Austin is well known for the South By Southwest Music and Media Conference and Festival each spring and the Austin City Limits Music Festival each fall. But music isn't the only thing putting Austin on the map. Austin also hosts the Texas Book Festival and the Austin Film Festival and Conference every year.

Started in 1994, the Austin Film Festival is all about the creative process of screenwriting and film making. The annual film festival and conference held in October highlights local organizations and businesses that work in all elements of the film industry.

This year's festival features films starring actors like George Clooney and Meg Ryan. The conference and festival bring many big names from the film industry to Austin, but the event stays true the capital city's laid back feeling. There are no red carpets and little paparazzi at the eight day event.

The conference itself offers panels, lectures and roundtable discussion on all aspects of the film and screenwriting industry, and encourages budding film writers to take part. The festival is a series of screening of all types of films: shorts, documentaries, animation, independent and premieres. Unknowns in the film industry rub elbows with the bigwigs and many have had their work move into prominence due to this film festival.

The film festival is also a series of parties with different themes at many different downtown venues. Austin restaurants, bars, shops and hotels benefit from the festival patrons. The awards at this year's festival will go to industry greats like Ron Howard.

The Texas Book Festival, also going on this October in Austin, was started in 1995 by Laura Bush. The former first lady has always been a literacy advocate and started the ball rolling on the Texas festival to honor Texas writers and promote the love of reading.

The two-day event has the unique venue of the Texas State Capital buildings and grounds. Hopefully, the weather gods will smile down on Austin with more blue skies and sunny fall weather in the forecast for the last weekend in October. Nearly 50,000 people will fill the marbled halls and hallowed chambers of the state house to listen to lectures and panels. Other downtown venues also get involved, like the historical Paramount Theater and the Austin Children's Museum hosting special events for children's authors.

The festival not only celebrates literature, but also addresses some of the issues faced by the book industry. One of this year's lectures, "Are Books Dead?," addresses the future of books and the changing ways we will read them. This year will feature over 200 authors, like Margaret Atwood, Jane Smiley, Harold Evans, Gail Collins and Buzz Aldrin. The festival is free and open to the public, with lots of opportunites for book signings.

SXSW and ACL might bring the national camera crews and the big names in music, but they aren't the only festivals promoting the arts in this unique capital city.


Ki works, and lives, in Austin Texas. His website has thorough descriptions of Austin Texas real estate. It also has a map based search of the Austin MLS along with a blog covering news and events in Austin real estate.

Director Mike Judge, along with many of the cast members, descended on Austin this weekend for the 10th Anniversary showing of their cult-classic late nineties workplace comedy, "Office Space" Austin's own historic Paramount Theater played host to the movie mogul and his cast members including just about everyone except Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston. Fans lined up well in advance of the 8:00 p.m. curtain time, and the excitement was palpable.

For many, "Office Space" has become a classic the highly quotable script and oddball characters earned roars of laughter throughout the showing, as whole lines of the film were drowned out by the laughter and enthusiasm of the hundreds of fans in attendance.

John C. McGinley, perhaps best known for his long-running role as Dr. Cox on "Scrubs" was one of the many cast members in attendance. McGinley expressed amazement and appreciation for the warm reception of fans, admitting he hadn't seen the film in its entirety since the original screening he attended back when it debuted in 1999. Director Mike Judge quipped that the screaming masses in the Paramount Theater on Sunday night rivaled the film's entire opening weekend attendance.

For a film that was all but a box office failure, "Office Space" has garnered a devoted cult following in the decade since its release. A champion of the disenfranchised, disinterested world of young professionals, the relevance and occupational indifference at the heart of the film ring truer today than even a decade ago. One moviegoer asked Mike Judge, during the question and answer portion of the event, following the film, "What is your message for the young people just entering the job market?" Muffled laughter followed, as did a shouted response from somewhere in the audience: "Don't do it!"

Judge himself admitted he began his professional career in an environment similar to the one he created so humorously in the film's fictional software company, Initech. With a degree in physics, Judge found himself in a professional role most closely mirrored by that of the film's mumbling hero, Milton Waddams (interestingly enough, this character was also the focus of his first animated short). When asked how he transitioned from physics to the film industry, Judge shrugged and responded that he did some animations and sent them out, and the rest was history.

Coordinated in conjunction with Austin's own Fantastic Fest, the event was a huge success. While tickets were first made available only to Fantastic Fest and SXSW ticket holders, ticket sales were subsequently opened to the public, and sold out faster than you could say Swingline. Special VIP tickets were also available, which included entrance to an after party featuring movie themed appetizers like pizza shooters, shrimp poppers and extreme fajitas, complimentary pieces of flare, and even a red Swingline stapler an extra special addition, as the now-infamous red staplers were manufactured exclusively for the film, and never sold commercially. With SXSW fast approaching, more not-to-be-missed events are in the works at the Paramount and throughout Austin.


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For a long time, Austin has been considered the “Third Coast” in the film industry, with more filmmakers on the rise in Austin, and more Hollywood types coming to Austin to shoot their movies. One of the biggest proponents of the up and coming filmmakers is UT’s Radio-Television-Film department. Though the film courses are a challenge to get into, with many vying for a slot and low numbers of students per class, many consider the red tape worth it, as UT has become a highly regarded film school, comparable to UCLA or NYU. Though UT’s film school is on the rise, Austin is still not the heart of the movie industry, but some graduate students have taken it upon themselves to get UT’s student films in from of Hollywood big shots, and created their own film festival called CinemaTexas. The award winners of the UT student film festival, with help from prominent UT alumni, get their movies screened before the Director’s Guild in Los Angeles, solidifying CinemaTexas as a true festival. In 2003, the University of Texas Film Institute (UTFI) was set up. Not only does it help students keep up with the newest film technologies, but it is also partnered with Burnt Orange Productions, allowing students to participate directly on feature length big budget independent films. Some local budding filmmakers looking to gain some skills, but not deal with UT’s bureaucracy find themselves enrolling at Austin FilmWorks. Their 14 week-long course is taught by former UT professor, Steve Mims. When Robert Rodriguez couldn’t get into UT’s film school due to a low GPA, he turned to Mims’ classes for insight, and considers him a crucial influence on his filmmaking skills. In the mid 1980s, local filmmaker and creator of cult hit Slacker Richard Linklater, helped create the Austin Film Society as a non-profit educational organization. Though the organization began strictly as a film appreciation group, today the Austin Film Society holds their own filmmaking camps for Austin’s youth, has discussion panels with experts in different aspects of moviemaking, and offers an internship program. In 1999, Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, and other movie making heavy hitters approached the Austin City council explaining that Austin was becoming a moviemaking hotbed which could lead to several million dollars for the city. Linklater and Rodriguez went on to point out that office and studio space was hard to come by, due to Austin’s constant popularity and the tech boom of the time. In November of 2000, the Austin Film Society leased the old Robert Mueller airport from the city for a mere 100 dollars a year, and has turned the old hangars into official sound stages called Austin Studios. Sandra Bullock was the first to bring Hollywood to town with her Warner Brothers movie “Miss Congeniality” which used two stages for 5 months. Since then, several feature length movies have been shot at the studios, as well as documentaries, television commercials, music videos, and photo shoots. With over 100,000 square feet of production space, and a tolerance for productions at any budget level, the Austin Studios have become popular among multimillion dollar blockbusters and local low budget creations alike. With the variety of filmmaking options to local Austinites, and the amount of high end productions coming into town, the possibility of becoming a filmmaker, or running into a Hollywood movie star, are ever increasing. Ki is a real estate agent in Austin. His site has a free search of the Austin MLS along with background information on Austin real estate and downtown Austin condos

Everywhere you look in Austin it seems there is filming going on. From huge blockbuster movies like The Alamo and Miss Congeniality to network television series like Friday Night Lights, Austin has become a favorite location for directors and producers nationwide to create some of our favorite movies and television shows. Studios have fallen in love with Austin because of our abundance of talented actors and crew as well as the price of doing business in our town which is substantially more affordable than much larger places such as New York or Los Angeles. Every production requires and enormous amount of support from the local community and whether you are an experienced camera operator or have never stepped foot on a movie set, there are ways that anyone can be involved. Perhaps the easiest way to experience the bright lights and fast action of film production is to become an extra. The shooting schedules of film projects vary greatly and may last from a couple of days to several weeks. You should begin by researching the calls for extras on the internet. Two great resources for current listings are on www.craigslist..com. While most extras are paid for their time on set, you will need to study the listings carefully to determine if the shoot coincides with your schedule and income demands. After selecting the call for which you would like to apply, you should immediately send a headshot and a resume to the casting director as these positions tend to fill up rather quickly. You should not worry about having a ton of professional acting experience as most projects fill their speaking roles with actors who are represented by local agencies. In most cases, projects are looking for extras from a wide range of backgrounds to give them as diverse a casting pool as possible. You should also make sure that you are free of any work responsibilities on the day of the shoot. These days tend to be very long and your schedule should be completely free. On larger film projects, you may be asked to attend an interview day. This step is often not required on projects with a shorter time commitment or shooting schedule. When you arrive you can expect to spend around fifteen minutes interviewing with the casting director. At this time, they may also want to take a few photos of you to include in their records. Once you are selected for a role as an extra you should expect to act as you would in any professional working situation. Make sure that you show up a few minutes early and are prepared with any items or changes of clothes that your casting director may have asked you to bring along. You should be kind and gracious to everyone you meet and prepared to spend a large portion waiting around for your time to be called. You should never wander around the set or do anything that could interfere with the production. You should also not approach the actors with requests of autographs or photos. You are a working professional and should act accordingly. Working as an extra may be one of the most rewarding adventures of your life. You will become a part of the great artistic community that makes Austin so unique and get to experience the inner workings of a film or television production. It’s a great experience and not as hard as you may think. So what are you waiting for? Here is your chance to be on the big screen. Ki is a realtor in Austin that helps people search for Austin homes. He provides insight on the Austin market on his real estate blog. He also has a search on his Austin tx MLS search

Not many new businesses open their doors and become an immediate Austin success, but the Alamo Drafthouse is an exception to the rule. In 1997, Tim and Karrie League opened the Alamo Drafthouse in a downtown Austin warehouse building that was being used as a parking garage, playing mostly second run movies. Their twist to the movie-going experience was to offer food and drinks brought to the viewers by black-clad servers.

The Alamo Drafthouse caught on quickly, and soon changed their programming to include creative lineups of movies and complimentary cuisine, such as Spaghetti Westerns with Spaghetti Feasts, drawing Austinites looking for a dinner and movie experience out of the norm.

In 2001, the Leagues purchased and renovated a 4 screen art house theater on Anderson Lane, and the Alamo Drafthouse Village was born. The Village location provided first run movies, which freed up the original Drafthouse to concentrate on unique programming 100% of the time. It's this programming that has transformed the Alamo into one of the most innovative movie theaters in the country.

Along with pairing food and movies together, the Alamo Drafthouse hosts Sing-A-Longs to packed Musical-loving houses, and Quote-A-Longs that serve up quote-worthy movies, such as Blazing Saddles. Every Wednesday at midnight, the Alamo provides a bizarre gem completely free, pleasing the broke college crowd who can be entertained while enjoying a couple beers for a small amount of money. Possibly the most popular event held at the original Alamo location was Mr. Sinus Theater, Austin's own take on the popular Mystery Science Theater 3000 television show, with live comedians poking fun at poorly made films, and popular classics alike. Though Mr. Sinus has gone by the wayside, a faction of the original comedy troupe has formed Master Pancake Theater with a similar theme.

The Alamo Drafthouse also builds a sense of community with their patrons by letting them actually partake in the fun and creativity. Putting their own twist on the Karaoke craze, the Alamo created "Movieoke" letting fans choose clips from their favorite movies to "perform" live up on stage, with the movie playing behind. They also host a "Make a Movie in 48 Hours" challenge for budding filmmakers to show what they can do in a limited amount of time, with the winner chosen by a panel of celebrity filmmakers. The Alamo Drafthouse is also home of the Air Guitar Championships for those with the best air guitar chops in the land.

Stepping outside of the box a little further, the Leagues purchased a giant inflatable movie screen for film screenings in remote locations. Deemed the Rolling Roadshow, moviegoers could paddle a canoe down a river, and eat dinner on its banks while watching Deliverance, or spend the day at Camp Hack-n-Slash before watching horror camp movies all night long. This past summer, the Rolling Roadshow headed across America screening famous movies in famous places, like North By Northwest at Mount Rushmore.

In 2004, Tim and Karrie League sold the company, the intellectual rights, and brand to Terrell Braly and John Martin. The new owners of the Drafthouse are expanding the theaters, with an eventual goal of 200 nationwide. The Leagues did retain the rights to the original Drafthouse, the Village, and the South Lamar location that opened in 2005. With skyrocketing costs in the warehouse district, the Leagues recently renovated the 1929 Ritz Theater on 6th Street, and it serves as the new heart for the Alamo Drafthouse. It opened November 2nd, with the Leagues coming full force, screening a Triple Feature of Attack of the Mushroom People, including a Mushroom Feast, a sneak peek of the Coen brothers newest release, No Country for Old Men, and Quentin Tarantino flying in for a Terror Thursday screening of War of the Gargantuas.

The Austin Real Estate Market has numerous submarkets. Ki is an experienced real estate agent that helps potential home buyers. His site has a free search of the Austin MLS along with a information on neighborhoods like the Crestview Neighborhood