Alumni Spotlight: Austin Flores

Austin Flores (M.A. ’19) is this week’s featured alum in our new Alumni Spotlight series for the This Week at Meadows e-newsletter. Each week, a different Meadows alum will be highlighted for their accomplishments post-graduation.

For Austin Flores, Meadows was an introduction not only to filmmaking, but to the creative community surrounding it. As a student in the Division of Film & Media Arts, Flores shared a building with dancers, actors, musicians and visual artists whose work opened his eyes to the creative possibilities of Dallas. Today, as a Location Specialist with the Dallas Film Commission, he helps filmmakers discover those possibilities for themselves.

The Dallas Film Commission serves as a first stop for productions considering the region, and much of Flores’ work centers on helping them find the right place to film. On any given day, that might mean searching the commission’s location database, tracking down the right property or even driving across the city to knock on a door himself.

But his role extends well beyond finding locations. Flores manages the commission’s social media and website, connects with future filmmakers at area colleges and universities, travels to film festivals all around the world, and meets with studios and industry professionals to advocate for bringing productions to Dallas.

Flores and Dallas Film Commissioner Katie Schuck present at the first event for Screen Dallas, the organization's Oscar-qualifying program, at the Texas Theatre in 2025.

“My favorite part is connecting property owners with productions and seeing it all click,” explains Flores. “I actually just got back from the Toronto International Film Festival, where I spent every minute telling established filmmakers, veteran industry producers, Hollywood studios, and plenty of Canadians that Dallas has it all and is ready for their next production.”

That work requires the same kind of resourcefulness Flores developed at Meadows. Rather than pushing students toward one “correct” path, he says the film program encouraged them to explore different directions, think critically and find creative ways through the roadblocks they encountered.

“The biggest lesson I took away from Meadows was how to always find a way forward,” Flores says of how his education has impacted his career beyond just technical skills. “Whether I’m tracking down a tricky location or helping a production solve a last-minute problem, I try to go in with an open mind while staying critical yet compassionate.”

From left: Division of Film & Media Arts' Brady Wolchansky, Location Manager Ryan Schaetzle, Flores, and Location Manager Dustin Daniels before an on-campus talk for film students about location scouting.

Flores, who is also part of the Meadows Mentor program, credits the film program with showing him the importance of creative community, a lesson he emphasizes when speaking with current students. He encourages them to invest in relationships with classmates, faculty and staff and to get involved with organizations such as the Dallas International Film Festival and Oak Cliff Film Festival as they begin building their own professional networks.

His work with the Dallas Film Commission allows him to create opportunities for filmmakers as well. Through their program Screen Dallas, Flores helps provide one feature documentary with a sponsored, Academy-qualifying theatrical release in the city. The program helped qualify Shuffle last year and The Last Critic this year.

For Flores, a career spent connecting productions with locations, filmmakers with opportunities, and students with an industry community is a natural extension of what he first discovered at Meadows. The creative network that once showed him how much Dallas had to offer is now one he gets to help strengthen, one relationship and one production at a time.