HELPFUL RESOURCES
The Austin Film Society does not require production or liability insurance for resource use within the Producer Program. However, the equipment is not insured once it leaves our Austin Public facility and crew and talent on a Producer’s field production are not covered under any liability insurance related to the Producer Program. We highly encourage acquiring equipment insurance if you are checking out a large of amount of equipment and/or hiring crew and talent for your production.
Here are some insurance company options (as recommended on other Austin area production rental sites):
PRODUCER PORTAL
How do I login to the Portal?
Your login credentials will be the username (the email you used to sign up for the Producer Program) and either a temporary password if you’re new or your old portal password if you had access to the previous Portal. If you don’t see the email with your login info, check your spam or promotions folder. If you have not received an email then please reach out to us for help at austinpublic@austinfilm.org.
What are the expectations for the reservation process?
Producer will make their own reservations through their Producer Portal. Our operations staff expect Producers to arrive on the day and time listed on their reservation for both pick up and return. Not doing so may lead to a program violation and potential suspension from the program. We want to avoid being late for a gear return and affecting another Producer’s reservation.
How do I make a Reservation?
You will first want to make sure you have a Project. Go to the top menu for “Producer Program” and then click “My Projects.” From here, if you don’t have a current Project then select the icon for “Create New Project” in the top right. Please allow up to 48-hours for an AFS staff member to approve that project. Once you have a current Project then you have the ability to select that Project in the “Current Project” list on the “My Projects” page and then you’ll see several options drop down and one of those options is to “make a reservation.” You can find the training video HERE.
Why are there limitations on Reservations?
As part of a City of Austin–funded public access program managed by the Austin Film Society, the Producer Program is managed in a way that focuses on equity and accessibility for all its members. Unlike a commercial rental house, our goal is ensuring as many people as possible have the opportunity to create, learn, and share their voice through creative media. To support that goal, we maintain reasonable limits on both the amount of equipment that can be checked out at one time and the length of reservations. If your production does not fit within the parameters of the Portal’s reservation system then it might be possible that you need to acquire gear elsewhere, like from a rental company or collaboration with other Producers.
- Production equipment may leave the building for 5 days at a time.
- Post-production equipment (computers, DaVinci Micro Panels, etc.) may leave the building for up to 10-days at time.
- Studio reservations can be up to 5-hours at a time
- Edit Lab and Conference Room reservations can be for a full day of Austin Public operations (8-10-hours depending on the day).
- Cameras are limited to 2 single cameras per Producer. This is a new policy as of July 2025.
- Other equipment limitations exist in the portal and if you come across a limitation that affects your production then it’s possible that the Producer Program may not be able to fully support a production’s needs.
- We require 48 hours in between reservations for the same equipment. Also, the equipment may travel outside the metro area of Austin but not leave the state of Texas. If you plan to leave the metro area of Austin (especially if you’re staying overnight somewhere) then please provide a secondary contact name and phone number and the address of where you’ll be staying when you make a reservation via the portal.
Is submitting content required and how do I submit?
Yes, a part of the Producer Program is sharing your content out to the community through the distribution outlets that the Austin Film Society manages for the City of Austin. These outlets include 3 public access cable channels through the 3 cable companies in Austin, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, iPhone and Android Apps, which include the streams of the 3 channels and video-on-demand content.Producers (members within the program) own all content created with Austin Public resources but provide permission for AFS to distribute at least a portion of the content they create out to the community through the distribution outlets listed above. Here is the training video on how to submit content via the Producer Portal: https://youtu.be/bkE-BtBRvg0?si=BBdYAaMFt0Lpwv0V
What is the Crew Connect feature and who is listed on it?
Crew Connect is a database of people to find crew members to work on your projects. The database consists of past and current Producers and people who have taken the Crew Certification class at Austin Public that have opted into sharing their information with other Producers. In that database, you’ll be able to search for certain skill levels and interests, see people’s bios, website links and reels (if they’ve shared them) and then generate a PDF document with all of that information as well as their preferred contact information. You have the ability to opt into this database on the intake form when you join the Producer Program. If you need to change your Crew Connect information then there is a form to do so on the Crew Connect page in the Portal. You can find the training video HERE.
Who do I reach out to if I have more questions?
- Our Community Media Coordinator can be reached at austinpublic@austinfilm.org or (512) 322-0145 Ext. 3235
- Our Equipment Room for questions about reservations, tech support, and/or programming questions can be reached at (512) 322-0145 Ext. 3241 or equipment@austinfilm.org
- If you need to reach our General Manager, then please email doug@austinfilm.org
