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Gee, folks... it doesn't get much easier than this. For the moment, all you need to complete is an "Intent to Apply." I'm talking about the Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund (TFPF), which awards grants to Texas producers of promising non-commercial film and video projects and whose deadline for application is July 1. That gives you six weeks to fill out your application forms and craft your proposals. As a warm-up, though, the TFPF requests that you complete an "Intent to Reply" response and have it postmarked by June 2 so that everyone can keep from drowning in paperwork as the final deadline approaches. Call the Austin Film Society (AFS) at 322-0145 for info and application forms, or look for materials inside your current AFS newsletter...

We want to take a minute to wish the best of luck to 14 UT filmmakers who will be showing their work this week in Los Angeles at the first annual University of Texas at Austin Student Film Showcase. The screening and reception will be held at the Hitchcock Theater at Universal Studios on May 22 at 8pm and if you happen to be in L.A. and would like to RSVP, call 310/229-5335...

Oh, you can't go because you'll be on the other coast? Then check out Independents Nights at New York City's Lincoln Center on July 10 when the work of two Austin filmmakers will be showcased: Jacob Vaughan's multi-award-winning short "Jesus of Judson" and Marcus van Bavel's spoofy sci-fi feature Redboy 13. Both works were highlights of the SXSW.97 Film Festival...

The Royal Theater in Archer City, Texas, was the building that inspired Larry McMurtry's 1966 novel The Last Picture Show and the 1971 film by Peter Bogdanovich. The theatre burned to the ground in 1965, but an Archer City-based organization known as re.bu.r.th (Rebuilding the Royal Theater) now has big plans for a Royal makeover which would transform the rubble into a 20,000 square-foot arts complex. Toward that end, the owners of Austin's Cedar Street (208 W. Fourth) are hosting Boil for the Royal, Saturday, May 17, noon-6pm: a crawfish boil with live entertainment. Tickets are $20 ($10 for children under 12) and can be purchased through Austix, the Box Office inside BookPeople, or by calling 454-TIXS...

The next meeting of Reel Women is Wed., May 21, 7:30pm at W.A.T.E.R. House (109 Johanna). The speaker will be Judith Sims, Austin Museum of Art film and video curator and executive producer of The Territory. Call 280-8706 for more details...

This Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are the final nights of the Short Films from Latin America film series presented by Mexic-Arte Museum and the Chicano/Latino Film Forum. ACC's Charles Nafus will speak at the Thursday screening, and UT's Charles Ramirez-Berg will speak about the Mexican cinema on Saturday. All shows begin at 7pm at Mexic-Arte. For schedules, prices, and other info, call 480-9373 or reference http://members.aol.com/aavila9999...

The AFS Femmes Fatales and Other Bad Women film series continues on Wed. May 21 (7:30pm, Dobie) with the extremely perverse Roger Corman film Bloody Mama (1970), featuring Shelley Winters, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Dern. It repeats on Sat. May 24 at noon.