Join Jim Downey for a special screening of Downey Wrote That (2025) followed by a discussion about his career in comedy writing.
Jim Downey, writer, actor, and producer on Saturday Night Live (1976-1995), discusses his career in comedy writing. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Cindy McCreery, Professor and Chair for the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin. A reception, made possible by Central Market, will follow the program.
REGISTER FOR THIS PROGRAM
James Woodward Downey is a multiple Emmy-winning television writer and performer, and occasional film actor. He joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live in 1976 (sharing an office with Bill Murray), and continued with the show until 2013. From 1982 through 1983, he was the Head Writer for Late Night with David Letterman (1982). His film roles include There Will Be Blood (2007), One Battle After Another (2025), Billy Madison (1995), and Dirty Work (1998). On television, he has appeared in 30 Rock (2006), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), Veep (2012), and The Chair Company (2025), along with dozens of appearances on SNL and Late Night with David Letterman. He is a 1974 graduate of Harvard University, where he was President of the Harvard Lampoon.
Cindy McCreery was a Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellow and has since sold feature projects to New Line Cinema, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, National Geographic Films, Warner Brothers, MGM, Branded Entertainment, and Lionsgate. She also writes for television and has sold projects to SyFy Channel, Disney Channel, NBC, TNT, Televisa USA, Universal Television, and AMC’s Shudder. McCreery has been teaching screenwriting and television writing since 2004 at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and is currently the Chair for the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin.
I'll be there for both evenings to soak up a bit of popular culture and mingle with photo curators...
But as far as day to day stuff goes I'm mostly writing (new book?) and then walking through the city of Austin with a camera, looking for things that might inspire me.
All the images posted here (except the very last one) were made on Wednesday afternoon over by the UT campus. My old stomping grounds for years and years. I'm trying to get really proficient with the new 50mm lens. That means more than just examining the images it creates. There is the whole process of getting used to how it feels in the hands, along with a Leica SL(x) body. Where to your fingers land? How does it all balance? What modifications are suggested for carrying the package comfortably? If you get to the point where handling your gear is second nature you'll find yourself far less conspicuous to the public flowing around you. If you concentrate less on the camera gear you are carrying so will everyone else. But it really does take time using the stuff in your own hands.
Can I make good photos with the lens from the outset? Of course, but what I'm talking about here is the fine-tuning of the whole process of peacefully coexisting with the gear. Making the whole public process more transparent and understated. Otherwise I guess I could just walk around in a photographer's vest, put a big ass nylon carry-everything bag over one shoulder and find a strap with the brand name slathered across it in bright, fluorescent pink paint. Wear a baseball cap backwards and talk really loud(ly) on my phone, wearing dorky earbuds while swigging from my two gallon Stanley Cup, hanging from my "tactical" belt, and generally being a nuisance to everyone around me... Oh, and cargo shorts. And a t-shirt with something stupid plastered on it. I could become an influencer in no time. For now though I'll settle for being highly opinionated... (terrorizing real writers by overusing ellipses...).
This is the one image that was not made with the 50 APO and an SL(something). I just brought along my casual restaurant camera, the DLUX-8. I washed my hands and then, for good measure, dunked the camera in the soapy water in the sink...
(I was joking about the camera. It's not really water resistant. I hesitate to even sweat near it... But it's so good...). Again with the ellipses. ... Really! don't submerge your camera!!!
3 comments:
The 50mm APO strikes me as being good value. Talking about lenses, it seems that Leica are the only major lens maker still making prime 28mm lenses, when once, in the film era, they were ubiquitous.
That should be an interesting talk. Susan Meiselas was in town about a month ago to open her exhibit "Crossings" at PCNW. It's about the border (first shown in 1990, it never loses its topicality). I forget how it came up, but during the Q&A she related that during one of the Magnum confabs they kicked around the question, "What lens are you?" Cartier-Bresson was a 50, she says she's a 28. (I'm a 24.)
Leica SL lenses can be good value --- if you buy mint examples used. I saved several thousand dollars buying a used lens with a warranty versus splashing out for a brand new one. And it's such a good performer...
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