Slackery News Tidbits: January 28, 2013

in

Here's the latest in Austin and Texas film news.

  • IndieWire reports that HBO has ordered a pilot from former Austinites Jay and Mark Duplass. The brothers will write, executive produce and direct the pilot for the half-hour comedy Togetherness, about two couples living in the same house. Although neither brother is set to appear on screen, Togetherness, if ordered as a series, will be their television project as writers and creators.
  • The Tom Hanks-produced film Parkland (Ryan's dispatch), about the going-ons at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, has started shooting in Austin, IndieWire reports. The film, adapted from author and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's book Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, stars Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton and University of Texas alum Marcia Gay Harden, among others. Parkland is scheduled for a late 2013 release, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death.
  • Despite ensuing controversy, MovieMaker Magazine has named Austin the best city for indie filmmakers, according to Joe M. O'Connell's blog. New York, Seattle, LA and Portland follow in the annual top 10 list, whose criteria includes "film community," "access to new film," "access to equipment," "cost of living" and "tax incentives." Last year Austin was ranked number two behind New Orleans, which dropped out of the top five this year.
  • Filmmaker Kevin Smith will receive the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award Feb. 9 at the 17th annual Austin Gala Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel for his long-standing and outspoken support of LGBT civil rights. The annual dinner raises money for HRC's national advocacy work. Smith is a member of the Austin Film Society Advisory Board.
  • Jennifer Tomberlin of Culture Map Dallas wrote a great feature on Dallas filmmaker Eric Steele, who can be seen next acting in Dallas/Fort Worth area filmmaker David Lowery's feature Ain't Them Bodies Saints, which screened and sold to IFC Films recently at Sundance.