Hollywood, Austin Style!

We drove from Louisiana to Austin in one day. Pretty uneventful, unless you count Texas’ lack of rest-stops and nearly ruptured bladders as eventful.

Caught up in Texas!

We arrived in Austin about 6:30 or so on a Friday, after dark. There was a little bit of backed-up up traffic on the roads, but nothing terrible. We had directions to our friend Bryan’s place that he had provided, so there were no worries. It had been a couple of years (4 I think) since we had seen Bryan. We last visited him in San Diego, where he was living at the time. Bryan is a photographer and videographer, and has made his living for the past few years as a producer of on-demand video on the internet. When we visited him in San Diego, he was just turning his garage into an in-home studio, so he could shoot more of his videos in house.

Do you think we know these guys?

We were totally unprepared for what we found when we arrived. First off, we drove right by the entrance gates to his property the first time, they were so lit up and grand, we thought it was some fancy ranch. It turns out it is His fancy ranch! Turns out a couple of years ago, Bry rented this 10 acre lot, and turned an abandoned church building into a residence and film studio. There is an elegant entry, with nicely redone bathrooms and kitchen. Everything is elegantly furnished and clean, which I guess you have to expect if you are shooting film in it! One room is set up as his computer room, with 3 or 4 different workstations, where Bryan and his friend/assistant Bill process all the video and digitize it for online viewing. He partitioned the rest of the open space in the building into at least 6 different studio spaces, each of them set up differently for the various films he does. It turns out that one of them was set up as a bedroom, and that was where we got to sleep while we were staying with him! It was kinda nifty, and kinda odd, sleeping in this essentially fake room, surrounded by video cameras, lighting, microphone booms, and computer stuff.

Reception area.
Lights!

Camera!

Sleeping in the existing studio.

And get this, his business is booming so much, that he is relinquishing this space next year, because he has bought a nearby 10 acre parcel of land, and is refurbishing the pre-existing house, and adding a much larger brand new studio there!

The new studio, under construction.

BryBry is a busy, busy boy, always working, always thinking about ways to improve business and profits. We were happy to socialize with him, discuss business, and how all his many projects were progressing. We went out for dinner with him and Bill to a (nearby isn’t exactly the right word when you are out in the country!) Hawaiian themed burger joint and had some good laughs.

Saturday morning, Bill made us some awesome french toast (sorry about having to buy it twice, Bill!) for breakkie. Then we went out and toured the new house and studio construction. It was awesome seeing the scale of the project. The construction guys were just sanding the drywall in the studio, and almost all of the stone façade in front was done. The location and setup of what Bry’s got going on struck a cord with us. To own a couple of acres a little ways outside of a cool town, and construct (or remodel) a house to your liking… If it were on the west coast, we’d be in heaven to have that arrangement, and even in Texas it is mighty appealing! We are sure Bry will do an excellent job putting it all together, based on his previous projects.

Saturday afternoon Bry and Bill had to work on a video project, so we took off to entertain ourselves for the afternoon. Unfortunately Tony had a blood sugar crash and wasn’t good for much of anything the next two hours until he got fed. (hint: don’t wait till the last minute to eat and get stuck at Whataburger). After a meal, and finding a restroom, things got back on an even keel. We found our way down to the river that is dammed and runs through downtown Austin. There we found a great little dock on the water, where we sat and enjoyed the warm sunshine and setting sun for a couple hours, napping & calling relatives. We were visited by three very noisy geese, and one very elegant swan, and watched the turtles sun and dive off rocks.

We took a walk along the river just after sunset. Sadly the bats had migrated south for the winter, so none of the infamous bat takeoffs, but it was very pretty nonetheless.

Friendly geese and a swan!

Lamar Street Bridge (Rt 343) in Austin, TX.

State Capitol!

We connected back up with Bry and and Bill that evening and went out to Chipotle for dinner, and we visited for a bit before bed. Bill and Bry got some of Adam’s infamous back rubs, (too much time at the computer, boys!) and we called it a night. We choose a different studio for that night (why not?) which also happened to be set up as a bedroom. We would have loved to have stayed a lot longer in Austin, but we had more people to see, and we suspect Bry had more pressing matters to attend to!