Austin Film Festival's On Story
On Story Episode 1641: Die Hard Versus Lethal Weapon and Robert Kamen

The 1987 blockbuster Lethal Weapon is the first writing credit in Shane Black’s filmography. He went on to act in, write or write and direct over 30 films including The Long Kiss Goodnight, Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, slated for release in May of 2016. 

Jeb Stuart wrote the screenplay for the action classic, Die Hard. The film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards® and voted the Best Action Film of All Time by Entertainment Weekly in 2007. Jeb Stuart’s other credits include the screenplays for The Fugitive, nominated for 7 Academy Awards® including Best Picture and the action-comedy Another 48 Hrs.

Robert Mark Kamen’s screenwriting credits begin with the script for the 1981 film Taps which was adapted from Devery Freeman’s novel Father Sky, and which stars George C Scott, Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn and Tom Cruise in his first major role in a motion picture. He went on to create The Karate Kid, starring Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio, and collaborated with filmmaker Luc Besson on The Fifth Element, as well as the Transporter and Taken franchises.  

Direct download: DIE_HARD_VS_LETHAL_WEAPON_AND_ROBERT_KAMEN.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 12:17pm CDT

On Story Episode 1640: Matthew Weiner and Vince Gilligan

Writer-producer-director Vince Gilligan got his start as an independent filmmaker before being invited to join the writing team on the X-Files. He went on to co-create the short run X-Files spinoff, The Lone Gunmen and later, created the hugely successful AMC series, Breaking Bad. Vince Gilligan’s current series, the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul recently garnered multiple Emmy nominations including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Bob Odenkirk and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Jonathan Banks. Producer Barry Josephson spoke with Vince Gilligan at the 20th Austin Film Festival, shortly after the release of the final episode of Breaking Bad.

Matthew Weiner is the creator and executive producer of the multiple Emmy Award-winning AMC drama, Mad Men, which concluded in 2015. 

Before Mad Men, Matthew Weiner was an executive producer and writer on HBO’s The Sopranos and produced various television series, including The Naked Truth, Becker, and Andy Richter Controls the Universe. New York Times Magazine Editor Robert Draper spoke with Matthew Weiner in 2014 at the 21st Austin Film Festival. We begin with Matthew Weiner reflecting on Mad Men, shortly after the end of production on the series.

Direct download: VINCE_GILLIGAN_AND_MATTHEW_WEINER.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 2:42pm CDT

Emmy Episode Featuring Beau Willimon & John Ridley

In anticipation of the 2016 Emmy Awards, this week’s On Story from Austin Film Festival and Public Radio International features House of Cards Beau Willimon discussing his Netflix political drama which has garnered 13 nominations, followed by John Ridley, creator of ABC’s American Crime, which is nominated for 4 awards.

Beau Willimon is a screenwriter, playwright and show-runner of Netflix’s highly acclaimed political drama, House of Cards. His play Farragut North, became the basis for the motion picture screenplay Ides Of March, which he co-wrote with George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The film earned Willimon the Academy Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. House of Cards is set in present day Washington DC. The show starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright as Frank and Claire Underwood is based on a novel by Lord Michael Dobbs and adapted from a BBC mini-series by the same name. House of Cards has racked up a total of 46 Emmy nominations in its four season run, including this year’s nominations for Outstanding Drama Series as well as Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Lead Actress for Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, respectively. Steve Scheibal spoke with Beau Willimon at the 20th Austin Film Festival in 2013. 

Writer-Director John Ridley’s credits include the novels Those Who Walk in Darkness, A Conversation with the Man, and Stray Dogs, the graphic novel The American Way and the screenplays for the films Red Tails, U Turn, Three Kings, and Undercover Brother.  His script for 12 Years A Slave won the 2014 Academy Award® for Best Adapted Screenplay and he’s the creator of the ABC series, American Crime. The series has garnered three Emmy nominations this year including one for Outstanding Limited Series, a second for Outstanding Supporting Actress for Regina King and a third for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for Felicity Huffman. This conversation was recorded at the 21st Austin Film Festival in 2014 and was moderated by screenwriter Alvaro Rodriguez. 

Direct download: BEAU_WILLIMON_AND_JOHN_RIDLEY_EMMY_WEEK.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 3:45pm CDT

Luke Wilson and Texas Mavericks

This episode of On Story, actor Luke Wilson, followed by Castaway screenwriter Bill Broyles, Lonesome Dove screenwriter and producer Bill Wittliff and Saving Mr Banks filmmaker John Lee Hancock.

Actor Luke Wilson is known for his roles in Bottle Rocket, Idiocracy, Old School, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blond, and this summer’s Showtime series Roadies. Screenwriter Fred Strype spoke with Luke Wilson in 2014 at the 21st Austin Film Festival. 

Bill Broyles co-created the Emmy-Award-winning television series China Beach, and wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for Apollo 13, Cast Away, Jarhead, Unfaithful, The Polar Express, and Flags of Our Fathers. 

John Lee Hancock is the writer/director of The Blind Side and The Alamo, and the director behind The Founder, Saving Mr. Banks, and The Rookie, as well as the screenwriter behind Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, A Perfect World, and Snow White and the Huntsman. 

Bill Wittliff’s screenwriting and producing credits include The Perfect Storm, The Black Stallion, and Legends of the Fall, as well as the groundbreaking Lonesome Dove mini-series, for which he won a Writers Guild of America Award. 

Direct download: TEX_MAVS_LUKE_WILSON.mp3
Category:Film and Television -- posted at: 9:20am CDT

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