These days, it seems like a movie has to have a multi-zillion-dollar budget backed by a big-name studio, a star-encrusted cast of "A-list" actors, props that explode and guns that reload to wrangle any buzz. (And, lest we forget: those not-so flattering 3D glasses you've got to sport from the moment the opening credits roll.) Thankfully, though, that's not always the case - especially when there's a pair of award-winning Lone Star producers on the job.
Enter Toby Halbrooks and James M. Johnston, a Dallas-area producing duo who recently nabbed the Piaget Producers Award from Los Angeles-based Film Independent for their work on the indie drama Ain't Them Bodies Saints. (The film itself, which debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was released in theaters last August, also has garnered its fair share of kudos, including the Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic Category at Sundance. It was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.)
In its 19th year, the Piaget Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce top-quality independent films. And, much to the winners" delight, it also comes with a $25,000 grant.
"We just got in from Texas and now we've got all this money," said a giddy Johnston as part of his acceptance speech at the West Hollywood ceremony. He and Halbrooks, however, didn't have long to step away from the action and eye their prize. In fact, their next film, Listen Up, Phillip, premiered in Park City, Utah, just a few short weeks later.
Besides its compelling storyline - a prison escapee hoofs it across the Texas Hill Country in search of his estranged wife and the daughter he's never met - we love that the movie (and other indies like it) doesn't rely on the standard knock-em, sock-em storyline. Instead, it banks on the power of emotion and (novel concept here) a richly compelling storytelling to grip moviegoers from beginning to end.
Oh, and maybe the best part of the whole indie deal: no off-putting glasses required.
