Seven months after a sold-out Texas debut at the Austin Film Festival, the indie mockumentary Chalk returned to Austin Friday as part of a national platformed release. Shot for a mere $10,000 with the aid of friends and students, the work is a collaboration of Austinite ex-teachers and co-writers Mike Akel (who also directed) and Chris Mass. Chalk uses a faux-documentary style in the same manner as Spinal Tap or The Office, exposing the depressing and spirit-sucking lives of high school teachers in a manner that makes audiences laugh and cringe all at once. After a litany of successful festival screenings in 2006, the film was acquired by a new distribution company headed by Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame. Last week, Austinist spoke with Mike Akel about the pitfalls of teaching, battling Shrek and Johnny Depp, and the glut of terrible 'inspirational' teacher movies.

What do you think the biggest false myth about the teaching profession is?

"Hey, I'm a good uncle and a halfway decent camp counselor - I'd be a good teacher!" Untrue! Also, just because you're good at math or engineering does not mean you're called to teach. Teaching is a profession, so respect it as such!

As someone married to a high school English teacher, we understand that high schools are a pressure cooker environment to work in. Did the drama and comedy of your job inspire the film, or was it simply a convenient subject since you were teaching?

Chris and I always say that teaching in public school is like flipping through cable TV. One day the kids, your fellow teachers, and the administration are like watching "The Boring Network." Then five minutes later, you change the channel and an assistant principal is running down the hall with walkie-talkie in hand and you realize you're watching COPS on Fox. So, yes, the comedy and drama in the film come from our experiences and our fellow teacher's stories.

Do the prototypical inspirational teacher movies like Stand and Deliver or Dangerous Minds annoy you? What's the worst crime they commit thematically?

When I first started teaching (I kid you not) I rented all of the teacher movies. I got warm and fuzzy, pumped up for the next day and then...like the morning after eating lots of cotton candy at the county fair, the rush of the idealism was quickly gone. I guess our problem with those movies is that they seem to say "if teachers could boot strap just a little more, lose their home lives, and become a superhero, then just maybe the white-anglo from the suburbs can save the downcast inner-city student." I admit I bought into it hook, line, and sinker. So what we say now is that if you're called to teach, watch Chalk to see the beautiful, the comic, the tragic, the painful, and the ridiculous. If you want to teach after watching our film, then you might have something inside that is truly driving you - not a mental "sugar high."

Were you able to identify certain teacher stereotypes with an element of truth (like the older teacher who really wants to be popular and cool or the overworked and unloved assistant principal) to use as main characters, or were they purely fictional?

The obsessed "teacher of the year" wannabe character in our film definitely had some added bits of caricature and inflation. Chris plays this with the grace of a gazelle. This character represents the teacher that gets lost in themselves and forgets that the true call is to serve and campaign for the kids, not themselves and the programs they started. The on-the-run assistant principal was a direct representation of what I saw our AP's doing each day. There were walkie-talkies, kids being disciplined in the halls, barely any time to talk to teachers, and yes - some I've heard are a bit sexually frustrated.

What reactions have you gotten from actual high school teachers that have seen the film?

The greatest compliment I've heard is "you nailed it! That was comedic and tragic at the same time." Countless teachers have told Chris that his character reminds them of a colleague at work.

You are currently working on a new project for Universal. Can you tell us a bit about it?

No. Just joshing you. Chris and I are writing and shooting a film shot in a similar faux-documentary style to Chalk, but about the action behind the scenes in Little League baseball. It's about obsessed parents, crazy coaches, and their kids competing at a Little League All-Star game. Gary Ross, the writer/director of Pleasantville and Seabiscuit is producing, and he and his son came up with the idea. Gary's production partners saw Chalk at the LA Film Festival and a month and four meetings later, we were sitting in a room with Gary, his son, and the other producers. Gary said: "What do you have on your plates right now?" We quickly replied that we'd love to have that on our plate. We're currently seven months in on the script and awaiting a green light from the studio to move into production. Hopefully soon!

How did you become involved with Super Size Me creator Morgan Spurlock for the film's distribution?

The LA Film Festival gets props once more here. We were throwing our after party for Chalk there when our associate producer Mark and my sister noticed Morgan across the way and told me that I should introduce myself and tell him about the film. It wasn't hard to do, because I was a fan of Supersize Me and 30 Days. I quickly told him who our producer's rep was and Morgan knew him. Jeff (the rep) came over and told Morgan he had to see Chalk and a couple of weeks later Morgan called Chris and I to tell us he loved the film and wanted to add it to his distribution label. So here we are.

Despite getting spurned by Sundance, Chalk toured many of the country's indie film fests. Which fest was the most fun, and where did you get the biggest reaction?

Wow! That's like asking a parent which kid is his favorite. Well, the first one we did (The True/False Film Festival) was amazing. Their programmer Paul Sturtz has been a huge champion of the film and has gotten us multiple screenings around the country. We showed up there ready to poster the town and all of our screenings were sold out! As far as biggest reaction, the Independent Film Festival of Boston audience laughed the most. All 600 peeps seemed to love the "Mr. G" character. The LA Film Festival was huge. Their staff are able to honor the filmmakers and at the same time equip them professionally by setting up meeting with managers, agents, and buyers. A great festival combo of art and business.

Recently, we were the opening night film for the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison for almost 1,200 people. The Madison moviegoers were extremely hospitable. Finally, I have nothing but love for the Austin Film Festival and Screenwriter's Conference. It reminds me of listening to music on KGSR - it's pure quality over quantity, and with an amazing festival staff.

We hear the opening weekend of Chalk is already nearly sold out in Austin. Does this mean an expanded list of cities might see the film over the summer?

We absolutely hope that distributors will take notice that the film played strong in LA and Austin. I played a lot of competitive sports so I use lots of athletic metaphors. My Chalk teammates are probably sick of hearing them, but my latest two are:

1. Chalk is like that little restaurant off the beaten path with kick-ass food. Once you get some, you can't help but tell people about it. The flip-side is that we are off the beaten path - and the only way people are coming to eat (see our film) is via word of mouth (i.e., we can't pay for billboards on skyscrapers in NYC.)

2. Our goal at this point going up against the three huge movie franchises of Spider-Man, Shrek, and Pirates is to tread water among the big boys. If we can hang in during the first week or two, we have a real shot at this thing taking off by word of mouth. If you can't tell, I really believe in this film.

[Chalk tickets]

Chalk is now playing at the Alamo Drafthouse South. Image via Someday Soon Productions.