2012 GUEST SPEAKERS
2011 GUEST SPEAKERS
KARI PERKINS
is an accomplished costume designer who is passionate about high quality design
and uses a Zen-like approach for creating believable characters. With a history
rich in design for the stage, Kari made her film design debut with Dazed and
Confused in 1993 and has continued to work with director Richard Linklater
over the years on productions such as Fast Food Nation in 2006, A
Scanner Darkly in 2006 and Bernie in 2010. Kari’s costume
design can be seen in the film Mud, directed by Jeff Nichols, which was
nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. She
has also been featured on the DIY network, Southern Living, Tribeza, and Rare
Magazines as well as a podcast on Spoiler Alert Radio. Visit her website at www.kariperkins.com.
YVONNE BOUDREAUX
is a production designer for film, dance, and theater. She has served as
art director on Machete, The Legend of Hell’s Gate, and Puncture
and has production designed Dance with the One and Harmony & Me.
She has also worked as a set designer on Laika’s new stop motion
animation Paranorman that premiered in August of this year. Her
dance installation projects in which she preformed as the set designer and
producer, Shape of White (2009), Portrait(2007), and Wrapped
(2005) were selected for the David Mark Cohen New Works Festival in Austin,
Texas. She has served as a set designer for various theatrical
productions in Austin and Fort Worth such as Nocturne, Mart/Sade and The
Idiot.
CAROLINE KARLEN has worked as a Costume Designer and Production Designer on numerous feature
films (GRETCHEN, THE HAPPY POET, LOVERS OF HATE, FOUR PLAY, SATURDAY MORNING
MASSACRE, THE BOUNCEBACK) and music videos (Arcade Fire, Herman Dune). She has
worked on print and commercial ad campaigns for clients such as General
Electric, Comcast, and PGI. In addition, she has served as Associate Producer
for THE HAPPY POET and THANK YOU A LOT, and as a Segment Producer for SLACKER
(2011 remake).
RAKEDA ERVIN
has more than ten years of experience as a producer and director. Her
credits are with networks like A&E, NBC and MTV. She's worked on series
like, VH1 Behind the Music, My First BET Awards, Shipping Wars and
E! True Hollywood Story. In addition, Rakeda has
produced and directed short films and award winning independent documentaries.
She is the first director to chronicle the politics of Generation X, through
her documentary, X= A Generation Evolved. Currently,
Rakeda teaches video production with the Liberal Arts & Science Academy in
Austin.
CAROLINE CONNOR has worked in the entertainment industry for the last 8 years. She
recently produced Chu
and Blossom, which stars Alan
Cumming, Mercedes Ruehl and Annie Potts. She
also co-produced LUV,
which hits the theaters in
November and Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best which is currently in
theaters and on VOD through Oscilloscope. The films premiered, respectively, at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and
the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. She is in post-production on Pictures
of Superheroes, which she Executive
Produced. She has also served as Travel Coordinator on the films Stop Loss
and Friday the 13th, and Production
Coordinator for various films including Machete, Puncture, Beneath
The Darkness, and Seven
Days in Utopia.
MEGAN GILBRIDE is an Independent Spirit Award nominated producer of
narrative and documentary films. She produced Bryan Poyser’s LOVERS
OF HATE, which premiered in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2010 Sundance
Film Festival and was distributed by IFC. A critical darling praised
by the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and San Francisco Chronicle, LA Weekly’s
Karina Longworth described the film as “the most exciting American indie I’ve
seen in a while.”
Collaborators since 2005,
Megan produced Poyser’s short film, THE FICKLE, for the USA Network’s 2011
Character Project and is currently producing his romantic comedy feature, THE
BOUNCEBACK. Me
gan co-produced Heather Courtney’s Sundance Documentary Fund grantee and ITVS-funded feature, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM which won the Best Editing prize at the SXSW Film Festival and the Nokia Truer Than Fiction award at this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards. The film screened at the LA Film Festival, Silverdocs, Full Frame, BAM Cinemafest, Rooftop Films, and on Capitol Hill as sponsored by the Chief of Staff of the National Guard, General Craig McKinley, and Senator Carl Levin. The story of three National Guardsmen from small-town Michigan who travel to Afghanistan and back, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM aired on PBS in a special Veteran’s Day presentation of the acclaimed series POV and was nominated for a 2012 Emmy Award.
ANGELA
RAWNA
is best known for her
role on NBC's Emmy award-winning drama Friday Night Lights.
Angela played Regina Howard, a drug addict mom of East Dillon’s star
quarterback Vince Howard (Michael B. Jordan). Angela prepared for her
meaty series recur role by checking herself into Austin Recovery, an alcohol
and drug addiction treatment center in Austin, TX where the series was
shot. Angela’s compelling
performance on Friday Night Lights grabbed the attention of the
producers of the hit show Private Practice. Angela also landed a recur role on Parenthood
also on NBC as therapist, Dr. Schecter. Angela recently teamed up again with Austin director Richard
Linklater to film, Boyhood, a feature film where Angela plays
opposite Patricia Arquette as her best friend. Boyhood is a
12-year project about the actual “growing up” of a child and witnessing the
changes of both him and his parents (Arquette and Ethan Hawk) as it is
literally filmed each year. Boyhood will be released in
2015. Additionally, Angela has co-starred with Keanu Reeves in the Warner
Brother’s sci-fi thriller, A Scanner Darkly now on DVD. Angela just completed filming a
personal project, All from the Same Dust, a dramatic and
suspenseful story that takes an unwavering look at racism at a time in our
history when an African American has become the 44th President of the
United States. Angela executive
produced and co-stars in the film.
HEATHER
KAFKA
was living above her mom’s hair salon, rollerskating the
neighborhood, and acting in local theatre when she booked a job as an extra in
a Coca-Cola commercial and earned $200. She bought an Atari 2600 and
began planning an acting career. She was six years old. After high
school, Heather moved to Los Angeles, graduated from The American Academy of
Dramatic Arts, and worked odd jobs from waitressing at the Hard Rock Café to cigarette
girl at local clubs. But Austin always called her home. She would spend the
next 20 years moving back and forth, torn between her love of home and her
drive for a career in acting. Over this time her resume grew. She
played “Chloe” on MTV’s first scripted series Austin Stories,
guest starred on CSI, CSI N.Y., E.R., and House.
She played Dr. Emily Dawson on the Emmy awarded Huff and turned
in a memorable comedic performance on the Wilson Brothers project, The
Wendell Baker Story. But it was her role as demented sister to
Leatherface in the 2003 remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
that pushed her farther. In 2008, she found herself staring in
fellow Austinite Bryan Poyser’s Lovers of Hate. Most
recently, she has worked on Spencer Parson's Saturday Morning Massacre,
the Zellner Brothers Kid Thing, David Lowery's Ain't Them
Bodies Saints, Geoff Marslett's Loves Her Gun, Yen Tan's Pit
Stop, Bob Byington's Audition and Kat Candler's Black
Metal.
AMY HECKERLING
was born in the Bronx, NY. She
directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High, followed by Johnny
Dangerously and European Vacation. Amy wrote and
directed, Look Who's Talking, Look Who's Talking too, Clueless, I Could
Never Be Your Woman, and produced, A Night at the Roxbury.
She executive produced, wrote, and directed episodes of the T.V. series of
Clueless and Fast Times, and directed an episode of The
Office. She just wrapped her latest film, Vamps, which
stars Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, and Sigourney Weaver, and also shot
an episode of Gossip Girl.
KIMBERLY LEBLANC –
Location Scout for the Texas Film Commission – Since 2009, Kim LeBlanc
has been on staff at the Texas Film Commission helping to spread the good word
about all of the wonderful resources available for creative industries in
Texas. As a Location Scout, she works closely with Writers, Directors,
Producers, Production Designers and Studio Executives, promoting Texas as a
great destination for filmmaking, television production, commercials, music
videos and still photography. Her travels have taken her to the far corners of
the state and her efforts have been put forth on projects such as TOP CHEF
TEXAS (2011), BERNIE (2010), NATURAL SELECTION (2010) and TRUE GRIT (2010), among
many others. Prior to working at the Texas Film Commission, she has had the
incredibly good fortune to work for the Austin Film Society, the Austin Film
Festival and Troublemaker Studios, where she was on board as an Executive
Office Assistant, Operations Assistant and Assistant to Director, Robert
Rodriguez. She has donated her time and energy as a volunteer for SXSW Film
Festival since 2009. Kim is a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio,
where she double majored in Urban Studies and History and co-founded the
university’s Film Studies minor program.
MAYA PEREZ - Conference Director of
Austin Film Festival
Maya Perez is the Conference Director at the Austin
Film Festival. Prior to joining the Festival in 2002, she was a literary agent
with Trident Media Group and before that, with William Morris Agency, Inc., in
New York. Perez received her Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College in 1993. She
has just been accepted into the Michener Center for Writers’ MFA program at the
University of Texas at Austin for Fall 2012.
AGNES VARNUM - Director of Marketing of the
Austin Film Society - Agnes Varnum came to Austin from
the New York City-area where she served as a marketing and publicity associate
for Icarus Films, a 30-year-old documentary distribution company. Prior to
that, she worked as the associate director for the Center for Social Media at
American University, managing research, producing events and building the
growing organization. Other projects include contributing to a variety of
publications such as Tribeca Film Insitute’s Resources blog, indieWIRE, Sudance
Intitute's DocSource, Doc It Out and IDA's Documentary magazine. She has served
on programming committees for SILVERDOCS, Newport International Film Festival,
IFP's Spotlight on Documentaries, AOL True Stories (now Snag Films) and most
recently SXSW.
MICHELLE VOSS - Executive Director of Femme
Film Texas - As the founder and Executive Director of Moving
Image Arts & Education, Michelle is the architect of the Femme Film Texas
programs. A graduate of the Radio, Television, Film department at the
University of Texas, Michelle won Best Documentary at EarthVision Film Festival
for her short film, Velocity. Michelle received numerous funding awards
to complete the film, including the Sustainable
Development Fund Film Grant. In addition to
stewarding the Femme Film Texas programs, Michelle is currently working as a
Development Associate at the University of Texas.
H. CHERDON BEDFORD – Executive Director of the Austin Film Meet and Creative Superhero at
Humblebee Media – For as long as she’s been, Creative Superhero H.Cherdon
has demonstrated an exceptional aptitude for the creative arts. Her art and
literature, stories and poems, have won her numerous awards and gained her
national attention, especially for the children’s picture books she both writes
and illustrates. Also a talented stage performer, she has appeared in more than
40 stage productions, two performing arts touring troupes, several short films
and a few PSAs. Her producer powers include organization, presentation,
big-picture perspective, unforgettable memory and maybe even a little
obsessive-compulsive behavior sometimes. Driven and self-motivated, Cherdon
excels as as artist, director, photographer, web designer, writer, actress,
illustrator, producer, bookmaker, entrepreneur… and creative superhero. As the
Executive Director for the Austin Film Meet, Cherdon reaches out to fellow
filmmakers and artists. She thrives as a “handyman” for creative challenges, a
real-life Creative Superhero for hire, using love and creativity to touch lives
and projects. Cherdon is based in East Austin where she lives with her fish,
four kitties and her partner Brandon Boggs.
KELLY SEARS is an animator and
filmmaker living in Galveston, TX. Her work has been shown at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, the Hammer Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Anthology Film Archives, Sundance
and in galleries and film festivals internationally. Her collage films are
created from discarded periodicals, books, archives, and orphan films. They
harness images of the past to reflect on the present. Her films draw on
experimental, documentary and narrative practices and feature both analog and
digital animation techniques. http://www.kellysears.com/
AMY SEIMETZ is a
writer/director/actor/producer. Previous acting credits include "The Off
Hours", "Tiny Furniture", "Myth of the American
Sleepover", "A Horrible Way to Die", and "Alexander the Last".
As a producer, Amy has worked on "Medicine for Melancholy",
"Dish & the Spoon", "Silver Bullets", and "No
Matter What". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1541272/
Annie Silverstein is currently earning her
MFA in Film at University of Texas-Austin. Most recently she produced/directed
the short documentary "Noc na Tanecku" (Night at the Dance) (SXSW,
Silverdocs 2011). Her documentary work has aired on PBS’ Independent Lens and
at festivals internationally. “Spark” is Annie’s first fiction film.
HANNAH FIDELL
recently moved to Austin, Texas from Brooklyn, NY where she worked as the event
coordinator for The New School University's Media Studies department. Her first
feature film, We're Glad You're Here, premiered at the Indianapolis
International Film Festival in 2011. She has worked on "The Gathering
Squall" and "Man & Gun" wich are screening at SXSW.
KIM SHERMAN is a filmmaker and
musician, currently based in Missouri. Most recently, Sherman produced the
feature A Horrible Way To Die which premiered at the Toronto International Film
Festival. Sherman has won numerous advertising awards for her directorial commercial
work and produced a handful of daring and groundbreaking narrative shorts,
including the experimental drama, A Face Fixed, by director Andrew Droz
Palermo. Kim was selected to be one of the 2011 Sundance Creative Producer
Fellows, and is currently working with Palermo on his debut feature film, One
& Two.
ANNA MARGARET HOLLYMAN's film credits include, "Gayby" (2012 SXSW Narraive Feature
Competition), "White Reindeer", "Small Beautifully Moving
Parts" (2011 SXSW Narrative Feature and recipient of the 2011 Hamptons
Film Festival Alfred P. Sloan Award), "Somebody Up There Likes Me"
(2012 SXSW Narrative Spotlight), "Slacker 2011", "The Romance of
Loneliess", "The Color Wheel", "The Brave One",
"Adelaide", "Samantha" and "Anna". TV: "My
Generation" (ABC). She studied Theater and Art History at Sarah Lawrence
College, trained with Suzanne Esper at the Esper Studio in New York, and
studied improv with the P.I.T. and Upright Citizens Brigade in New York and Los
Angeles. annamargarethollyman.tumblr.com
CARLYN HUDSON
received her B.S. in Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas. Before attending
film school, she earned her primary training from the Stella Adler Studio of
Acting at New York University. Since then, Carlyn has directed short films that
have premiered at SXSW and Austin Film Festival. She was selected as a segment
director of the remake, "Slacker: 20 years Later," and is
co-producing a new Richard Linklater project for Hulu. This past summer she
co-produced Andrew Bujalski's (Beeswax, Funny Ha Ha) newest feature, Computer
Chess and programed the wildly popular summer film series, Cinema East. Carlyn
is a working commercial director in Austin, and directs web content for Verizon
and Dell. She is directing her first feature in May.
ASHLYN FIELDER is
an Austin based art department extraordinaire. She production designed Kat
Candler's "Hellion" (Sundance 2012/SXSW 2012) and Carlyn Hudson's
scene “Steve” in Slacker 2011. Ashlyn was also Assistant Set Decorator/Shopper
on a new A&E home remodeling show that recently shot in Austin. She has
also crewed on numerous features, shorts, TV shows and commercials in Austin
and Los Angeles, including "Top Chef 9" and Sunset Stories (SXSW
2012).
She works as a freelance editor and producer. She
recently edited the documentary America's Parking Lot, her first feature as an
editor, which is premiering at the 2012 SXSW film festival. She served as an
associate producer and assistant editor on Alan Berg’s 2011 documentary,
Outside Industry: The story of SXSW, which premiered at SXSW in 2011. Robin
recently acted in Andrew Bujalski’s forthcoming feature, Computer Chess.
Kate Steihebel has been freelancing around
Austin in the camera department, both DP'ing and AC'ing since graduating in
2009. She has lensed a variety of short films and documetaries, spec
commercials and company videos. Though she is happiest with a light meter and
camera in her hands, she has found steady work at 1080, Inc., a post production
house. For a year and a half, Kate has worked in machine room, the heart of a
post house, and has recently been hired as duplications producer. Despite
working full time in the post world, Kate still finds time to shoot as many
projects as she can.
ALEX THOMAS studied English Literature and
Film Studies at the University of Kentucky before coming to the University of
Texas at Austin for an MFA in Film Production. After finishing up her thesis
film in 2010, she started working at an emergent education school: the Khabele
School, in Austin. She teaches students in 6th grade English, Middle School
Film, and High School Film. She finds a balance between her love for teaching
and screenwriting.
KELLY BOGDAN has been working "in the
biz" in some form or fashion for nearly 14 years. An RTF graduate of UT
Austin, she secured her first film job (The Faculty) shortly before
receiving her degree in the spring of 1998. Over the course of the next few
years, she gained crew experience in a handful of arenas - production, props,
set dressing, casting, and extras casting - before finally landing in the
camera department, which was always her desired destination. Since 2004 Kelly
has worked as a camera assistant on a variety of feature films (Sin City,
Grindhouse, Up in the Air, Bernie), television shows (Friday Night
Lights, Prime Suspect, The Lying Game), commercials, and other productions
(web content, short films, etc).
NANCY SCHIESARI
has been a Director of Photography on over 35 documentaries and feature films
broadcast for England’s Channel 4, BBC in London, ABC, National Geographic, and
PBS. She was nominated for a 2002 Television Emmy for outstanding
cinematography on The Human Face, produced by John Cleese. Among
her work as cinematographer is Barbara Sonneborn’s Academy Award nominated
documentary, Regret to Inform. She directed a documentary profile on Martin
Scorsese for BBC 4, that aired in the UK on January 7, 2003. She produced and
directed the documentary ”Hansel Mieth-Vagabond Photographer” which premiered
on PBS’ Independent Lens in May, 2003 and recently completed Tattooed Under
Fire for PBS, that aired in2010.
DEB LEWIS
has shot for the PBS documentary films THE CALLING, SUNSHINE, WRIT WRITER
and TROOP 1500, NUCLEAR FAMILY and LAST MAN STANDING. Her
narrative works include the award-winning features THE SLOW BUSINESS OF
GOING (Athina Rachel Tsangari) and AFRAID OF EVERYTHING (David
Barker). Besides her cinematography work, she’s in production on a documentary,
and serves as adjunct faculty in filmmaking and cinematography at the
University of Texas at Austin.
2011 GUEST SPEAKERS
JENNIFER DEUTROM is an artist/animator living in Austin, Texas and is originally from south Mississippi. Much of her work in animation has been in collaboration with Bob Sabiston and the artists of Flat Black Films. Their work includes Lars von Trier’s Five Obstructions and Richard Linklater’s Waking Life as well as many acclaimed shorts and commercial projects. Her personal work includes short animations that have been seen in a spot for Amnesty Int., The >Animation Show 2, and several film fests including this year's SXSW.
MEGAN KLUCK is an artist and animator living in Austin, Texas. She got her degree in Communication Design at Texas State University. She is the Creative Director at Powerhouse Animation.
JANET PIERSON is the Producer of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival and so is responsible for the vision, programming, and execution of the annual event. Before joining SXSW in April 2008, Janet spent over 30 years championing independent films and filmmakers, in a variety of roles including distributor, exhibitor, producer’s rep, investor, workshop producer, executive producer, documentary subject, and as co-creator and segment director of the IFC cable TV series Split Screen. Much of this work was in partnership with her husband, the author, producer, professor, and co-president of Grainy Pictures, John Pierson. An Austin Film Society Board Member 2004-2010, she’s currently on the Advisory Board, and has served on and taken part in several grant panels, festival juries, and advisory roles, including on behalf of the NEA, ITVS, and Creative Capital.
CLAUDETTE GODFREY is the Film Festival Coordinator and Shorts Programmer for South by Southwest. A University of Texas Film graduate, Claudette also worked as a Corporate Relations Coordinator at the CineVegas Film Festival and is a Shorts Programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse's Fantastic Fest. Additionally, she does a mean karaoke version of .'s ‘Hypnotize.’
SANDRA ADAIR's career in editing spans nearly three decades. Her work includes feature films, documentaries, PBS specials, and television series.Working as an assistant editor to some of Hollywood’s top editors in the early 1970’s, Adair learned the principles of postproduction. She started editing small low budget films in the mid 1980’s and in 1990 Ms. Adair served as second editor on Paramount Pictures' “Internal Affairs,” directed by Mike Figgis. Ms. Adair moved with her husband and two children to Austin, Texas in 1991 and has continued to work on both feature films and documentaries, teaming with documentarian Hector Galan on the award-winning “The Hunt for Pancho Villa" and “Songs of the Homeland.” Sandra’s most active alliance in Austin has been with director Richard Linklater, for whom she has edited fourteen films: “Dazed and Confused,” “Before Sunrise,” “subUrbia,” “ The Newton Boys,” “Waking Life,” and Mr. Linklater’s digital feature “Tape”. In 2002, Adair joined Richard LInklater again on the Jack Black hit “School of Rock,” and then worked with Linklater on “Before Sunset,” the animated feature “A Scanner Darkly,” the remake of “Bad News Bears,” “Fast Food Nation,” the feature length documentary "Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach," "Me and Orson Welles," and most recently "Bernie," starring Jack Black and Shirley MacClaine. Bernie will be in theaters in March of 2012. Outside of Adair's collaboration with director Richard Linklater she continues to work with other directors on both narrative features and documentaries. In 2009, Sandra worked with director Dan Rush on the Will Ferrell drama "Everything Must Go" and with Mark Hall on the documentary "SUSHI: The Global Catch."
KAREN SKLOSS an award-winning filmmaker and internationally exhibited visual artist. Her short narrative, SMITTEN, screened at the Cannes market, the Rotterdam International Film Festival and is available through Hart Sharp Video. She has edited a number of feature documentaries some of which include: ATOMIC ED & THE BLACK HOLE, HBO Pictures and BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT, Palm Pictures. SUNSHINE is her first feature film as director.
LAURA SOBEL has produced and written for PBS, A&E, Biography, VH1/MTV Networks and Fuel TV. She directed and wrote Cereal: History in a Bowl, a pilot for The History Channel that extended to a 13-part series. Her scripts for A&E Biography have run the gamut from Hugh Jackman to Catherine the Great to a behind-the-scenes looking at the making of the movie Animal House. She also co-produced the ITVS funding documentary Tattooed Under Fire with Nancy Schiesari. As a development writer, her credits include film treatments and series proposals for PBS, HBO, National Geographic, Bravo, Discovery, HGTV, and A&E. Laura also teaches documentary filmmaking workshops at DCTV in New York and at The Mobile Film School in Austin, Texas.
RAKEDA LASHAE has more than ten years of experience as a producer and director. Her credits are with networks like A&E, NBC and MTV. Rakeda Lashae's career began at Warner Bros., with work on various television series and feature film, Cats and Dogs. She went on to join VH1, lending her producing and directing talent on the Emmy winning series, Behind The Music. Other VH1 shows on her credit list include Driven, Hip Hop Babylon and Ultimate Albums, which earned several award nominations. In addition, she's produced episodes of documentary series, E! True Hollywood Story and E! Investigates. Her independent work includes shorts films, music videos and The N Word, a Peabody Award winning documentary she associate produced.)
MIKE NICHOLSON is a founding partner of Picturebox and an accomplished graphic artist with more than ten years of experience. He has designed titles for numerous films including The Hot Shoe, Cremains, Clock-Paint-Eyeball, and My Electric Bill. In addition to producing award-winning commercial and industrial projects, Mike served as co-producer and director of photography for the documentary Blaze Foley Inside. With partner J. Kevin Smith he co-directed the feature documentary Teaching Austin, which aired on PBS. Mike recently produced Better This World, a critically acclaimed feature documentary which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2011.
JEANETTE SCOTT is pretty much the go-to Set Decorator on the big films that come to town “and then some,” as Kat Candler says. Her resume includes Cedar Rapids, Grindhouse, Sin City (also served as Art Director), Man of the House, Spy Kids, Double Jeopardy, Selena and most recently, Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Scott, a UT psychology grad, has been decorating sets for about 30 years.
AMY MANER wears many hats: actress, writer, director, producer and costumer. She has served as Costume Supervisor on notable feature films such as 8 Seconds, Miss Congeniality, Stop Loss, Push, Spy Kids, Shorts, The Ringer,and Fireflies in the Garden. Her Lubbock Lights Maner’s documentary on her hometown’s rich music heritage, premiered at SXSW in 2003 and has played festivals all over the world, collecting accolades along the way. Currently, Maner is in pre-production as Associate Producer on The Broken, slated for release in 2012.
AMY MANER wears many hats: actress, writer, director, producer and costumer. She has served as Costume Supervisor on notable feature films such as 8 Seconds, Miss Congeniality, Stop Loss, Push, Spy Kids, Shorts, The Ringer,and Fireflies in the Garden. Her Lubbock Lights Maner’s documentary on her hometown’s rich music heritage, premiered at SXSW in 2003 and has played festivals all over the world, collecting accolades along the way. Currently, Maner is in pre-production as Associate Producer on The Broken, slated for release in 2012.
DR. BONNIE ORR writer of over thirty screenplays, two teleplays and three TV pilots, completed the graduate level screenwriting program at UCLA in 1998. Credits include writing and producing The Lights, Corruption.gov and Secret at Arrow Lake at Ranch Studios, where she served as the studio manager for three years. She wrote a script for Fireside Entertainment called Revenge of the Soccer Moms, which was greenlit by the Lifetime Channel and became a series called Inspector Mom. Prior to that she produced her award-winning TV pilot, Poodle Dog Lounge, which is in post production. She wrote a sequel for Contact for Michael Gordon (Narc, The Devil & Daniel Webster). She was a senior staff writer for ScreenTalk Magazine and has received awards in several screenwriting contests, such as Fade In and Script Magazine’s contests. She is a script doctor, and she worked in development for several production companies in LA, such as Nine By Nine Productions and Tony Blain Productions. She is currently in development and preproduction on Texas Venom, The Basement and Hotel Paradise. Agent Mickey Freiberg represents her on several projects and optioned her script Earth on Fire to Lone Tree Productions in Malibu. He is currently working on setting up a TV series called Courtroom Cupcake, co-written with her husband. Dr. Orr has taught screenwriting classes at Austin Community College, GSD&M and the Writers’ Academy. For the last four years, she has taught a seminar on “How to Pitch” at the Austin Film Festival, as well as various seminars on screenwriting and filmmaking across the country.
SUZANNE WEINERT is a screenwriter/producer who previously served as Vice President of Julia Roberts’ New York film production company, Shoelace Productions, where she participated in the development and production of more than 25 projects, including Erin Brockovich by Susannah Grant and Gigi LeVange’s Step Mom, and produced the award-winning wildlife documentaries, Nature Series: Wild Horses of Mongolia for the Nature Channel and Orangutans of Borneo for PBS, as well as the award- winning short film The Call Back starring Sam Rockwell. Prior to that, she interned with director Ron Howard during the production of The Paper starring Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Marisa Tomei. Recent screenplays include rewriting Shrinking Violet for Revolution Studios; Road Stories, directed by Steven Seebring and starring Johnny Messner; and Good to the Last Drop, a finalist for Best Comedy at the Austin Film Festival. Her most recent writing/producing project is the dark comedy Ex-terminators, starring Heather Graham, Jennifer Coolidge and Amber Heard, which had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in 2009. It is currently available on DVD and Video on Demand. She also recently completed producing a Western, The Legends of Hell’s Gate, starring Eric Balfour, Henry Thomas, Jenna Dewan, Summer Glau, Robert Buckley and Lou Taylor Pucci. In Spring 2011 she will produce One in A Million Hero, a drama set in the world of NASCAR. Ms. Weinert holds an M.F.A. from the School of the Arts, Columbia University; a Graduate Certificate from The Writing Program, Columbia University and a B.A. in Writing from Columbia University. She is a Professor of Advanced Screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts and Fordham University, both in NYC.
ALMA KUTTRUFF is a Unit Production Manager and Co-Producer of Friday the 13th, The Hitcher and Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes. Starting out as a production office coordinator on Blood Simple, she continued to work with the Coen Brothers as the production manager on Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing, Hudsucker Proxy. More recently she’s been a UPM on Glory Road, US Marshalls and The Cat in the Hat.
BETH SEPKO has about two decades of expertise in the industry in the Texas market. After working as a talent agent for six years in San Antonio, she made the move into casting and to Austin in 1994. Five years later Beth Sepko Casting expanded with the acquisition of Third Coast Extras. In her second term as a board member for Reel Women, an Austin-based, non-profit support organization for women in the film/video industry, Beth has become very active in the local film community. She is also a member and board member of the Austin Film Society and sits on the Austin Media Arts Committee.
