filmmaking skills.
In the mid 1980s, local filmmaker and creator of cult hit Slacker Richard Linklater, helped create the Austin Film Society as a non-profit educational organization. Though the organization began strictly as a film appreciation group, today the Austin Film Society holds their own filmmaking camps for Austin’s youth, has discussion panels with experts in different aspects of moviemaking, and offers an internship program.
In 1999, Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, and other movie making heavy hitters approached the Austin City council explaining that Austin was becoming a moviemaking hotbed which could lead to several million dollars for the city. Linklater and Rodriguez went on to point out that office and studio space was hard to come by, due to Austin’s constant popularity and the tech boom of the time. In