No budget no problem for Austin movie

AUSTIN (KXAN) - It's not unusual to see a movie being shot in Austin.

Plus it's becoming known as a place for a lot of directors to get their starts in the business.

Two local directors are making a name for themselves after their movie called "Strings" recently screened at the Austin Film Festival.

"It's about a musician who finds out his therapist is using his patients to commit vigilanty crimes," said Ben Foster, Strings director and producer.

Foster and friend Mark Dennis met at The University of Texas and wrote, produced and directed the movie together.

It has toured to 10 festivals winning awards.

But to see how this happened on has to back up three years ago when the movie was just on paper.

"If you don't have money you have to have a lot of resources and you have to have a lot of time," said Foster.

As seniors at UT they used the school's equipment to shoot the film. The got friends and family to donate $65,000 towards its production and utilized friends made while working on some shorts.

"By doing those shorts we gained a lot of credibility in town and got the trust of actors and crew. We got them to come work on the feature for cheap or for nothing," said Foster.

They found actors on Craigslist and asked for a lot of favors.

"We couldn't have shot it somewhere else than Austin because of the number of people who were willing to help out and come be an actor for a day when they are a lawyer or come give us their cars, or guns, or airplanes," said Foster.

So while Austin's movie-making scene may not be like Los Angeles just yet, Strings is one movie that demonstrates how this city has all the resources and talent to produce something pretty great.

"It's worth it, it's what you have to do," said Foster.

Strings is still touring in the festival circuit.