Inside the Austin Convention Center this morning in Texas.


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Here we are, cold and wet with attendees bundling up to make a trek to a screening. Maybe the comparisons between SXSW and Sundance are not that far off? Austin weathered another chilly day as large crowds swarmed venues throughout the downtown area for the 2012 edition of SXSW.

On today's edition of The Daily Buzz we talked about the annual convergence of film and technology people here in Austin and then we encountered some tech problems that interrupted the flow of today's show. Eventually, with an iPhone pitching in to record part of an interview, we were able to piece the program together for a bit of a ragtag second edition of our SXSW podcast. 

The annual Interactive conference at SXSW spans the first half of the ten day event, drawing entrepreneurs, bloggers, app makers and many more from the tech industry. The entire event is even tracked in real time via Twitter

Chatting with The Daily Buzz today, SXSW Film Fest head Janet Pierson reiterated her excitement at the wild growth of the fest's annual Interactive conference. She even imagined a future SXSW where the lines between the Film and Interactive events are even more blurry.

“We understand that what is rich about us is this intersection that you're not going to get anywhere else,” Pierson said. She said that see sees a clear link between those attending the Film events and those here for an Interactive conference that celebrates creativity, start-ups, entrepreneurship and creation something.

Picking up on yesterday's conversation with her husband John Pierson, an indie veteran who teaches at the University of Texas here in Austin, Janet Pierson pondered what she sees as a flipside to some of her spouse's remarks yesterday. He expressed concerns about the sustainability of indie film today when the economics don't make sense and it is hard for filmmakers to use early work as a springboard to a career.

“It just seems dysfunctional to me,” John Pierson said yesterday. “I don't understand how somebody who isn't already established on some level is supposed to make this work,” Pierson continued.

Today, Janet Pierson elaborated that the conversation is an actually ongoing debate between she and her husband. 

“I understand that there's an innate creative spirit and that people want to have creative lives,” Janet Pierson explained, “So to me the idea that you can make work and explore whatever you do as an artist… and then connect it with some sort of viewership is rich.”

The conversation continues in Austin for the next few days during our daily podcast series at SXSW.

Eugene Hernandez is the Director of Digital Strategy at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and a founder of indieWIRE. Follow him on Twitter from SXSW (@eug)

The Daily Buzz With Eugene Hernandez is in Austin to capture the latest from the South by Southwest Film Festival, including a taste of this year’s bustling Interactive conference.

Produced with the support of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, The Daily Buzz is presented daily in Texas with KUT 90.5 FM and the Alamo Drafthouse. Recorded at the Alamo’s newest venue, Midnight Cowboy (313 East 6th Street) the show features conversations with filmmakers from SXSW, as well as insights from industry veterans and journalists.

The Daily Buzz is supported online by KUT, Austin’s local NPR affiliate, as part of their daily online coverage of SXSW at kut.org and hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center at FilmLinc.com.

Daily Buzz guests for March 10

Hot Topic Roundtable Segment
Christopher Kelly, Ft Worth Star Telegram
Jay Fernandez, Hollywood Reporter

Director Matthew Lillard + cast, Fat Kid Rules The World
Actor Billy Campbell
Actor Matt O'Leary
Actor Jacob Wysocki

Director Nelson George, The Announcement

Kimber Myers from Get Glue

Director Jay Chandrasekar, The Babymakers
Actor Kevin Heffernan, The Babymakers

Janet Pierson, SXSW