After graduating from Texas Tech University with a degree in advertising, Albert started a small boutique advertising company. Albert sold the business and began to consider her next steps in the interest of avoiding competition with the new owner. Though she said she had many great ideas, she found out writing for books was not her strong suit. It was then that someone suggested screenwriting.
“I spent a year just studying and learning how to write scripts,” Albert said. “After that, I wanted to make a movie because I had all these screenplays.”
In an effort to get a foot in the door with the industry, Albert attended The University of Texas at Austin’s Production Lab program in 2008, which is a weekly course outside of regular learning hours that teaches its students the basics of filmmaking.
After finishing the program, Albert went on to launch her own production company, Production e-2. She made many short films but soon found her niche in making music videos for female bands and talent.
Albert got the idea for the festival after holding screenings for friends along with cast and crew parties for fellow filmmakers on her front lawn. Having been to many film festivals herself, Albert said she thought an event like that would do well in the Hill Country.
“I got tired of driving in Austin to the east side, the north side and downtown to do anything related to film,” Albert said. “At some point I started going to film festivals and thinking it would be cool to have something like this in our part of town, which, at that point, was a cultural desert,” Albert said.
To turn her idea into reality, Albert organized monthly group meetings at her home for over a year. Following the process to reach nonprofit status, the group began to flesh out ideas for the festival, such as the events it would include and how it would be run, she said.
The first Lake Travis Film Festival was held in February 2020 and again in June 2021. The four-day event draws filmmakers and enthusiasts from across the world to venues in the cities of Lakeway and Bee Cave, both sponsors of the event.
In February 2020, the Lake Travis Film Festival was one of the last film festivals to happen before the pandemic. In 2021, the event was pared down, with the festival unable to get many of its venues confirmed until a month before the event, Albert said.
This year, the festival, which is scheduled from Sept. 15-18, will incorporate parts the organizers enjoyed the previous year, such as making the venues walkable from hotels guests are staying in. The event will also bring back a screenwriting master class. Each day of the festival is packed with different activities for filmmakers, screenwriters, actors and more.
Lake Travis Film Festival
Dates
- Sept. 15: Screenwriter masterclass, screenings, red carpet, after-party
- Sept. 16: Live script readings, screenings, after-party
- Sept. 17: Young filmmakers workshops, screenings, panels, music videos
- Sept. 18: Texas film industry day, awards brunch, screenings, demonstrations
Event attendees can buy wristbands for an individual day or a badge for all four days.
- Four-day film badge—$225
- Access to all films and parties
- One-day wristbands
- Sept. 15: $60
- Sept. 16: $100
- Sept. 17: $100
- Sept. 18: $100
