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Gravitas Ventures has acquired former Indiewire Project of the Day "Thank You A Lot," writer-director Matt Muir's film set in the Austin music scene (sorry, Terrence Malick, some people just work more quickly). The film, which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, will see a Video On Demand release in June 2014. "Thank You A Lot" concerts a small-time music manager (Blake DeLong) on the verge of losing his job. His last ditch-effort: sign a reclusive country music singer – his father (real life country music singer James Hand playing a fictional version of himself). As an added bonus to the VOD release, the filmmakers plan a summer tour of screenings and music concerts featuring musicians from the film. The film was produced by Chris Ohlson, who's also behind the Sundance hit "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter."...

I've often encountered a false assumption that all Austinites are familiar with every musical artist and band in the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World." Despite decades of involvement in the local music scene as a college radio station DJ, band manager and "merch girl," I probably only know one-tenth of who's playing the clubs nowadays. Therefore I welcome any films that feature local or unknown musical artists.

Music documentaries really stood out at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival, but this year it was the movies that focus on fictionalized characters in the music industry that I enjoyed the most. Not only did I like the narrative aspect of these films, but also the introduction to some wonderful music that I'd not been familiar with prior to my movie-watching experience.

My SXSW film experience began appropriately on opening night with Matt Muir's Thank You A Lot, a project that...

Thank You A Lot is an Austin, Texas film through and through, from its setting (if you know Austin, you'll see lots of familiar sites) to its music-centric focus on a variety of musical styles (classic country, indie rock and hip-hop) to its cast (featuring locals such as Andy Langer, Sam Wainwright Douglas and Zell Miller III). But while Matt Muir's directorial feature film debut can be labeled an "Austin film," its central themes, of dreams, failures, family, art and commerce, are universal. Jack Hand (Blake DeLong) is a struggling talent agent at Intrepid Management. He's not struggling because he's bad at his job or doesn't care about his clients but because he's having a hard time buying into the plastic corporate culture that his boss (Michael D. Conway) exudes, which leaves him on the outs with his boss and co-workers. It doesn't help that not too long ago...

Toh! has scored an exclusive clip to SXSW premiere "Thank You A Lot," centering on a struggling Austin music manager who is facing the possibility of losing his job unless he signs with his reclusive country music father (played by real-life underground country star James Hand). Check it out, below. The film has its world premiere in the narrative spotlight section at South By on March 7, the opening day of the fest. It's written and directed by Austin filmmaker Matt Muir, and produced by Chris Ohlson ("Kumiko the Treasure Hunter").   Here's the official synopsis:Jack Hand is a two-bit hustler and bottom-rung music manager with a questionable reputation. His dwindling social circle is made up of his only remaining clients; a hip-hop artist and an indie rock band. Jack's next best asset is his talented but estranged musician father, James Hand, a highly respected and reclusive songwriter whose legacy goes a...

In August 2012, I visited the set of the movie Thank You A Lot, which features Texas singer/songwriter James "Slim" Hand as a fictionalized version of himself along with actor Blake DeLong as a small-time music agent who struggles within the Austin music scene. Texas musicians who appear in the film include hip-hop artist Da'Shade Moonbeam, members of the Austin band Hundred Visions and jazz vocalist Keri Johnsrud.

Thank You A Lot will debut at this year's SXSW Film Festival in the Narrative Spotlight category, with the premiere screening at the Topfer Theatre at Zach on Friday, March 7 at 7 pm. Additional screenings take place on Sunday, March 9 at the Marchesa and Saturday, March 15 at the Vimeo Theater in the Austin Convention Center.

I recently spoke with writer/director Matt Muir and producer Chris Ohlson to continue our discussion about the journey of Thank You A Lot from the set to the screen.

Ready, Set, Fund is a column about crowdfunding and fundraising endeavors related to Austin and Texas independent film projects.

Several local film projects that ran successful crowdfunding campaigns are making their regional premiere at this year's SXSW Film Festival including the experimental documentary Yakona from San Marcos-based filmmakers Anlo Sepulveda and Paul Collins, Thank You A Lot from Matt Muir and Chris Ohlson, Jeffrey Radice's No No: A Dockumentary, and Todd Rohal's Rat Pack Rat (pictured above). Yakona also received two Austin Film Society Grants (formerly known as the Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund), as did local filmmaker Kat Candler for her feature-length version of Hellion, which also makes its Texas debut at SXSW.

The SXSW Film Conference will feature several sessions that should be of interest to filmmakers who want to learn more about achieving funding for their projects.

"Meet the Insiders: Funding and Special Organizations" will feature several...