew are drawing increasing television productions to Texas. Bob Hudgins of the Texas Film Commission said that each episode of a television series could bring more than one million dollars to the Texas economy.

Friday Night Lights is casting for its continued fourth television season in Austin. On Location Casting casts extras for this series. To register with them for extra work, go to www.onlocationcasting.net, fill out a Talent Application, and upload one or two photos. Include any special skills you may have. Include a telephone number. 

On Location Casting also casts for extras for The Good Guys in the Dallas area. This television series is about the adventures of an old-school cop and a modern-day Day detective. You can see some of the job opportunities for this series on the 
On Location Casting Facebook page.

You do not need to pay for this service. On Location Casting provides a reputable free casting service, as do 
Actor’s Access, Now Casting, and Casting Networks. 

Once you have posted a talent application and profile on 
www.onlocationcasting.net, you can find updates and opportunities on On Location Casting Facebook page . You can even respond to casting calls n this page.

See Austin's Texas Film Commission's hotline for current film and television projects with jobs for talent and crew.

I post sources for 
good information about auditions on my Website and about specific jobs for talent, especially for those who do not yet have agents, on the Facebook page, Cru Film '10 . This information focuses on Austin, Central and North Texas; but there is also national and international guidance for talent and job postings for throughout the USA.

Be careful of businesses and online links to services that ask or recommend that you to pay for auditions, postings, bookings...

To earn more than minimum wage for extra work on television and film sets, seek a legitimate, licensed agent. Go to a potential agent's Web site. See if the agency needs talent like you. If so, carefully follow the directions to apply for representation. Professional talent needs ongoing training, a growing resume, and good headshots. 

foundational college education for all in performance, production, talent work provides you with greater knowledge, security, and a broad range of opportunities for a lifetime. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor provides practical training for television, film, voice-over, and e-technologies and much in its Performance Studies and Film Programs. 

See tips for personal marketingnetworking, and training on my Web site.

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

 

                                                        North Texas-based 'Chaos' series awaiting CBS confirmation
                                                                                             By Joe O'Connell
                                                                                              May 27, 20010 

DALLAS—Three television series will shoot simultaneously in North Texas this summer, and a fourth might join them in the fall. 

What was to be a major announcement by Gov. Rick Perry and Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert at Dallas City Hall of a fourth television show shooting in North Texas ended up being a “maybe.” Twentieth Century Fox Television execs on Wednesday said they have yet to get confirmation of a pickup by CBS of Chaos, a spy series set to star Stephen Rea (The Crying Game). If picked up, they expect to shoot 13 episodes of the midseason replacement in the fall. 

Perry said the flurry of major network television production is a sign Texas has been “established an a preferred location.”

Already shooting in North Texas is The Good Guys for Fox, which recently added seven more episodes to its original 13-episode order.

This summer the show is expected to compete with NBC’s Chase and Fox’s Lonestar (former Midland) for North Texas locations and crew. In Austin, the ABC series My Generation is primed to lens this summer as well.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Janis Burklund of the Dallas Film Commission said of the demands on the North Texas crew base. “Yes, it’s going to stretch us a bit, but that’s how we’ll grow.”

North Texas’ television resurgence began when Prison Break shot here for two seasons beginning in 2006, said Twentieth Century Fox vice president Jim Sharp. That led to shooting the short-lived series The Deep End. But the area’s history as a television hub dates back further to Walker, Texas Ranger, a show for which Burklund worked as a location scout.

It’s all part of a trend to shoot network television shows outside of Los Angeles due to that area’s poor incentives and changing physical landscape that has made finding locations more difficult. Texas now hopes to attract some of the longtime California crew members to the Lone Star State.

The Legislature approved in 2009 an increase in state filming incentives funding from a two-year total of $22 million to $62 million and added flexibility in how the funds can be meted out. Perry said since then 206 projects have come to the state, creating 28,500 full-time jobs and attracting in-state spending of $184 million.

On average, each episode of a television series shot should drop more than $1 million in the local economy, Bob Hudgins of the Texas Film Commission said.

Why is Dallas the big winner? Leppert said it’s a mix of great locations and a large pool of talents crew members.

“It means jobs and additional visibility for North Texas, Dallas and all of Texas,” he said.

A key indicator is the current disparity between Dallas and Houston, which was in the 1990s a leading Texas filming location. Fox’s Lonestar is set in both the oil industry of Houston and Midland.

Executives are taking what was termed a look at Austin as a filming location on Thursday, but long ago ruled out Houston.

Also set in Houston is Chase, the NBC series from Warner Bros. It also ruled out shooting in Space City. 20th Century Fox had to move quickly on the series, said Garry Brown, the show’s co-executive producer and former Walker, Texas Ranger producer who has been one of the pivotal voices behind the North Texas film resurgence.

During the film industry’s lean years earlier in the mid-2000s when film and television projects were lured to states offering hefty incentives, the Houston film crews dissipated.  Dallas, as a center for filming of commercials, industrial films, animation and videos, kept its crews largely in place. Now the problem is making sure there are enough workers here to handle three television shows shooting in North Texas this summer, and Chaos potentially joining this in the fall.

 “There was more to offer to us immediately here in Dallas,” Brown said. “They (Houston) need to build their crew base up, and they’re working on it.”

 

                                                 Paid work for film, television talent in Austin & TX
                                                                                                     May 9, 20010
                                                                                                   Dr. Diane Howard    

I continue to track paid opportunities for film and television talent in Central Texas, especially in Austin. 

Beth Sepko of Austin is casting principals for Spy Kids 4. Third Coast Extras of Austin is casting extras for this movie. There is a Beth Sepko and Third Coast Extras Facebook page with periodic updates on job opportunities.  

Friday Night Lights is casting for its continued fourth television season in Austin. On Location Casting casts extras for this series. To register with them for extra work, go to www.onlocationcasting.net, fill out a Talent Application, and upload one or two photos. Include any special skills you may have. Include a telephone number.

On Location Casting also casts for extras for The Good Guys in the Dallas area. This television series is about the adventures of an old-school cop and a modern-day Day detective. You can see some of the job opportunities for this series on the On Location Casting Facebook page.

You do not need to pay for this service. On Location Casting provides a reputable free casting service, as do Actor’s Access and Now Casting.

Once you have posted a talent application and profile on www.onlocationcasting.net, you can find updates and opportunities on On Location Casting Facebook page . You can even respond to casting calls n this page.

See Austin's Texas Film Commission's hotline for current film and television projects with jobs for talent and crew.

I post sources for good information about auditions on my Website and about specific jobs for talent, especially for those who do not yet have agents, on the Facebook page, Cru Film '10 . This information focuses on Austin and Central Texas, but there is also national and international guidance for talent and job postings for throughout the USA.

Be careful of businesses and online links to services that ask or recommend that you to pay for auditions, postings, bookings...

To earn more than minimum wage for extra work on television and film sets, seek a legitimate, licensed agent. Go to a potential agent's Web site. See if the agency needs talent like you. If so, carefully follow the directions to apply for representation. Professional talent needs ongoing training, a growing resume, and a good headshot. A foundational college education for all in performance, production, talent work provides you with greater knowledge, security, and a broad range of opportunities for a lifetime.

See tips for personal marketing, networking, and training on my Web site.

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

                                                                         Granger gets its dirty closeup in True Grit
                                                                                             
   April 27, 2010
                                                                                             By Joe O'Connell

Joel and Ethan Coen's version of True Grit starts filming Tuesday in Texas, but it was the second biggest news in Granger, Texas, on Saturday. First was the kolache sale at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church, where the ladies of the church cooked up about 5,000 of the delicious Czech pastries--in traditional flavors like poppy seed, prune and apricot--in the church's recreation center Saturday. Down the road tourists were crawling around the downtown strip where Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon will encamp starting Monday.

The wide, red-brick stretch of downtown--all of a block or two--is now covered in a layer of dirt to simulate Fort Smith, Arkansas. Workers bustled bout putting on the finishing touches. Wagons, barrels, period signs dotted the storefronts that have been retrofitted Old West-style.

Granger is an old-school Czech community where the last U.S. Czech language newspaper is apparently still printed and many residents, even if they don't speak the language, retain a hint of a Czech accent. I asked and was told the editor does it with a computer now and the editions seem to be few and far between. The church's community center was bustling with people leaving with pizza boxes filled to the brim with kolaches. During filming, the center will serve up food for the cast and crew (they should probably ask the church ladies to teach them kolache making). Outside a tent is already up nearby for the movie's wardrobe department.

One woman wondered what they'd do with all the dirt that was toted in.

"I just hope they can get it off of there," she said.

Click on the photos (see link below) to see larger versions of them. You might want to compare with these photos I took a couple of weeks ago. You might also note what appears to be a gallows in one of the last photos! 

Train, horses and security arrive in Granger.

On of the draws of Joel and Ethan Coen filming True Grit in Granger, Texas, was the railroad line that runs right next to the strip of wide street where much of the filming there will take place. Sunday the actual train to be used in the film arrived in town, attracting even more tourists. It's a beauty, with a coal tender, a Pullman car and a freight car attached.

The set looks very ready for action, and as you can see the security guards have arrived. I also noted a Paramount truck with New Mexico license plates! Bring on Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin.

Guys, be sure and make a stop five miles down the road in Taylor for some barbecue while you're in the area.

'Waco film on track with Kurt Russell, Adrien Brody, Sharon Stone?

That's what Production Weekly tweeted:

Kurt Russell, Adrian (sic) Brody & Sharon Stone attached to Rupert Wainwright's Waco, which plans to film this fall.

It's the story of David Koresh and the 1993 Branch Davidian raid in Waco. (Should I mention I have a big box of Koresh sermons on cassette tape sitting next to me as I type this? They fell into my hands recently...) Take it for what it's worth since they didn't even bother to spell Brody's name correctly.

The big question is where it will film, since Bob Hudgins of the Texas Film Commission said the film will not qualify for film incentives, a stance that led to a recent "award" from a civil liberties group.

Hudgins questions the facts as presented in the script based on a review by people portrayed in the film by name.

I talked to director Rupert Wainwright last year when the film got its share of free publicity over the incentives flap. "We have spent a lot more time investigating this story than the head of the film commission of Texas has," he said then.

Wainwright and co-writer James Hibberd, a University of Texas grad now writing for The Hollywood Reporter, also scoured court transcripts and brought on documentarian Michael McNulty (Waco: The Rules of Engagement) as a consultant.

Wainwright went so far as to hint that unnamed federal officials had put pressure on Texas officials to quash the film. That's a charge Hudgins flatly denied.

It's a film standoff that points to the vagueness of the content clause, added in 2007 by Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, in response to the film Glory Road, which some say exaggerated racism within college basketball.

Did Terrence Malick have a small screening of Tree of Life?

That's the word being spread through Facebook. Tree of Life is not making it to Cannes, it appears, but it also seems close to completion. The said secret Terrence Malick film screening was in Austin. Here's what was said about it (and take it with a grain of salt):

"It will not make Cannes. The visual effects aren’t done, but the footage that we’ve worked on is near complete. The reason for the delay in post is because of the amount of detail IMAX 70 MM requires. I can assure you that the results are worth the wait..."

See more (including a whole lot of True Grit set photos) at joeoconnell.com


                                                                Disney college program information, auditions in TX & online
                                                                                                     April 17, 2010
                                                                                                   Dr. Diane Howard    

Disney College Program, Paid Internship Presentations, which are open to the public, are held once a semester at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, TX. For ten years, students at UMHB in Performance Studies, Graphics Design, Film, Art, Business and other majors have served as college interns at DisneyWorld. Many of them go on to work and/or perform as seasonal employees, professional interns, and full-time employees for the Disney Corp. UMHB Disney students, alumni, and their associates have gained excellent performance, communication, and business training, while interacting with people from all over the world in a magical environment.

Character Auditions for the Disney College Program are held periodically in Austin. Other Disney auditions are held in Austin and throughout the country. The calendar for Disney auditions is online. College students may find information about the Disney College Program, see a presentation, and participate in an interview all online.

The Walt Disney Company operates four main divisions: Walt Disney Studios, Parks & Resorts,  Disney Products, and Media Networks. Their entertainment entities include Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Disney Music Group, Walt Disney Theatrical, Disney-ABC Television Group, Radio Disney, ESPN Inc., and Marvel Entertainment. Their resort parks are in Florida, California, Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. Further, they offer the Disney Cruise Line.

 

                                                                                         Spy Kids 4 casting in Austin
                                                                                 April 15, 2010
                                                                                                   Dr. Diane Howard    

Austin's Beth Speko is to cast for Spy Kids 4. Those interested in registering with Beth Sepko's Third Coast Extras can find the registration form and instructions on http://www.bethsepkocasting.com/.

The Spy Kids series has been about real but small spies and their secret-agent parents. Rodriquez said that he wants to reboot his own series because his most loyal fans are kids. The family film will feature new kids and some of the stars of the first three movies. Walt Disney is distributing the 4th Spy Kids movie, which is not a sequel but a "reboot."

In 2002, Robert Rodriquez won an ALMA (American Latino Movie Award) for Outstanding Director for Spy Kids . He was also nominated for an ALMA for Outstanding Screenwriter for this feature family film. For this movie, Antonio Banderas was nominated for an ALMA for Outstanding Actor.

Alexa Vega was nominated for a Youth Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actress in 2002 and won the award in 2003 for the second Spy Kids movie. In 2003, Robert Rodriquez won the Imagen Award for Best Director for this sequel.

In 2004, the third Spy Kids movie won the ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for top box office film. The following young actors were all nominated for Young Artist Awards for Best Ensemble: Bobby Edner, Courtney Jines, Matt O'Leary, Emily Osment, Ryan Pinkston, Daryl Sabara, Alexa Vega, and Robert Vito. 

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

                                                                  Legitimate Austin casting opportunities online
                                                                                                     April 6, 2010
                                                                                                  Dr. Diane Howard      

We are fortunate in Texas to have many opportunities for work as film, visual media, and audio talent. Increasingly, more and more legitimate casting is happening online through reputable sources such as Facebook, Actor's Access, and Now Casting, Austin's Beth Sepko Casting, and On Location Casting. With legitimate, reputable casting services such as these, talent does not pay for auditions or bookings. They simply post profiles and headshots on these sites.  

On Location Casting is officially now in their Austin Friday Night Lights office for the continuation of Season 4. They are regularly booking extras for NBC's Friday Night Lights beginning today, 4/6/10. To register with them for extra work, go to www.onlocationcasting.net, fill out a Talent Application, and upload one or two photos. Include any special skills you may have. Include a telephone number. 

Once talent has posted applications and profiles on www.onlocationcasting.net, they can find regular updates and opportunities on On Location Casting's Facebook page. They can even respond to casting calls on a daily basis on this page. Talent in the OLC Database can call  512-707-7934 once a week to see what bookings are available.

(UMHB film talent has been cast in Friday Night Lights episodes. These have included Terrance McGee, Dr. Diane Howard, Laura Gebhardt, and Will Johnson, cast as the character Thomas.)

Remember not to pay for auditions or bookings for talent work. See http://dianehoward.com/auditions.htm. On this page you will find reputable sources for auditions and agents. If you do not yet have an agent, find a legitimate, licensed agent on this page and those to which it is linked. Look at the talent on the agent's site to see if the agent needs talent like you.

See Austin's Texas Film Commission's hotline for current film and television projects with jobs for talent and crew.

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.


                                            
Updated work for Austin cast, crew on film commission site   
                                                                                 April 5,
2010
                                                                                                 Dr. Diane Howard                                                                                                   

Casting for the Austin pilot , Generation Y (ABC) has wrapped with On Location Casting; however,  Friday Night Lights (NBC)  is now casting from On Location Casting.

To register with them for extra work, go to  www.onlocationcasting.net, fill out a Talent Application, and upload one or two photos. Include any special skills you may have. Include a telephone number. You do not need to pay for this service. On Location provides a reputable free casting service, as do Actor’s Access and Now Casting.

Once you have posted a talent application and profile on www.onlocationcasting.net, you can find regular updates and opportunities on On Location Casting's Facebook page. You can even respond to casting calls on a daily basis on this page.

Remember not to pay for auditions or bookings for talent work. See http://dianehoward.com/auditions.htm. On this page you will find reputable sources for auditions and agents. If you do not yet have an agent, find a legitimate, licensed agent on this page and those to which it is linked. Look at the talent on the agent's site to see if the agent needs talent like you. You can find updated work for Texas cast and crew on the Texas Film Commission Hotline.

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

                                                                                                                                                    
                                                      Rodriquez announces Spy Kids 4 at South by Southwest Film Festival
                                                                                                     March 20, 2010
                                                                                                    Dr. Diane Howard

At the recent Austin South by Southwest Film Festival, Robert Rodriguez announced the return of his Spy Kids.  The Spy Kids series has been about real but small spies and their secret-agent parents.  Rodriquez said that he wants to reboot his own series because his most loyal fans are kids.

In 2002, Robert Rodriquez won an ALMA (American Latino Movie Award) for Outstanding Director for Spy Kids . He was also nominated for an ALMA for Outstanding Screenwriter for  this feature family film. For this movie, Antonio Banderas was nominated for an ALMA for Outstanding Actor.  

Alexa Vega was nominated for a Youth Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actress in 2002 and won the award in 2003 for the second Spy Kids movie. In 2003, Robert Rodriquez won the Imagen Award for Best Director for this sequel.

In 2004, the third Spy Kids movie won the ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for top box office film. The following young actors were all nominated for Young Artist Awards for Best Ensemble: Bobby Edner ,Courtney Jines, Matt O'Leary, Emily Osment, Ryan Pinkston, Daryl Sabara,
Alexa Vega, and Robert Vito.  

The screenplay for the fourth Spy Kids movie has been written. Actors have been brought on the project. The family film will feature new kids and some of the stars of the first three movies. It has been a successful franchise and with a growing audience of kids and families, the fourth in the series is likely to be another winner.
 

                                                       More family films to come from North Texas                              
                                                                                                     March 19, 2010 
                                                                                                    By Joe O'Connell

Dallas-based Reel FX is in preproduction on the animated film Turkeys, and it looks to be just the start of a slate of family films that will be produced in North Texas. The film features the voices of Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson as turkeys that find a time machine and go back to the first Thanksgiving to remove themselves from the holiday menu tradition. Luke Wilson also will do a voice part in the film, which is scheduled for a 2011 release. The film slate is part of the launch of Bedrock Studios, a pairing of Ed Jones' Reel FX, which has been based out of Dallas since 1993, and industry veteran Cary Granat. Bedrock's aim is to produce films with budgets of less than $35 million both in Dallas and Santa Monica, Calif., Variety reported Thursday. 

                                           Austin filmmakers ponder Hurt Locker's Oscar for best picture
                                                                                                    March 9, 2010
                                                                                                    Dr. Diane Howard

"It's going to lead to a lot more work here," said Janis Burklund, of the Dallas Film Commission. "They will be doing both live action and animation. ... It shows the depth in types of productions we're getting."                                                       
 

Austin film talent and crew are pondering The Hurt Locker's win for the Oscar for best picture over Avatar.  Having earned nine Academy Award nominations, Avatar was widely predicted to win for best picture. So why did The Hurt Locker win over Avatar

I believe it may be partly because, as I have written earlier, technology, spectacle, and performance-capture can't make the same human connection at the levels of the hearts, souls, and minds of viewers as live-action actors, especially in autobiographical stories that are crafted effectively as screenplays and movies.   

The Hurt Locker is gripping and captivating as it deals with ultimate pain at multiple, complex layers. It is these multiple facets, dimensions, and layers that keeps audiences engaged and fascinated, even though the story is painful to watch. 

Further, as I have written and demonstrated through years of research, factual, autobiographical stories are usually more fascinating than fictional ones.  Autobiographical stories probe beneath the surface issues and explore human desires, conflicts, and motivations. When they expose ironies and paradoxes, as does The Hurt Locker, they are especially captivating.  

The Hurt Locker won five other Academy Awards for best: director, screenplay, film editing, sound mixing, and sound editing. This movie has skillfully told the story through masterfully crafted visual and sound effects. The actors' empathetic performances, enhanced by artistic directing, film editing, and sound mixing, grip and powerfully connect with audiences.    

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

                                                 Austin congratulates Sandra Bullock for Academy Award  
                                                                               
March 7, 2010
                                                                                                    Dr. Diane Howard
 

Austin, Central Texas, along with the rest of our state and country, congratulate you, Sandra, on your winning the Oscar for Best Actress! We are proud of you and are pleased with The Blind Side. We are also impressed with your honoring caring women, selfless mothers, and the other female nominees for best actress. 

We are grateful for this substantive, entertaining, inspirational film! Our country and the world are hungry for stories with humor, heart, and hope. It is also refreshing to see a film that realistically depicts Christian people who reach out in loving kindness and support to others. The Blind Side encourages us to value human relationships and connections at a time when we especially need this inspiration. It motivates us to reach out with grace, respect, and compassion to others in need.

You display substance and skill as an actor as you effectively play a real life Steel Magnolia, who develops in character as she provides for the neglected Gentle Giant, Michael Oher in The Blind Side. You entertain, uplift, and inspire us in this movie. You make us laugh, cry, and think. You are a role model as an actor and as a woman.

For many years I have been conducting research, writing, and presenting around the world on the power of role models in autobiographical stories. I think this work is especially significant today and can bring light into our dark world of personal, national, and international struggles. In redemptive autobiographical stories, we can find inspirational journeys of those who have persevered and overcome against great odds and high stakes. In The Blind Side we see parental and educational role models and a film that meets criteria of what makes an artistic, redemptive film.

I am glad to add this movie to my list of effective, enlightening, and entertaining redemptive movies. Thank you, Sandra, cast, crew, and real personalities in the story of The Blind Side. This film is an ongoing gift to those who see it.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews and publications.


                                                                    New opportunities for film talent, crew in Austin 
                                                                                     Feb. 28, 2010, Updated April 6, 2010
                                                                                      
                                                                                                    Dr. Diane Howard

For several years I have been tracking projects and opportunities for film talent and crew in Austin. Despite the current national recession, valuable Texas Film and Moving Images Incentives , talent, crews, and locations are drawing more and more significant television and film projects to the Lone Star State.

ABC's national talent search for the family summer series Huge came to Austin  in March. In open casting calls, ABC is looked for plus-size talent who could play believable teens. 

In Austin, Generation Y, the documentary-style story of a group in their twenties that flashed back to its high school days ten years earlier, shot for ABC in March.

Casting has been taking place in Austin for The Coen Brother's adaptation of the story on which the John Wayne movie True Grit was based.  This True Grit remake opens with a three-month Central Texas film shoot in March with a cast including Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin.

Friday Night Lights has begun to continue filming the fourth television season in Austin in April.

Austin and Central Texas talent also work in Dallas, which is currently an attractive city for television series. The pilot for NBC's Chase, a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced crime drama is shooting there. The Fox business series, Midland, has wrapped. The Deep End has shot six episodes recently in the Studios at Las Colinas. Code 58 is shooting all around North Texas.

See Austin's Texas Film Commission's hotline for current film and television projects with jobs for talent and crew.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

                                                                           Code 58' tv crew feels at home in Dallas
                                                                                                  Feb. 19, 2010                                                                
                                                                                                By Joe O'Connell
 
How do you turn a city into an attractive location to shoot television shows?... Lemchen says..., "You're looking for people who are happy to have you there
and who don't make your work more difficult." ...That's just one intangible that has pilots for NBC's Chase, a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced crime drama... shooting here. It also led The Deep End to shoot six episodes recently in the Studios at Las Colinas.

Code 58 is shooting all around North Texas, but Lemchen says the buddy cop show from Burn Notice creator Matt Nix is particularly pleased to
be handed the keys to Fair Park, originally the site of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, when it's not otherwise in use.

... rebate is from a filming incentives program the Texas Legislature pumped up in 2009. Texas offers up to 15 percent of in-state spending or up to 25 percent of wages, with both figures increased slightly for filming in areas deemed underutilized.

It's still not higher than the rebate offered by the most competitive states, but Lemchen says it was close enough when taking into account other factors like available trained film crew and appropriate locations. Georgia and Louisiana were the other possibilities, but the available film crews were already stretched thin.

"It's a complex decision," Lemchen says. "We're always balancing creative needs of the show along with the financial needs. [Show creator Nix] felt the show overall would require a certain amount of action, which it does. Dallas was a better opportunity for us to physically shoot the show. Plus, it has a very beautiful downtown."

Will it result in even more television coming to North Texas? It's likely. "Other producers here have had good experiences, and we all talk to each other," Lemchen says.

...True Grit remake...film opens a three-month Central Texas shoot in March with a cast including Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin...

                                                                  
                                                 Inspirational movie of autistic ph.d., Temple Grandin, on HBO
                                                                                                  Feb. 18, 2010
                                                                                             By Dr. Diane Howard                                                             

HBO's Temple Grandin movie has premièred. It is an inspirational and redemptive film with fine acting. Claire Dane is remarkable as Temple Grandin. In this movie the audience sees that Temple, who is autistic, is not disabled but abled differently and brilliantly.   

This project has been filmed in the Austin area. Regional talent, including many University of Mary Hardin-Baylor film students, alumni, and faculty, have been cast for multiple scenes with Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, Catherine O'Hara, and David Strathairn in this film about Dr. Temple Grandin. There are many close-ups of UMHB film students in scenes with Claire and David. The students perform well as Temple's classmates. 

Those of us from UMHB, who have been involved in this project, have been pleased to support it and to be a part of it.  We have been glad to perform in this movie, which has been based an autobiographical and inspirational story. We have been impressed with the leads, support cast, crew, and directors involved with the production of this film. There has been committed dedication to this movie and a production atmosphere of congeniality, artistry, and diligent work.

Temple Grandin is a woman in her 60's with autism. She is known as one of the leading figures in autism advocacy.  She is a role model who has shown both the struggles and successes that can come from autism. As a young person, she was different and misunderstood.  However, Grandin went to college and eventually earned a PhD in animal science. She ultimately also became an advocate of humane slaughterhouses.

This passionate, autobiographical film of her life is richly meaningful. See the official trailer and tease.
 
See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.                                                            

 

                                                       Avatar demonstrates the advantage of live-action, human actors
                                                                                                         Feb. 17, 2010
                                                                                                     By Dr. Diane Howard

Avatar is tied for most nominations for the Academy Awards. The categories for the best in film production include the following: Picture, Director, Musical Score, Art Direction, Cinematography, Visual Effects, and Sound. These nominations are not in best acting categories.

Best acting Oscar nominations this year are for live-action actors. Digital effects and performance-capture seem to affect an audience more as spectacle than on an internal level. Live actors still seem to have more power in connecting with and affecting an audience. Live acting that projects human personality, empathy, and soul still seem to connect more powerfully and vitally with audiences.

Spectacle and digital effects can entertain, but they do not have the power of the human actor to affect the hearts, minds, and souls of audience members in internal, subjective, and emotional ways.  This is not to say that actors in performance-capture depictions are less skilled. To the contrary, it takes acting skill to work with performance-capture technology. It is just that technology affects audiences more as spectacle and live-action actors have more of an advantage in humanly affecting, impacting, and connecting with audiences. 

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.



                                                   
  Two more TV pilots set to shoot in Dallas
                                                                                              Feb. 10, 2010
                                                                                            By Joe O'Connell
                                                                         Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
                                                                        Joe O'Connell is an Austin-based freelance writer.

Two major network television pilots are expected to shoot in North Texas this spring and a third is headed to Austin, offering clear indications
that television production is the big prize from recent increases in the state's filming incentives program.

Midland, a drama for the Fox network, will shoot here March 16 to April 1, according to Janis Burklund, head of the Dallas Film Commission. She confirmed the news with a post on Facebook that called for potential crew members to e-mail resumes to dallas.film@dallascityhall.com...The pilot will be directed by Marc Webb from a script by Kyle Killen The Beaver. Webb will also helm the next Spider-Man film. No cast
has been announced.

Also shooting here in March is the NBC pilot, Chase, from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The network says the series is about "a crucial fugitive apprehension team comprised of U.S. Marshals that tracks down the nation's most notorious criminals..."

In Austin, Gen Y, the documentary-style story of a group of 20-somethings that flashes back to its high school days 10 year earlier, is set to shoot for ABC in March, said Bob Hudgins, head of the Texas Film Commission.

Hudgins said the sudden onslaught of television production can be credited largely to the influence of producers Garry Brown and Nan Burnstein. Brown worked on Walker, Texas Ranger, and was instrumental in bringing Prison Break, The Deep End and  Code 58/(formerly known as Jack and Dan) to North Texas. He will also produce Chase. Burnstein produces Friday Night Lights , which begins filming a fifth season in Austin in April. Neither could be reached for comment.

"These things don't happen by accident," Hudgins said. "It's really those line producers who are our biggest advocates right now."


                                                                                   Coen Brothers film True Grit in Austin
                                                                                         
  Feb. 3, 2010, Update March 31 6, 2010
                                                                                                      
By Dr. Diane Howard  

 The Coen Brothers are shooting in Austin, http://www.imdb.com/news/ni1316395/ . It seems they have adapted the story from True Grit, the novel by Charles Portis that was adapted for the screen as an American Western film starring John Wayne.

Mattie, the lead character who is a young girl, is a simple, tough, young woman in post-Civil War Arkansas. She has unusual nerves of steel and true grit. She insists on going with two marshals to track down the killer of her father.

Update- March 31, 2010

Television and film projects continue to come to Austin. This is partly because of the new incentives available in Texas.  In Austin and other Texas cities and locations, more and more television and film projects are in process.

A Coen Brothers movie project has begun in Austin. The brothers have adapted the story from True Grit, the novel by Charles Portis. This book has been adjusted for the screen as an American Western film starring John Wayne. It is a story about young Mattie, who insists on going with two marshals (Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon) to track down the killer of her father. Mattie is a  simple, tough, young woman in post-Civil War Arkansas. She has unusual nerves of steel and true grit. 

Paramount Pictures has wrapped its general casting call for extras for this new Coen Brothers feature film.  

The following updated information has been posted on the Texas Film Commission hotline:
Still casting. PLEASE SEE TYPES NEEDED BELOW.

-----------------------------------------------
Paramount Pictures is seeking a WOMAN MISSING HER LEFT ARM to be a photo double in TRUE GRIT, a new film by Joel & Ethan Coen.

Character description: Photo double for adult Mattie Ross: This woman must be MISSING HER LEFT ARM. Optimally, she would be around 5’8”, 138 lbs, slender to medium build. However, we are open to various looks.

To submit: Please do so asap! Send photos, measurements & contact information to texascasting2010@gmail.com. Photos should be non-glamorous, simple snapshots (incl face and body. It’s best to wear a tank top & shorts). Measurements should include height, weight, bust, waist & hips. Incl sizes, such as shoe, dress, pants, etc. Include age, phone numbers & place of residence. Approrpriate candidates may also call our office at 512-637-6775.

Rate of pay: TBD
Note: TRUE GRIT is shooting in Austin, TX. However, we are open to nationwide submissions.
------------------------------------------------

FRANK JAMES - Late 60’s - 80’s. Must be able to portray a menacing look through his eyes!! Beady-eyed ... Very mean looking! Thug. Son-of-a-gun. Not a nice guy!

GRANDMA TURNER - Late 60’s - 80’s. Must be able to portray a mean woman - decrepit & pruney looking (great wrinkles/facial lines). She snores loudly! 2 options: Old crone (mean old lady) OR a very large woman (too big to share bed w/Mattie).

General Women - Frontier, hard-bitten types of WOMEN. Must have interesting faces (facial lines, crooked teeth, larger noses, weathered skin type, hard features). Preferably longer hair w/no artificial color. We need rough frontier types - NOT modern looking. No makeup!

Interested applicants should call our office asap! 512-637-6775

People can mail photos - but calling us is preferred - as this is time sensitive!
True Grit Casting / Debbie DeLisi
c/o DW Studios Productions LLC
1901 E. 51st St, Red Bldg
Austin, TX 78723
512-637-6775

See Dr. Diane Howard's recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

                                                         Update on Fox Series Jack and Dan...now titled Code 58                                                                                                       Jan. 29, 2010
                                                                    By Joe O'Connell/Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

 ...Fox series Jack and Dan is now titled Code 58, and the title may change again before all is said and done. It's at the start of a 13-episode Dallas shoot. The Matt Nix (Burn Notice) creation is set to premiere at 8 p.m. June 7, with special previews May 12 and May 19. The new title is supposedly Dallas cop talk for a routine investigation. Fox describes the comedic drama starring Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford as "what happens when an old-school cop and a modern-day detective expose the big picture of small crime." Whitford sported a monstrous '80s-style mustache for the show's recent press meet. ... Will ABC order more episodes of North Texas-shot The Deep End? The premiere episode finished fourth among major networks in its time slot.

                          
                           Austin's Sandra Bullock wins SAG Award for outstanding performance by a female actor 
                                                                                                       Jan. 23, 2010
                                                                                                  
By Dr. Diane Howard

Congratulations to Sandra Bullock! We are proud of her outstanding performance in The Blind Side, We are grateful for this substantive, entertaining, inspirational film! We in the Austin Film Industry are especially proud of her and this movie. Having seen The Blind Side in December 2009,
I wrote that I thought she was a winner in this film. I guess I was not the only one who thought so because she, her cast members, and the film have now won numerous awards for performances in The Blind Side. 

Congratulations to Sandra for winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama  this year for work in this film!

Congratulations to Ms. Bullock for tying with Meryl Streep for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Actress Award  this year for performance in this movie!

Sandra Bullock displays substance and skill as an actor as she effectively plays a real life Steel Magnolia, who develops in character as she provides for the neglected Gentle Giant, Michael Oher in The Blind Side. She entertains, uplifts, and inspires us in this movie. She makes us laugh, cry, and think. She honestly and convincingly plays a real Christian woman, who like many real Christians, is doing great good in the world. She encourages us to value all human relationships at a time when we especially need this inspiration.

For many years I have been conducting research, writing, and presenting around the world on the power of role models in autobiographical stories. I think this work is especially significant today and can bring light into our dark world of personal, national, and international struggles. In redemptive autobiographical stories, we can find inspirational journeys of those who have persevered and overcome against great odds and high stakes. In The Blind Side we see parental and educational role models and a film that meets criteria of what makes an artistic, redemptive film.

I am glad to add this movie to my list of effective, enlightening, and entertaining redemptive movies.  I am grateful to Sandra, cast, crew, and real personalities in the story of The Blind Side. This film is an ongoing gift to those who see it.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 


                                                       
  Movie of autistic ph.d., Temple Grandin, on HBO feb. 6
                                                                                                         Jan. 5, 2010
                                                                                                   By Dr. Diane Howard

HBO's Temple Grandin movie première is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2010, 8 p.m. (EST). This project has been filmed in the Austin area. Regional talent, including many University of Mary Hardin-Baylor film students, alumni, and faculty, have been cast for multiple scenes with Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, Catherine O'Hara, and David Strathairn in this film about Dr. Temple Grandin. UMHB students (Ashley Cook, Brittany Golden, Ariel Sheffield, Ashley Ramirez, Laura Gebhart, Rachel Jeske, Brianna Edwards, Sarah Hughey, Candice Green, Ashley Biederman, Chelsea Martinez, Jenna Keefe, Teaven Barnum, Jordan Cash, Casey Cox, Travis Mitchell, Zach Raygoza, Jake Tatum, Nathan Jenkins, Garrett Smith, Luke Cielonko, Alex Adcock, and Kendall Doles) have especially performed as a core group of students in Temple Grandin's high school days. Brittany Golden has been selected as their team leader. David Dunlap, UMHB alumnus, has been cast in board room scenes with Claire Danes, as Temple Grandin. Dr. Dave Howard and I have been on the set for days of filming of Temple Grandin's undergraduate graduation. Cast as parents, we have enjoyed scenes with Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, Catherine O'Hara, and David Strathairn. Those of us from UMHB, who have been involved in this project, have been pleased to support it and to be a part of it. This movie is an inspirational, autobiographical story. We have been impressed with the leads, support cast, crew, directors. There has been committed dedication to this film and a production atmosphere of congeniality, artistry, and diligent work.

Temple Grandin is a 61-year-old woman with autism. She is known as one of the leading figures in autism advocacy. She is a role model who has shown both the struggles and successes that can come from autism.

As a child, she was derided by her classmates for being different. She was nicknamed "tape recorder" because of her tendency to repeat things numerous times. However, Grandin went to college and eventually earned a PhD in animal science. She ultimately also became an advocate of humane slaughterhouses.

This passionate, autobiographical film of her life is richly meaningful.

See my other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
                                                                                                        

                                                  Top film, visual media developments in Austin, 2009
                                                                                                       Jan. 1, 2010
                                                                                                 By Dr. Diane Howard

                                                                        1.  Texas Film and Moving Images Incentives         

                                                                        2.  Austin's Sandra Bullock a Winner in The Blind Side                                  
                                                                     
                                                                        3. Television Series: Friday Night Lights

                                                       See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

                                                                     
                                                                                                        

                                                               
The Deep End and Jack and Dan cultivate North Texas roots
                                                                                                       Dec. 18
, 2009
                                                                  
By Joe O'Connell
/Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Expect to see the latest North Texas-shot network series sooner than expected, a clear sign that television is indeed the area's good-luck charm. ABC has moved the premiere of law-office dramedy The Deep End to Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. An indefinite spring date had earlier been earmarked for the show, which just wrapped production of its sixth episode last week at the Studios at Las Colinas.

Does this mean more episodes are likely to be ordered? No word on that yet, said Shari Rosenblum, executive director of publicity for 20th Century Fox Television, which is producing the show.

She added that "the good news is that we'll know sooner than later if we're a hit, because we won't have to wait for a spring launch."

Here's a taste of what to expect in the first episode: "Dylan ... is given an impossible pro bono custody case; Beth ... keeps mum when a 90-year-old man signs an agreement thinking that she's his daughter; Liam... must get a client to sign with the firm under false pretenses; Addy ...gets some attention from her boss when she speaks her mind; and Malcolm (Austin native Mehcad Brooks ...) gets off on the wrong foot when he's hired outside of the firm's traditional
process."

Just after the show premieres, Fox series Jack and Dan starts shooting around North Texas. The detective show created by Matt Nix..., starring Colin Hanks...(Tom Hanks' son) and Bradley Whitford ...(West Wing), is unusual in that Fox has committed to 13 episodes and 96 shooting days without ever seeing a pilot. In contrast, The Deep End shot not one but two pilot episodes before ABC ordered episodes.

The first episode of Jack and Dan will be directed by Tim Matheson... along with Whitford and series co-star Diana-Maria Riva, he was in /West
Wing/.

"They will be all over Dallas, primarily, but also outside of Dallas proper," said Janis Burklund of the Dallas Film Commission, who sees it as a good sign for 2010 after a mostly lean 2009. The coming year should also give a clear indication of how well the increased size of the state's film incentive program will energize the industry. "

"I think considering the economy and everything else going on, we did pretty well," she said of the North Texas film scene. The Jack and Dan shoot "bodes well for what our new year is going to be."

Will television continue to revive the North Texas film industry? It is certainly keeping the area's experienced crews working, and some interesting nibbles may be on the horizon.
Consider the talk of a modern-day version of Dallas. Burklund said Warner Bros. told her it's in the early stages of development with a screenwriter recently hired; according to The Hollywood Reporter, Cynthia Cidre (Cane) will write TNT's new take on the series. The once touted big-screen version of Dallas remains on hold.

Bonus footage... An interesting big-screen project has Dallas actor Lane Garrison (Prison Break...) writing the true story of the Gainesville State School's football team, consisting of teens convicted of crimes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Garrison is now out of prison after time served for vehicular
manslaughter. Dallas-based producer Steve Riach is behind the potential film.

                                                              Austin's Sandra Bullock a winner in The Blind Side
                                                                                                       Dec. 5, 2009
                                                                                                 By Dr. Diane Howard

Sandra Bullock effectively plays a real life Steel Magnolia, who develops in character as she provides for the neglected Gentle Giant, Michael Oher in The Blind Side. Jae Head, as S. J. Tuoghy, is especially delightful as he is juxtaposed to Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher.  The Blind Side  is entertaining, uplifting, and meaningful. The comedy has audiences laughing and crying in theaters across the nation. This film encourages us to value all human relationships at a time when we especially need this inspiration.

For many years I have been conducting research, writing, and presenting around the world on the power of role models in autobiographical stories. I think this work is especially significant today and can bring light into our dark world of personal, national, and international struggles. In redemptive autobiographical stories, we can find inspirational journeys of those who have persevered and overcome against great odds and high stakes. In The Blind Side we see parental and educational role models and a film that meets criteria of what makes an artistic, redemptive film.

It is refreshing to see a true story about real Christian people in Michael Oher's family and school, who learn to demonstrate unconditional love and support that leads Michael, who formerly had many odds against him, to wonderful success in his life. I am adding this movie to my list of effective, enlightening, and entertaining redemptive movies. Thank you, Sandra Bullock, cast, crew, and real personalities in the story of The Blind Side. This film is a holiday gift to those who see it. 

 See DVD recommendations. See movie fare for families. See other recent film reviews.
 

                                                                          Austin talent performs in inspirational films
                                                                       
       Nov. 29, 2010
                                                                                             By Dr. Diane Howard     

For uplifting films by Austin talent to view with family and friends, here are my current top suggestions:  

The Blind Side , which features Austin's Sandra Bullock, is meaningful and inspirational. Sandra has won many top awards for her performance in this autobiographical movie. I am glad to add this movie to my list of effective, enlightening, and entertaining redemptive movies.

Temple Grandin on HBO is an inspirational and redemptive film with fine acting. Claire Danes is remarkable as Temple Grandin. In this movie the audience sees that Temple, who is autistic, is not disabled but abled differently and brilliantly. This heartfelt movie was made in Austin with Central Texas  talent. Again, it makes my list of redemptive, heart-felt, insightful films.

Inspirational, heart-warming films such as these reveal universal ideas and meaning that lift viewers from negativism, cynicism, and/or pessimism to what is positive, renewing, and hopeful. Although, they present honest struggles, they turn what can be difficult and debilitating to what is freeing, beautiful and eternal.

Austin is the independent film capital of the world. Here film talent and crew can work on a broad range of substantive training, industrial, independent, and feature films. I have been participating in such projects and tracking these Austin film developments for many years.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent fim reviews, recommendations and publications. 

Proposed ABC series The Deep End films in Dallas
Nov. 8, 2009
By Joe O'Connell

...The Deep End was taping its fourth episode last Tuesday... The series is about five newly minted lawyers trying to survive in a powerful law firm..."Our job is to move you, hopefully to move you to tears and to get you to laugh out loud," Hemingson says. In a few weeks, after ABC executives look at the first episodes, a decision will be made on expanding the number of episodes. "It's significantly less expensive to shoot here in Dallas just because of the cost of doing business here" as opposed to Los Angeles, says Garry Brown, the show's co-executive producer and a driving force in both persuading the Texas Legislature to recently increase the size of financial incentives for filming in the Lone Star State and Fox to shoot in Dallas...Brown first came to Dallas to work for a year on Chuck Norris' Walker, Texas Ranger. That year stretched to six. After a few subsequent years back in LA, he found himself in Chicago shooting Prison Break. Brown persuaded that show's producers to move it to Dallas, where they would have no trouble finding an experienced film crew and diverse locations. That experience led The Deep End to Texas. "I believe in them," Brown says of North Texas crews. "The film community we have here in Dallas deserves to work here."

 

Cinematography in Amelia flies highest
Oct. 23, 2009
By
Dr. Diane Howard

Amelia, directed by Mira Nair, has flown into movie theatres in Austin and around the country. Hilary Swank plays Amelia Earhart with Richard Gere as her husband, George Putnam. We see again that true stories are often more fascinating than fiction. Amelia Earhart’s story has continued to captivate attention and imagination.

The trailer reveals soaring cinematography and engaging music.  However, the cinematic beauty of the film is what many notable reviewers are describing as the movie’s best asset. Beyond the cinematography, The New York Times describes it as a dull production,  Entertainment Weekly also gives it low ratings because it doesn’t explore below surface facts.

What may be needed is more of an autobiographical  than biographical approach. The Washington Post says the movie doesn’t probe deeper than what is generally already known about Earhart. Viewers can remain fascinated by the retelling of true film stories, but audiences generally want to learn something new or see the characters in the story from fresh perspectives.

For those who don’t already know much about Earhart, this movie may still be inspiring. The charm of Swank and Gere, the music, and the cinematography may fly viewers the highest.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

Wild Things give personified form to child's inner conflicts
Oct. 16, 2009
By
Dr. Diane Howard

Where the Wild Things Are, the screen adaptation of the Maurice Sendak's classic book, is available on the IMAX screen at the Bob Bullock Theater and on other big screens around Austin and the country. The Washington Post, New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly, among other top journalistic sources, give this screen adaptation top ratings. This PG movie is more about childhood struggle than an entertaining movie for young children. It follows the adventures of Max, who is struggling with his parents' divorce. After he clashes with his mother and runs off, Max is transported by his imagination to a vast forest and sea. Voice acting, puppetry, and computer animation transports the audience with Max as he meets strange creatures with emotions as conflicting as his own. Max is crowned King of the Wild Things but learns that ruling his kingdom of personified emotions is not easy and returns to the love of his mother.
Director Spike Jonze, who directed Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, has creatively and masterfully visualized Max's conflicting emotions, which are especially related to the divorce of his parents. The seven larger-than-life Wild Things give form to his inner conflicts and struggles. Film that transports and captivates us can help us process external and internal struggles by giving them visual form.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

Disney movies provide holiday family fare
Oct. 3, 2009
By
Dr. Diane Howard

The Disney Corporation, leading international entertainment and media organization, continues to expand its world-wide family fare. Recently, Disney has acquired Marvel characters that have joined Mickey Mouse and his gang, Jim Henson characters, and Pixar personalities.

Recently at the 61st annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmys, Disney won in a variety of television categories that has included outstanding children’s programming. Disney-Pixar’s
Wall*E, which has received an Oscar this year for best animated feature, is now available in DVD, High Definition, and Blu-Ray.

Disney’s 3D version of the classic Dickens tale, A Christmas Carol, is coming to theaters in November. Disney’s
Up is due out in Nov. in DVD, High Definition, and Blu-Ray. Disney's official trailer for Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, is available in anticipation of big screen releases in 3D and IMAX for March, 2010. In anticipation of the June 2010, Disney Digital 3D release of Toy Story 3, Walt Disney Studios has released Digital 3D versions of Disney-Pixar's Toy Story and Toy Story 2See online Disney updates for movie fare and family offerings.

The Disney Corp. also provides entertainment training and employment in a broad range of areas. UMHB Performance Studies and Film students have trained at Disney World in a breadth of entertainment categories as
Disney College Interns. The Disney organization, a Fortune 500 Company, provides employment and ongoing training for those interested in working in its entertainment industries.

UMHB student interns and alumni, who are now Disney full-time and seasonal employees, are serving and bringing joy to those visiting the Disney Parks in Orlando, Florida this fall and holiday season. Disney staff present the Disney College program for Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida to regional students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor during fall and spring semesters. 


See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

 

Independent filmmaker stays loyal to Texas roots
Sept. 25
By Joe O'Connell
 Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
 

 ... easily the biggest boon to the North Texas industry is the arrival of The Deep End, an ABC series that starts filming Monday in the Studios at Las Colinas. "The good news is we're busy," said Janis Burklund of the Dallas Film Commission, adding that the economic downturn is making it more difficult for many larger-budget films to obtain financing. Millican, who has shot three of his previous four films in North Texas, had to talk his New York-based producer into using the University of Texas at Arlington as the backdrop for Rising Star. "The producer wanted to go to Michigan for the rebates," Millican said. "I want to make movies here; it's home to me. I had to convince him there is the talent and crew here to do that. There are skilled cameramen, gaffers, grips and makeup artists." It's the first film for Millican to direct but not produce. He was wooed when a producer saw The Imposter, which follows a Christian singer. Millican has been aiming the film directly at churches, asking them to become theaters and raise funds for charity. The Imposter led directly to Rising Star, when Millican was asked to come up with a family-friendly film that would be aimed at a secular audience but still be music-driven. The result is the story of the finalists in a fictional competition that features both young filmmakers and musicians. The cast includes Broadway pro Fisher Stevens; ubiquitous Texan Barry Corbin (Northern Exposure); Catherine Mary Stewart (The Last Starfighter); and Christian music star Rebecca St. James. Millican, a UTA grad, said the film crew occupied an auditorium, various classrooms and spots on the campus grounds and were welcomed with open arms. "A movie is not an easy thing to have on your grounds," he said. "We went in hoping to get cooperation. What we got was so much more." ... 

 See The Imposter, a Christian movie, on http://www.theimpostermovie.com/.

 

Congratulations to Sometimes I'm Sad for nomination for Best Kids' Film
Sept. 24, 2009
By
Dr. Diane Howard
 

Congratulations to Javier Rivera, author/composer; Ashley Ramirez, voice artist; and Hui Min Liu, illustrator of Sometimes I'm Sad. This work has been nominated for Best Film at the 2009 Kids First! Best Films at the Santa Fe Film Festival. Ashley is a UMHB Communication Major and Film Minor. She is the president of the UMHB’s Delta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, a national performance honor society. Javier Rivera has served as the Director of Photography for Cru Films, Runaway and The Good Wife. Javier has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Video from Columbia College in Chicago and a Masters of Education degree from Carthage College. See more on the film’s Web site, http://www.sometimesweb.com/. See photos on the artists’ page. See and hear the artists on the trailer.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

Twitter takes off in Austin and propels new promotion of films
Sept. 24, 2009  
By
Dr. Diane Howard
 

Films are promoted today largely through social media. Social networks like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook are escalating in their development and are having a huge impact on successes and failures of movies in their screenings and distribution. Now independent filmmakers have direct access to viewers and markets. Potential audiences can read about films on social network sites and then go to the films’ own websites to see and learn more before they see a film. Those who see films can immediately contact their social networks, send out critiques, and contribute to the success or failure of films almost overnight. Now word-of –mouth reaction to films is lightening quick and speedily multiplies over social media and networks.

In the past film studios promoted new work through print and television ads to mass audiences. Now any independent filmmakers can promote their films via social media, networks, e-groups, and Web sites with more impacting access and at minimal cost.  On social networks, Web sites, and online sources, audiences are now more engaged than ever with new films and can more personally interact with filmmakers.

Social media, networks and e-technologies allow users easy access and communication around the world.  Twitter started a fire of interest at the South by Southwest music and digital conference in Austin in 2007.  Since then, the Twitter Effect has become internationally effective as it enables immediate, valuable communications around the world. Here are some helpful Texas Twitter film sites: http://twitter.com/ATX_TVFilmJobs , http://twitter.com/filmcrewtexas, http://twitter.com/FilmCastTexas http://twitter.com/shortfilmtexas, http://twitter.com/ActorsAccess, http://twitter.com/drdianehoward, http://twitter.com/afs1985 , http://twitter.com/AustinFilmMeet , http://twitter.com/filmsanantonio, http://twitter.com/DALLASFilm... I have also used Twitter search engines to find valuable information.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

Sizzling lineup of TV productions in Texas
Sept. 23, 2009
by Joe O'Connell

Add stars Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick to the mix as television production continues to be red hot in Texas. The married couple is producing a series for TNT tentatively titled Zapata, Texas, and has been scouting locations in Austin for the show's pilot. Bacon will direct. The story is set on the Texas-Mexico border and, according to TNT, follows a newly elected sheriff as he 'navigates the equally treacherous waters of small-town politics and the volatile world of the U.S.-Mexico border.' Since Sedgwick's The Closer is TNT's centerpiece series, a Zapata series pickup is very likely.

Last month, it was reported that ABC midseason-replacement series The Deep End would film in North Texas. The series has finally signed a deal with the Studios at Las Colinas to start shooting there at the end of September.

A second unnamed series also is eyeing North Texas, with the final deal contingent on obtaining the right cast, according to Dallas Film Commission head Janis Burklund. It, too, could join Friday Night Lights, which has quietly begun production on its fourth season in Austin.

Meanwhile, Variety reports that actress Jenna Fischer of The Office is executive producer of a proposed NBC show about real-life San Antonio lumber salesman turned private investigator Charlie Parker that also could end up shooting in the Lone Star State.

"Television right now is our best shot," Burklund says. "There was a whole lot of interest during what was the pilot season this year, and that's continuing. It's just a matter of the right shows at the right time. "I think it's more about previous success," Burklund said about the sudden surge in television production in Texas. Other networks have "seen what Fox did with Prison Break and that they're coming back [with The Deep End] is a good signal." Prison Break shot two seasons in North Texas.
 
North Texas has a major advantage, Burklund said, because of easy travel to Los Angeles through Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, a diverse population, varied locations and a more temperate climate.

Bonus footage The big Texas shoot this month is Machete...Robert Rodriguez...a feature film in Austin. The cast includes Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin and, in the title role, Danny Trejo. ...

...Mike Judge...next film project ...will produce Brigadier Gerard, which is based on a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle.
He said it could shoot in Texas. ... SMU film school alumnus Sean Whitley's documentary, Southern Fried Bigfoot, which he describes as about all the … wildmen rumored to prowl the bayous and bottomlands…of the South, is airing on the Documentary Channel. Bigfoot screened this month in North Devon, U.K., as part of the Weird Weekend, an annual gathering on strange phenomena. The film highlights the Lake Worth Monster said to have been spotted near Fort Worth in the '60s.

Texas PBS airs PBS film Little Dorrit that takes top Emmy awards
Sept. 21, 2009
By
Dr. Diane Howard

PBS in Texas and around the country hase aired the Masterpiece Special, Little Dorrit. With this film the Brits have topped dominant contender HBO in winning the 61st Primetime Emmy Award for a Miniseries. Little Dorrit earned Seven Emmys for excellent writing, directing, art direction, costumes, and cinematography.  The Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special went to Andrew Davies for his screenplay adaptation of this Dickens novel. 

The Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special went to Dearbhla Walsh for direction of the Dickens film adaptation. This excellent, substantive film work, co-produced by the BBC and WGBH Boston, received awards for casting, direction, costuming and cinematography Sept. 12 at the 61st Annual Primetime Creative Arts Ceremony, which was held over a week before the televised Emmys. It picked up three more Emmys Sept. 20 at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards Ceremony for outstanding mini-series, screenwriting, and film directing.

The Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special went to Dearbhla Walsh for direction of the Dickens film adaptation. This excellent, substantive film work, co-produced by the BBC and WGBH Boston, received awards for casting, direction, costuming and cinematography Sept. 12 at the 61st Annual Primetime Creative Arts Ceremony, which was held over a week before the televised Emmys. It picked up three more Emmys Sept. 20 at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards Ceremony for outstanding mini-series, screenwriting, and film directing.

The Brits have continued to challenge American film standards. They have set a high bar for screenwriting, acting, and production. PBS continues to provide rich, artistic, British programming through Masterpiece. The Little Dorrit special was nominated for eleven Emmy awards:
 

*       Outstanding Miniseries
*       Outstanding Supporting Actors in a Miniseries or a Movie
*       Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
*       Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special
*       Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie
*       Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
*       Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie
*       Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
*       Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie
*       Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special 

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

Robert Rodriquez film produced with notable & personable actors in Austin
Sept. 20, 2009
by Dr. Diane Howard

Filming has been taking place in Austin for a Robert Rodriquez movie. The cast has been identified on EW.com.

The confirmed cast of Robert Rodriguez’s (and protégé Ethan Maniquis’s) next movie, Machete, was announced in Variety today, and there are some unexpected names making the cut. Machete features Danny Trejo playing the title character...Starring alongside Trejo will be Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Nash Bridges co-stars Cheech Marin and Don Johnson, and in her first major film role in some time, Lindsay Lohan. The list puts to bed rumors that Jonah Hill would also join the cast. Machete is expected to hit screens next year.

When our own Terrance McGee, http://dianehoward.com/talent_students_alumni.htm, auditioned for a commercial for Beth Sepko Casting, http://www.bethsepkocasting.com/, he was tapped for the Rodriquez film and cast as a reporter in scenes with Jessica Alba.  Gaining valuable experience, Terrance has been on the set with Robert DeNiro and other notable actors.  Our Cassy Olvera, who was also cast for the movie, has been on the set with Lindsay Lohan, Robert DeNiro... Cassy has reported that  lead actor Danny Trejo has been especially personable with the whole cast, much as David Strathairn had been with the cast of Temple Grandin, filmed last year in Austin. It has been delightful to have notable but personable film actors on sets in our user-friendly film projects in Central TX.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

 

 David Strathairn a Texas Favorite
Sept. 13, 2009
By Dr. Diane Howard
 

I highly recommend the movie The Sensation of Sight, which is now out in DVD. This sensitive, thoughtful, independent film about loss and need for connection is unique, redemptive, and inspirational. David Strathairn, who plays the lead character, is a moving, meaningful actor. He is deeply connected to the story. See the trailer, blog, and notes- http://www.thesensationofsight.com/.
 
This past year, David Strathairn was here with Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, and Catherine O'Hara in Austin and Central Texas for filming of the HBO movieTemple Grandin. Film students, alumni, and professors from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor were cast for multiple scenes with Claire Danes and David Strathairn in this film. We observed David as a role model on and off the set. He was an impeccable actor. He connected to the other actors on set and knew the names of Central Texas, UMHB film personnel, who were involved in the project with him. The UMHB film students, who performed as a core group of students in Temple Grandin's high school days with David, still talk about him as a role model and especially how he connected to them.
 
David displays that same sense of connection in the movie The Sensation of Sight, both in the film and in the behind-the-scenes footage. This movie is deeply captivating in its focus on issues of human meaning and connection in a small town. The characters and town in this film are every town and everyman/woman.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

Motion pictures coming to Austin
Aug. 26, 2009
By Dr. Diane Howard
 

Austin casting directors, agents, and talent are seeing good signs that the recent Texas Film and Moving Images Incentives, which start Sept. 1, are bringing new work to Central Texas. In a recent Texas Film Commission Report, over fifty new applications have been made in recent months to the Film Commission in Austin. These projects cross a broad spectrum that includes the following: feature films, television programs, commercials, and video games. These new projects should bring significant revenue, crew jobs, and roles for talent. TXMPA, http://www.txmpa.org, has worked hard to facilitate the passing of new film incentives in Texas.

In addition to ongoing commercials, industrials, video projects, two network television series and two major feature films are already in preproduction. This is also due in part to Texas incentives. New live or animated qualifying projects are entitled for payments of 5-15% of eligible Texas spending on the completion of a review of Texas expenditures. Texas sales tax exemptions are additionally available.

Texas has long been known as a user-friendly state with vast, varying locations for film. Austin and Central Texas have been recognized for good local casting directors, talent agents, crews, and actors.  Now, with added financial incentives, Austin and the surrounding region are all the more drawing new moving pictures projects.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.


Texas Film Grants

Texas Film Commission Hotline- Casts

Texas Film Commission Hotline- Crew


UMHB Film Program


I am also following new developments in use of video for broad range of purposes on the WWW. I have been saying for years that just as computers are integral in our lives, so are cameras. We need to be well prepared for performance/communication via cameras. http://dianehoward.com/Enhanced_By_Technology.htm, http://dianehoward.com/The_Twitter_Impact_Diane_Howard_PhD.htm.
 
 

Tinseltown (LA) loses luster...
 Aug. 8, 2009
Telegraph,

The amount of filming taking place on studios and public streets here (LA) slid 31 per cent during the second quarter of this year, according to FilmLA, an organisation that streamlines the city's film permit process. But this was no temporary blip, nor is it purely down to the credit-crunch. There are now nearly 50 per cent less feature film productions being shot in LA than a decade ago – thanks in large part to the trend of "Runaway Production", where studios take their features to less glamorous states like Louisiana, New Mexico, and Michigan, all of which offer generous financial incentives.

"If we don't become more competitive, we are not going to have a film industry in LA," warned FilmLA spokesman Todd Lindgren.

The fact remains that Los Angeles is still a major hub for the film industry, and all of the major film studios retain a home here – as do a majority of the world's best-known actors and actresses. But the trend for actual filming to take place outside of the city is a major worry.

Jennifer Aniston, whose primary residence is in a leafy enclave above Beverly Hills, has shot most of her recent movies away from home. Management was filmed in Oregon, Marley and Me in Pennsylvania and her latest film, The Bounty, is being shot in New Jersey and New York.

Clint Eastwood's recent film Grant Torino was shot in the tough Michigan city of Detroit, better known only as the location for films like 8 Mile, the biopic of the detroit rapper Eminem.

"We have very generous incentives including a 42 per cent tax credit for people filming in urban areas," said Erica Hill,
director of special events and film at the Detroit Film Office. "We also have a great waterfront and great architecture. That is very attractive to Hollywood people. People say why would they come when they could be shot or killed, but if you make the effort to travel to Detroit, you will find it is actually a very nice place."

The incentive schemes are not just about provincial towns wanting a share of the limelight, however. In New Mexico, where some 90 major film and TV projects have been shot since 2003 – including Transformers and In the Valley of Elah – officials estimate the economic benefit to be around $1.5 billion.

Perhaps the ultimate insult to Hollywood's pride, though, was a film currently in development, Battle: Los Angeles, about a group of US marines defending the city from invading aliens. Sharp-eyed moviegoers may actually notice that they are actually defending a series of locations around Baton Rouge in Louisiana, nearly 2,000 miles east. As one movie critic noted, "LA can't even land a role to play itself in the movies these days".

California, despite having a movie star for governor in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been very slow to respond. It was not until last February that the state passed limited legislation offering tax credits for lower budget productions, costing less than $75 million.

The results have been catastrophic for the film industry in Los Angeles. Its share of US feature film production dropped to 31 per cent in 2008 from 66 per cent in 2003, according to the California Film Commission. FilmLA believes the recession has also resulted in a sharp drop in the amount of commercials being shot and the credit crunch has halted financing for small film production.

Three Austin docs on Independent Lens 
 August 6, 2009
By Joe O'Connell

Austin filmmakers Karen Skloss, Michel Scott and Keith Maitland will see their work on the national PBS doc series Independent Lens.  ITVS’s Beyond the Box blog ran the full line-up for the 2009-2010 season and Skloss’s SUNSHINE, Scott’s THE HORSE BOY and Maitland’s THE EYES OF ME each made the cut. The seasons kicks off Oct. 13.

 
Paradise recovered 
August 5, 2009
By Joe O'Connell

...Paradise Recovered...  indie shot a week in Austin in July. The majority of the film was shot in Indiana. What's encouraging? ... Austin shoot was largely due to the new incentives Texas is offering.

The director is a University of Texas grad with the wonderful name of Storme Woods.  He says, "Paradise Recovered is a modern-day retelling of the parable of the Good Samaritan and a coming of age story about a young woman’s discovery..."

Note the Liberty Lunch poster in the photo from the set!
 

Governor Perry promotes TX film in CA
July 29
http://twitter.com/GovernorPerry

...just meet with a large contingent of professionals in California to promote the Texas film and video games incentive that was just passed...
 

Omega Broadcast unveils new studio sound stage
July 29, 2009 
From Austin Film Forum

...Omega Broadcast, about 2 blocks East of I-35 at 817 W. Howard Lane. (Google Map )...A picture of the new 40'X40' sound stage is here: http://www.pingg.com/rsvp/sn334xey5j7jaj37j  [Note the Grid, Kino lights all along the cyc wall, and the thick black (sound abatement) curtains.] 

Austin Studios
July 27, 2009
From Austin Film Casting

AFS has renegotiated its lease with the City of Austin and secured Austin Studios until 2042, ensuring facilities for filmmaking for a new generation. The new lease defines the rules for development on the site, provides for compatibility with the Mueller development, and reconfigures our boundaries in 2012 to 20 acres that include the National Guard Armory building and hangars.

Reflections, lessons learned from the life of Michael Jackson
June 29, 2009
 by
Dr. Diane Howard

I have been reflecting on the death of Michael Jackson and lessons I can learn from this tragic event. I think Michael was constantly trying to transcend boundaries, even his own. Most creative leaders seek to transcend boundaries, limits, and ineffective traditions. It is important to challenge and transcend limitations in healthy, constructive, and positive ways. If we challenge the margins in negative, unhealthy ways, we take risks that may lead to our own demise.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.
 

ABC Series, The Deep End
 July 21, 2009
By Joe O'Connell

ABC series The Deep End expected to begin filming in North Texas... A new ABC television series, The Deep End, is poised to film in North Texas. Texas Film Commission head Bob Hudgins confirmed that the show is a 20th Century Fox Television production for ABC, not a show for the Fox network as was previously reported. Thirteen episodes are set to shoot; The Deep End is being scheduled as a midseason replacement series. Hudgins estimates that money spent in North Texas will be in the ballpark of $20 million. Plans for the shoot have been hush-hush while a deal has been negotiated to shoot at the Studios at Las Colinas, an agreement that's still not complete. Much of the show's filming is expected to be on a soundstage. "I'm feeling pretty good that, regardless, they will stay in Texas," Hudgins said.

Show producer Garry Brown, who also was instrumental in two seasons of Prison Break shooting here and who has a local industry history that dates back to Walker, Texas Ranger, is the North Texas link. Brown has long raved about the talent of the North Texas film crew base. Brown also lobbied the Legislature in 2007 and this year for a financial incentives program for the film, television and video-game industries. The Legislature earlier this year increased incentives offered and added flexibility and additional funding to the program, which has $60 million to dole out over the next two years to attract Hollywood back to Texas. In recent years, many projects have veered to states that offer heftier payouts, such as Louisiana and New Mexico.

The lack of local buzz about the impending shoot could be attributed to the show's setting in a Los Angeles law firm. ABC described the dramatic comedy as L.A. Law meets Grey's Anatomy. The cast includes a number of fresh faces, along with some seasoned hands... The show description on ABC.go.com gives a good example of the tone of the series: "Sterling Law is one of L.A.'s most prestigious law firms. Each year it recruits four new young lawyers from the finest law schools worldwide. It will nurture, guide and shape these recruits into the best...lawyers they can possibly be or else..."

 

Seen and heard at SXSW
March 26/09
By Joe O' Connell

South by Southwest Film Festival... Tim McCanlies, whose wacky comedy The 2 Bobs premiered at SXSW, said he took on the directing chores for Alabama Moon, based on Watt Key's young-adult novel of the same name, with only a few weeks' notice. The film was shot in New Orleans but could have easily been lensed on McCanlies' 350-acre Bastrop County ranch if not for the larger financial incentives offered in Louisiana, he said. Famed more as a screenwriter and script doctor, McCanlies is having a hot year behind the camera with the two films in the can and seeking distribution. Little known fact? McCanlies put himself through Southern Methodist University film school as a Dallas cop.

Austin-raised actor honors 9/11 heroes...Austin High School grad Todd Allen has been in 50 or so film and television projects, including Grand Canyon and AMC's Broken Trail, but he says his latest, the short "American Identity," is perhaps the most personally fulfilling. Set around the events of 9/11, it will tour military bases, starting with Fort Hood. The idea came from fellow producer Stephen Rollins, who had a birthday dinner Sept. 10, 2001, in a restaurant atop the World Trade Center. While there he received a telephone call from old friends in Boston, who would die the next day in a hijacked airplane. "As the son of a Naval aviator and the nephew of a Marine who fought in Vietnam, it is particularly gratifying," said Allen, who also recently starred as a Texas Ranger who brings down a drug cartel in American Cartel, which shot in San Antonio and Uvalde...



Rodriguez has films for children and adults in the works 
March 17, 2009
By Joe O'Connell

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ: Director spoke at SXSW film fest... Robert Rodriguez will shoot the futuristic thriller Nerveracker this June in Austin, he confirmed during a talk at the South by Southwest Film Festival on Monday. Previously reported as a plural Nerverrackers, the film is set in 2085 and revolves around Joe Tezca, part of an elite group sent to stop a crime wave in a utopian world. The film, which will be made through a reteaming of Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios and Dimension, already has a release date of April 16, 2010. The San Antonio native often gives himself a short time frame to complete a film. “I think you should make a movie like it's your first movie, like you never have enough money or time,” he said. “Then you have to find ways to solve problems.”  He said he isn't a fan of linear filmmaking and often finds himself composing a soundtrack for a film while still completing the script. “I realize I've been doing it this way since I was 12,” he said.  “There's no point in teaching an old dog new tricks.”  ...Rodriguez revealed that he finally completed his degree at the University of Texas last year. The comment came in response to a question from a would-be film student about the validity of a film degree. “I do strongly believe in higher education,” Rodriguez said.

 He said John Carpenter's “Escape from New York” is the film that truly inspired him to become a filmmaker when he realized Carpenter was responsible for so many different elements of the film. “It seemed like moviemaking would be a place to do all of my hobbies at once,” said Rodriguez, who already was dabbling in drawing, writing and making music... Asked about his striving for independence from Hollywood studios, Rodriguez replied, “One way you've got a job; the other way you are doing what you love.”

SXSWfilm: Texas claims Billy Bob
March 13, 2009
By Joe O'Connell

AUSTIN — Sorry, Arkansas. Billy Bob Thornton is now officially a Texan.  It happened Thursday night as the man who portrayed Davy Crockett (also not born in Texas) was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame during ceremonies at a former Austin airport turned film studio. Thornton received the Tom Mix Honorary Texan Award, so named for the western star who actually hailed from Pennsylvania, in the Austin Film Society ceremony that unofficially kicks off the South by Southwest Film Festival... 

Fellow "Alamo" star Dennis Quaid called Thornton a native of "Northeast Texas — Hot Springs, Ark." But Thornton took mild offense to the honorary title, which acknowledges his work on a string of Texas-centric films including "Friday Night Lights" and "Armageddon." He reminded the crowd that he has lived in both Tomball and Austin. 

"It's an artistic place, a creative place," Thornton said of the Lone Star State.  "When they say Texas is bigger, Texas is better, I think they're right." He also spoke of the honor of playing Crockett in the poorly reviewed "The Alamo," saying "I feel like we did something that will live in history."

 Also inducted into the hall of fame were Fort Worth native Larry Hagman, aka J.R. Ewing of "Dallas" fame; Powers Boothe, a Texas State University grad and Snyder native; "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke, a McAllen native; and the film Rushmore... Director Richard Linklater ("Dazed and Confused") also honored the late Texas playwright Horton Foote,
calling him one of America's foremost storytellers...
 

Larry Hagman, TX Hall of Fame
March 12, 2009
By Joe O'Connell

 AUSTIN – In the winter of 1978, Larry Hagman drove the cast of the new television show Dallas around the city of Dallas...  He was the only native Texan among them and felt it his duty, his television wife Linda Gray said Thursday as Hagman was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame... "He's the consummate actor," she said of television's J.R. Ewing. "He's funny. He's absolutely adorable. He's the man you love to hate, and he's my best friend." The 77-year-old also apparently makes a great pitchman for efforts to expand Texas' incentive program aimed at attracting more movies to film in Texas. As Hagman told it, he paraded around the Texas Capitol this week handing out $10,000 bills (with his own photo on them). "You have all these fans here and you're going to get your money back a hundred times over," Hagman said as he echoed the night's clarion call. "You can't miss."

... Don Stokes, the Dallas film pro and president of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, a film lobby group aiming to persuade the Legislature to increase spending for its financial incentives program. The legislation passed unanimously out of House committee this week. "There are a couple of television series pilots (at least one eyeing Dallas) that, if the bill passes in time, we have a significant shot at getting here," Stokes said. Event master of ceremonies Thomas Haden Church termed the legislation a "call to arms," noting that a West Texas-set film he is a part of is about to shoot in Australia.  "I'm a Texan and I'd really like to see the Texas film industry flourish," he said. Boothe spoke of growing up on a cotton farm in Snyder and...telling his father, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life, but it's sure not going to be this. So I chose the movie business." The hall of fame ceremonies unofficially open the South by Southwest Film Festival...in Austin.

 

                                                                              TXMPA has a bill!
                                                                                                           Jan. 29/09
                                                                                                    Houston Film Casting

TXMPA is pleased to announce its support of HB 873, filed on January 29, 2009 by Representative Dawnna Dukes. There will be a companion bill filed in the Senate by Senator Bob Deuell. These bills call for enhancements to our existing incentive program and we are pleased that they reflect the interest of TXMPA and its constituents in the Texas moving image industry. We feel this enhanced incentive program will put Texas in a favorable position to bring production jobs back to Texas.

Highlights of the bill include: - inclusion of film, television series, commercials, digital interactive media, and educational and instructional videos. - lowered thresholds for film and TV production ($250,000) - $100,000 threshold for commercial and educational/instructional videos and digital interactive media production (single or series of productions) - 60% of a project must be filmed in Texas to qualify - grant payout amounts are to be determined by office rules (which means we can have a competitive and flexible payout) - Underutilized areas now will receive a 2.5% additional amount on top of the payout amount established by rules

There are additional provisions which we will detail later, all of which will strengthen our program and make us more competitive. Information on the funding of the program and the appropriation process will be available soon! See the full text of HB 873 at http://tinyurl.com/cgc5e9. ...
 


Top 10 of 2008
Jan. 2, 2009 
By Joe O'Connell

1) No. 1 film scene draws battle lines. MovieMaker magazine ranked Austin the best place to "live, work, and make movies," while Austin film folks raised $60,000 at the Spaghetti Western fundraiser toward efforts to convince the 2009 Legislature to increase Texas' film incentives to a level that is actually competitive with other states. 

2) Malick plants one in Smithville. The 65,000-pound tree had to be hauled about seven miles through the middle of Smithville, where auteur Terrence Malick shot The Tree of Life starring Brad Pitt... 

4) HBO finally goes to Temple Grandin. It had been in the works for a solid nine years, and finally HBO shot a film starring Claire Danes as Temple Grandin – who found great success despite suffering from autism – when an aching Austin film scene most needed it.

 5) Indie films keep it real. Heather Graham starred in Ex-Terminators, Will – now renamed Bandslam – was a coming-of-age "dramedy" featuring Vanessa Hudgens, and Conflict of Interest, a political thriller written by Austin's Bonnie Orr, featured Michael Madsen and Lee Majors... 

9) Doing the film studio hokeypokey. Austin Studios' long-awaited renovations took place this year. Meanwhile Spiderwood Studios is quietly taking shape, and Ranch Studios remains busy..
 

* note by Dr. Diane Howard-  #5- UMHB Performance Studies/Film Alumnus, Will Johnson, and Casey Cox, UMHB Performance Studies/Film student, were cast in Bandslam, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976222/
 

Wildfire hopes to reignite the Austin film scene 
Dec. 11, 2008
By Joe O'Connell

..."synergy" it's perhaps the ...description for Wildfire Films, a joining of four film companies, two from Austin and two from Los Angeles, that just might give a drowsy Austin film scene a needed shot of adrenaline by bringing a slew of new productions to town.

First up locally for the group is a biopic tentatively titled 16 Minutes about Latino civil rights advocate Gus Garcia (no relation to the former Austin mayor), who argued the landmark Hernandez v. Texas case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 and cemented Latino rights under the 14th Amendment, only to die 10 years later penniless in San Antonio. The script is being co-written by Rodriguez and Austin actress/playwright Amparo Garcia-Crow, who has been obsessed with bringing Garcia's story to light since 1990, with help from Isidro Aguirre, who has been fascinated by it even longer. Look for preproduction in the spring with Rodriguez directing. "This isn't people coming in from the outside to do this," Rodriguez said of the new film company.
 

Wildfire Films
Dec. 4, 2008

http://www.austin360.com/movies/content/movies/stories/2008/12/1203wildfire.html
By Charles Ealy
American-Statesman Staff


Wildfire Films LLC, a new movie production company based in Austin, announced its formation Tuesday and that it is planning to start work early next year on its first feature film, about lawyer and Hispanic civil rights leader Gustavo "Gus" Garcia in Texas. The movie, titled "16 Minutes," is expected to focus on Garcia's flamboyant, rough-and-tumble life leading up to his 16 minutes of arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 1954 civil rights case Hernandez v. Texas.

Wildfire Films representatives said Tuesday that "16 Minutes" would be the first in what they hope will be a series of Hollywood-backed movies to be shot in Texas in the coming years. Operating from an expected base at the Austin Film Studios, the company's partners are: Anton Diether, a longtime writer with credits such as the Hallmark TV series "Moby Dick"; Mark Hacker, a story editor and script consultant who's working on the screenplay for "16 Minutes" with a team of writers, including Austin playwright Amparo Garcia Crow; Leon Rodriguez, who recently directed "Double Tap," starring
Daniel Baldwin, and will direct "16 Minutes"...

Wildfire said it has partnered with Fred Roos Productions, Overture Films, Starz Media and other companies to help finance coming productions. A budget of $25 million is expected for "16 Minutes," the partners said. Rebecca Campbell, head of the Austin Film Society, said she welcomed the news of Wildfire's upcoming work in Texas, "especially during a time when productions have been moving to Shreveport and elsewhere because of incentives being offered in other states." Campbell expressed hope that a new incentives package, boosting the current 5 percent tax break for filming in Texas up to 10 or 15 percent, would make its way through the 2009 legislative session. Wildfire said it has not decided who will play Garcia, which might begin shooting in South Texas in February. The high court's decision in Hernandez v. Texas, which helped establish equal protection under the law for Hispanics, was decided only a few days before Brown v. Board of Education, the widely known landmark ruling that led to the end of public-school segregation for black Americans. But some historians have since said that the Hernandez case was just as important and has been unjustly overlooked by history...
 


Advice for new film talent
Oct. 28, 2008
by
Dr. Diane Howard

I am usually careful about recommending projects, especially casting calls for extras; however, a good project that needs featured extras or extras in specialized categories may be worth doing. See http://governor.state.tx.us/film/general/filming_extras/ , http://governor.state.tx.us/film/hotline-cast/#cast10781 .

Remember that every performance communication experience, encounter is a networking opportunity. It is important to always have a positive attitude. Jobs go to people who have the following qualities: willingness to work hard, positive attitude, openness to direction, expressiveness (especially with eyes and face), flexibility, willingness to support others...

If you do extra work in a positive, cooperative way, casting directors will often keep you on a list of people to call for future projects. When you do extra work with a good attitude, often directors will use you more, give you more face time on camera, and give you extra character work.

For work beyond that of extras, your goal should be to seek representation from a good agent.  See http://dianehoward.com/talent_agents.htm

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.


UMHB film talent in Temple Grandin movie
 Nov. 8, 2008
by
Dr. Diane Howard

UMHB students have been cast for multiple scenes with Claire Danes and David Strathairn in the HBO movie about Temple Grandin. Ashley Cook, Brittany Golden, Ariel Sheffield, Ashley Ramirez, Laura Gebhart, Rachel Jeske, Brianna Edwards, Sarah Hughey, Candice Green, Ashley Biederman, Chelsea Martinez, Jenna Keefe, Teaven Barnum, Jordan Cash, Casey Cox, Travis Mitchell, Zach Raygoza, Jake Tatum, Nathan Jenkins, Garrett Smith, Luke Cielonko, Alex Adcock, and Kendall Doles have especially performed as a core group of students in Temple Grandin's high school days. Brittany Golden has been selected as their team leader. David Dunlap, UMHB alumnus, was cast in board room scenes with Claire Danes, as Temple Grandin. Dr. Dave Howard and I have been on the set for days of filming of Temple Grandin's undergraduate graduation. Cast as parents, we have enjoyed scenes with Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, Catherine O'Hara, and David Stathairn.  Those of us from UMHB, who have been involved in this project, have been pleased to support it and to be a part of it. This movie is about an inspiring autobiographical story. We have been impressed with the leads, support cast, crew, directors... There has been an atmosphere of congeniality, artistry, and diligent work. 

From- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001573/news#ni0577976, Strathairn, Ormond, and O'Hara Face Autism: There's a new biopic finally gaining steam that hasn't been mentioned on Cinematical before -- HBO's Temple Grandin project. Back in August, Claire Danes signed on, and now The Hollywood Reporter posts that David Strathairn, Julia Ormond, and Catherine O'Hara have joined the cast.

Temple Grandin is a 61-year-old woman with autism known to be one of the leading voices in autism advocacy. As a child, she has been derided by her classmates for being different -- nicknamed "tape recorder" because of her tendency to repeat things numerous times.  But bursting out of that, Grandin went to college and eventually earned a PhD in animal science, ultimately becoming an advocate of humane slaughterhouses as well -- an ideal candidate to show both the struggles and successes that can come from autism. ...A passion project that's been in the works for almost a decade, filming begins this month in Austin with Danes playing Grandin. ,http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278469/ .

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.

 

Austin Studios get pretty
Aug. 14, 2008
By Joe O'Connell
 

...long-awaited studio renovations finally began last week via $5 million Austin voters approved in November 2006. Austin Energy has thrown another $1 million into the project, which has four guys currently ripping out temporary insulation on Stage 5. It and Stage 1 are slated to be the flagships for the studios, once soundproofing and air-conditioning are in place come December, says Rebecca Campbell, executive director of the Austin Film Society, which operates Austin Studios. The other sound stages will get sprinklers, digital infrastructure, and security upgrades. "We finally get to pull the trigger," Campbell says. "Now if we can [increase state] incentives, we'll be rocking and rolling again."

 

Austin the best place
1/31/08
By Joe O'Connell

... MovieMaker magazine has proclaimed Austin the best place to "live, work and make movies," ...MovieMaker ranked Austin No. 1 for the first time since 2004, citing statewide cooperation that resulted in the new film-incentives program, a strong crew base, great film-education opportunities, hot film festivals, and plain old enthusiasm. ...
 

Don't give money up-front to agents, casting directors
Oct. 3, 2007
By Dr. Diane Howard

Always be careful in working with talent and casting agencies. Don't give money or credit card numbers up-front. Do not pay to meet, read, or audition.  If you  believe that you have been the victim of a scam, you can file a complaint online with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov/.  The State Attorney General should also be notified. Mastercard has free information on Scams and Flim-Flams at 1-800-999-5156. A watchdog group at www.fraud.org/internet/intset.htm also keeps track of several illegal money-making schemes.

The Better Business Bureau
advises caution when dealing with talent/modeling agencies. See  http://www.license.state.tx.us/databases.htm for Legitimate, Licensed Talent Agencies in TX.  Also see www.DoNotPay.org. See http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/model.htm  for information on modeling and talent scams. To search for the license of a Texas Talent &/or Modeling Agency, see http://www.license.state.tx.us/LicenseSearch/.

From Dan Eggleston, Austin, TX- ...Please remind everyone that it is ILLEGAL to charge someone for audition information or to obtain a booking...Companies like this one will tell you that they are charging you for your "web presence."  Don't fall for this!!! 

From Ken Farmer's PAG Notes, 2/07- ...When you go in for an audition, there is usually a slot on the sign-in sheet asking for your social security number. Do not, I repeat, do not, that's NOT, N-O-T, write down your social security number on that sheet!!!  By law, only your employer or a governmental agency has the right to see your SS# and you aren't hired yet... Warning from Dan Eggleston- If you come across something like this, the odds are likely 100% that it's a scam. Here's their "pitch." You will have instant access to amazing casting calls with parts that are right for you - parts you can apply to right away so you can get started immediately. You will get your own unique Talent Profile, including photo, so I can find parts that are right for you, and others can spot your star potential. You will be eligible to participate in our Superstar Talent Search, where you can win incredible prizes like a personal consultation with a Casting Director. You can access this all on the Web any time you like or you can even choose to have parts sent to you! If you are ready to be discovered, there is simply no easier way to get started. And it is absolutely free. A credit card is required to ascertain your interest, and will never be charged unless you choose to continue the service beyond the Absolutely Free period. You have my Iron-Clad 100% Guarantee. As your virtual casting agent, I am in a fantastic position to help you launch a career in show business. What's better, I can do it right now, Absolutely Free, if you respond immediately by accepting my invitation here. 10/03/07.

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.



Marks of effective team players
June 1, 2007
By
Dr. Diane Howard

As we are celebrating new incentives and progress for Texas talent and moving toward higher professional standards, I hope that those of us in performance industries and organizations will continue to work at being positive, constructive professionals, partners, and collaborators.

Effective team players inspire and facilitate others to productively, use interpersonal, intrapersonal, and public relational skills that include professional communication, which is positive, constructive, and respectful. They empathize, "listen," and look for common ground. They communicate verbally and nonverbally in positive and constructive ways that inspire, facilitate, and support others to produce maximum, positive collaborations, community, and results.  

Effective team members value others. They guide and promote high standards and expectations in contexts of praise, encouragement, and mutual respect.  As role models, they lead by example. They guide by their lives and words. They are calm and enthusiastic.  They are intense but not tense, passionate but not impulsive. They are expressive and articulate but not rudely blunt. They correct with patience and gentleness.  They facilitate functional people and relationships. They know that healthy people, relationships, teams, and community produce the most positive products.

 See http://www.dianehoward.com/Dr_Howard_Guidelines_Effective_Leadership_Communication_Onsite_Distance.htm,
and
http://www.dianehoward.com/Dr_Howard_Guidelines_Effective_Interpersonal_Communication.htm .

See Dr. Diane Howard's other recent film reviews, recommendations and publications.


Texas Motion Picture Association, TXMPA.org 

Film Industry Resources

Texas Resources for Employment in Arts and Entertainment Industries

Professional Performance Network

Film Austin

Joe O'Connell's Blog



Note to actors about ethics, casting
July 4, 2006
 by Donald Iarussi

 
*A note to actors about casting directors, intensives, auditions and audition workshops...*Acting, ethics and proper etiquette of casting directors... I am in Austin, Texas… here… some casting agents local and some who come to town…audition those who come to their casting workshops and intensives. I have talked to many NYC Agents and L.A. agents who believe as I do, that intensives are a … waste of money. If any agent requires you to take their workshop or audition intensive or workshop in order to audition for them…They are being unethical. Please subscribe to magazines like http://www.backstage.com either in paper or on line. Read the articles and learn what you should and should not be doing.

If a casting agent will only see you if you take their class. They are being unethical and practicing a form of payola. If you know of casting directors that will not see you unless you take their workshop or intensive…Report them to the producers who she works for on projects… The TV Network executive, AFTRA Actors Equity and most importantly to SAG, The Screen Actors Guild. http://www.sag.org

…some casting agents are charging fees to actors that want to be in their office casting files. The sales pitch is that, if you are in the files, you stand a better chance of being called in for auditions. The truth is that the casting files themselves are a revenue stream for the casting agents and have not much to do with casting. Anyway, the practice of charging file fees is illegal and, sooner or later, it will be challenged in court.

Staff attorneys for the California State Labor Commission say that, when actors pay to be in a casting agent's photo file, he is in effect asking the casting agent to function like a talent agent. The hope is that the casting agent will go out into the world and find acting roles for the actor to audition for. That's what agents do, and according to both of the legal opinions I have read, this practice makes fee-charging casting agents de facto talent agents and puts them under the arm of the law. In California, it is illegal for agents to charge up front fees to actors. In other words, even if a casting agent is calling himself a casting director, he may be functioning like a talent agent if he is charging file fees. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.....

My strong advice to new actors is that your primary short-term goal be to build a resume, get some decent training and gain experience. Secondarily, get an agent. If you are having trouble getting an agent, then you need to re-double your efforts, perhaps change your appearance and market yourself differently. Whatever you do, it is not a viable career strategy to stop pursuing agents on the premise that you can cozy up to casting directors who will have you in on auditions anyway. They may lead you to believe that this strategy might work, but it won't. The business does not work like that. The casting directors will take your money to be in their files and will still call talent agents when money-paying acting work is up for grabs.

When pursuing agents, put yourself in the agent's shoes and ask yourself how you would make money on yourself if you walked in the door, picture in hand. Make certain that you are marketing yourself type-wise. Remember that most agents make their money from commercials, so the best thing you can do is fit into a commercial category. Watch TV shows that are aimed at your demographic age….Watch the commercials. Those actors are your competition. Note how they dress, their energy, the way they are presenting themselves. Then do the same. When you get your photos taken, try to fit into a viable commercial category so that agents know what to do with you.

 

Casting Texas as Hollywood, Perry signs film incentives
June 7, 2007
By W. Gardner Selby 

Scene: GOP Gov. Rick Perry stands on the shady shore of pristine Lake Bastrop, a pine bough dangling over his head. He happily signs a measure authorizing grants to companies making movies, TV shows and finishing similar projects in Texas. Many applaud. CUT! ...Perry was joined by actor and sometimes-Texas resident Dennis Quaid, Democratic state Reps. Dawnna Dukes of Austin and Joe Pickett of El Paso... The event had a hooray-for-Texas/Hollywood quality, with everyone expressing hopes the approved film incentives — tallying $20 million up front that could be awarded to productions spending considerable money on projects in Texas — will foster creative results.

The big twist, proponents said, is authorization in the state budget for the Texas Film Commission to ask for more money from state leaders — in the form of the Legislative Budget Board — so long as it can show the additional funds will go to producers that have already poured plenty of money into working in Texas; essentially that could make the incentive fund unlimited.

“I hope one day Texas will be the creative capital of the world,” Perry said. For now, he added, he’ll settle for recapturing film and TV business lost lately to Louisiana. Dukes, noting estimates that Texas has lost hundreds of millions of dollars of productions to states offering tax credits to producers, said: “The days of missed opportunities are finally over.”

Perry played down the significance of lingo in the law stating Texas “may deny an application because of inappropriate content or content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion. There’s been a lot of misplaced concern about the provision,” Perry said....  Don’t look for Ozzy Osbourne prancing around the Alamo, but otherwise, it’s going to be lights, camera, action — many green lights. Quaid’s punch line: “I’m moving here in two and a half years. And I would like this to be the new Hollywood.”
 

 To supporters and members of TXMPA
May 28, 2007
By Hector Garcia
Texas Motion Picture Alliance, President

It was a late night photo-finish-to-the-end in the Capitol, but the Appropriations Bill passed with the $22 million in funding for the film incentive grants. On Monday afternoon, May 28, 2007, the Speaker of the  House and the Lt. Governor signed the bill. The last step is to have the Governor sign the bill. We do not anticipate a veto from the Governor. He has been very supportive of this initiative. We have a program and the money! Thank you all very much for all your efforts. Together we accomplished the nearly impossible task of creating legislation in Texas. Our grass roots organizing and the wise counsel from HillCo Partners, our lobbying firm, have produced an incentive program to keep Texans working in our industry. Please give yourselves a standing ovation.


...There is still lot of work to be done between now and the next legislative session in January, 2009.  TXMPA will assist in marketing the new program and we need to monitor the results of these grants. We need to pursue an Economic Impact Study and examine other incentives to consider. We have become THE voice for the industry in Texas at the Capitol.

We will continue to keep you posted through our Web site (http://www.txmpa.org/) and we will continue to fight for you, the members of the industry in Texas. And yes, we still need donations. Please consider making one today through our Web site  (http://www.txmpa.org/) or by mail (P.O. Box 40339, Austin, TX 78704)...
 

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