This Special Presentation of On Story is a closer look at some of the incredible films chosen to screen at the 26th Annual Austin Film Festival. We talked with the filmmakers whose work represent some of the most original voices in filmmaking from around the world about the challenges they faced in their creative process, and the breakthroughs that led them to The Austin Film Festival.

This week on On Story, Man Camp writer and actor, Daniel Cummings. Daniel’s best-known performances come from his recurring and guest star roles on TV shows such as NCIS and General Hospital. Cummings currently stars in Man Camp and plays one of three adult brothers who discovers their mother is engaged to a man very different from their late father.

Semi-Finalist Stories is a new series from that highlights past Script Competition Second Rounders and their experiences attending the Festival & Conference.

This week, we hear from Chance Muehleck is a writer, filmmaker, and theatre artist based in Los Angeles. His work is primarily in the genre space (sci-fi, thriller, satire). He’s a two-time semifinalist at AFF and a finalist for the Warner Brothers Television Writers Workshop. He wrote and directed the award-winning short films Sponge and Advent. He’s currently creating story content for a gaming app based on his original pitch, and has a feature in development with a director and producer attached. Chance's audio drama Dreamland reached 10,000 unique downloads in its first month of release, placing it in the top 5% of all podcast debuts. He’s co-founder of The Nerve Tank, an acclaimed independent theatre company that develops new work. His plays have been commissioned and produced by Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Dixon Place, and La MaMa, etc.

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, writer/director Van Ditthavong discusses his feature film Sleeping in Plastic. The film tells the story of a high school wrestler who becomes ensnared by an alluring drifter. Desperate to escape her sadistic lover, he is drawn deeper into the dangerous underside of his small Texas town.  

Van Ditthavong was born in Vientiane, Laos and immigrated to the US when he was 4-years-old. He began his career as an award-winning still photographer before transitioning to filmmaking. His short films have been screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, The Independent Filmmakers Showcase, The Atlanta Shortsfest, and The Pasadena International Film Festival. 

Sleeping in Plastic stars Alex MacNicoll, Addison Timlin, Nick Chinlund, and Dash Mihok and is produced by Red Entertainment and goPOP FILMS. This is Van Ditthavong's first feature directing debut.

Second Rounder Stories is a new series from that highlights past Script Competition Second Rounders and their experiences attending the Festival & Conference.

This week, we hear from Wendy Wilkins an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker and comedian just named one of ISA’s Top-25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2019. Hailing from the rural area of upstate New York, Wendy has been a Warner Brothers Writers’ Workshop Participant, an ABC/Disney Writing Program Finalist, a Final Draft’s Big Break Contest Top-10 Finalist, a Women In Film: NY/Meryl Streep Writers Lab Finalist and a 2018 Austin Film Festival Second Rounder along with 40 other competition placements and awards.

In 2018, her original dramatic/sci-fi TV pilot script Hometown won the ISA Fast Track VI Fellowship while her road picture comedy feature screenplay Where The Men Are won Best Comedy Script at the Creative World Awards.

Wendy is currently a senior staff writer/director for the dystopian satirical news website Omnarchy.com, and her popular post-apocalyptic radio drama One More Day on YouTube has 22,000+ listens.

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, director Matt Patterson discusses his feature film Apartment 413. The film tells the story of Marco, played by actor Nicholas Saenz who is running out of time to find a job before his girlfriend, Dana, has their first baby. However the walls begin to close in around him and his grip on reality begins to slip into a psychological nightmare.

Matt Patterson is an award-winning writer, producer and director. Patterson has written 8 feature screenplays, 1 sitcom pilot, produced 3 features and over 100 media projects. Patterson also co-founded Matter Media Studios.

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. 

Second Rounder Stories is a new series from that highlights past Script Competition Second Rounders and their experiences attending the Festival & Conference.

This week, we'll hear from Ann Sloan who was an Austin Film Festival Second Rounder in 2018 with her fiction podcast script, The Carlotta Beautox Chronicles. She is also a screenwriter and alumna of the 2017 Black List Feature Screenwriting Lab. Ann lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two cats. 

This week on On Story we’ll hear from filmmaker Ric Roman Waugh on his latest film, Angel Has Fallen. And later, we’ll hear from Bloodline co-creator Todd A. Kessler on his Netflix- original family drama.

Ric Roman Waugh has written and directed several action-packed films including the prison-based dramas, Felon, Shot Caller and Snitch, which starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Susan Sarandon. His latest film, Angel Has Fallen is the third installment in the Fallen film series, following Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen. The film stars Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nick Nolte and Danny Huston. I spoke with Waugh during a special screening of the film earlier this year.

Clips of Angel Has Fallen courtesy of Lionsgate & Summit Entertainment

Todd A. Kessler is the co-creator and Executive Producer of Netflix’s Emmy award-winning show Bloodline. The show’s all-star cast includes Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini, Norbert Leo Butz, Sissy Spacek and the late Sam Shepard. Kessler also co-created the FX-series Damages starring Glenn Close and Rose Byrne. Early in his career, Kessler wrote on HBO’s The Sopranos, and NBC’s Providence.

Clips of Bloodline courtesy of Netflix, Inc.

Second Rounder Stories is a new series from that highlights past Script Competition Second Rounders and their experiences attending the Festival & Conference.

On this week’s Second Rounder Stories, our Screenplay Competition Director Steven DeBose spoke with creator of Lone Filmmaker, Alexander Abrahamian about entering the competition, making friends at the festival, and what he learned after attending.

Second Rounder Stories is a new series from that highlights past Script Competition Second Rounders and their experiences attending the Festival & Conference.

Marissa Tandon is a writer, actor, and director based in Los Angeles. She is the writer and creator of the narrative fiction podcasts Super Ordinary and The Sword & The Stoner. She is the co-founder of Tandon Productions, which focuses on bringing new voices to the multi-media landscape. Currently, they produce the podcasts All In My Head and Insufficient Facts, with multiple projects in development. In addition to her work in audio fiction, Marissa has previously worked in scripted television development, and has had her writing recognized by Sundance, The Austin Film Festival, The NewFest Reading Series, and The Hollywood Fringe Festival. Her debut novel, Project Z, was published by Wilde Press in Boston, MA in 2013. She has previously trained at iO West, and has a degree in Writing for TV and Film from Emerson College.