"Austin-set" series will shoot in... Los Angeles!

Bah ha ha! I curse you, Austin!

Hat tip to Joe Gross at the Austin American-Statesman for this scoop:

Rob Lowe will star in Fox series 9-1-1: Lone Star, a spin-off of Ryan Murphy’s show 9-1-1. It will be set in Austin, but shot in Los Angeles because they look exactly the same. Cough cough.

More from The Hollywood Reporter: "The series follows a sophisticated New York firefighter (Lowe) who, along with his son, relocate to Austin and must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in his own life."

I expect to see Rob at at Joan's on 3rd in West Austin, ur, Hollywood, soon.

'The Son' to rise again on AMC

Good news for the Austin film/TV industry: Deadline reports that a second, 10-episode season of "The Son" is slated for AMC and almost certainly will be shot largely in Central Texas.

The show starring Pierce Brosnan (whose Texas accent is a bit "creative") is based on Philipp Meyer's epic novel of the same name, and the author is a driving force in the series as well. Read my interview with him in the Austin Chronicle.

Patty Hearst gets kidnapped in Austin

Filming begins next week in Austin on a limited-run retelling of heiress Patty Hearst's kidnapping, my sources confirm. It will continue through June 10.

It tells the tale of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst granddaughter, who was abducted from her Berkeley apartment by terror group the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 and soon was sporting a gun of her own during a bank robbery.

The series comes from Austin-based Bat Bridge Entertainment, which shot some scenes at a former bank in Taylor last summer. 

Casting calls talk of a "major network" behind the "Untitled PH Series" seeking " featured extras for recreations of real people, so the actors will be matching historical figures, and their faces will not be seen straight-on." That network is either CNN or CBS. The latter talked of just such a series last year.


ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos


Also currently shooting around Austin are a Comedy Central pilot Power Couple and Andrew Bujalski's indie film Support the Girls.

Austin-shot 'The Son' ready to premiere on AMC

Philipp Meyer was getting drunk on author and folklorist J. Frank Dobie's front porch when he decided to adapt his epic Texas novel The Son for the screen.

"Let's just do it ourselves," he recalls thinking, with the "ourselves" including his compadres Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman from the University of Texas' Michener Center for Writers. "The worst that can happen is we fail."

Read the rest at the Austin Chronicle.

Hello, goodbye, 'Leftovers,' and thank for all the miracles

The good news: HBO is back in Austin at this very moment shooting the third and final season of The Leftovers. Austin serves as the show's Miracle, Texas, in a world torn asunder by the sudden disappearance of 2 percent of the population. Much of the cast returns from season two.


The bad news: The Austin stay will be done in the blink of an eye, with the bulk of the season lensing in Australia. Indiewire has a great breakdown on how this fits into the plot.

For once, this isn't about the shrinking Texas film incentive funding that sent Robert Rodriguez packing to New Mexico. It's really about where the story itself is headed. And can we really be upset when Austin kidnapped the series for its second season after the first was shot in New York state? And, hey, The Son is rising in Austin (and needs extras!), so no worries, mate.

The Leftovers remains some of the best television out there. Based on Tom Perrotta's novel of the same name, the series has a fine pedigree with Damon Lindelof, the showrunner for Lost, at the helm. Read my Austin Chronicle interview with the show's executive producer Mimi Leder for more on that.

"Son" set to rise in Austin with Sam Neill

 Look for a 10-part AMC TV adaptation of Philipp Meyer's novel The Son to set up shop in Austin for a summer shoot. 

The acclaimed novel has been described as a "multi-generational saga of power, blood, land, and oil that follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family, from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the to the oil booms of the 20th century." University of Texas prof Don Graham regularly includes the novel in the his well-known Life and Literature of Texas course along side the works of Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy.

Sam Neil plays Eli, the family patriarch who was kidnapped and raised by Comanches, an experience that colors his world view.

Also in the cast are  Henry Garrett (Poldark), Zahn McClarnon (Fargo), Paola Nunez (Reina de corazones), and Sydney Lucas (Fun Home). The show was written by Meyer, Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy. It's expected to air in 2017.

Now if someone would finally adapt Billy Lee Brammer's The Gay Place (which is also on Graham's syllabus) for TV or film we'd be set with major Texas novels being brought to the big (or little) screen. Oh, I could also go for a faithful adaptation of Dan Jenkins' Semi-Tough minus the silly new age twaddle added to the Burt Reynolds version. Pretty please?

Urban Cowboy' TV pilot to lens in Austin

The 1980 film Urban Cowboy is being dusted off and set in the modern day for a Fox television series. No word on casting yet, but  the pilot will shoot in Austin in September with Craig Brewer, who also brought us a Footloose film remake, behind this re-imaging of a modern Cissy and Bud.

If picked up for series, it could air as soon as mid-season or not pop up until next summer. No major casting has been announced (will John Travolta's hairpiece and Debra Winger's smirk make cameos?), but we can expect the pilot to be loaded with twangy music.

Meanwhile, John Ridley's American Crime is gearing up for its second season shoot in the Austin area right now. Yes, right this moment. Learn how to be an extra over at Brock Allen Casting's Facebook page. You soon will find extra info for Urban Cowboy there as well.

Fact, fiction collide in 'Texas Rising'

My piece in today's Austin Chronicle:

©Joe O'Connell

David Marion Wilkinson never expected to be at this place. He's a novelist with a tilt toward the historical. A stubborn novelist. A novelist determined to carve out a long, successful career. But he's also got to eat, and suddenly Hollywood came calling. Soon his life was entangled with the History Channel's 10-hour miniseries Texas Rising, a sometimes historical, sometimes quite fictional account of the Lone Star State's battle for independence from Mexico, that premieres May 25.

Wilkinson's son Dean ended up in Los Angeles after graduation from the University of Texas. In the interconnected world where it matters whom you know, Dean played in a band with a guy who was dating the daughter of a producer. Soon Dean was working for her father's production company. One day he saw two of his father's books – the historical novel Not Between Brothers and the biography One Ranger – on the bookshelf. Wilkinson's son was told they were among a hundred books consulted as research for the show, which began with a focus on the formation of the Texas Rangers. But soon Wilkinson was called in as a historical consultant by Executive Producer Leslie Greif, famed as one of the creators of TV seriesWalker, Texas Ranger and producer of HC's mini-series Hatfields & McCoys. Greif was brash and confident, the cliche Hollywood producer who gets things done. Wilkinson soon found his role grow to include work on the script and ultimately a co-producer credit.

"The executive producer – a native of Los Angeles with a lifetime in the entertainment industry – and, I suppose, the original screenwriter, Ted Mann, laid out their 'vision' of the original story," Wilkinson says. "They had chosen, for instance, to accept the Emily West [Yellow Rose of Texas] legend in its original conception in the Fifties, even far exceeding that myth, totally beyond the slim historical record left behind by the real Emily West. My first job was as a historical consultant, and I argued passionately for them to reconsider their decision. When they refused, after I came on board as a screenwriter, I set my mind to take their story and their characters and run with them."

Read the rest here.

Linklater: More school and rock, less fish

Photo by Joe O'Connell

Richard Linklater must feel the adrenaline surging through his veins lately. First there's major critical acclaim for his 12-year project Boyhood. Now comes word that both his long-delayed college project and a TV version of School of Rock are in the works, but he's the latest director punt on the fishy Incredible Mr. Limpet remake.

The Hollywood Reporter: "According to sources, Linklater wants to concentrate on That's What I'm Talking About, a 1980s, university-set project that is akin to his cult hit, Dazed & Confused, which was set in the 1970s and set in high school. The project, which is based on Linklater's life, follows freshmen as they navigate through the first year of college life, while trying to make the baseball team."

Linklater played baseball briefly at Sam Houston State. The project may shoot in the fall.

Meanwhile, Linklater is producing a 13-episode Nickelodeon order of School of Rock based on the film he directed starring Jack Black. No word on whether this would shoot in Austin, but it probably depends on Linklater's level of involvement. It's also set to lens in the fall. Look for a casting announcement soon.

'Hysteria' overtakes Austin, TX

Not sure where TV drama pilot Hysteria from Amazon Studios is headed, but it's got some interesting star power both in front of and behind the camera and is currently shooting in Austin.

Mena Suvari (American Beauty) stars as "an exceptionally bright, driven, complicated, charming but socially awkward neurologist/psychiatrist at the University of Texas Medical School who travels to her hometown of Austin to investigate a mysterious epidemic among high school girls that may be spreading through technology."

Her brother is played by Grey's Anatomy alum T.R. Knight as "a fiercely intense man who’s been on death row since he was 19 years old and is two months away from execution. In the last few days of his life, and after attempting to kill himself by setting fire to his cell, he tries to convince his sister that the panic currently swallowing Austin is the same hysteria that sent him to prison 25 years ago, and if she will help to exonerate him, he’ll give her the clues she needs to resolve the crisis."

 Also in the cast is Mixology star Adan Canto.

Once-upon-a-time teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy turned writer/producer  (American Gothic) is behind the project.

Yep, NBC cancels Texas-shot 'Revolution'

Photo by Joe O'Connell

It's official. The Bartlett, Texas, (and Austin) shot NBC series Revolution has been canceled.

Wasn't I just predicting this would happen?

Over on Twitter, hopeful fans are latching onto the hashtag #RelocateRevolution. 

Timothy Hutton joins Austin-shot 'American Crime' pilot

Add Timothy Hutton to the cast of American Crime, the ABC pilot about to shoot in Austin and red-hot with its creator John Ridley fresh from Oscar love for his 12 Years a Slave.

Read more about the show, including the extras call,  here.

Killen plays 'Mind Games' earlier than expected

So sometimes Austinite Kyle Killen, whose Dallas-shot series Lone Star was cancelled by Fox after only two episodes in 2010, sees his new (not-Texas-shot) show Mind Games premiere early (Feb. 25) when ABC pulls Killer Women after two episodes (the first of which was shot in Austin). Got that? There will be a quiz later.

'From Dusk Till Dawn' TV series fires up in Austin

Robert Rodriguez acknowledges he's the king of reworking the same premise, so why not TV, which is all about the series? His new El Rey network has started the engines for a From Dusk Till Dawn series for the network with local casting happening right now in Austin.

The network is English language, but will aim to discover new Latino talent both in front of and behind the camera. Chief among the latter is Robert Orci's untitled action series, which has been dubbed a Latin James Bond. That series will likely film in Los Angeles with a 13-episode commitment beginning in March.

Rodriguez says the network, which is paired with Univision and Comcast, is aimed at

--> "people who like irreverent, visceral action and comedy." Think Walking Dead and Breaking Bad with a lot more Latino faces.

It should be a boon to Austin, but will it mark a slowdown in Rodriguez's filmmaking? He says any future films will be somehow tied into El Rey.

El Rey will have a soft launch on television in December then go full force in 2014.

Oh, and here's the extras call from Beth Sepko Casting:

Third Coast Extras is taking general submissions for extras to work on FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, a new TV series (based on the 1996 film of the same name) and produced & directed by Robert Rodriguez, shooting in the Austin, TX area between November 2013 to March 2014.

-READ CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU SUBMIT-

You'll need a flexible schedule with ability to clear your schedule for the WHOLE day and/or night that we book you to work (we don't get call times or map until the night before a shoot!) & you'll need to have your own reliable transportation to get to the sets- either in Austin or outside of town on location.

Minimum pay guarantee for extras is $79.75 per shoot. If a shoot goes past 10 hours, overtime pay kicks in.

Who we need- Adults ages 18-80s of all ethnicities and ALL types and looks including great character faces.

To submit, email us at: thirdcoastextras@gmail.com w/ subject heading "Dusk Extras" and follow directions below exactly:

Men: include name, age, phone #, height/weight, jacket size, collar size, pants size (waist/inseam), and shoe size. Attach plenty of clear, well-lit, current photos in high resolution - including both close up photos and full length photos that show your body.

Women: include name, age, phone #, height/weight, dress size, measurements (bust-waist-hips), & shoe size. Attach plenty of clear, well-lit current photos in high resolution - including both close up photos and full length photos that show your body.

IMPORTANT: Must be Texas resident w/ valid Texas ID who lives in (or at least nearby) to Austin, TX since shoots days can change at the last minute. Please don't submit if you're not local to the area or nearby. Even if you've submitted or worked with us on a previous project, please follow directions and submit again for this project. We want your most updated info & current photos to show Director. Also, if you don't hear from us for a booking soon, we may need you later on in the project so keep submitting to our postings. Thank you!

On the 'Revolution' set in Bartlett

 My report for The Austin Chronicle on NBC's Texas-shot second season of Revolution:

Evan Cauduro, 11, heard about it from friends at school. Then his family was at a dinner party where a woman talked about the call for "weird people." At home, Evan rushed to the computer and began to sign himself up. His father Paul uploaded two photos – one of Evan in his baseball uniform and another from the boy's school science fair. Soon Evan was staying up all night in grungy clothes. He ran dangerously close to an oncoming horse. And you might just see him as a background extra on Sept. 25 when the NBC series Revolution debuts its second season, its first as a Central Texas-shot phenomenon.
 
The show is headquartered in Austin for a 22-episode sweep that will continue into May, says Gary Bond, head of the Austin Film Commission, but cameras have been popping up at Decker Lake and in Maxwell, downtown Taylor, Cedar Park, and elsewhere. The conventional wisdom is each episode results in $1 million in local spending. "That's the wonderful thing about television," Bond says. "It's the gift that keeps on giving. The potential for them to be here five years is there."

Read the rest in The Austin Chronicle here.


See photos from the Bartlett set here.

More views of the 'Revolution' set

My schedule keeps taking me through Bartlett, Texas, where NBC's TV series Revolution has taken up residence. The latest episode being shot seems to have a Halloween theme. It was at the end of a rain storm when I came through, so the set was mostly deserted and I could get out of my car--most times lately the set perimeter is swarming with cops from many area police departments--and take some pix of the entrance, including it's door made of old tires. Many burned out cars were on the edges of the area.

I couldn't figure out if a guy selling art made of old cans was part of the show or just an odd neighbor. Honk and he'd come out to take your cash.

'Revolution' courthouse sprouts in Bartlett

The TV series Revolution has taken over tiny Central Texas town Bartlett for shooting of its second season. That includes construction of the facade of a burned-out courthouse at a downtown intersection. It's held up by plywood and features the "Town Rules." In front of it sits the remains of a statue. The show shoots through April in the Austin area.

 Here are a few shots of actors/extras in costume.

'Revolution' settles in for Texas shoot

I was passing through the tiny town of Bartlett, Texas, today when I spotted the little yellow sign that productions put out to steer cast and crew to a shooting location. This one read "Nano." I wasn't sure what that could be, but the size of the production and the hinty name (the plot of Revolution has nanotechnology causing a blackout) sez it has to be the NBC series which moved its base from North Carolina to the Austin area recently. These are probably just extras in costume, but the guy on the left looks a lot like show star Billy Burke...

Austin-shot 'The Lying Game' cancelled

This just in: Austin-shot television series The Lying Game has been officially cancelled by ABC Family after a long delay in the decision. The show shot for two years in Austin. These days there's other TV brewing in Austin.

Show star Alexandra Chando broke the news on Twitter, today, then it was confirmed by show officials.

Over on Facebook, fans are upset that the show will end without wrapping up its loose ends.

'Lying Game' waits for true renewal

 UPDATE: Nope. it's cancelled.

It's sort of fitting that ABC's Killer Women filmed its pilot in Austin but the series will be shot in New Mexico. That's the exact opposite of ABC Family's The Lying Game for which the pilot lensed in New Mexico but the series shot in Austin. Notice that past tense? No one knows at this point if the show will get a third season. The delayed official announcement is now to come on July 15, and the folks behind the show are urging viewer support and, oddly, for folks to not watch a couple of new ABC Family shows. And in Austin this news is hardly rating a blip in the media. Instead all eyes are focused on NBC's hit series Revolution's moving production to town.

Here's the scoop from a Facebook fan page Renew The Lying Game:

I noticed there have been a ton of questions from all of you lately that need to get clarified.

QUESTION 1: When will we know if TLG has been renewed or not?
Allie (Laurel) said that they will know the official word on JULY 15TH which is a little over 2 weeks away. I will post the official word as soon as I know!

QUESTION 2: Blair is on Switched at Birth this season so TLG must be canceled.
NO not at all true. Blair is ONLY guest starring this season. The word is that he's in ONLY 6 or 7 episodes maybe less. He filmed these episodes earlier in the year while TLG wasn't filming.

QUESTION 3: Is boycotting ABC Family's new shows really going to help TLG get renewed?
YES! ABSOLUTELY! The less viewers these shows get the better the chance is for TLG to get renewed. If these shows get way more viewers then TLG then ABC Family will think TLG doesn't have a big enough fan base to continue and these other shows do.

QUESTION 4: What if I just boycott Twisted & watch The Fosters? Am I still helping TLG?
Yes & no! A lot of people are assuming that only Twisted's ratings have to do with TLG's renewal or cancellation & that The Fosters only affects Bunheads. But NO official word has stated this. When the announcement came out it said ABC Family wants to see how BOTH of their new shows do. If BOTH are canceled is WAY MORE likely that TLG will get renewed. That means that TWO time slots will be opened.

QUESTION 5: How can I help get TLG renewed?
Tweet ABC Family like CRAZY letting them know that you want TLG back with hashtags ‎#RenewTheLyingGame & ‎#LyingGameBack10 Also email them & leave tons of FB comments. The more noise we make he better!