Austin, Texas info

[DChang]

What's the production industry like in Austin? I know it's a booming city and different from the rest of Texas. But what about making a living in video production? Freelance? Post houses? And does anyone know what, if any type of art scene is in Austin?

I am assuming the cost of living in Austin is much cheaper than Miami.

Don't bother mentioning Apple, all they have is enterprise tech support for pro apps. (phones).

 

[Drew Ott]

Depends what you want to do. There aren't as many features being shot here as there used to be. The new film directed by Drew Barrymore is based in Austin but was shot in Michigan, if that tells you anything.

There's a very large community of people here who support each other on no-budget shoots. Lots of people always shooting shorts.

I don't think Austin is the best town to move to if you want to make money doing film stuff, at the moment. We recently passed a new film incentives bill, but I'm not so sure when that goes into effect, or if it's actually going to bring films back to Austin.

Art scene seems to be pretty good, from what I've heard. I don't really know, though.

 

[Taylor Rudd]

I was about to post the same thing. I'm a Texas native, but just moved to Austin earlier this summer. I shoot part-time with a company in town that produces documentaries on spec for TV, but want to maintain freelance DP/camera department work on the side.

So far, it's mostly the corporate videos that pay well.

I know we have quite a few Austin members on the board - what kind of work do you guys do?