CINEMAKER Opens New Studio: Inside the Newest Studio Shaping Austin’s Creative Scene

All photos by Katie Rose, follow her at @katieroseshow

2024 was a year of transformation for our organization. We said goodbye to a building that had been our home for a decade and took the time to rethink how our programs could not only coexist but also grow independently.

When we moved to 2200 Tillery in 2016—after nearly a year and almost half a million dollars in renovations—we launched something new, spearheaded by our now Executive Director, Faiza Kracheni: Austin Cinemaker Space.

By that point, Faiza had spent nearly a decade touring the world with her bands, experiencing some of the best creative spaces—from DIY warehouses and coffee shop venues to traditional music venues and everything in between.

As both a musician and filmmaker, she often thought about how to make film and media production more accessible to artists at all stages of their careers. More specifically, she was focused on those like herself and her peers—not necessarily beginners, but also not chasing the age old Hollywood mold. These were people making important work on smaller budgets, with smaller crews, but still facing a massive barrier: cost.

Making any kind of art in the media sector is incredibly expensive. Equipment, software, and space rental can be prohibitively costly, which means access is often limited to those with financial privilege. Filmmaking, in particular, is an expensive feat, historically gatekept by high production costs.

Austin School of Film had done a phenomenal job educating and training media artists—but how could we go beyond that? How could we make production itself more attainable? That’s where Cinemaker was born.

A New Model for Independent Creators

Over nearly a decade at Tillery Street, Cinemaker grew rapidly—so much so that it outgrew the studio spaces. In October, we planned to move into a larger facility to house both our programs again. But when that deal fell through, we found ourselves scrambling. What happened next, though, was unexpectedly serendipitous.

Faiza and her small team spent the next couple of months reflecting on both programs. On one hand, we had an award-winning, community-driven film school, beloved by students and teachers. On the other, Cinemaker was providing nearly 100 creators with an innovative subscription-based studio model—a way to bridge the gap for the “middle class” of the creative economy by offering affordable, flexible studio space but not in the age old lease or hourly rates. Although that model works for some types of productions, it’s not a one-size-fits-all.

Though Cinemaker was originally created within the same space as Austin School of Film, it didn’t have to stay that way forever. Once we embraced that idea, things moved quickly. We met the amazing team who run Canopy, and started experimenting.

We began with a single white-box studio, keeping the Cinemaker subscription model but making adjustments to better serve today’s independent creators. We wrote too many pitch decks, rearranged the space at least ten times, and finally found the right flow.

By January, we had the opportunity to expand to a second studio!

The Numbers Speak for Themselves

At the end of the month, the numbers were in: 244 reservations in a single studio. That means 244 creative teams—directors, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, performers—rehearsed, produced, and brought new work to life at Cinemaker.

If each reservation had an average of five people (and honestly, that’s a low estimate), that means at least 1,220 people passed through Cinemaker in just 31 days. We estimate we’ll be doubling that number of productions in and out by March and you know we’re going to do an end of quarter report for you!

To celebrate the opening of the new 1,228 sq ft Black Box, we threw a party, complete with a cheeky cake and a projection proudly stating: