Parker Jazz Club
UT Film Has 'Gold Fever'
RECEIVED Mon., Sept. 8, 2003
Re: UT Film Institute ["Good Grades or Good Reviews?" Sept. 5]
Sounds great for Gen-X film students. One question though – is there a retroactive "get into Hollywood free" diploma for former UT film school graduates?
Twentysomething years ago, in-house funding from UT for such low-budget Austin indies as Invasion of the Aluminum People, Speed of Light, or Louis Black’s Mask of Sarnath would have been both implausible and impossible.
I guess we have become a famous-for-15-minutes-obsessed nation now that even old conservative UT has succumbed to box-office "gold fever."
Psst. A tip from someone "near" the industry … UT would be foolish not to bankroll the straight-to-video sequel of Austin cult film, Barn of the Blood Llama. Now that would be institutional boldness worthy of not D.W. Griffith, but the even bolder Roger Corman.
Sounds great for Gen-X film students. One question though – is there a retroactive "get into Hollywood free" diploma for former UT film school graduates?
Twentysomething years ago, in-house funding from UT for such low-budget Austin indies as Invasion of the Aluminum People, Speed of Light, or Louis Black’s Mask of Sarnath would have been both implausible and impossible.
I guess we have become a famous-for-15-minutes-obsessed nation now that even old conservative UT has succumbed to box-office "gold fever."
Psst. A tip from someone "near" the industry … UT would be foolish not to bankroll the straight-to-video sequel of Austin cult film, Barn of the Blood Llama. Now that would be institutional boldness worthy of not D.W. Griffith, but the even bolder Roger Corman.
Kevin L. West
