Reel Austin by LASA Ezine

July 2014 edition First Issue

AUSTIN TEXAS

Is the new Hollywood

AUSTIN

THE AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL WITH SAMANTHA LEVINE

PG. 24

EDITING WITH TED POWERS

PG. 12

LUCY IN DISGUISE WITH FERNIE RENTERIA

PG. 9

INSIDE THE LIFE OF A TEXAS ACTOR WITH RUDI LEE

PG. 18

REEL AUSTIN TABLE OF CONTENTS

E G PA 8 1 Photos by Beverly Guhl

RUDI LEE

Get the inside look on actor Rudi Lee’s life. We will lean about her life and career as an actor in Austin Texas. Stay Tuned!

THE INSIDE SCOOP ON THE

P.4 Letter from the Editors P.8 Lucy in Disguise P.12 Editing Austin with Ted Powers P.18 Inside the life of Actor Rudi Lee P.24 Behind the Scenes of The Austin Film Society

EDITORS

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MONTHY MAG NOW FOR A CHANCE TO BE ON THE COVER OF REEL AUSTIN! SEND IN A PIC OF YOU AND A PARAGRAPH ABOUT YOURSLEF TO WWW.REELAUSTINPAGEMODEL.COM FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!

THE CAST AND CREW GABY

ERICK

Gabriela Fagelman not only watches and loves films but she stars in them. Fagelman is an up and coming actress in such films as Credo. by Pedro Degante and also plays the role of a moody teenager with a “Totally Credits to Athena Luna Over It” attitude on the new hit web series Mr.Ginger. She has always been a movie maniac and some of her best memories as a child were spending movie night with her family, watching the Lord of the Rings series. Fagelman hopes to bring her knowledge and passion of acting and funnel it into Reel Austin to create a refreshing experience for you, the readers.

Erick Medina born and raised in Austin Tx, a person that spends all his time on a computer looking at the inside world of the crazy internet. Watching Netflix with a bag of crispy chips by his side, because Credits to Gaby Fagelman Erick’s favorite place is by the TV. Trying to watch a full season of a tv show in one full night non-stop, while he ignores everything around him.He is the finest person you will ever meet, always trying to keep laughing with his lovely crew of magazine editors. At the same time talking about our favorite anime shows, movie actors and about the new web tv show Mr.Ginger.

OLIVER

ATHENA

Oliver Powers was born in Austin Texas where he has lived his whole life. He’s loved movies since he was little and was only allowed to watch “The Land Before Time.” He spends most of his time watching Credits to Gaby Fagelman pointless YouTube videos and sitting on the couch watching Netflix. His favorite movie is Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat.” When he’s not being lazy and sitting around his house you can find him at LASA high school or at Ramsey Park. He likes to spend time playing frisbee with friends and watching “The Office” online.

Athena Luna a huge nerd when it comes to TV and movies like Doctor Who, Supernatural, Sherlock, and Star Wars. Anime is something she watches at least once a day along with Youtubers like Danisnotonfire and Tyler Credits to Gaby Fagelman Oakley. She is a beginner in cosplay but still loves it, when she’s thinking about buying a costume or getting advice on how to make them she goes to Lucy’s or at least she ask Fernie. She spends the weekend gaming with her friends over skype or writing.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Growing up in Austin itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no surprise that we have all fallen in love with local film. Austin is a great place for people who love to create, and we are no exception to that, although we prefer creating at the last minute in a panicked frenzy of flying fingers and clicking keys. The last few weeks weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been working tirelessly to put this magazine out on time, while at the same time having pointlessly heated conversations about completely irrelevant topics like how wonderful England is or wether or not ghosts are real. Getting up at 6:30 Monday through Thursday during our summer has been just about everything except for fun, but we pushed through in order to give you what we believe is a grade-a magazine. Right now, as I am writing this, we are putting the final touches on our masterpiece that we are sure you will enjoy reading as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Many sleepless afternoons that would have been spent doing nothing, have been devoted to you, the reader. We have grown together as we worked in close quarters to one another to put out a magazine that we genuinly hope that you enjoy. Thank you for reading and providing your support.

REEL AUSTIN

LUCY IN DISGUISE WITH DIAMONDS With Fernie Renteria By: Athena Luna

Photo Courtesy of Haimanti Weld

hen you walk into Lucy in Disguise you have a overwhelming feeling; it has a weird atmosphere, with jewelry, wigs and costumes everywhere. They’re odd colors and patterns splattered everywhere throughout the shop, it makes the shop pop out. Fernie Renteria has worked there for nine years and nothings weird anymore and some weird things have happened. The store is always buzzing with customers, and you’ll see the workers running around helping customers find certain things. Austins motto is to “Keep Austin weird” and Lucy in Disguise is pretty weird and it hasn’t changed in the last 30 years. They’ve had their rough patches but they always bounce right back. They are known for being odd with not only the colors and patterns of the store but their employees are pretty random as well. Renteria one of the managers is a hard worker. At the shop he’s always running around helping customers checking in shipments, he’s always working to make the shop a great place. Renteria has met and some of his favorite actors and musicians while working here and its because this shop is so amazing. It’s a great store because he and his staff work every day to make sure every customer is happy and that the shop stays the same.

Lucy in Disguise is really known by it store front, it’s so colorful and it stands out on South Congress. The storefront wasn’t always like this though, a few years back the owner decided to change it and the neighborhood was not happy. They didn’t like them changing a Austin icon; it took time but people started to warm up to it.

“The average day of running Lucy in Disguise is never average I think, that’s the best way to describe it.” The shop is always busy and something weird happens at least once a day. When working at Lucy’s you are always helping people find costumes and jewelry, or doing paperwork. And you have to except some weird request every now and then. “Its kind of a daily thing but if I were someone else what would I consider weird, natural disasters.” Fernie said. “I had someone come in and say they wanted to be the great San Francisco fire and then someone else wanted to be a hurricane and some else wanted to be a tornado, those are a little challenging

I mean we can do Sharknado but I can’t really do a regular tornado.” When it comes to costumes, Lucy in Disguise has them all, even if they don’t they’ll help you make them. They have a huge variety of costumes; from what you can buy at Target to period accurate wear. “We have about I’m going to say forty thousand pieces of costuming on the floor right now” They rent and sell costumes; they have a full suit of armor they sell at $2500. They caring anything you can think of. When it comes to why people love Lucy’s there are tons of reasons one is because

REEL AUSTIN

they’ve always stayed the same. “I think people love Lucy’s because its been around 30 years and its an Austin staple and there’s nothing quite like it.” They are one of the reasons Austin stays weird; the shop has been the same for the last 30 years and it will for many years. People love the shop so much when their family comes in from out of town they come and show them the shop. The store is a big part of Austin, it takes you from your stress and lets you dress up as your favorite character, it makes sense wanting to show people the store. Every year during October the staff has a themed dress day every day and he always has a horror type costume. He loves horror, and he’s loved it ever since he was little. He also really likes steampunk, but his all time favorite is horror. “My favorite is when I created a splicer character from the Bioshock game series and it was this 1920s formal wear but with a bunny mask and splattered with blood and grease and that was my favorite and that got a lot of attention.” After that lots of people asked him to put it together for him because most people do not make Bioshock costumes. Renteria while working here has met some great actors and he even gets starstruck by a few. They usually just look around and talk about what they want to be for Halloween. He’s helped Sean Lennon pick out jewelry for Yoko Ono.Its pretty amazing that working here has let him do this. But his favorite is when Claire Danes came in he had a big crush on her, in the end he hid in his office while she shopped. “When she came in I became this giddy little school boy who couldn’t talk, all flustered looking at the ground, kicking my feet” Crazy stories aren’t hard to come by while working here but a bit hard to

6 REEL AUSTIN

Photo courtesy of Haimanti Weld

This wall of mask can be found in the far right of the store, the wall has many well known faces like chucky and Iron man. People love the mask and why wouldn’t they, when it’s full of so many frightening characters. The part of the store is also where they sell all the wigs and props for certain costumes.

remember if one happens every day but they are hard to remember. There is the usual kids peeing there pants because they’re so scared of a costume or having to chase a shoplifter out of the store but all this and the weird customers and weird orders are a normal thing to Fernie. He meets celebrities and it doesn’t make him as excited as it makes a regular person and its because he deals with it so often it becomes just another normal day at the office. Though it wasn’t always like this it did take him sometime for it to become normal, it took three years, “It took doing the same thing every day for about three years, it definitely started to become more regular, more yeah this is what I do this is my life.”

comes in looking around and picking out mask with his parents”

The employees in general love to get to know the customer and Renteria’s favorite is this teenage boy who’s been coming into the shop for years. “He’s fantastic I love this kid and he just

Renteria has been working here for nine years. The way he started working here wasnt exactly a interview or applying, he was working at Hot Topic when his friend back then asked him for help.

The shop gets a lot of film people at least once a week; they can be film students or film studios. Troublemaker studios has been in a to the shop for costumes, they get people who are making music videos. Lots of different people come into the shop for costumes. They have theatre’s from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio; they also have churches, daycares, and schools come for they’re costume selection. “Pretty much anything you can think of come to us for costumes” Colleges have parties almost every weekend and they get their costumes and wigs from Lucy’s.

You see Lucy’s was suffering from some bad customer service, so his friend asked him if he could help with interview questions and things like that. “The owner asked if I would come work with Rio and help kind of clean up the associate performance.” And ever since he’s been doing his best at making sure that the customers happy. There are a lot of benefits from working at Lucy in Disguise; there are the obvious ones like being able to have a huge collection of costumes. One other one is networking possibilities, meeting people who are important in Austin and in the US. “A job that I genuinely love and get paid to do, it’s a rare thing,” Fernie said. “But yeah I would say that, that’s the biggest benefit.” He got to be part of a member based society in Austin because of his job and the people he meets while at it. Request come in all the time. There are of course weird request like bananas or natural disasters come in; but as you know fernie loves his horror but he does like another genre as well. “Favorite request is when people need help with superhero or horror costumes since those are the genres I’m most comfortable with,” Fernie said. “Or even asking how the store is laid out since I love showing people around and giving a tour.” People must often ask for a tour of the huge store, or even need help finding something because the place is kind of a maze. “My favorite part of the day is opening the store by myself,” Fernie said. “It’s dark and quiet and I’m alone and it gives me time to plan out my day but also it has this eerie vibe about it. The days can be quiet and slow but other days it can be hectic and everyone’s running around trying to help customers, so peace and quiet

Photos courtesy of Haimanti Weld and Illyanaboc

At Lucy’s they have a wall dedicated to just jewelry of all different styles and colors. They have rings, necklaces and so many earrings , and they all are a reasonable price.

The costumes literally line the walls, this is only a small section of the costumes. They have so many costumes they really do stick out from their places on the walls. This is the side of the store where you can find lots of different types of tutu.

before the day begins is always helpful. And planning out your day must be useful when anything could happen, a celebrity could walk in, someone could try to shoplift or you could have a horse problem. And a major horror fan must love the feeling of a dark eerie place. Lucy in Disguise is a big part of Austin, it is such a big place and it has so much to offer. Fernie has been there nine years, he always puts the customer first and tries to make sure the store is always running smoothly. A major horror fan, who get’s to work with a great staff and customers he loves. “Its the best job I ever had.”

REEL AUSTIN

The Diffrence between Costumes and Cosplay

Costumes

Cosplay

The definition of Costumes is clothes that are trying to look like someone else or something.

Cosplay is the act of dressing up as a character especially from Japanese Anime or Manga.

When people wear costumes they usually wear them to parties and on Halloween.

When people cosplay the costumes are usually made by the cosplayers.

Most of the time people buy or rent their costumes, some do make their own but most do not.

Cosplayers usually wear cosplay at conventions, like IkkiCon or Comic Con.

People dress up as a character and still act like themselves, not like the character.

Cosplay isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just wearing the costume, cosplayers usually role play the character theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re costume is portraying.

8 REEL AUSTIN

ZACH THEATER

2014-2015 SEASON IN ZACH’s

TOPFER THEATER

THE KING AND L September 17-October 18, 2014

A CHRISTMAS CAROL A Rockin’ New Musical November 26-December 28, 2015

PETER and the STAR CATCHER January 28-March 1, 2015

ON GRACE May 27-June 21, 2015

SOPHISTICATED LADIES July 15-August 23, 2015

REEL AUSTIN 9

EDITING AUSTIN WITH TED POWERS BY OLIVER POWERS

ed Powers sits in front of his computer monitor, hunched over the keyboard, cutting together fragments of a brand new TV show. The machines give off an incredible heat, slowing themselves down and making everyone in the room drip with sweat. Powers has been working his entire life to make it to the point he’s at now. He’s done odd jobs like delivering pizza and working at a record store so that he could fund more adventurous endeavours like trying to make it as a full time video editor with the ultimate goal of eventually making a full length feature film from beginning to end. “The best school is you just doing work and going out and finding stuff to do and it’s not necessarily a bunch

of people telling you all these theories and ways to do stuff,” Powers said. “Sure there are great tips and pointers and people out there but just doing it, hands on experience is the best teacher in as far as the way multimedia stuff works now.” When Powers was a kid he would play with his mom’s VCR. Since then he’s graduated to more advanced ways of editing footage. Without formal film school he’s been hard at work to get a job for a production company called Bat Bridge Entertainment. There he works as an assistant editor. “I basically log footage,” Powers said. “I sync stuff which means I put the video and audio which are recorded separately together.” As assistant editor no day is the same. Sometimes

days are stressful and technology doesn’t work, other times everything runs exactly the way you want it to. “We’re running into issues because in the afternoon the room where we’re all editing gets so freaking hot because it also has all the servers in it and that can slow down the machines,” Powers said. “We’re dealing with all sorts of issues and once you get into the actual the editing side of it you don’t think about it sometimes so you’re left dealing with it in the moment and having to come up with solutions on the fly.” On any given day a different project might come up. From syncing to cutting, it’s never the same. “I put together selects, put together character reels. Selects are basically the best

Someone editing old school film in a old editing facility Photo Courtesy of filmingman

REEL AUSTIN

little snippets or characters or parts of the show,” Powers said. Freelance editing is a gamble. It’s a game of chance and knowing the right people. That’s why Powers is still pursuing other options outside of Bat Bridge. “It’s always something that’s in the back of my mind. Like what if work just dries up here and I’m left hustling to find my next job and I’m back working at

THE BEST SCHOOL IS YOU JUST DOING WORK AND GOING OUT AND FINDING STUFF TO DO...

the record store,” Powers said. Everything has an upside and a downside. According to Powers the same is true for the production process. No part is harder than another. “I think they all have their own problems and difficulties that you have to deal with in the moment but I don’t really think one outweighs the other because each thing is individual unto itself,” said Powers.

Photo of Austin at night from the other side of Town Lake Photo Courtesy of Dave Wilson

REEL AUSTIN

Powers first started using editing software when he was in high school. He’s always had an interest in story telling and film. “(My) dad has always been a really good story teller,” Powers said. “I enjoy the act of people telling stories and listening to stories.” While many people can’t see themselves very far down the line Powers spoke on what he sa himself doing in the future.

“I’d like to have written and possibly directed and edited a feature film I don’t know if it has major release but you don’t really need major release anymore,” Powers said. For the majority of people an idea like this may be a pipe dream but for a man as capable and hard working as Ted Powers it should be no problem.

Photo of the South Congress Bridge as people wait for the bats. Photo courtesy of Rober Brainz

REEL AUSTIN

AU S T I N B L o CK B U S TER S True Grit Spy Kids Spy Kids 3D

Miss Congeniality

Phenomenon

ADMIT ONE

$113M in Box Office Sales

ADMIT ONE

$112M in Box Office Sales

ADMIT ONE

$107M in ADMIT ONE Box Office

$171M in Box Office Sales

Sales

ADMIT ONE

$105M in Office Sales

ADMIT Box ONE

REEL AUSTIN

Summer Camp! AGES

9-18 June 9-August 1, 2014 At St. Austin Catholic School For more information, please contact our Young Filmmakers Program Director at YFPDirector@austinfilmfestival.com or 512-478-4795 REEL AUSTIN

INSIDE THE LIFE OF A TEXAS ACTOR RUDI LEE By Gabriela Fagelman

Ph oto C

ou r

tes y

of Ru d

or some people, thinking about dipping their hand in cold water for a second can make them cringe, but few could imagine standing in freezing cold river water for seven hours. In the month of May, Actor Rudi Lee’s first acting-related job was standing in the middle of the Guadalupe River in just her jeans and a T-shirt. Lee was part of the crew of a local movie and her job was to redirect the boats, canoes, kayaks and rafters, who were not involved with the film, away from the set. For Lee, who had been dreaming of being an actress on-set from the early age of three, this was just another day at work. Lee is living proof that you don’t have to live in Los Angeles or New York to get work as an actor. Austin, Texas is becoming a major hotspot for making, watching, and loving film and creative media. Lee has been in many commercials, public service announcements and even movies in and around Austin. Lee worked as an actor and crew member for a few years before she was offered a job in LA. As much as she wanted to take her career to the next level, Lee was married and had two kids so she turned down the job. Years later, after she retired from working at the University of Texas, she decided that she would start again with acting and finally do what she had always wanted to do. Lee started out doing plays at the State Theater. She then found an agent and started working locally in indie films and eventually moved up to paying jobs. Her most recent project was a commercial for Shiner White Wings Beer, which is currently airing on channels such as FX, TBS and TNT. Lee poses for one of her acting “I was the lead actor in the headshots. commercial and this commercial started out that it was going to just be shown on Hulu, but it ended up being turned into a print advertisement. It was in a Dallas paper, a Fort Worth paper, and a Houston paper. They then sold it to FX, and TBS, TNT and the Comedy Channel. People will call me up and say ‘Hey I just saw you while I was watching Castle!’ Or something like that. It’s really cool.” Lee never questioned her dream of becoming an actress. She can remember watching film and wanting to be in the business since the age of three. “I did all kinds of things when I was in elementary school, I was always the one who was on stage in all our little shows and I was one of the few kids who sang on key and so I got a lot of parts in elementary school and junior high because of that. I knew from the time I was little. I was always kind of a show off,” Lee said.

Lee is not a child anymore though. She has her own powerful views that she expresses through acting in films and portraying her thoughts with her characters. “A pretty recent project that I did was for Freedom to Marry. It’s nationwide and they’re trying to get equality for people that are LGBT so that they can get married and have insurance and all these things. I was auditioning for it and I just wanted to do it very much. Me and a friend of mine were picked to be partners in this particular little short film and we were real proud of ourselves ‘cause we were doing something that was valuable. It was like standing up for your own beliefs,” Lee said. In order to get work as an actor, it helps to have some acting classes under your belt. To keep in practice between projects, Lee drives a long way to a downtown Austin location called Alleywood Studios. Inside the building are classes taught by well-known Austin Actor, Marco Perella. Graduating from Stanford University, Perella has been a working actor for over 20 years. He has credits in movies directed by Oliver Stone, John Sayles and Clint Eastwood. You can find Lee there about one to two times a month working with Perella. “I found Marco about four-and-a-half years ago and started taking classes with him, and truthfully, I don’t think I would have been as successful If it hadn’t been for Marco because he’s taught me so much and he’s not afraid to critique me, but he does it gently. He doesn’t stand there and let you know that you’re an idiot or anything, he’s very constructive,” Lee said. Lee is very insistent on practicing her craft and thinks that Alleywood Studios is a great place hone her skills. “I think he’s the reason that I am able to practice and that’s a really good place to go. It’s kind of like playing the piano, if you don’t rehearse and practice every day then you won’t be able to do it; and so going there and working for Marco is a way for me to stretch those acting muscles,” Lee said. Lee has had participated in many film projects, but her favorite role she has ever played was in Perella’s studio. In this scene from the 1940 film “The Grapes of Wrath”, Lee played the character of Ma Joad and her co-actor, named Matt, played her son.

REEL AUSTIN

“PEOPLE ARE JUST GONNA HAVE TO LEARN THAT YOU ARE NOT GONNA ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT BUT DON’T GET DISCOURAGED. KEEP ON.” The five page scene was about the son leaving and both characters knowing that they would never see each other again. “I think all my experiences as a parent just kicked in. You know I have two kids and in the middle of this whole thing I really became her,” Lee said. “To the point of when the scene was near the end to tell each other goodbye, I was in tears and sobbing and it was so weird ‘cause Matt started crying. In the end, Matt said, ‘Darn you! You made me get so emotional.’ That particular part was so well-written and I could identify with it. It was what every actor dreams of, a role that you can relate with and really sink your teeth into,” Lee said. Getting these experiences is not ever easy. Statistics from www.bizparentz.com say that there are about 1,000 to 1,500 electronic submissions for each role. The casting director will then choose a much smaller number that ranges from 50-100 people for the first audition. Of those, only a few will get a “callback” and only one will get the job. When Lee was starting out in acting she really struggled with rejection and not thinking she was good enough. “The first few times I came away from the audition and I thought, ‘I nailed it.’; And then you never hear from them again. Or, you do the audition and you go away and think, ‘Wow I stunk and I’m disgusted with myself and I’m horrible and they’re never gonna choose me.’ And of course they don’t, and you take it personally and you’re thinking, ‘I’m no good! I’m never doing this again!’” Lee expressed that with every audition, the stress, nerves, and discouragement went away little by little. Lee began to realize that the audition was never in her full power and the only thing that she can do is give her best possible performance. “You begin to realize that when you walk in a casting director’s room, they have an outline of what they want that character to look like and to act like and you might do a fantastic job, but you’re not the vision they want. Maybe they thought you were skinnier, or taller, or you wouldn’t be gray haired, or maybe they thought you would look older on camera. You never know. So what you’ve done is given a good performance, but really in the long run it’s up to what the director’s vision is and you know you can’t be everything to everybody.” Lee said.

REEL AUSTIN

RUDI LEE

MARCO PERELLA Marco Perella is a well known Austin, Texas actor and teacher. You can find him located in a small space called Alley Wood Studios at 1902 South Congress Ave. Perella has always loved acting since he was a young boy. Perella has had speaking roles with such stars as Jon Voight, James Spader, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Costner, Amanda Root, Charlie Sheen, Roy Scheider, Dennis Quaid, and Meg Ryan. The studio was created to teach people the art of acting and how to love and respect the craft. Perella teaches classes on Thursdays and Saturdays and takes everyone in to offer tips and teach classes. One of his more famous classes to teach is his Acting Audition Workshop. “When you’re going to an audition, forget about getting the job. A big mistake actors make is going into the audition and thinking about what they’re doing and about getting the job and they forget to play the characters objectively. The character lives in his own world and is not interested in getting hired or worrying about the audition. You have to live in the character’s skin, just like when you’re in class, and let the chips fall as they may.” So many people love to act, yet they give up on their dreams. Acting is a very costly activity. Actors have to pay for headshots and classes and often do not get paid in many of indie films and first projects. From the website of headshot expert, Jessica Pettyjohn, Headshots can range between $100 and $1,500, depending on how good the photographer. The same expense applies to acting classes. There is a very large range of prices according to how well known and respected the teacher may be. Many people struggle to “make it” and pay bills. In addition, a lot of people do not encourage young actors because it can seem like a chance of one in a million. “It becomes a matter of do I pay these bills or do I keep

fighting to book a job and I think that has a lot to do with it. I think people get discouraged, you know? People think they’ve got it but they don’t get hired very often and so they decide that they’re being foolish and that’s it’s a silly dream and that maybe they should be doing something reasonable but then they regret it,” Lee said. Lee says that the struggle is worth it. She believes that actors are all a little bit different from the rest of the world and to be in a place where everybody understands each other and respects each other, gives her a sense of unreplaceable community and family. “I never got into this for the fame. It’s working with all these great people and while you’re there you’re just this little tight team working together. It’s probably the best thing about it all. When its all over you’re gonna miss those people. You really are, because you’ve been with them, even if it’s only been a few days. It’s like walking in another world. People who are actors or in the crew are separate from the rest of the world. It’s like you’re in a family when you’re on set and that’s the best part of the whole thing.” When I asked Lee who her favorite actors were, there was a response of, “Oh gosh! There is so many.” She was finally able to think of her top three favorite actors who have served as role models for Lee throughout her study of acting. “My favorite female actors I think are either Helen Mirren or Judi Dench; either one. That sounds crazy but they are my age. They are people who have started out with nothing and worked their way into the scene, and they’re my age and still booking jobs. They bring something to all their work and I’m always amazed at the ability that they have to do comedy or drama or anything! They’re just wonderful,” Lee said. “As far as actors, I really like Benedict Cumberbatch and it’s not just because I think he’s hot, because I do; It’s because of the variety and range this guy has when he’s so young. I saw ‘August Osage County’, and he just was completely different from ‘Sherlock’ and then I saw the ‘Star Trek’ movie and he was a completely different person there, and all these different characters came out of one person and he made them so believable.” One thing Lee believes is very important is that one does not have to be Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, or Benedict Cumberbatch to be an actor. If somebody works hard enough and really wants it, then the ends will meet. “Don’t give up and prepare yourself. Make sure that you never stop signing up for classes and/or volunteering to work free for somebody. If one of your buddies says, ‘I need somebody. Can you come and do this for a few hours?’ Say yes, because anytime you get a chance to work you’re gonna meet people who might remember and they’re gonna think, ‘You know what? Remember that guy or girl? Let’s give them a call.’ You never know when good things will align and if you network, you’re not only going to get experience and have fun but you’re gonna get some jobs because you’ve met people,” Lee said. “People are just gonna have to learn that you’re not gonna always get what you want but don’t get discouraged. Keep on.”

NOW PLAYING

ACTORS IN AUSTIN

AMBER AWARD

AWARD

CRE ILM F 8 3

AWARD

WON 3 AWARDS

HEARD

DITS

ETHAN AWARD

AWARD

60 F ILM CRE DITS

AWARD

WON 14 AWARDS

HAWKE SANDRA AWARD

AWARD

WON 59 AWARDS

BULLOCK MATTHEW AWARD

AWARD

RE LM C I F 51

AWARD

FILM

WON 35 AWARDS

CRE

DITS

DIT

MCCONAUGHEY

MICHELLE

AWARD

DITS

WON 4 AWARDS

FORBES DAKOTA

18 F ILM AWARD

JOHNSON

CRE ILM F 3 6

AWARD

CRE

DITS

WON 4 AWARDS Photo Courtesy of IMDB photographers

REEL AUSTIN

ON PATREON NOW

NEW SKY PICTURES IS PRESENTING

MR. GINGER

A COMEDY WEB-SERIES WATCH ONE EPISODE TODAY AND SUBSRIBE TO SEE MORE AT WWW.PATREON.COM/NEWSKY

REEL AUSTIN

BEHIND THE SCENES AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL Erick Medina

he sun barely shines above the horizon and Samantha Levine, office manager for the Austin Film Festival, is already at the office long before anybody else gets there, checking the messages, Emails and purchases that they have for the following day. She Prints out all of the paperwork and runs like crazy in the early morning just to get the paper and give it to the executive director. The interns start coming in the office and everybody is given a task to work on. Phone calls start flooding in for orders and questions that people have. People in the office have to be very flexible with stopping whatever they are doing at the moment and getting started on another thing. Levine is helping out everybody who needs help with their job. There are a millions of things she has to get done before she leaves the office and goes home to rest. The Austin Film Festival is a yearly event held in October. It helps Austin by giving an economic boost, encouraging young storytelling writers to practice their skills, and exposing storytelling and film lovers to a Professional

This is a picture of samantha. She is the office manager of the austin film festival office. copyrighted Austin Film Festival, Inc, 2014.

REEL AUSTIN

enviroment.This event could not be done without a team of hardworking staff that spend most of their days in an office to plan this event. Levine is a member of this dedicated staff. Levine decided she wanted to be a part of this event when she saw a growing film community in austin, so she applied to Austin Film Festival because she loved the festival’s focus on storytelling. Samantha graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in theater. She was interested in film in Austin and did some research and found the Austin Film Festival website. She applied to every single department in the Austin Film Festival staff and ended up being an assistant for the office manager. Since the Austin Film Festival is focused on storytelling, her childhood really affected her in the decision to

“I was really drawn to it because of the focus on story. I don’t write myself but I always liked writing in school and things like that, and my brother is a writer so that’s what drew me in.”Levine said. apply to the Austin Film Festival. All her life she loved writing especially because she was around a brother who had a passion for writing. One important part about this job is being dedicated and to able to stay in the office till all the work for that day is done. The Austin Film Festival runs with a very tight schedule through the year especially because of all the events before and after the festival. “There’s a lot of different things that I do I’m usually in here, like yesterday I was here for like 12 hours” Levine said.

This picture was taken in the austin film festival conference. In the conference they ask questions to different proffesionals so everybody can learn more about the film enviroment. Credit to Ruthy Effler.

Levine said that although she is often extremely busy, she draws energy and inspiration from her coworkers. “My favorite memories was just running around like crazy but seeing everyone else with that high energy, and even though there was so much going on just being able stop and smile and laugh about how crazy it was,” Levine said. Everyone who organizes the festival needs to have his or her own responsibilities to make the progress go faster and to make sure that everyone who works there has a job to do in the office. Job descriptions include picking up the orders from the phone, checking the orders, making sure everything in the spreadsheets are in place, checking in with the executive director, making sure that posters are being finished and even securing hotel reservations for the registrants. Nobody in the office

through the year is left without a job to do. “So there are a lot of moving parts so all of us that are full time at the festival, we have our own different responsibilities.” Levine said. One of the responsibilities in the Austin Film Festival is booking all the Professional people in the film industry so they can be interviewed at the conferences during the week of the October festival. Erin is the creative director who focuses that part of the pieces of the puzzle and contacts all the people who she thinks will fit in the festival. “She contacts them and tells them some great programing ideas that we have for this year, then she does a lot follow up with them to see if they are able to come or not,” Levine said.

REEL AUSTIN

In the middle of planning the October event, the Austin Film Festival organizes other events such as the annual summer camp that helps encourage young kids and teenagers to get into the art of story writing and make it into a short film. “So we really encourage the students to write that story,” Samantha said “It’s great because you are in a team environment where you’ll be able to work with other kids and create that story, and then film it.” As is the case in the summer camp, everybody in the Austin Film Festival is trying to focus on people who will love the same topic they are focusing on. The Austin Film Festival will always try to get the word out there and invite new people who are interested on story writing for film. Of course there are always a dinner parties around Austin in different restaurants before the film festival where everybody is invited.

“So in that case everyone else and the staff just kind of steps up to try to fill in the blanks and make sure to get everything back and running again.” Levine said. There are many things that Levine has learned by being in the festival. Whether it is to multi-task or to make you better at a certain program Samantha and all the other staff have taken something out of the Austin film festival experience “ I would definitely say learning how to be flexible and adaptable and just kind of doing what you have to do to get it done is something that I’ve have learned” Levine said. The people who participate in the contest also have a learning experience of their own. All of the people get to learn from

“We want to put the word out there to everybody we do try to target different groups that our more focus around the things that we are focus on as far as story writing film of course” Levine said. The Austin film festival camp and the festival itself cannot happen without the number of dedicated volunteers they get each year. All the volunteers help in the summer camp or spreading the word about the festival and specially in the October event helping keep attendance and helping set up stuff and break down stuff. The volunteers do a countless number of help during the festival and through the year. This is the picture of the award the Austin Film Festival participants win. copyrighted Austin Film Festival, Inc, 2014.

“Without volunteers the festival wouldn’t happen you know so we need all the help we can get we been really lucky a lot of our volunteers our very dedicated to the festival so they enjoy helping it run smoothly” Samantha said. Not everyone is perfect when doing something as big as the Austin film festival there will always be something that did not go as planned or something did not work out. Samantha needs to be ready to problem solve at the spot and go with the flow of things. All though some things did not go as planned in certain occasions the rest will be spot on and the experience will be unforgettable for the staff and for the people who choose to come to the Austin film festival on October.

REEL AUSTIN

professionals in the film industry , that give them advice on what to improve on or what they are doing great. The winners of the event get to enjoy many great benefits from the festival. “Winners that we honor and we honor them at our awards lunch in so they get an award and they make a speech to everyone,” Levine said. Even though the office is always a crazy place run around and have work to do. The festival still gets done in time for everyone to enjoy. “We had about 4000 people attending the conference last year but overall as far as the film and it was great” Levine said.

Progress for an Award

Deadlines & costs

Film Early Deadline: April 30 ($50)

Film Regular Deadline:

The first thing you need to do to start is to make a script June 16 ($60) and then translated into a film. You can be as creative Film Late Deadline: as you want nothing will stop you, aslong as you stay in July 15 ($75) the categories of the Austin Film Festival.