Austin Film Festival says its competitions and TV show drive tourism and local creative jobs

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.

The nut graf: Morgan said the festival is a tourism generator that brings thousands of attendees — many from outside Texas — and contracts with hotel partners, producing tracked room nights and local spending. She warned that downtown hotel rates, rising venue costs and limited downtown screening venues are placing pressure on the organization and that additional city support or flexible cultural-funding mechanisms would help keep the festival anchored in Austin.

Morgan shared data from a recent consultant engagement: the festival books roughly 5,400 room nights and generates an estimated $13 million in economic impact during the event window. She said 58% of attendees travel from outside Texas and roughly 75% come from outside the Austin metro area.

She described the organization’s programming — a four‑day writers conference, 70-plus panels, about 80 film screenings, an industry-facing PBS program called On Story, and year-round development programs — as both career-development and tourism drivers. “If you win or place in our competition, it's not really just an accolade, it's a career defining moment,” Morgan said, and she said films by festival alumni have generated more than $5.2 billion at the global box office.

Morgan said the festival has considered changes to address cost pressures, including scaling, relocation or other structural shifts, but emphasized the organization’s desire to remain in Austin. She asked commissioners to consider strategies that would help cultural events retain access to hotel/motel (hotel) tax funding or other supports that recognize events that demonstrably fill regional hotel rooms.

Ending: Morgan said the festival’s nationally distributed on‑air program and its industry reputation create ongoing promotion for Austin and that a coordinated city response to rising venue and hotel costs could preserve the festival’s tourism and economic contributions. “We are a tourism event,” she said: “we bring industry titans in … and highlight the journey from script to screen.”