Tom Martens has been named vice president of creative, film and music. Martens will oversee all branding and design for the tourism organization, support the Fort Worth Film Commission and manage the Hear Fort Worth music association. Reporting to Martens, Taylor Hardy will serve as film commissioner and will lead efforts to attract productions while building a more film-friendly community through programs like the Fort Worth Film Collaborative jobs program and partnership with Lone Star Film Festival.

“Tom and Taylor will accelerate our efforts to grow music and film in Fort Worth. They each have a strong record of innovation and supporting these important areas of our economy,” said Mitch Whitten, chief operating officer of Visit Fort Worth. “We are excited about what they will do next.”

Courtesy of Visit Fort Worth

Martens is a 13-year veteran of Visit Fort Worth and has earned national recognition for his creative marketing, including activations at festivals such as SXSW and campaigns such as The Unexpected City. He helped create Hear Fort Worth and shaped its mission to help local musicians tour with travel grants and to create jobs by advocating for the music industry in the city. Under his leadership, Fort Worth was the first music-friendly city certified by the governor’s Texas Music Office. Tom has forged numerous partnerships that create jobs and support for local musicians including busking on the grounds at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo and pre-concert sessions on Dickies Arena’s Simmons Bank Plaza. The SoundCare partnership with JPS Health Network markets affordable healthcare options to the creative community. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas.

Hardy assumes the role of film commissioner after building the organization for the past nine years under founding commissioner Jessica Hill, who recently left Visit Fort Worth for the private sector. In addition to working with hundreds of productions, Hardy has played an integral role in Film Commission infrastructure and programs such as community mixers and marketing campaigns to promote the local workforce.  She launched the Film Fort Worth social media channels and grew the Instagram page to have the largest following of any film office nation-wide. The Film Commission offers a robust website for locations and crew. Hardy has been with the organization for nine years, beginning as an intern while studying film, television and digital media in TCU’s Bob Schieffer College of Communication.

Film production has become a pillar of economic development in Fort Worth, creating more than 30,000 jobs, generating tens of thousands of hotel room nights and delivering a $700 million impact in its first nine years. Notable productions filmed here include Miss Juneteenth, 12 Mighty Orphans, The Chosen and TV series from 101 Studios and Taylor Sheridan such as 1883, Landman and Lioness.

Visit Fort Worth identified music as a vital part of the city’s entertainment offerings and has championed local music performance and production. Music is a top tourism experience, requested by conventions, sports events and featured at venues and restaurants across the city. Hear Fort Worth’s efforts have been cited as best practices by the Texas Music Office at its annual Texas Sounds and Cities conference, which started in Fort Worth. With Hear Fort Worth support, local musicians have been featured on national stages at AmericanaFest in Nashville, SXSW in Austin, Folk Alliance in Kansas City and Windy City Smokeout in Chicago.

In their roles at Visit Fort Worth, Martens and Hardy will also support marketing needs for teams dedicated to attracting and hosting conventions and sports events.

The post Visit Fort Worth Announce Film and Music Leadership first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

The Fort Worth Film Collaborative is a film workforce development certification program to address the growing need for trained film industry crew in the DFW area. The one-of-a-kind curriculum will provide students with a pathway to employment in the film industry.

The fast-track certification program is designed to fit around work and family. All courses are 4 weeks and students will be able to enroll in multiple courses. Certifications offered in construction, lighting and electric will be offered this September with more options to follow in Spring and Summer 2024

WHO: Speakers and presenters will include:

• Mattie Parker, Mayor of Fort Worth
• David Glasser, President and CEO of 101 Studios
• Elva LeBlanc, Chancellor of Tarrant County College
• Dr. Kenya Ayers-Palmore, Northeast Campus President, Tarrant County College
• State Representative Craig Goldman, Fort Worth
• Brain Newby, Visit Fort Worth Board of Directors Chair

• Bob Jameson, President & CEO, Visit Fort Worth

• Jessica Christopherson, Film Commissioner and VP Marketing, Visit Fort Worth

WHY: To address the need for trained film and television crews in the Fort Worth and Tarrant County area and create a pathway for jobs.

WHEN: Wednesday, August 30, 2023 from 4pm – 6pm

WHERE:     Backlot Studios

305 South Main Street

Fort Worth, Texas 76104

The post Film Workforce Program Launches first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

Photo courtesy of Julie Rhodes

I do things like “show up to the carpool line, late.” As a theater actor for most of my life, I find my occasional film gigs feel like family reunions where people look vaguely familiar, but everyone is awkward around the guacamole. Except, unlike family reunions, on a film set you might have to scream at, kiss passionately, or otherwise breach social codes with strangers at any point on a given day. In the theater, you get at least three weeks’ rehearsal to warm up for these things. It’s a weird deal, but I’m not complaining. 

About a year ago, I booked a role on a TV series in development to pitch to major streaming networks. Working title: Beneath the Trees. It’s a psychological thriller set in a fictitious West Virginia town where teenage girls have been disappearing since 1990, but now a high school freshman is taking it personally. Is there a killer? Or just a kidnapper? Could this sociopath be her neighbor, and could the next victim be her best friend? 

Producers Jason Zimmerman and Gina Anne, of Dallas-based Blue Knight Entertainment, have been developing the series for several years now and were just on the cusp of mounting a crew and shooting before COVID struck.

Without an official contract from a streaming service, the plan was to put together a series trailer that could be shopped around in the hopes of the show getting picked up by a major network/streaming network and produced with a bigger budget.  

Enter COVID, which made scheduling and safety concerns almost as dramatic as the show’s plotline. Shoot dates for November 2020 were finally established with COVID protocols in place. 

I’m playing the role of Shannon, a mom caught in an abusive marriage as she tries to shield her daughter from her husband’s unpredictability and violence — so, you know, a really happy-go-lucky kind of gal — and have been pondering her backstory and feelings towards her daughter and husband since 2019. So when I finally “showed up to set”, I was, let us say, full of Many Feelings. Except for a few meetings, I had not had much interaction with Ella Morrow, my “daughter” Taylor, or with Michael Wagemann, my scary “husband” Danny, who is, in fact, the nicest guy you’ve ever met. (And a firefighter to boot.) Then the director, Cruise Sztamenits, called “Action!” and the tears began streaming down Ella’s face. She was magic. And just like that, we were off. 

Photo courtesy of Julie Rhodes

The next sequence to shoot was a hostage scene with real guns. A blue-haired member of the crew methodically went around to each actor demonstrating the empty chambers in the barrel of the shotgun and in the magazine of the handgun so we could officially give our consent, in front of God and man, to having these things pointed at us. (Side note: as an actor who hates props in general because I was apparently born to mime, this happily fueled the fear I needed for the scene.)   

Writer/Producers Jason Zimmerman and Gina Anne met in a writing workshop, where they began developing the original concept for Beneath the Trees. Jason’s major in college was law enforcement but when he discovered acting his sophomore year, he was hooked. He now says that “pretend is better” when it comes to murderers, investigations, and crime. Gina Anne taught music for 25 years and holds a counseling degree, both of which have been helpful in fleshing out the psychological world of teenagers for a show. 

The trailer will likely be finished by the time you read this, and then comes the even harder part: selling the idea to the big boys. Jason and Gina have already overcome many hurdles just to have gotten to this point, and they’re not giving up any time soon. “We’ve invested too much into the story to just let it go,” says Jason, to which Gina adds, “And a good story sells itself.” They’re banking on the ravenous demand for streaming service content which has skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic, and the marketability of the concept itself, which feels like a mash-up between Stand By Me, Breaking Bad, and Scream. 

Photo courtesy of Julie Rhodes

 I, for one, appreciate the work. My first love theater has been all but decimated since 2020, and the changing entertainment ecosystem is hurtling me on a wild, circuitous journey, as it has all artists everywhere. I take nothing for granted. I stand amongst the strangers, the guns, and the guacamole, and I smile. 

The post Behind Beneath: A Sneak-Peek of a Scrappy Show-in-the-Making first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

In the balmy, pre-masked days of 2019, Fort Worthians were gleefully searching out and exchanging info. Where’s the movie shooting today? Did we really see Robert Duvall and Luke Wilson at Joe T’s last night? Rumor had that Martin Sheen was staying at the Worthington – has anyone seen him? 

Based on the book by Jim Dent, 12 Mighty Orphans is the true story about the scrappy team from the Fort Worth Masonic Home that went on to Texas football greatness as the Great Depression raged. Producer Michael DeLuca of Captain Phillips and The Social Network partnered with Houston Hill of The Iron Orchard to bring the story to life with director Ty Roberts (The Iron Orchard).  

A film about boys made by boys, right? Hardly. 

Meet producers Camille, Anne, and Angelique, three women who brought their A-game to midwife a sports movie into being. They’re all natives of the Lone Star State. They’re all moms. And they all love their work.  

“I’m a Texas girl.” 

Camille Chambers
photo credit: Jodie Miears, Reverie Photo Co.

I got to interview each woman on-set last fall, feeling guilty for interrupting a busy workday. That morning, the crew was shooting a scene in which the orphans take on the Lake Highlands team, which involved dozens of extras in period clothing and two fully outfitted 1930s-era football teams. It was also Martin Sheen’s last day on set so much had to be put “in the can.” The weather was iffy. I felt like I had on too much lipstick.  

Producer Camille Chambers pulled away to speak with me first, her headphones resting on her collarbone at the ready. She was all smiles. A Lubbock-raised grandmother, Camille was enthusiastic about the project, especially after working on Ty Roberts and Houston Hill’s other film, The Iron Orchard. “I’m a Texas girl. When I first met Ty, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with and for him. It was so fun to be part of a team that knew how to tell Texas stories with strong Texas women.” 

Inspired by her own mother who lived through the Depression, Camille drew a parallel between the films. “Both films are very dude-heavy, but as you read the stories, you see the women behind the men.”   

A veteran of many areas of “The Business,” Camille ultimately reinvented herself in the 1990s after becoming a single mom, taking on freelance work that fit her kids’ schedules and synched with her values. “I will never work on a project that I cannot validate with my children. I want to say I that I busted my rear for something I want you to be proud of, too.” 

On 12 Mighty Orphans, Camille was busy with day-to-day tasks and frequently took on a maternal role with her staff, shoo-ing younger moms home after a day of endless work, and arranging for nannies for actors who were simultaneously working and breast-feeding. “We’re asking people to come and work for us for two months, and a lot of them are away from their families,” she said. “As a producer, I just try to make sure everybody’s happy and hardworking and feels good about what they’re doing.” 

“That’s the face.” 

Anne Fleitas
photo credit: Jodie Miears, Reverie Photo Co.

Anne Fleitas told me her favorite responsibility is a toss-up between casting and music. Casting is “kind of like a big puzzle,” she said. “You just have to find the right little piece to make this team come together.” From in-person auditions to chemistry reads, Anne helped craft the orphan ensemble according to Ty’s vision and her intuition.    

“So for Hardy [one of the orphans], we kept getting a lot of model-y submissions from L.A., and we’re like, ‘No he needs to look tough and southern.’ And someone mentioned Jake Austin Walker, and I saw him, and I said, ‘That’s the face.’” She also had a hand in casting Bob Dylan’s grandson, of all people, who originally auditioned for Hardy. “But look at him,” she insisted. “He’s tall, dark, and handsome. He’s a Fairbanks [a different orphan in the story].” 

A new parent at the time of filming, Anne said the film’s subject matter hit her harder than it would have pre-motherhood. Reflecting on the real-life orphans she encountered while filming at the Texas Pythian Home in Weatherford, Anne said her mind was spinning with what else can be done to help. “[The children living at the Pythian Home] come up to you,” she said, “And we put our headsets on them so they can listen and watch. You wish you could do more for them than give them your headphones, you know?”   

What does she hope that children in the foster care system might take away from this film?  

“That even if you don’t have the best family, or even have a family to call your own, that you can choose your family. And you don’t have to stay in the same place you were handed in life. There are options. There are ways out and up.”  

“Completely and utterly inspired.” 

Angelique DeLuca
photo credit: Jodie Miears, Reverie Photo Co.

Angelique DeLuca returned Texas after 20 years in the L.A. maelstrom where she lived and worked with Hollywood big hitters. She moved to L.A. to pursue an acting career that she’s since left behind, apart from her turn playing Sister Cora in Orphans. 

Angelique’s first time on a movie set was as an extra in Bottle Rocket, the film in which Luke Wilson had his breakout role. “And now I’m Luke Wilson’s boss! Isn’t that funny?” she laughed. 

Angelique’s involvement with Orphans partly stems from a close family connection to the Masonic Home central to the story. When Angelique was a baby, her mother was struggling and ultimately placed Angelique’s older sister in the home while she got back on her feet. “The one reason I didn’t go was that I was nursing,” said Angelique. “Talk about a strong woman. But it was heartbreaking; she had no choice.” The family was later reunited, but the impact of poverty and desperation stayed with Angelique.  

As a liaison between the film’s production companies (Santa Rita Film Co. and DeLuca Productions), Angelique balanced life and work as a single mom to her two kids. She said she hopes they’re proud of her and vowed they will always come first. But, she said, she hopes they don’t want to get into the entertainment business which she describes as a “tough, tough industry.”  

Making this film allowed her to turn her trials into something redemptive. “I know what it’s like to be poor, I know what it’s like to struggle. I hope that everybody who sees this movie is just completely and utterly inspired. I hope it inspires people to take a look at their own lives and realize how blessed they are and give back.” 

photo credit: Scotty Reese

The future of 12 Mighty Orphans is unclear as the pandemic continues to re-direct its course from in-the-can to on-the-screen. Whether we get to see it on a streaming service like Netflix or at an actual, pre-pandemic movie theater (popcorn and all!), the film will no doubt remind us of the mighty among us, be they football players, movie makers, or moms. 

photo credit: Anthony Chiang

Julie Rhodes is a freelance writer and actor in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She writes regularly for Madeworthy magazine and the Tanglewood Moms blog.

The post The Mighty Among Us: The Women Behind Fort Worth’s Most Buzzed-About Film first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

This short film was a passion project for director Warren Cook, allowing him to look at the lives of artists from a different perspective than Funkytown Circus’ Fairmount house party; the day-to-day grind, the emotional turmoil, the regret and loss hidden beneath the eventual entertainment.

It all began with a connection to the music of Jude Gonzalez, who portrays a musician with whom the audience enters the titular bar. Inspired by her commitment to 100 days of songwriting, Cook invited her to come over to his house and write songs with him. “We started getting together every Thursday night at my place, drinking vodka and Red Bull and singing, writing songs, and things just came out of it.”

They shared stories of the roller coaster existence that lies between the spark of inspiration and the realization of a performance. Those conversations and the process of writing with Jude motivated Warren Cook to develop The Twilite Hour. With collaboration from artists of all stripes, the creative swirl of Make Something Beautiful drew out a collective of talent to tell the story of a single night at a local bar where truth and lies mix and mingle alongside the rhythm and blues of a series of musical acts. “I wanted to do something with a few of the tunes I had, and I wanted to make a narrative piece at some level. What a journey from doing documentaries, entirely a different beast.”

Casting the Near Southside’s Twilite Lounge as the neighborhood bar where this collection of characters cross paths was an easy choice for Cook just as it was natural for him to recruit many of his favorite local folks to populate the cast.

People like Keegan McInroe, the traveling troubadour, who opens the film with a philosophical consideration of the nature of the self as well as contributing the tune, “I Got Trouble,” which resonates thematically with the film. McInroe was on hand before the screening to perform that song and a few others, including Steve Earle’s paean to Townes Van Zandt, “Fort Worth Blues.”

In the film, Bonnie Bishop gives a soulful performance of one of her songs. She was in attendance as well, freshly back from touring her album The Walk. Henry the Archer frontman, Richard Hennessy, is another musician featured in The Twilite Hour, Make Something Beautiful also produced a music video for their song “The Bad” last year.

Simon Flory is frantically hilarious as a Mariachi crook, The Southside Pirate’s John Rody showcases a sweet moment of pathos sitting at the bar alongside Ansley Dougherty, who left Fort Worth for Nashville last year. Opera singer Kenny Clymer, who portrays the bartender, set the stage by showcasing his magnificent voice.

In addition to the short film, Make Something Beautiful, also showed a recent video they did about the inimitable Nick Huff, maker of high-quality knives, following the model of the vignettes they have created since their inception.

After the screening, there was also a station set up for attendees to answer random questions spread out across a table in front of them. The production team filmed the responses for release as part of a future series; one creative endeavor begets another.

The creative company continues to generate great work, taking home the 2020 American Advertising Federation’s Mosaic Award, honoring their Blue Zones: TransFORTmation for its dedication to diversity and inclusion, at the February ceremony held in Fort Worth. They will also enter The Twilite Hour into consideration for film festivals across the country this spring.

An Austin native, Lyle Brooks relocated to Fort Worth in order to immerse himself in the burgeoning music scene and the city’s rich cultural history, which has allowed him to cover everything from Free Jazz to folk singers. He’s collaborated as a ghostwriter on projects focusing on Health Optimization, Roman Lawyers, and an assortment of intriguing subjects requiring his research.

The post Making Something Beautiful: The Twilite Hour first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.