Biography
Nathan "Nate" Locklear is a Native Texan. Around the age of two he became an "Austinite" having moved to Austin, TX with his family. Several years later he saw the movie, Dune (1984) directed by David Lynch . An odd film for a child to see but Nate's family loved watching movies. Immediately upon exiting the theater, Nate looked up to his father and said, "When I grow up, I want to be a movie maker."
This artistic desire no doubt comes from Nate's family. His father, Curt Locklear is a musician, author and educator. Nate's mother, Deb Locklear is an artist and artist educator. And Nate's sisters, Catherine Worsham and Erin Ellis are writers and educators. Art flows through the entire family and films were a way for them all to connect.
Throughout his childhood, Nate casually experimented with the family's Super 8 film camera. Then in high school, while enrolled in a Multi-Media class he learned to use various video cameras and editing software. He was also enrolled in a photography class, with actual film development and darkroom techniques- this cemented his love for capturing and manipulating images.
After graduation, Nate enrolled in the Austin Community College (ACC) Radio-TV-FIlm department under the leadership of Deborah Hill (Department Chair). He made several short films while enrolled and earned his Associate of Arts degree in RTF. It was at ACC where Nate truly began to understand the technique of filmmaking and the power it possessed. He then applied and was accepted to The University of Texas at Austin's (UT) Film Program under the Intensive Film Production track. UT cemented not only his excitement but also the potential of indie film.
While taking an Independent Study course, Nate created a short film titled, Casting Call. The film was accepted to the Dallas Video Festival at the same time that Nate was graduating from UT. He was thrilled. But now it was time to make a living.
Nate remembered, Deborah Hill, his connection at ACC and became a Technical Assistant for the RTF department. He assisted instructors with classes, helped teach film equipment and worked in the editing lab. A few years later he applied as an Adjunct Faculty and began teaching a Film and Video Editing Course. Between the years of 2007-2015 Nate became the full-time Equipment Manager for the department, overseeing all film equipment checkout, selection and ordering. In 2015, Nate went back to just being a professor and he teaches a couple sections of the editing course and helps out in the editing labs.
Throughout this time Nate was also making short films and documentaries, and music videos, shooting wedding videos and even industrial videos. Then around 2008, Nate's classmate and friend from UT, Chet Garner approached him about a television show idea for PBS. Nate agreed to shoot and edit the pilot episode with Chet being producer, writer and host. About a year later, Chet returned, with a green-light from Austin's PBS station KLRU and some underwriters so they set out to make, The Austin Daytripper (2009) .
Nate came on as a Co-Producer for The Austin Daytripper bringing the majority of the crew, interns and the equipment to shoot with. The show was zany and fun and taught Nate much about documentary, on-the-fly shooting. Nate also worked as director of photography and editor. It was a hit! Nate and Chet won their first Lonestar Emmy® in 2010 in Outstanding Achievement for Texas Heritage Program. They quickly signed on for season 2. Only this time the name would be The Daytripper (2009) . Then in 2011, Nate, Chet and crew won another Lonestar Emmy® again in the Outstanding Texas Heritage Program category.
Though the show was fun, Nate decided to depart after season 2 so he could create his own series. A year previous, Nate had met a student at ACC, Kayla Olson and had asked her to intern for The Daytripper. She agreed and the two became friends. Kayla was also an actor looking for work. One day at local Austin Tex-Mex restaurant, over chips, queso and margaritas, Nate and Kayla came up with a 12-part web series about a woman on the road trying to find herself that would be played by Kayla. And Once You Leave (2011) was born. The series went on to win multiple awards including, Best Editing for Nate from the Indie Series Awards, Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography (Nate) from the LA Webfest, Bronze Telly Awards for Drama and Cinematography and a Silver People's Choice Award, Best Drama from Indie Intertube and Kayla received a Best Actress win from Indie Intertube as well. The series was also an Official Selection for the aGLIFF Film Festival, HollyWeb Festival and the LA WebFest.
After that, Nate and his friend, James Froeschle decided to start a production company called, Missing Hill Productions. James and Nate work together at Austin Community College and they named the company after their old boss, Deborah Hill after she passed away. They then went into production on a show intended for PBS called Media Mavericks. They shot the pilot episode but decided to put it on the back burner while they made some other film projects.
Nate and James made a handful of short films where James was usually producer/director and Nate helped produce and/or was often the cinematographer. Some of the shorts include, Braver Than You Believe (2015) , Shakey Face (2014) , and Cheap Tattoos (2020) .
Nate then teamed back up with Kayla and the two co-wrote a script Kayla had been working on since 2009 called, God Made Man . They successfully received funding through Kickstarter and set out over 19 days to shoot the intense feature film over Christmas break. James also came on as a co-producer and helped in the audio department. The shooting was a success and the film is scheduled to be released in 2018.
Nate and James have many more projects on the horizon and the future for Missing Hill Productions is looking bright.
