American Creativity Association
2007 International Conference

Conference Presentations and Presenters
2007 ACA International Conference
March 21 - 23, 2007 with pre-Conference Institutes - March 20, 2007
in Austin, Texas

Exploring the Creativity of Cinema Artists
Panel - Barbara Morgan, Executive Director - Austin Film Festival; Steve Collins, Writer/Director (Gretchen); Dano Johnson, Animation Director (Flatland); Seth Caplan,Producer (Flatland); Jeffrey Travis, Director (Flatland)

For the filmmaker, bringing one’s vision to the screen can be a delicate and complicated process. Script rewrites, casting   is not as easy as it can often look. The Austin Film Festival has assembled an accomplished panel of filmmakers for an exploration of the varied creative processes involved in creating a film of any kind.  We’ll be joined by two filmmakers with different approaches and explore the similarities that bind them. The panel will pay special attention to the creative process of getting their story to the written page and then translating to the screen. Each filmmaker will present excerpts from their work followed by a conversation with the audience. Topics we’ll explore include: What inspired them to create their stories and choose film as the medium of expression?; What challenges --artistic, technical, financial, managerial, etc. -- did they encounter in making their films, and how did they overcome or cope with these?; In what ways do the filmmakers hope audiences are affected by viewing their work?; and, What are the rewards and sacrifices of the film making craft?  

Filmmakers presenting will be animation director Dano Johnson, filmmaker Jeffery Travis, producer Seth Caplan and filmmaker Steve Collins. Dano, Jeffery, and Seth will discuss the creative process of adapting and animating the Edwin A. Abbott novel FLATLAND.  Steve will discuss his process of getting his scripts to the screen.  A multi-talented filmmaker, his first feature film, GRETCHEN, won the Los Angeles Film Festival this last July.

Panel:

Barbara Morgan, Executive Director - Austin Film Festival

Barbara Morgan co-founded the Austin Film Festival (AFF) in 1994 after a series of successful ventures in the music industry.  In addition to running her own financing business for national broadcasters since 1988, Morgan managed musicians during Austin On the Road, a nation-wide tour of Austin singer/songwriters which included Michael Fracasso, David Halley, Jimmy Lafave and Jo Carol Pierce. (Morgan co-produced records with musicians including Michael Fracasso and Charlie Sexton as an extension of her managerial career as well.

Since 1999, Morgan has served as the executive director of the AFF, the first event of its kind to celebrate the screenwriter as the heart of the creative process of filmmaking.  In its thirteen-year history, the Festival has expanded to include a four-day screenwriter's conference, eight-day film program, screenplay and teleplay contests, film competition and the Writers Ranch.  In 2005, the October conference and film festival attracted over 2500 registrants from around the world and sold more than 25,000 movie tickets.  The AFF is one of the few U.S. festivals to be officially recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its jury winning films.

Regarded as one of the top three script contests in the world, the AFF's screenplay competition initiated the process of combining talented, undiscovered writers with production companies.  In its first year, the Festival introduced screenplay winner Max Adams to then head of production at Columbia Pictures, Barry Josephson.  The result of their meeting was the production of Adams' script, Excess Baggage.  The industry attention created by the sale of Adams' script not only propelled the AFF to greater notoriety, but also encouraged Morgan to develop and produce a film from a screenplay competition submission.  The film was 1996’s semifinalist Natural Selection, whose writers, B.J. Burrow and Allen Odom, had already signed a contract with Gotham Entertainment based on their Festival success.  The finished film, which stars David Carradine (Kung Fu), Michael Bowen (Jackie Brown), Darren Burrows (Northern Exposure), Stephen Root (News Radio) and Bob Balaban (Waiting for Guffman), was completed in early 2000, and has been on Showtime and the Sci-fi channel.   It is also distributed in DVD and has been released internationally. In 2005, Morgan co-produced the feature documentary Antones: Home of the Blues, which is available on DVD and has been released internationally as well.

Morgan's most recent project has been the expansion of the AFF's Young Filmmakers Program The program, which began with the Festival's 1994 inception, sprang from Morgan's volunteer work at Brackenridge Children's Hospital, and provides local children the opportunity to make films through the AFF Summer Camp partnered with UT-RTF department. It also provides scholarships to high school students to attend the Festival free of charge, offering them the chance to meet their screenwriting and filmmaking heroes. Last year over 300 high school students attended the Summer Camp.  Recently, Morgan produced a video with the Texas Education Agency to promote a new screenwriting competition aimed at schoolchildren.  The competition seeks to encourage the creativity and communication skills of participating children, providing them the tools necessary to improve their work in school and increase their chances of success as they enter the workforce. Within the last year the program Story Telling Through Film was implemented at 3 Austin High Schools. Each year, over 500 students benefit from the Austin Film Festival Young Filmmaker Program.

Steve Collins, Writer/Director (Gretchen)

Steve Collins grew up in the suburbs of Schenectady, NY, mostly watching movies. He studied film at Wesleyan University, ran a summer camp theater program, taught filmmaking at a therapeutic boarding school and received an MFA in film production from UT-Austin. The Sundance Channel purchased his short film “Lonelyland”  His next film “Gretchen and the Night Danger” won the shorts competition at SXSW and was expanded into a feature titled “Gretchen” which won the jury prize for Best Feature at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. 

Dano Johnson, Animation Director (Flatland)

Dano Johnson began his multi-media career when he interned at Sesame Workshop in NYC during summer 2000, working in the creative development department to produce new children’s educational series. His work on educational videos such as “Captain Can Takes on Garbage” and “Zowzoo and Friends” can be found in Austin schools, libraries, and WIC centers across Texas. For three years he developed content at Ignite! Learning, creating educational multi-media for middle-schoolers. In 2004, Dano co-founded Collection Agency Films, which produces award-winning animation for music videos, political ads, and commercials.  

Seth Caplan,Producer (Flatland)

Seth is an award-winning filmmaker who has worked for production companies in New York, Los Angeles, and Amsterdam. Seth co-founded Enspire Learning, where he produced e-learning courses for Harvard Business School and the Department of Education. He holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the American Film Institute. Seth's thesis film "Duncan Removed" was honored with a student Emmy last winter and his first feature film "The Cassidy Kids" premiered at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival. His next project is "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" the tale of one man's search for a midnight kiss on New Year's Eve.

Jeffrey Travis, Director (Flatland)

Jeffrey Travis is an award-winning filmmaker whose films have played at over 30 films festivals. Jeffrey directed the original television pilot presentation for 20th Century FOX, entitled “EXCEPT FOR DANNY” and recently completed producing the feature film “CAKE”. His work has been featured on Atomfilms.com, Ifilm.com, the IFC Channel, PBS, NBC, WB, and in movie theaters nationwide. Recently Jeffrey's short film "Evil Twinkie" won the award for best film at Flickerfest 2006. Jeffrey grew up in Argentina and currently resides in Austin, Texas.