On this special presentation of On Story, we’re taking a closer look at some of the incredible films chosen to screen at the 26th Annual Austin Film Festival and the filmmakers behind these films. We spoke with filmmakers whose work represents some of the most original voices in filmmaking from around the world and the challenges they faced in their creative process as well as the breakthroughs that led them to Austin Film Festival.

On this week’s On Story, co-writers and directors John Langmore and Bud Force discuss their feature documentary Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait. Told in the cinematic tradition of classic westerns, the film gives viewers a first-hand account from modern working cowboys on some of America’s largest and most remote cattle ranches. 

John Langmore is a former working cowboy who spent five years photographing cowboys on twelve of the country’s largest ranches, His recently published book, Open Range: America's Big-Outfit Cowboy, is the result of over six years of work photographing on fourteen of the country's largest ranches, all running full crews of horseback cowboys.
Bud Force is an award-winning director and cinematographer based in Austin, Texas. He has been involved in the agriculture industry most of his life. Bud is a former rodeo cowboy who has spent the past decade producing brand films and documentaries around the world.

I spoke to John Langmore and Bud Force about Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait presented by Hill Country Conservancy ahead of the film’s world premiere at the historical Paramount Theatre on Friday, October 25th. 

Jeffrey Cranor is a partner in and co-founder of Night Vale Presents. He co-writes the podcasts welcome to night vale and within the wires. He co-wrote with Joseph Fink the novels Welcome to Night Vale and It Devours! An alumnus of the performance art collective the New York neo-futurists, Jeffrey also creates theater and dance with choreographer (and wife) Jillian Sweeney.

Clips of Welcome to Night Vale courtesy of You Tube, Inc.

For every established Hollywood producer there are countless up-and-coming writers desperately trying to get their work read. Despite the odds of ‘making it’ these people continue to write. In our podcast series, “Toiling in Obscurity” we hear from working writers on their day to day obstacles and what keeps them inspired to keep writing.

Michael Soll is an Austin Film Festival Finalist whose screenplay, Catalyst won the Drama Feature Category in 2016 and is currently in pre-production. At 17, Michael wrote his first screenplay, a teenage coming-of-age story. In addition to features, he also enjoys writing books. His novel, Scorched, was an Amazon Bestseller. We spoke with Michael during the Austin Film Festival to discuss what keeps him motivated to write and how AFF helped advance his script further in the industry.

One of our most compelling and challenging stories at this years festival comes from a powerful documentary titled A Girl Named C. It tells the story of 11- year who was raped in her New Jersey elementary school by another 11-year-old student. Emily Kassie, the films director spoke to us about her motivations and what drove her to champion this story.

Screening Times: 10/28, 4:00PM: St.David's Bethell Hall & 10/29, 1:00PM at Alamo Drafthouse Village

After moving to Spain for her husband, Eva, a Paraguayan woman finds herself bored, unhappy, and sexually frustrated. Korean American Writer Jean Lee spoke to us about her love for spanish telenovelas and the unique set of circumstances that led her to helm this Spanish language comedy. This is a Spanish speaking film that contains subtitles.

Screening Times: 10/25, 9:45PM: St. David’s Bethell Hall & 10/30, 5:30PM at the Galaxy Highland 10

Though her Iranian parents long for their daughter to have the perfect Persian wedding, Nousha can’t seem to hold a relationship together long enough to ever see that through. That is, until she meets Alex, an eccentric bisexual artist who might just be the one. Writer/ Director Sarah Zandieh presents us with an amazing culture clash and familial comedy Zandieh’s script is sharp and witty and eloquent in both the language of traditional Persia and secular America.

Screening Times: 10/25, 7:10PM: Alamo Drafthouse Village & 10/30, 8:30PM at the Galaxy Highland 10

This week on On Story we’re exploring two of the most popular movie genres: action and comedy. First we’ll hear from the writers behind massive action hits Deadpool, Gone in Sixty Seconds, and Armageddon. And later, we’ll lighten the mood with a conversation with There’s Something About Mary co-writer and director Bobby Farrelly.

Action scenes can be some of the most memorable moments in a film but without a good story to support them they can fall flat. The most intricately choreographed fight sequence or heart pounding car chase is only effective if it furthers the story. Machete writer Alvaro Rodriguez spoke with Gone in 60 Seconds and Armageddon writer Scott Rosenberg, Deadpool and Zombieland writer Rhett Reese, and Hulk writer John Turman about writing effective action scenes at the 18th annual Austin Film Festival in 2011.

Bobby Farrelly has spent over twenty years redefining broad comedy. Alongside his brother Peter, the brothers have written and directed cult favorites like Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, Shallow Hal, and Me, Myself & Irene. Actor John Merriman spoke with Farrelly at the 23rd annual Austin Film Festival in 2016.

On this week’s episode, we’ll hear from the creators behind the upcoming comedy heist film Ocean’s 8. Screenwriters Olivia Milch and Gary Ross discuss spinning-off a popular franchise and approaching the heist genre from a new perspective. And later, we’ll hear from King of the Hill writer and Bob’s Burgers’ co-developer Jim Dauterive on writing for animation and how characters develop over a series lifetime. 

Ocean’s 8 is an upcoming comedy heist film that remixes Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11 trilogy. The film brings a unique perspective to the genre by featuring an all-star, all female team. The idea for the film was created by four-time Academy Award® nominated writer/director Gary Ross. Ross co-wrote the comedy classic Big, and went on to write and direct Pleasantville, Seabiscut, The Hunger Games, and 2016’s Free State of Jones. Ross co-wrote the Ocean’s 8 screenplay with filmmaker Olivia Milch, who has made a name for herself by writing stories that authentically represent the female experience. Earlier this year she released her directorial debut, Dude, on Netflix.

Next up, we’ll hear from Jim Dauterive who started his career as one of the original writers for the award-winning animated comedy King of the Hill which ran for 13 seasons on the Fox network. The series won two Emmy Awards and was named one of the 100 greatest television shows of all time in 2007. Dauterive currently serves as the executive producer of the popular animated Fox television series Bob’s Burgers, which he co-developed with Loren Bouchard. I spoke with Dauterive at Texas State University at an event put on by Austin Film Festival and The Wittliff Collections.

This week, in honor of Austin Film Festival’s 25th Anniversary we’re going back into our archives to bring you conversations with writers that created two of 1993’s most remembered films. First we’ll hear from screenwriter Angelo Pizzo who wrote the inspirational football drama Rudy. And later, we’ll hear from Ron Nyswaner who wrote the Jonathan Demme directed drama Philadelphia, which starred Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks.

1993 saw the release of giant blockbuster films like Jurassic Park, classic comedies like Groundhog’s Day, Rom-Com staples like Sleepless in Seattle, and the inspirational true-life story of an undersized, dyslexic student who’s only dream was to play football for the University of Notre Dame. Rudy, written by Angelo Pizzo, has stood the test of time as a film that still resonates with an audience 25 years after its release. In 2005 the film was named one of the 25 Best Sports Movies by ESPN and one of the most-inspiring films of all time by the “AFI 100 Series”. Pizzo, who also wrote the Indiana basketball drama Hoosiers, spoke about Rudy at the 22nd Austin Film Festival in 2015.

Clips of Rudy courtesy of TriStar Pictures, Inc.

We continue our 25-year look back with a conversation with screenwriter Ron Nyswaner. In 1993, Nyswaner wrote Philadelphia, which follows an attorney who is fired from his high-powered law firm after it’s revealed that he is HIV positive. The film was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV and homosexuality. Tom Hanks won an Academy Award® for Best actor for his portrayal of lawyer Andrew Beckett. Nyswaner is also known for adapting the W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil into the 2006 film of the same name. Nyswaner spoke about his career and writing process at the 20th annual Austin Film Festival in 2013.

Clips of Philadelphia courtesy of TriStar Pictures, Inc. Clip of Ray Donovan courtesy of Showtime Networks, Inc. and clip of The Painted Veil courtesy of Bob Yari Productions & Yari Film Group Releasing.

Ahead of Memorial Day this month, we look at writing for war films with screenwriters David Broyles, Bill Broyles, Randall Wallace and Bruce C. McKenna.

David Broyles grew up in California, New York, and on a dude ranch in Bandera, Texas. He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University, and served as a Pararescueman (PJ) in Iraq and Afghanistan. Following his enlistment, he was recognized by the Governor of Texas for exceptional volunteer work and advocacy for disabled veterans. He has sold several screenplays and most recently co-created Six, an upcoming dramatic series for the History Channel. David has been involved with the Austin Film Festival for many years as a writer, director, and volunteer. I spoke with David about Six last September.

Bruce C. McKenna is an award-winning screenwriter and producer.  He wrote on four of the ten episodes of HBO’s Emmy Award-winning mini-series Band of Brothers, for which he garnered a WGA Award, a Christopher Award and was a finalist for the Humanitas Prize for his episode, Bastogne. He created, co-wrote and co-executive produced The Pacific, the Emmy Award-winning Miniseries for HBO, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks on the Pacific Theater of the Second World War.  In addition to winning a producing Emmy, McKenna was nominated for his second writing Emmy, was again a finalist for the Humanitas Prize, and garnered a Producer’s Guild Award, a Critic’s Choice Award, as well as the Marine Corp Heritage Foundation Bill Broyles Image Award.  

He is currently developing a miniseries on Peter The Great for Bold Television, is adapting Hampton Side’s epic Blood and Thunder for Ridley Scott, and is adapting All Things Possible, the Kurt Warner story, for Fox Studios. 

Bill Broyles grew up in Baytown, Texas, attended Rice University and Oxford University, worked in the civil rights movement, and finished out the Sixties as a Marine infantry lieutenant in Vietnam. As a journalist he was the founding editor of Texas Monthly and from 1982 to 1984 was editor-in-chief of Newsweek. He was the co-creator of the Emmy-Award -winning television series China Beach. He wrote the original screenplay for the movie Cast Away and the screenplay for Jarhead. He co-authored six other screenplays, including Apollo 13, Unfaithful, The Polar Express and Flags of Our Fathers. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for Apollo 13, which won the Writers Guild award for best screenplay.  He has been involved with the Austin Film Festival from the beginning.

Randall Wallace is the Oscar®-nominated creative force behind the epic storytelling of such critical and box-office hits as Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, Pearl Harbor, Secretariat, and Heaven is for Real.

This week on On Story we’ll hear Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright on his new book God Save Texas and the Hulu mini-series he adapted from his 2006 book The Looming Tower. And later, we’ll hear from Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost on the cult television series return to air after 25 years.

In 2006 Wright released the Pultizer Prize-winning novel, The Looming Tower - which explored the events that led to the September 11th terrorist attacks. Earlier this year Wright teamed with his frequent documentarian collaborator Alex Gibney and filmmaker Dan Futterman to adapt the novel into a Hulu miniseries of the same name. The show stars Jeff Daniels, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stulhbarg.

Clips of The Looming Tower courtesy of Legendary Television & Hulu

Mark Frost started his career as a staff writer on the celebrated 80’s police procedural Hill Street Blues. In 1990, Frost partnered with filmmaker David Lynch to co-create the television series, Twin Peaks. The shows mix of melodrama, surrealism, offbeat humor and horror was quickly celebrated for being unlike anything else on network television. In 2017, the series returned to air 25 years after its initial run for an 18 episode limited series on the Showtime network. I spoke with Mark Frost about revisiting old creations at the 24th annual Austin Film Festival in 2017.

Clips of Twin Peaks (1990) & (2017) courtesy of  Lynch/Frost Productions, Inc.