Industry Events & Announcements

On Sunday, February 18, 2007, ABC Television will air an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode filmed in Austin last December. In one week, hundreds of volunteers and workers from Jimmy Jacobs Custom Homes, a company in Georgetown, built the O'Donnell family a new home in Northwest Austin. The O'Donnell family is a family of eight, including five autistic children. Also while in town, ABC invited Trace Adkins, a Country music star, to perform a benefit raising money for the family.

For more information, visit ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

As part of our new Web site, we have created a "Featured Texas Game" page. Here we will showcase new and old games made by Texans. This month's featured game is "Executive Challenge," a educational computer game created by Austin-based Enspire Learning. Please take a moment to visit our Featured Game page to learn more about this game, and browse the archives of previously featured games.

On Wednesday, February 7, 2007 from 7pm to 9pm, the ACC Video Game Development Program will hold a seminar on writing for video games entitled "Writing for the Hero with a Thousand Faces." The seminar will feature Susan O'Connor, a game writer who most recently worked on the video game "Gears of War."

This seminar is part of a series of seminars held on the first Wednesday of each month for game professionals and students. For more information, and a complete schedule of seminars, please visit the ACC Video Game Program at www.austincc.edu/techcert/Video_Games.html.

ACC Video Game Seminar
Writing for the Hero with a Thousand Faces
February 7, 2007
7pm to 9pm
ACC Highland Business Center
Room 301.0

2 Movies Showcase Talents of Texas Storyteller Glen Stephens

Austin, TX -- Texas-based Pumpjack Entertainment will release in theaters in February two feature films, the horror/thriller "Hoboken Hollow" and the family/adventure "River's End." Both star newcomer and veteran actors of the large and small screens; both were shot in remote parts of Central and West Texas; and both stories came from the heart and mind of storyteller Glen Stephens.

The delightfully gore-filled "Hoboken Hollow" is set for theatrical release February 2 in Austin at the Galaxy Theatres Highland 10 (Hwy. 1-35 & Middle Fiskville Road). Daily show times are 11:15 a.m. and 1:15, 3:15, 5:25, 7:25, 9:30 and 11:30 p.m.

For tickets: www.ticketmakers.com/tmSched2.dll/zipsearch

The DVD of "Hoboken Hollow will be available in April at one of the nation's largest retailers.

In the horror/thriller -- loosely based on real news accounts -- a recently returned veteran struggling with war's emotional shrapnel and drifting through Texas must fight for his life when he accepts a ride and a job at a West Texas ranch where workers are held captive by the vicious family who runs it.

Written and directed by Stephens, the cast includes C. Thomas Howell ("E.T.," "Red Dawn," "Gods and Generals"), Mark Holton ("A League of Their Own," "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," "Leprechaun"), Michael Madsen ("Thelma & Louise," "Reservoir Dogs") and Dedee Pfeiffer ("Falling Down," TV's "CSI") as well as actor-director Jason Connery ("U.K. TV's "Robin Hood of Sherwood," "Hotel Paradiso"), actor-director Dennis Hopper and actor-producer-director Robert Carradine. The film was shot entirely in and around the tiny Texas town of Menard, the hometown of Molding Clay Productions.

"River's End," the heartfelt family action-drama, is set for theatrical release in Fort Worth in February; the DVD will be available for nationwide retail February 20, starting at Wal-Mart stores. The movie is the classic story of an angry teenager who is put back on the right path by his grandfather and a quest through the beauty of the humbling wilderness. The film won a Gold Remi at the 2005 WorldFest International Film Festival in Houston.

Sam Huntington, the star of the recent "Superman Returns" and the upcoming "Fanboys," plays the bitter young man haunted by the death of his father who can't stay out of trouble, and Barry Corbin, star of TV's "One Tree Hill" and "Northern Exposure," plays the local sheriff dealing with crooks on the border who forces his grandson to choose between going to jail or successfully navigating by canoe 60 miles of the rugged and perilous Pecos River.

Written by Stephens and co-directed by Stephens and actor-director-writer William Katt ("Carrie"), the film also stars Caroline Goodall ("Schindler's List"), Charles Durning ("The Sting," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"), Clint Howard ("Cinderella Man," "My Dog Skip"), Charlie Robinson, Amanda Brooks, Greg Evigan, Rudolf Martin and Greg Siff.

Read the entire press release.

David Hanson, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Dallas's Arts and Technology program, has received a $1.5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Hanson is the owner and operator of Hanson Robotics Inc., a developer of next-generation robots. The ETF grant will be used to help create more lifelike robots.

Hanson and his company have received international notoriety, gaining multiple mentions in world-wide newspaper and TV appearances on shows such as "Good Morning America."

Read the Governor's Office Press Release.

Read the Dallas Morning News Article.