Hollywood in Cowtown

First-ever Reality Fest brings stars and secrets of reality TV to Fort Worth

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

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UPDATE 7-22-2022: Reality Fest has been postponed. In an e-mailed statement, organizers said, "We have decided to postpone the event as it is currently scheduled in September while we run the traps for the future. We apologize for the short-term inconvenience; however, we believe that the moves we’re making now will serve to launch our inaugural Reality Fest event to a much higher orbit in the future. That means better exposure for Reality Fest, which translates to a bigger impact for the kids for whom we’re all working in the first place." Those who have already purchased a ticket or sponsorship level for the September dates have been refunded in full. For more information, visit the website.

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There's never been a Real Housewives of Fort Worth or a Survivor: Fort Worth, but the city will be the center of the unscripted TV universe during the inaugural Reality Fest this fall.

Taking place September 17-18 at Arts Fort Worth (formerly the Fort Worth Community Arts Center), Reality Fest promises two days of events dedicated to all things unscripted. "Meet some of your favorite stars, get casting tips, learn what goes on behind the scenes of your beloved series, and have a chance to party with some of your favorite cast members," the organizers say on the website.

Proceeds will benefit the Lone Star Film Society's educational film camps for aspiring filmmakers.

Reality Fest is the creation of Tricia Jenkins — a Texas Christian University film and TV professor, Fort Worth Film Commission executive board chair, and Lone Star Film Society board member — and reality TV star Clint Robertson.

"Reality Fest is a new event that we are launching this year, and if it’s successful, we hope to run it every year in Fort Worth," Jenkins says.

The idea came last year, she says, when she taught a class on unscripted series and brought in Robertson as a guest speaker. Robertson, a TCU grad and DFW native, was a runner-up on NBC's The Apprentice and is the current host of HGTV’s Boise Boys and Outgrown.

"Over dinner, he mentioned how much he had wanted to start a 'reality con' where people could come meet their favorite unscripted personalities and learn what goes on from the production side, as well," she says. "Since I had experience programming events and knew a lot of local people who had been in unscripted series, we started brainstorming how to launch this."

The Fort Worth Film Commission hopped on board as co-producer of the event.

Although tickets have not yet gone on sale, the festival has a robust lineup of speakers and near-full schedule published on its website. Panelists will include popular stars of reality franchises like The Real Housewives of Dallas and Survivor, as well as hosts of HGTV shows and even an award-winning Fort Worth chef who's competed on Food Network.

Robertson will deliver the keynote and welcome to open the festival on September 17.

Panels and their participants so far include:

"The Reality of Home Improvement Shows" — Clint Robertson, host of Outgrown and Boise Boys (HGTV); Grace Mitchell, host of One of a Kind (HGTV); Andy Williams, host ofFlip or Flop Fort Worth (HGTV)
"Producing Unscripted Series" — Carolyn Bailey, CEO of Script & Screen, producer AMS Productions; Alan Farris, co-founder of Script & Screen
"Casting" — Jodi Wincheski, former casting director for Survivor and The Amazing Race; Riley Wincheski, psychological background checks for Survivor
"The Inner Circle" — Terilisha, Season 2, The Circle (Netflix); Lee Swift, Season 2, The Circle (Netflix)
"All Things Survivor" — Michaela Bradshaw, contestant on Survivor; Libby Vincek, contestant on Survivor; Danny McCray, contestant on Survivor
"Working with Your Celebrity" — D'Andra Simmons, cast of Real Housewives of Dallas; Elena Davies, contestant on Big Brother; Ashton Theiss, contestant on The Amazing Race
"The Real Housewives Franchise" — LeeAnne Locken, cast of RHOD; Kary Brittingham, cast of RHOD; Jeremy Nguyen, associate producer, RHOD and RHOSLC
"Up Close and Personal with Reality Chefs" — Fort Worth chef Juan Rodriguez, Iron Chef and Chopped

More speakers and seminars are being announced as the event nears. There will also be a cast member after party (ticketed separately), where attendees can mingle with cast and production professionals.

Two-day passes have just gone on sale; a $95 "early bird" deal is on until June 15, then the price goes up to $125. For more information, visit the event's website.

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

Facebook/Real Housewives of Dallas

Two of these former Real Housewives of Dallas stars will be speakers.

real-housewives festivals

Movie Review

Oscar-worthy film A Complete Unknown digs deeply into Bob Dylan

Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown.

Music biopics never seem to go out of style, although they’re rarely very good because most of them tend to tell the same story. A musician/band gets discovered, rises to popularity, experiences trouble at their peak due to (insert sex/drugs/alcohol/ego), and either finds a measure of redemption once they’ve been sufficiently humbled or dies due to their lack of control.

Paradoxically, what few music biopics fail to do is properly showcase the music that made the person popular in the first place, a mistake that A Complete Unknown doesn’t repeat, becoming a smashing success in the process. The film follows Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) over a roughly four-year period from when he first arrived in New York City in 1961 to his then-revolutionary electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

Dylan seeks out well-known folk singers Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) when he first arrives, with Seeger taking him under his wing. Dylan starts to establish himself in the local club scene with his unique songwriting voice, meeting fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he starts an on-and-off relationship. As his popularity grows, his reaction is antithetical to what’s expected, as he rarely engages with fans and focuses on his next song(s) instead of the ones for which he became known.

Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line) and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, the film may not be much of a revelation for Dylan superfans, but for casual fans or those who know nothing about him, it is one of the most effective music biopics in recent memory, if not ever. Not only does Mangold track the musical evolution of Dylan, but he gives the full context of the people who influenced him most, including Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, and more.

The film is not a musical in the traditional sense, but the amount of music in it makes it the next best thing. Rarely does more than a few minutes go by before someone is singing, either on stage, for someone close to them, or as part of the songwriting process. Whether you’re a folk music fan or not, the way the genre is showcased in the film will make you believe in its power and why it was so popular at that particular point in time.

Dylan is famous for his enigmatic personality, and Mangold does a great job of maintaining that elusiveness while still exploring what drove Dylan early in his career. His relationships with Baez and the fictional Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) give him some dimension, but why he continually went back-and-forth between them (or why they put up with him) is only lightly explored. The film keeps most of the drama focused on the music, and it’s this decision that makes it as compelling as it is.

Chalamet has been “The Next Big Thing” since his Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name, but the combination of the Duneseries, Wonka, and now this has firmly established him as the star he is. His Dylan impersonation (including singing) is subtle-yet-clear, and he has the cool factor that makes him completely believable in the role. The supporting cast is also off-the-charts good, with Norton and Barbaro making the best cases for awards notice.

While 2024 has had its fair share of great movies, A Complete Unknown - in this critic’s opinion - should now be the favorite to win Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. It bucks the trend of mediocre music biopics by giving moviegoers the transporting feeling of what it was like to experience Dylan’s meteoric rise, and why his early songs remain so indelible.

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A Complete Unknown opens in theaters on December 25.

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