Back in my film school days, I’d take my girlfriend to the Hyatt hotel bar in Austin for free drinks while my classmate Sam was bartending. On one of those nights, my life changed forever.

“There’s a guy at the end of the bar who’s in town producing a movie,” Sam said, handing me my vodka tonics. “He’s been comin’ in here nightly. Lemme introduce you to him.”

This is when I met the one and only Don Phillips.

He drank vodka and tonics as well, many of them. A few hours later, as Don stood atop a chair in…