Dance Like a Monkey.

The guys over at Collection Agency Films (Dano Johnson, Troy Campbell , Cameron Petri) have a long history of films and trailers playing at AFF. So all of us are really proud around here of their latest project, a new music video for the legendary pre punk band New York Dolls' new single, Dance Like a Monkey. The video is now playing on MTV, and is a hit on the internet.

Check it out online now:

Dance Like a Monkey Quicktime
Dance Like a Monkey YouTube

DIRT screening in Austin on Thursday night

DIRT screening + live Q&A with rookie female driver Gayla Jones and the filmmakers! The Austin Film Festival is proud to announce the first in a series of screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek featuring some of the best movies from previous Festivals. The inaugural feature is "Dirt," which won best documentary feature at AFF 2005. Join us July 27th at 7:30 pm for the film, which is free to AFF members and $6.00 for non-members. DIRT U.S.A., 2005, 81 Minutes, color July 27th @ 7:30 pm Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek 13729 Research Blvd Lake Creek Shopping Center 183 & Lake Creek Parkway "This is real. It's blood, sweat, tears, mud, dirt, beer." -- Travis Pace, ..17 DIRT, a documentary by Jeff Bowden, follows a season inside the soul of American auto racing the World Class Street Stocks at the legendary Devils Bowl Speedway, in Mesquite, Texas, as the racers careen on and off the track toward the season championship. This season, Gayla Jones climbs out of the stands and puts on a pink firesuit, becoming the first and only woman driver at the Devils Bowl. She is sponsored by a former racer whose interest in her extends beyond the back straightaway. Gayla is also racing against her husband, Andy, who already competes in the same class. From the very first race, Gayla is a hot pink hazard, forced off the track by bullies and her own inexperience. The question for her is no longer about winning, but instead: can she survive the season? Special dirt track concession style menu Official Site for DIRT For more info on membership, please visit http://www.austinfilmfestival.com.

David Milch

David Milch, producer and creator of Deadwood
( HBO's western drama series) will receive the Outstanding Television Writer Award from Austin Film Festival this year. Milch, a former professor at Yale University, has received numerous Emmys, Writer’s Guild Awards, along with many others over the past few years. In 1993, Milch co-created the police drama series NYBD Blue; it alone won 26 Emmy nominations for its first season.

Other brillant works that David Milch have taken part of include being a writer for Hill Street Blues and the one hour drama series Big Apple.

Get a chance to meet and talk to David Milch at the Austin Film Festival in October! For more information on attending the Festival, visit:Austin Film Festival

Cinema Television Summer Camp

2006 Cinema Television Summer Camp is taking place at the University of Texas at Austin. Every summer young people get to sign up for various classes from Cinematography, Claymation, Script-to-Screen, to Funny Shorts. Not only do students receive hands on training taught by professionals in the film industry, they also get to work with equipment provided by the RTF school at the University of Texas at Austin.

Luckily, there are still spots open in July classes. The next class you can sign up for is “Script to Screen”!

Script-to-Screen
How about learning to write, produce, act and direct all in one place? This hands-on class teaches the basics of production as students collaborate on 5-10 minute digital video projects over a two-week period. Topics include story structure and writing, direction, camera operation, lighting, sound and editing. At the end of the class students will receive copies of their movies on DVD. For the overall production experience, this class can't be beat.
July 17-28 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Classes are filling up fast. For more information on classes offered and their schedules visit:Austin Film Festival

John August and Rejection

We have all faced rejection. Screen writers face it all the time. John August, credited with movies such as: Charlie Angel’s, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, and Corpse Bride, talks about how he deals with rejection in a recent blog entry. The following excerpt is from his own website http://www.johnaugust.com/. He starts out answering a question from a fellow screenwriter:

[When you were starting out, how did you deal with rejection? Also, what advice can you give on the proper way to send out your work?
–Alan Wojcik]

I dealt with rejection the same way I deal with it now: vodka.

No, but seriously. The truth is, a screenwriter is going to face rejection over and over again, and not just at the beginning of his career. There will always be a job you wanted and didn’t get, or a snub you didn’t see coming. Eventually, you learn that you can’t depend on strangers for validation.
At least, one day I hope to learn that….. more


John August, who has acquired degrees from Drake University and the Peter Stark Program in the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California is also an advice columnist for screenwriters on IMDB. He will be attending the Austin Film Festival as a panelist in October. For a chance to meet John August visit the Austin Film Festival main web site and register for the Conference.

Pollack creates Cingular Ads.

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002765007

Sydney Pollack is coming to a theater near you today. The veteran thespian-turned-director is helming and starring in the first commercial of his 40-year career, an in-theater spot for Cingular reminding people to keep their cell phones off at the movies. Pollack will be honored with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at this year's Austin Film Festival.