2008 SXSW ShortFilmTexas Team Update.

Well, I’ve spent many an hour at the Austin Convention Center this week. I attended several different SXSW Film Panels and think I learned quite lot. Drank a lot of coffee too. Even overheard some REALLY excited kids greet each other in the hallway like this “Jean Luc?! Captain Picard!” I was also blessed with the opportunity to watch Billy Bob Thornton interviewed on a monitor in the hallway JUST OUTSIDE the actual interview. (I skipped the interview and sat in on another panel to gather “important information” and sacrificed my chance to listen to the great BBT. (Yes, he like for his close friends, like me, to call him BBT.)

Anyway, I will shortly be posting several reports on the information I gleaned from these filmmaking panels that will hopefully be of some use to you, dear reader(s?).

Topics will include:

• Why Make Short Films and What The Hell to Do With Them
• Things NOT To Do When Applying For The Texas Filmmaker Production Fund (and yes you should apply even if you don’t think you need the money….more on that later)
• Do I Need Thick Black Glasses and Cool Hair To Fit In At SXSW?
• The Current State of VOD (Video On Demand) and How YOU can Benefit (and what websites are forward thinking while others are mired in the mud)

Not to mention, there will FINALLY be new short films and filmmaker interviews going online in a matter of hours. (96 hours or less to be exact!)

In case you happen to be out, I will be at the Texas Shorts screening tonight at the Alamo Lamar and the Texas High School Shorts on Saturday at Dobie. We at ShortFilmTexas gladly accept screaming fans with hand fulls of cash approaching us at any moment. (and fully expect it.)

So, in the meantime…please enjoy this slightly fuzzy shot of “ponytail cowboy guy” watching BBT on a monitor during the 2008 SXSW Film Festival.