Private Project

To Life

Like a margarita, this Austin-set dramedy combines tangy truth with lasting sweetness. It is a story flavored with comedy, grief, and female friendship, shaken to taste by a sassy Texan ghost. Production team is 2012 Arizona Filmmaker of the Year Diane M. Dresback (over 3 dozen short films) & Connect Film Festival founder Lindsey Loon.

It is a triumph of diversity, with a cast and crew of over 40% people of color with almost all female heads of department including: Director, Producer, Co-writing team, Director of Photography, head of Grip & Electric, head of Sound, and an ensemble mostly female cast. Participants ranged in age from 12 years old to over 80. We hope you enjoy this feel-good project with a big Austin following.

  • Diane M. Dresback
    Director
    Arizona Filmmaker of the year 2012, writer/director of over 2 dozen short films
  • Diane M. Dresback
    Writer
  • Lindsey Loon
    Writer
  • Lindsey Loon
    Producer
  • Ammie Leonards
    Key Cast
    Nashville, American Crime
  • Beth Shea
    Key Cast
    United States of Tara, Big Love
  • Lindsey Loon
    Key Cast
    The 4th, Currently Adopted
  • Victoria Savage
    Key Cast
    Convergence, London and the Muse
  • Katherine Castro
    Director of Photography
    Camera Department Ghostbusters (2016), Ted 2, The Heat
  • Michael Jablow, ACE
    Editor
    Grace and Frankie, Old School, Throw Mama from the Train + over 50 IMDb credits
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    female friendships, dramedy, diversity, female filmmakers, dealing with grief, supernatural, zany
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Alexa (digital)
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • None, our first choice is a world premiere at AFF
Director Biography - Diane M. Dresback

"To Life" is Austin resident Diane Dresback's Texas debut in a long film career, primarily in Arizona. Diane has written, directed and produced over 30 short films including 38 minute Blue Copper with award-winning actress Colleen Hartnett. She wrote and co-produced the feature film Atrophy that premiered at the 2012 Phoenix Film Festival. Diane was the recipient of the 2012 Arizona Filmmaker of the Year award.

Diane is also a writer. She has published 4 books, a non-fiction book about getting things done and three novels all of which are fast paced suspense tales with a psychological or sci-fi element permeating a modern day setting. She resides in North Austin.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

https://pro-labs.imdb.com/name/nm2850302/

"After years of film work in Phoenix and a move to Austin two years ago, I searched for like-minded individuals for my first project in Texas. The seed of To Life quickly blossomed to include many talented people from Austin and a few traveling in from three other states. Our team had a naturally occurring rich diversity in ethnicity, gender and age (12 to 80 years young). Almost all department heads were female and we welcomed on set two girls, both aspiring filmmakers — one to be mentored by our director of photography and the other to shoot a documentary about the film. As my first film project in Texas, I was pleased by the Austin experience! "