Script to Screen: Twisters
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with screenwriter Mark L. Smith on writing Twisters – the 2024 summer film that took audiences by storm…literally! The action-packed, thrilling adventure directed by Lee Isaac Chung is a standalone sequel to the 1996 film Twister starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton and produced by Austin Film Festival awardee Kathleen Kennedy. Yet, as the plurality suggests, stakes are raised in Twisters as meteorologist Kate Copper, played by Daisy Edgar Jones, tests a groundbreaking storm tracking system. Copper’s world spirals when she crosses paths with cowboy,...
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On Writing Vida, with Tanya Saracho
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with the creator and showrunner Tanya Saracho on her process crafting the hit Starz television series Vida. Saracho is a critically-acclaimed playwright and television writer known for featuring authentic latine storylines. In fact, Saracho co-founded the Untitled Latinx Project (ULP), whose mission is to increase Latine representation in television through content created by Latine writers and directors. Further, Saracho also launched the Ojalá Ignition Lab, an incubator program aimed to nurture, amplify, guide, and empower intersectional Latine...
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A Conversation with Meg LeFauve: Inside Out of Pixar
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with screenwriter Meg LeFauve on her career as a writer at Pixar, where she co-wrote Inside Out and Inside Out 2, as well as The Good Dinosaur. Inside Out follows the personified emotions of Riley, a young girl who struggles to fit in after her family relocates from Minnesota to San Francisco. Riley’s emotions are stored as memories, and her most impactful experiences become core memories, which each define a central part of her personality. The story follows the chaos that ensues after Joy and Sadness go missing in the depths of Riley’s mind, leaving...
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They Cloned Tyrone, with Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmeier
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with director Juel Taylor and writer-producer Tony Rettenmaier on the making of their debut, genre-bending feature, They Cloned Tyrone. The science fiction-comedy-myster-thriller stars John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx (who also served as producer) as this unlikely trio attempts to uncover a government cloning operation. The film first premiered at the American Black Film Festival before a successful Netflix release. Ever since, the film has wowed audiences and critics alike with its poignant socio-political commentary and ability to break...
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On Writing Battlestar Galactica, with Ronald D. Moore
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with science-fiction extraordinaire Ronald D. Moore on his process creating and showrunning the Battlestar Galactica series. The 2004 Syfy episodic is a fresh take on the 1979 series created by Glen A. Larson. Set in a distant star system, a civilization of humans live among a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Together, they must navigate attacks from their enemies, the Cylons, whose primary goal is to eliminate the human race. Through four critically-acclaimed seasons, Moore crafted the series for a modern audience all while paying...
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Script to Screen: American Psycho
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with screenwriter Guinevere Turner on her process writing American Psycho. Though polarizing upon its release, for over two decades American Psycho has remained a cornerstone of horror cinema. Turner herself has a dynamic career as a writer, director and actor. Beyond American Psycho Turner wrote the films The Notorious Bettie Page, Charlie Says and her upcoming feature The Highway that Eats People. Turner also served as a story editor and played the recurring character Gabby Deveaux on...
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On the Making of Sing Sing
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, AFF Senior Film Programer Andy Wolk sits down with writer-producer Clint Bentley and producer Monique Walton to deep-dive into the making of Sing Sing. Based on the real-life Rehabilitation through the Arts program at New York’s Sing Sing Maximum security prison, the powerful film follows a group of incarcerated men who find purpose and creativity through their prison theater troupe. The feature earned wide-spread critical acclaim, not only for the feature’s moving portrayal of change and exploration of human expression, but also for the cast’s inclusion of...
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A Conversation with Craig Mazin
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with writer, director, producer and industry frontrunner, Craig Mazin. Mazin is perhaps best known for his Emmy award-winning historical Drama, Chernobyl. The HBO miniseries captivated audiences with its story of the aftermath of the 1986 disaster and earned Mazin the Emmy for Outstanding Writing on a Limited Series. Prior to his television work, Mazin gained recognition as a sharp comedy writer through features such as Scary Movie 3 and 4, Superhero Movie, The Hangover parts 2 and 3, and Identity Theif. The prolific writer is a...
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A Conversation with Kathleen Kennedy
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, a conversation with legendary producer, Katheleen Kennedy on her impressive producing career. Kennedy has produced or executive-produced more than 70 feature films, which have collectively garnered 120 Academy Award nominations and 25 wins. Among her credits include blockbusters and classics such as Jurassic Park, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, The Sixth Sense, the Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Goonies, Poltergeist, Empire of the Sun, Schindler’s List, and The Color Purple….just to name a few! Not to mention, Kennedy has...
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On World Building with Damon Lindelof and Dan Erickson
Austin Film Festival's On Story
This week on On Story, AFF moderator Casey Baron speaks with leading TV writers Damon Lindelof and Dan Erickson on the art of world building. Damon Lindelof is a three-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer, best known for creating and showrunning hit supernatural and science-fiction dramas such as ABC's Lost, the HBO series The Leftovers and Watchmen, as well as Peacock's limited series Mrs. Davis. Prior to showrunning, Lindelof wrote on the crime dramas Nash Bridges and Crossing Jordan. One of television's most prolific and pre-eminent writers, Lindelof has created some of TV's most...
info_outlineThis is On Story from Austin Film Festival. I’m your host Barbara Morgan.
Over the next few weeks we will be releasing a new series titled AFF AT HOME. Austin Film Festival’s mission has always been to further the art and craft of storytelling. When we started the script competitions and festival in 1994, it was with the intention of creating a community for writers to engage with one another and to create a network that connects craft to career.
Times of uncertainty and conflict often bring out the best stories. We truly believe that now is the time for storytellers to work through everything that is happening. If you are looking for a little inspiration or motivation to get back to your script – We are here to help. Our Festival has over 26 years of archived panels that we will be curating and releasing every Wednesday to help you work through challenges you might be facing in your work.
To Kick-Off our new series we’re bringing you audio from Austin Film Festival’s 2019 Opening Remarks. Screenwriter Ed Solomon joined our staff to kick off the Conference and discuss sparking your story by examining the writers mindset and freeing yourself from misconceptions and obstacles that can prevent you from future opportunities.
Looking for more resources? Check out austinfilmfestival.com for more audio, streaming suggestions, writing prompts, and more. See you next week.