Meet Bill Hass of Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill Hass.

Bill, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I moved to Arlington TX in 1986 after getting out of the U.S. Air Force. I was interested in becoming an actor but had no idea where to start. Not long after arriving in the Metroplex, I discovered Jubilee Theater and was taken under the wing of Rudy Eastman and the veteran performers of the Jubilee family. With the opportunity to spend many hours on stage I began learning the craft of acting. As I grew and became more interested in plays and the process of putting them together, I began to study writing. I wrote a couple of stage plays that as you read this are at the bottom of a box someplace.

After getting those first few scripts out of my system, I started to study the different forms and structures of storytelling. I began to gravitate to screenwriting. I continued to write and act until eventually, my job put me in a position where I had to make a choice about how I spent my time. I like to eat, and I like shelter, so I stopped acting. I didn’t want to give up performing completely, so I decided to try stand up comedy. I enjoyed a little bit (a very little bit) of success, and I had a lot of fun. I did stand up for about ten years. I performed at the Backdoor Comedy Club in Dallas as well as Hyenas and the Funny Bone in Arlington.

I moved down to Austin and performed down there for a while also. Eventually, I moved back to DFW and started acting again. By this time I was very interested in the process of storytelling through film and video. As luck would have it, I stopped for coffee one day and happened upon a group of artists that were like me, trying to figure out how to break into filmmaking. We began to talk and share ideas, theories, and scripts. Finally, we decided to just go for it. One of us had a camera, so we chose a script, found some locations, and made it into a movie.

In 2008, after helping on several projects for others in the group, we worked on my first script, a film called “Forty.” A story about a man who is convinced that he is going to die on his fortieth birthday. We follow him from the time he wakes in the morning and as he goes through the day, driving his wife (played to perfection by Sheran Goodspeed) insane with his obsession. This was my introduction to directing. Since I acted in the film, it was also my opportunity to learn to direct myself. We followed up quickly with the next film I had written, named “Sorry I Missed You” This is a film that started in my mind as a knock-knock joke but evolved into something with a lot more meaning once I got into the script. It is a short film with one actor, in a single location, with no dialogue.

It is about a man who is home, and he is slowly losing his mind as he is obsessed with a knocking at his door. We cast local actor, Al Garrett in part and he gave us a phenomenal portrayal of that character. With this film, we discovered film festivals. Our team began attending film festivals as we continued making films. We began to meet and collaborate with other filmmakers. Eventually, after several years of attending festivals, we thought that maybe we could start a festival in Fort Worth that would serve up and coming filmmakers such as ourselves. We decided to model ourselves loosely after a couple of other festivals that we really respected. So we found a space, picked a date, named ourselves the Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase, and posted a call for entries.

The first year we got about 42 submissions, and we played all but one of the films. The only reason we didn’t play the one is because of a pornographic scene. That was our first year. In 2018, we celebrated our fifth year as a festival and are continuing to enjoy growth and success. We have grown to running three screens over our three-day event as we show over 100 films each year. My role in this process is the programming of films and setting the tone for the festival. So to sum it up, at the beginning of 1988 I wanted to be an actor, but had no clue; by the end of 2018, I was a film director and the director of programming for a film festival.

Has it been a smooth road?
In hindsight, the road was a lot smoother than it felt while I was in the moment. At various times it felt like things were moving too slow, or that I was not connecting with the people or things I felt were important at the time. I also chose to take positions that allowed me to fulfill my responsibilities as a husband and father instead of putting full energy into “pursuing my dream.”

My favorite poem is “Desiderata,” and there is a line in it that reads; “And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt, the universe is unfolding as it should.” I have found that to be true because almost all of the things that I perceived to be obstacles when I was younger are contributing to the successful pursuit of my dreams now.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
The Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase is a film festival goes up annually, typically in mid to late July. We completed our fifth year in 2018, and we are currently preparing for our sixth annual presentation which is scheduled for July 25th through 27th of 2019.

We are a multi-genre festival. What this means is we show all types of films versus a genre festival that shows only comedies or only documentaries, etc. We will accept films of almost any genre, except pornography. What we are looking for are films with a strong story.

The thing that makes me proud of this festival is the relationships we’ve formed over the years. We have some filmmakers that have been sharing their work with us from our first year. It has been a pleasure, and it has been humbling to see the growth of these artists from year to year.

It is also encouraging to us to see the relationships the filmmakers form with each other. Each year we do this, the longer we do this, it is not only a festival of films, it is also a reunion of friends and film family. We don’t really focus on setting ourselves apart from other festivals, because we’re not in competition.

Each festival has it’s own demographic and attracts a type and level of filmmaker. To that extent, that level of setting apart happens organically. Beyond that, all we can do is focus on doing our thing to the best of our ability. What Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase does is make every person feel that they are the most important person in the room.

We focus on making sure that everybody gets to talk about their project on every form of media that we have represented at the fest. We make sure that we are familiar with every project that is participating that year. We strive to make sure people feel good that they came to FWIFS. We want them to understand that we truly appreciate them.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, I think that Dallas-Fort Worth is a great place for film festivals. I think that if someone was just starting, or wanted to start a festival, they would need to consider what they are offering that is not already in the local field. They need to consider if they are moving to an underserved part of the area as well as who will make up their demographic.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fwindie.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fwifs
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/FWIFS
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/fwifs

Image Credit:
Photography by Stan R. Davis

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