Biography
Emmy, Peabody and Gracie award-winning producer and writer Elizabeth (Betty) Buckley is a native Texan with over 25 years of experience in film, television, new media and animation.
She has BFA in Broadcast-Film Arts from SMU, and studied in the Dramatic Writing Graduate Program at Texas State University before becoming an Assistant Professor of Practice. She teaches Film Producing as well as The Business of Film, a legacy course created by Tom Copeland, founder the film Cinema Arts program. She developend and serves as the Academic Program Director for the education abroad program, The Birth of Cinema in France.
She is an Alpha Chi Favorite Professors for 2021, and the chair for the Tom Copeland Speaker Series.
Her work in scripted broadcast television has been seen in 32 countries, and her production work has taken her from Maui to the Costa del Sol in Spain. A long time producer of scripted and non-scripted entertainment, she wrote and directed her first feature doc The Stars at Night, which had is World Premiere at the Austin Film Festival in 2023. The film has since screened all over Texas and the US as well as Internationally in Iceland, Ireland, The UK, France, Pakistan and Africa.
Recent productions include Becoming Martian for Curiosity Stream and HBO’s Comedy Special Entre Nos. She has produced/line produced ten indie features and many TV specials and series of unscripted television, including Easter Island Eclipse for National Geographic. As Director of development/supervising producer for 1080 Entertainment, she produced the 3D animated series Jurassic Fight Club, and well as a number of blue chip specials for the The History Channel.
Working as Executive Producer for east coast based Trailblazer Studios she developed, sold and produced the pilot for Its Easy Being Green a Scripps network series which hosted the last television interview with actor and philanthropist Paul Newman.
She is best known for producing the beloved award-winning children's PBS series, Wishbone, and also produced Dog Days of the West, the feature film extension of the series, broadcast on Showtime. She has received a George Foster Peabody award for her work on the series.
She just completed work as a producer on What's the Story Wishbone? a feature documentary about the making of the series.
A natural organizer and net worker, Buckley founded Women in Film Dallas and has received the organization's Achievement Award. In 2005 she received a Gracie Award for Gilda’s Place, a public service announcement she co-wrote and produced for WIF.D in featuring the voice of Meryl Streep.
After mentoring the organization of Women in Film and Television - Austin, she received the organization's Champion Award in 2024.
In 2021 she served as Co-chair for the first inaugural Wellness Week at Texas State opening a dialog about mental health and wellness through workshops, dance performances, play readings and short film screenings plus and a keynote screening of Inside the Rain.
In 2018, she organized and produced, Life in Film a special event/retrospective for Texas State Students, featuring the work of indie film distribution icons Jeanne and Bob Berney.
A member of the Directors Guild of America, as well as Women in Film: LA, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, Texas.
She and her husband live in the Texas Hill Country where they also own an Air BnB dutifully guarded by their Great Pyrenees.
She has BFA in Broadcast-Film Arts from SMU, and studied in the Dramatic Writing Graduate Program at Texas State University before becoming an Assistant Professor of Practice. She teaches Film Producing as well as The Business of Film, a legacy course created by Tom Copeland, founder the film Cinema Arts program. She developend and serves as the Academic Program Director for the education abroad program, The Birth of Cinema in France.
She is an Alpha Chi Favorite Professors for 2021, and the chair for the Tom Copeland Speaker Series.
Her work in scripted broadcast television has been seen in 32 countries, and her production work has taken her from Maui to the Costa del Sol in Spain. A long time producer of scripted and non-scripted entertainment, she wrote and directed her first feature doc The Stars at Night, which had is World Premiere at the Austin Film Festival in 2023. The film has since screened all over Texas and the US as well as Internationally in Iceland, Ireland, The UK, France, Pakistan and Africa.
Recent productions include Becoming Martian for Curiosity Stream and HBO’s Comedy Special Entre Nos. She has produced/line produced ten indie features and many TV specials and series of unscripted television, including Easter Island Eclipse for National Geographic. As Director of development/supervising producer for 1080 Entertainment, she produced the 3D animated series Jurassic Fight Club, and well as a number of blue chip specials for the The History Channel.
Working as Executive Producer for east coast based Trailblazer Studios she developed, sold and produced the pilot for Its Easy Being Green a Scripps network series which hosted the last television interview with actor and philanthropist Paul Newman.
She is best known for producing the beloved award-winning children's PBS series, Wishbone, and also produced Dog Days of the West, the feature film extension of the series, broadcast on Showtime. She has received a George Foster Peabody award for her work on the series.
She just completed work as a producer on What's the Story Wishbone? a feature documentary about the making of the series.
A natural organizer and net worker, Buckley founded Women in Film Dallas and has received the organization's Achievement Award. In 2005 she received a Gracie Award for Gilda’s Place, a public service announcement she co-wrote and produced for WIF.D in featuring the voice of Meryl Streep.
After mentoring the organization of Women in Film and Television - Austin, she received the organization's Champion Award in 2024.
In 2021 she served as Co-chair for the first inaugural Wellness Week at Texas State opening a dialog about mental health and wellness through workshops, dance performances, play readings and short film screenings plus and a keynote screening of Inside the Rain.
In 2018, she organized and produced, Life in Film a special event/retrospective for Texas State Students, featuring the work of indie film distribution icons Jeanne and Bob Berney.
A member of the Directors Guild of America, as well as Women in Film: LA, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, Texas.
She and her husband live in the Texas Hill Country where they also own an Air BnB dutifully guarded by their Great Pyrenees.
Research Interests
Documentary filmmaking, books and films for children and YA.
Teaching Interests
Producing, writing, workshops, internships, documentary filmmaking