Austin Film Festival

This week I have been volunteering as a driver for the Austin Film Festival. Austin has a growing film business, and people in town are hungry for more. This festival is in its 17th year, and is devoted to screenwriters. It is said to be the third largest film festival in the world. The festival, with a minimal full-time staff, depends on contract hires to organize and manage a large staff of volunteers. The festival nicely complements the film programs at University of Texas and Austin Community College. Many students volunteer to gain exposure and see absolutely new films.

BH (Better Half) has been in charge of "interesting things to do" since our exile in Paris a few years ago. She routinely scavenges her newsletters, Craigslist, etc. for possibilities. Sometime a couple of weeks ago she IM'd me a link to "Volunteer drivers wanted for Austin Film Festival". I said to myself (and to BH), "I'd better do that." I proceeded to email in my willingness and went to visit Taylor, the Transportation Coordinator for AFF. Taylor, who I had assumed to be a guy, turned out to be a good-looking redhead! I passed the snicker test - I didn't look like I would be giving people head shots or my favorite script.

This past week I have been picking up at and/or delivering people to the airport. Apparently some people live for the opportunity to deliver interesting Hollywoodish people to the festival. I was just interested in meeting some people (volunteers and anybody else), but I had some good conversations with several notables along the way. I was pretty impressed with how friendly and willing to share these people were. Here are a few I met.

• Barry Blaustein - writer for Nutty Professor, Nutty Professor II - The Klumps, The Honeymooners, Police Academy 2, Saturday Night Live
• John Woldenburg - producer for Smart People, The Visitor, Silent Partner
• Michael Arndt - writer for Toy Story 3

• David Peoples - writer for Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys, Accidental Hero, Unforgiven, Ladyhawke, Leviathan
• Allan Loeb - producer for The Beast, New Amsterdam, Things We Lost in the Fire
• Steven Arvanites - screenwriter and actor (Crocodile Dundee and many commercials)

For anybody considering this, it has been kind of exhausting work. Young Taylor did an excellent job of organizing mayhem, but with film people, things happen. Schedules change, people cancel and/or want to go elsewhere, and more. This means that the coordinator and drivers must be ready for instant changes. The nice side is that the festival recognizes the aspiring filmies and aficionados who volunteer by providing passes in return for a few hours of work.

All in all, this has been fun. I have made some friends and met some good people. This is really the first chance I have taken with volunteering, and it has been good.