Bill Cox

Bill Cox is nothing if not versatile.

Who knew growing up on a Dowagiac hog farm that Cox could some day aspire to be a filmmaker in Texas?

But the Sugar Land resident’s  “Beer and Seed,” which premiered in August, about second chances and an older student who goes back to college where things don’t go well, has been nominated Best Indie Film 2012 by C-47 Magazine in Houston.

Cox cast Miss Universe Bikini Jessica Vasquez as an “absolutely stunning” librarian.

He has a day job as an events coordinator for a DJ company, volunteers at a soup kitchen, wrote a book on wedding receptions and devoted three years to filming around Houston, including at Rice University.

To escape farming, Cox went from Dowagiac into the Navy to see the world, then to Central Michigan University for a bachelor’s degree in management before settling in Houston.

“My jobs went from bank to manager of a Firestone, to computer geek to wedding DJ to event producer and now indie film producer,” Cox said. “My hobbies are writing and speaking. However, it has taken me many years to figure out what I want to write and speak about. I wrote a couple of books — ‘The Ultimate Wedding Reception Book’ and ‘Ultimate Ceremony Book’ with Janie Franz on Amazon.com.”

But “that was boring,” Cox said. “I would write at night, after my DJ gigs. Then I did some shorts — Bum Inc. on YouTube, some music poetry (“I Love the Fat Chicks”), then it evolved into the feature script” for “Beer and Seed.”

Cox said being in the south from Michigan helped his career.

“I am a public speaker and do acting and a lot of voiceover commercials,” he said. “Though I have been here for over 20 years, I still have that Michigan lack of accent. To hone my skills, I have taken stand-up comedy classes with The Comedy Gym out of Austin, Improv with Comedy Sportz and comedy-writing classes. My interest has been in edgy comedy. When I decided to do the feature, I knew I wanted a dark comedy.”

“I don’t like doing things halfway,” Cox said. “When I start a project, I absolutely intend to finish. I’m like the tortoise. The movie took three years, and all the money I could afford — and some I couldn’t afford — to spend. But it is done, and it is awesome. Because of my background, it is edgy, funny and has the best soundtrack of any indie film out there. I guarantee it. I’m a deejay, I know.”

As for Vasquez, the fitness model, she had just been crowned.

“If I had known she was a beauty queen, she would have been in it wearing a lot less,” he joked. “But she had braces then and seemed a little shy. Nick the bartender is based on my boss in college. Jeff Raines, the actor who plays him actually knew him.”

“Beer and Seed” is available on Amazon.com, download or rental.

www.beerandseed.the movie