Taking “Project Highwayman” to SXSW - Day 8: That’s All Folks!

This is it. The final post. Our adventurers take their final steps across Austin pitching their sci-fi horror podcast.

Me seated for my last screening at SXSW (Tell Me Something Studios)

AUSTIN – Well, everyone, you stayed with me on this journey for over a week and look how far we got! We talked to award-winning actors, directors, and creators in the industry! We ate, drank, and slept movies for the entirety of the trip...and it has been amazing. In my two and half years working on this project, I never thought we’d make it here. You don’t go this far chasing a side project. This has quickly solidified how serious we were for this project. And if we made it this far, imagine the places we’ll go.

Enough of the soft stuff, let’s get to the final day of our trip!

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To start out, Jacob and I woke up that Friday ready to hit up an Agents and Managers meetup early in the morning. We were the ones who first told you about the project and now it would be us who were going to finish the job.

Brand new sci-fi horror podcast aiming for SXSW

We made it to the event across the street from the Austin Convention Center and immediately jumped into the conversations. We talked, we laughed, we listened to everyone there; all of whom were building their own registry of contacts. It wasn’t too long before Jacob and I realized - the event was centered around people in the music industry! The amount of prepping we did for the event... all felt for nothing. When Jacob and I stepped away, we started talking about how to handle the rest of the event. We concluded we would just talk to a few more people before leaving.

We were working our way across the room when we spoke to a creator from Alberta, Canada. During our rehearsed pitch, he was giving the general head nods that you come to recognize during the event. When we finished, the creator asked a question Jacob and I were not prepared for. “Do you have a score for the show?” It was something we as a group always mentioned but never really focused on. It opened our eyes to the opportunities we had at the event. A music industry meetup with musicians looking to get their content out there. This was the motherload for sounds and music we could use for the show! We got as many contacts as we could and got out of their with our heads held high.

Left to Right: "Ghost Cowboy" by Augury Press, "O.A.R." by Max Wesoloski, and "Anything Out There" by Randy Crider. (Tell Me Something Studios)

We stopped by the Flatstock 92 hall which was showcasing rock show posters done by amazing creators from around the nation. There is a giant community of artists who work on these posters all year to showcase at events like this. It is a world I never heard about and now, I’m currently following almost every artist who was at the event.

When we got home, I took a quick nap and got ready for the evening’s event. We had promised Isaiah and Bailey we would watch two other movies. “Civil War”, which we saw the night before, and “7 Keys”, which told the story of a woman meeting a man who has the seven keys to his past homes and their journey breaking into them. As I was getting ready to go to the theater, Jacob opted out of the screening to get some rest. So it would just be me and our friend, Aerik, going to see the movie.

Taking “Project Highwayman” to SXSW - Day 4-7: Nights at the Cinema

Aerik and I holding our queue cards for "7 Keys" (Tell Me Something Studios)

After nights of the group getting together to fight the crowds, it was nice to just walk into a calm theater at the American Film Society Cinema and sit down for a movie. Since this was one of the last showing of the event, there was only one crew member who worked on the film left to speak: the film’s editor, Roberta Bononi! She was really cool and we nerded out at the themes and subtle hints to the films hidden meanings. Definitely go watch it if you get the chance.

Me with Roberta Bononi (Editor of "7 Keys") (Tell Me Something Studios)

After finally getting home, I turned in for the my last night before heading home to Houston the next morning.

And that’s it! Roll credits! This trip took a lot of time, planning, and work to get here! Thank you to Jacob, Bailey, and Isaiah for being the best team of creators I have ever been apart of. You guys are my family and I can’t wait to see how far we go.

Wanted to give a shoutout to some of the creators we met! Thank you to Aerik for being our guide on the trip; here’s his info here! Shoutout to the Brandon, Justin, and Lluvia from the Medium Popcorn Podcast! They were really chill and honestly have some good takes on movies! Definitely give them a listen.

Also wanted to show some love to Larry Fried with Geek Vibes Nation who we saw at almost every major showing we went to! Same to Bryan Sudfield with The Rolling Tape!

The BIGGEST shoutout to KPRC 2 and the Click2Houston team for allowing me to have this outlet and showing off our team! You guys immediately jumped at the chance to help me out and it means the world to me! If you liked what you read or want more content like this, leave a comment!

And finally, thank you to you! You who has been reading along and going on this journey with me. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and it is you that has been supporting me by clicking in! You are truly awesome!

Until next time, see you in the next one!

Be safe!

Now a montage of the stars I met along the way!

Me with Samara Weaving (Actor in "Azrael") (Tell Me Something Studios)
Me with Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Actor in "Azrael") (Tell Me Something Studios)
Me with Sebastian Bull (Actor, "Azrael") (Tell Me Something Studios)
Me with Freddie Wong (Writer & Director for "We're All Gonna Die", childhood hero) (Tell Me Something Studios)
Me with Matthew Arnold (Writer & Director for "We're All Gonna Die", another childhood hero) (Tell Me Something Studios)
Me with Ashly Burch (Actor in "We're All Gonna Die") (Tell Me Something Studios)
Me with Jimmy Wong (Actor, "John Dies at the End", "Video Game High School") (Tell Me Something Studios)

About the Author

Texas Tech Graduate with a love for all things movies and sci-fi

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