Hipstercrite Productions

Loves Her Gun, from Austinites Geoff Marslett and Lauren Modery, makes its SXSW debut

If you’re a regular reader of CultureMap, you need no introduction to Lauren Modery. If not, quickly introduce yourself to her via Hipstercrite, a blog through which she entertains readers and details how she fell madly in love with our fair city.

Her followers, and SXSW attendees, are fully aware of her biggest project to date: a feature length film by the name of Loves Her Gun, which she co-wrote alongside the film’s director Geoff Marslett. The film stars Trieste Kelly Dunn as a victimized woman who attempts to take control of her new life in Texas through immersion in the local gun culture, walking the fine line between practical self-protection and paranoid self-withdrawal. The film has already made Indiewire's list of 10 films to see at SXSW this year.

It’s a dark subject matter that serves as a sharp detour from Modery’s lighter, more humorous blog posts about “The 5 Hottest U.S. Presidents.”

“At the time, I had been grappling with self anxiety issues and with my safety,” recalls Modery, who points out that even though the lead character in the film is the victim of an attack, she herself was not in real life. “However, there [was] a string of small events that just kind of shook my feeling of being safe and confidence and my safety.”

Expanding on those real feelings, Modery and Marslett churned out a finely tuned screenplay measuring out at around 45 pages. The length, which barely equals half of a traditional feature screenplay, is a conscious choice by the filmmakers to allow the acting talent to fully improvise their lines during production.

It’s a bold artistic move that brings up its share of challenges during production. “Geoff, being the filmmaker, was very cognizant to make sure that obviously the actors were improvising in the right direction to where we needed them to go with the script. Some of the darker elements of the story were also contributions from the actors in their improvising.”

While cutting specific dialogue out of a script can lessen the burden for the writer, it poses challenges during the course of production; a filmmaker must have a scene meticulously planned out in order to get the best takes and properly develop the story.

But those challenges only make the end result that much sweeter. “It is challenging and rewarding in so many ways. It definitely was a new experience for a lot of people involved, both on the production side and on the acting side.”

Modery is more than ecstatic that her first feature film will premiere in the city that she still loves (and continues to write love letters to).

“Even after five years, it doesn’t cease to amaze me the level of talent and generosity [in Austin]. People have been so kind to me with my writing through the years here. I try to give that back in return, because it’s kind of infectious. It’s really just a great city for people trying to lift each other up. It still inspires me.”

Loves Her Gun premiered at SXSW Film Festival on March 9. Additional screenings follow throughout the week.

Loves Her Gun, directed by Geoff Marslett

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Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

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