Austin Film Society Prepares for the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards

INTERVIEW: Rebecca Campbell Austin Film Society - Executive Director

By John-Scott Horton

INT. OFFICE – AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY – DAY

Rebecca Campbell, director of Austin Film Society and Austin Studios, sits in an office chair at a slightly cluttered desk. The office is utilitarian, but the walls are adorned with classic film posters and autographed, framed stills of many of Texas’ elite filmmakers and actors.

Rebecca appears slightly flustered, stuck in overdrive from the hectic events swirling around her during the final week of preparation for The Texas Film Hall of Fame (TFHoF). She straightens her desk, tries to draw in her focus, succeeds and offers a polite smile.

The Hollywood Bureau’s own John-Scott Horton and Clif Loftin sit across from her on a couch, cross legged, patiently waiting, and thankful that they were lucky enough to be granted an interview during such a tumultuous week. Greetings are exchanged and John-Scott places a handheldl tape recorder on the desk and presses the record button.

John-Scott
Start out by telling us who you are and what your capacity is within the Austin Film Society and for this impending event, the Texas Film Hall of Fame.

Rebecca
Well, my name is Rebecca Campbell and I am the executive director for the Austin Film Society, which is comprised of a bunch of different programs. We do exhibition, artists’ services, the grant program [Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund], and community outreach and education. We run Austin Studios, which is where the Texas Film Hall of Fame takes place, and the event helps fund all of our other programs year round.

John-Scott
How long has TFHoF been running?

Rebecca
It started in 2001, so…this is the sixth one. We started it right after we moved out to Austin Studios and we’d been looking for an idea that would gather the community together and honor Texas and Texas Film and its contributions to film. So, once we had a space that was adequate with these airplane hangars [Austin Studios], it became a perfect fit and was a huge success from the very first event we held.

John-Scott
Tell me a little bit more about the event’s conception.

Rebecca
Let’s see…two board members [of AFS], Lewis Black and Evan Smith basically got together and cooked up the idea once we’d been out at Austin Studios. That first year, when they called me up to suggest the idea, we thought that the best time to do it would be the opening night of South by Southwest. At that point it was only six weeks away from the event but we just said, “Let’s go for it.” Of course now, we spend over six months planning it.

John-Scott
I remember being here the first year as an intern, and it was definitely a hectic time.

(Rebecca puts her hands to her temples, remembering the headaches of the lightning preparation of the first TFHoF event.)

Rebecca
Oh my gosh…Oh my gosh…it was…You know, it was successful and it’s really become a huge part of how we’re able to do all of our programs. But yeah…that first year was really tough.

John-Scott
Tell me a little more about the projects and recipients that benefit from the money raised by TFHoF.

Rebecca
The event will bring in more than $500,000, and there’s some cost associated with it, but then we will still have really strong net proceeds. $75,000 of that will go directly back out to Texas filmmakers at the end of the summer through the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund. That’s a fund that was started back in 1996 by Richard Linklater and it’s given away, now, more than half-a-million dollars. It’s been kind of exciting in the last couple of years that filmmakers who have received funds from TFPF have gone on to have national success. For example, we helped fund the project Room and it was at the Independent Spirit Awards this last Saturday because local actress Cindy Williams was nominated for best actress…We also do community outreach and education [with some of the funds]. We have a program where we’re teaching filmmaking in seven schools out in East Austin—after school programs. It’s film appreciation and filmmaking. And then we show films year round, so it [TFHoF funds] also goes to help pay for them.

John-Scott
So, the Hall of Fame brings together the Texas film community and pools together its money through a really cool event, then channels these funds into a bunch of really great programs through AFS.

Rebecca
Exactly. Ultimately, the money’s going to a good cause. It is expensive to attend, I don’t know if you noticed.

John-Scott
It does look a little pricey, but worth it in the end it seems. The money raised is directly helping projects like Room get off the ground.

Rebecca
Right, and actually, Room is going to have a release around Texas and we’re going to do a premiere of it and the money that’s raised will go directly back into TFPF. We’re really hoping to start a positive cycle there. The one program that is not funded by TFHoF is Austin Studios because we rent out the facilities to productions and that money goes back into the facilities. It’s a partnership, essentially, that we have with the city of Austin.

John-Scott
Now, obviously this event [TFHoF] has a big impact on Austin and the Texas film community, but how has it impacted the rest of the film community outside of Texas?

Rebecca
We definitely reach into the LA markets and productions are talking about coming and shooting in Austin, and they’re all familiar with Austin Studios and TFHoF. So, it has definitely become something that people are widely aware of and we’ve even had a couple of publicists and agents call regarding their client and say, “When is my client going to be inducted?” So that definitely tells us that it’s something that’s taken seriously. But our main focus is Texas. We have folks coming in from Houston this year, we had folks from Dallas last year, and we hope that it will start having more statewide draw—although it did sell out by January this last year. (Laughs) So I don’t know how much it can grow…Dana Harris [from Variety Magazine] talks about the event in our 20th Anniversary Book. She says:

…if you were from Austin, you looked forward to the chance to bring out your cocktail gowns; if you weren’t, you looked forward to an awards show that didn’t require a cocktail gown.

(Laughs again) Basically, it’s something for everyone.

John-Scott
Well, I’m getting all gussied up for the event. Hair, wardrobe, you name it.

Rebecca
(Laughing)
Very nice, I’m going to be all dressed up.

John-Scott
We’re from Texas, we have to.

Rebecca
Right, exactly.

John-Scott
There’s a real sense of state pride in Texas and now we have our own film hall of fame. Why does Texas get one and are there other events like this?

Rebecca
That was something that Evan Smith pointed out the first year, that Texas has a mystique. It doesn’t sound right to say something like the Vermont Film Hall of Fame. There’s something about the Texas mystique and maybe the fact that Texas has contributed a lot of talent to film for such a long time. It just makes perfect sense so you don’t question the Texas Film Hall of Fame.

John-Scott
There are certainly a lot of implications that go with Texas. The Lone Star State, everything is bigger in Texas, etc…Tell me a little bit about this year’s inductees.

Rebecca
Well, JoBeth Williams…she’s just a wonderful actress, and we’ve been preparing the clip reels to honor each of them and it’s always such a treat to prepare these reels and be reminded of what a wide and lengthy career these actors/actresses have had. You know she was in The Big Chill and Poultergeist and she’s really talented. I think people that are kind of outside the film industry often don’t realize how long the path is to stardom. It’s great when you can become a star, but sometimes you have to work in the trenches for years and years and years. It’s really a moment where you can appreciate how much has gone into a career like that. Cybill Shepherd will be here to help honor The Last Picture Show and I guess she’s originally from Memphis, which is funny because she seems to personify small town Texas. The Last Picture Show is just such an amazing film. It just really captures this era that was…just the very last moment of the small town and all that’s kind of harsh about it but there’s also something very nostalgic about it. So that’ll be fantastic. We’ve got a new award this year, which is the AMD Soundtrack Live Award and that is picking up on the fact that music is a huge part of film. It’s very broadly set up to honor musicians' careers in film, whether it’s in front of the camera or doing the music. This year’s recipient, Lyle Lovett, is perfect for the first award and there will be a performance of a couple of his songs. That’ll be new and different. Then, we’re also honoring Kris Kristofferson. Talk about the span of a career...His reel starts out with a clip from Songwriter, maybe, where he says, “Let’s go to Austin.” Then it goes all the way to a clip of a film he’s in that hasn’t even come out yet, which is Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation. [Kris] is also a very interesting person who has a lot of strong political beliefs. He’s really had a lot of integrity in his career and that comes out as well. And our own Matthew McConaughey, who has done so much for the Austin Film Society over the years…we are so pleased to get him into the hall of fame. We’ve kind of been saving him and this is a good year for him to be inducted. I think it will be a year where every single inductee will…there’s going to be a lot of love coming from the audience. They’re going to be very happy about the people being honored

(Everyone in the office beams, clearly in accordance with the warm feelings expected by this year’s Hall of Fame attendees.)

John-Scott
In addition to the AMD Soundtrack Live Award, what else is new? How is the event evolving?

Rebecca
Well, every year we have a gala committee and co-chairs that help set the tone. This year we’ve had Carla McDonald and Alexa Wesner and they’ve had a very strong vision of wanting to honor the art of film as the theme and make sure and highlight the fact that it’s our [AFS’s] 20th Anniversary. I expect it to be pretty dazzling from what I’ve heard. [The hangar] is being draped right now and the grunge factor has been eliminated this year. We’ll see how that plays. Every year a fresh set of volunteers gets to put their imprimatur on it.

John-Scott
What are some of the highlights that stick out in your mind from past years’ events?

Rebecca
I like it when spontaneous things happen on the stage. Peter Fonda stayed on stage for more than 10 minutes one year and kept repeating himself. Then Dabney Coleman got up there to induct Farrah Fawcett and he goes (infectious laughter interrupts her dialogue), “Peter!” (snigger) “Where’s Peter Fonda? I--I knew your father and I was in a movie with your sister, and Peter, if your father was alive today…he would KICK YOU ASS!” I just loved that moment (sigh) because it was affectionate. I know Peter was exhausted because he lives in Wyoming and there’d been a blizzard and there was some difficulty getting here and he was exhausted. He was just going on and on and he wasn’t very focused…and it was just funny. That one always sticks in my mind. One year we honored Cyd Charisse, and we sang Happy Birthday to her that night. And we said it’s Cyd Chairsse’s 81st birthday and then we sang to her—she’s so beautiful—we sang her Happy Birthday, then she gets on stage and says, “I’m only 79!” (she breaks down in nostalgic laughter again). (Pause) Matthew [McConaughey] did a great job. This was when he inducted Woody Harrelson, and Woody is just this fun loving natural kind of guy. He was coming to SXSW to show his documentary and he also was told that he was going to be honored. So, Matthew said he got onto the private jet and he saw Owen and Luke Wilson…a bunch of people really, and he said, “This may be a bigger deal than I thought it was!” So, ultimately, I guess that my favorite moments are when spontaneous things happen on the stage.

John-Scott
Going back to AFS, are there more events planned? What else is up your sleeve?

Rebecca
We’re always open to whatever comes along, and we’ve been very lucky that we have friends that want to work with us to show their work. So, this year we’ll have two of Richard Linklater’s films, a premiere of Fast Food Nation and a premiere of A Scanner Darkly. Those will both be this summer but before that we’re going to have another Quentin Tarantino Film Festival. QT7 is going to be in April and it will be the best of the previous QT festivals. That will mean that we’ll have had 2 QT fests in one fiscal year which is incredible. Beyond that, we always do a lot of stuff at SXSW…On Saturday night we’re having a 10 year reunion for the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund and we’re working with AMD and Microsoft and we’re having a party. Everybody who’s ever gotten a grant from TFPF has been invited and if we get a good turnout we can do a class photo. Felipe Cazals, a Mexican filmmaker, is coming during SXSW and I’m sure there’s a lot more stuff going on…I don’t know if I can remember it all offhand. There’s always a new high profile event and the programs run year in and year out. What you want is a strong film culture, and that’s what Austin has. It comes from people showing up at the screenings, whether they’re going to the film festivals here or whether they’re going to the AFS’s Essential Cinema Series—they’re educated and informed and they’re hungry for independent work.

(A phone rings in the background, grabbing Rebecca’s attention. There is a bustle somewhere in the front room. It’s as if the machine finally realized one of its cogs wasn’t working and has begun to repair itself.)

Rebecca
(picking up the phone, muffling the receiver)
I’d better take this.

(After a brief conversation, Rebecca hangs up the phone and returns her attention to our HollywoodBureau.com reporters. It is clear that pressing matters are now looming, though.)

John-Scott
One more question then. Play Oracle for us and tell us where you see Texas Film and the Austin Film Society in the future—a year from now, five years, ten years…

Rebecca
I think, first of all, that what we’ve got going on now is a very strong healthy community culturally speaking and economically speaking. What’s important to recognize is that the film business is cyclical and for all I know we could be at the top of our game now and we could go up and down. There’s no way of knowing. But I think, for me, the most important thing is to really appreciate what we’ve got going now, which is pretty incredible. The thing is, regardless of whether or not we have a strong industry here—meaning a lot of films being shot locally—what we’re always going to be committed to is making sure that the culture is promoted and that there’s film appreciation going on. As long as that’s there, and as long as we have good facilities for filmmakers, I think that they’ll keep on coming and I think that Austin will remain one of the top film industries in the country. We will improve Austin Studios' facilities and other facilities will get built around town…so there could be more and better of what there is now, but I don’t see there being much difference from it. I guess one thing that I would love to see develop is a really strong post production community. Certainly there are a lot of people here who are good with special effects and editing and other kinds of post production and we also have a strong gaming community. So it seems to me that there’s a lot of room for growth because of the way it works now where you can be anywhere in the world and do your editing and shoot your results to your clients. Austin has a lot of potential to grow in that area and I’d love to see it get developed and I’d love for AFS and Austin Studios to play a role in that.

(After a brief moment of silence and small, satisfied smiles, everyone gets up and shakes hands. Murmured niceties and parting words are said and the trio leaves the office.)