On set for Apple TV’s Brothers with Casie Luong, AAAFF’s Community & Operations Director
If you’ve been to our tabling events or annual festival, good chance we’ve met! I’ve been with AAAFF for 3 years now and this is my first time entering AAAFF’s blogspace. Fun fact about me, I’m a musician and I’ve been in Austin, TX since 2012 and have had the honor of making dear friends along the way. It’s through one of those close friendships that afforded me a unique opportunity to be a vocal coach for an actress, Ella Grace Helton, on Apple’s TV show premiere, Brothers, that aired on September 23, 2026.
Photos courtesy of Casie Luong
The role entailed working with Ella a few weeks beforehand to prep her on a performance of Suddenly Seymore from Little Shop of Horrors. On set, I warmed her up and guided her performance and vocal delivery. She was super easy to work with because she is already so talented! This was also my first time working with a minor on set. It was fascinating observing their tutoring sessions while working with an on-set teacher. The child actors had quite a built-in schedule set for them. I worked closely with Ella’s mother as well, and it gave me great comfort knowing parents and educators were involved as a safeguard for younger talent.
Our location was at a grand ol’ ranch house, the kind you would absolutely recognize as a quintessential Texas-style house. The production crew was kind and great to work with. Ella requested I be on set to help her warm up and support her as needed. I mostly sat on the sides with headphones and listened to her audio takes while she played out her scenes with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Having recently seen a classic, Kingpin, I can definitely attest to Woody’s free-spirited charisma. He really is such a natural comedian.
A fun fact I learned from being on crew was Five Dollar Fridays! On Fridays, a PA approaches cast and crew for a $5 donation, where each person writes their name on a bill and drops it in a bucket. Whoever’s bill is drawn wins the pot, and the winner will often split the winnings among the crew. This made me feel more like an insider and part of film production traditions passed down over the years.
Shout out to AAAFF for shining a light on film happenings in our humble little city! Hopefully more film and TV continue to develop in Austin because we have so much incredible talent here!