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Austin Film Festival says its competitions and TV show drive tourism and local creative jobs
Summary
Barbara Morgan, co‑founder and CEO of the Austin Film Festival, told the Tourism Commission the festival is a global screenplay incubator that generates hotel room nights, national media reach and local production opportunities — and that rising downtown costs threaten the event’s future in Austin.
Barbara Morgan, co‑founder and CEO of the Austin Film Festival, told the Austin Tourism Commission on April 9 that the festival’s screenplay competitions, panels and a nationally distributed PBS show create measurable tourism impacts and support local creative employment.
Morgan said the festival’s mission “furthers the art and craft of storytelling by inspiring and championing the work of writers, filmmakers, and all artists who use written and visual language to tell a story.” She told commissioners the festival’s screenplay competitions are industry-recognized and serve as an incubator that regularly attracts studios and production companies to discover new writers.
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