This week on On Story we’ll hear from television writer & producer Howard Gordon on his process of creating a hit television series. Howard Gordon is a television writer and producer best known for his work on the Fox action series 24 and the award-winning Showtime thriller Homeland which he co-developed with Alex Gansa. Gordon first gained national attention for his award-winning work on Fox’s groundbreaking series The X-Files, for which he won multiple Golden Globes. His other credits include Tyrant, Legends, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Beauty and the Beast, Sisters, and Spenser: For Hire.

Producer Barry Josephson spoke with Gordon at the Austin Film Festival at a panel about his process of writing for hit television.

Clips of Homeland, The X-Files, and 24 courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

This week on On Story, award-winning writer and director Brenda Chapman discusses how female perspective, a love of art, and an understanding of flawed characters influenced her writing in the animated classics The Lion King, The Prince of Egypt, and Brave.

Brenda Chapman is an American writer, storyboard artist, and director. In 1998, she became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio, DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt. In 2012, she co-directed the Disney/Pixar film Brave with Mark Andrews, becoming the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Writer and Professor Greg Garrett spoke with Chapman about her process of taking ideas from the drawing board to the screen at the Austin Film Festival.

Clips of Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King & The Rescuers Down Under courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Clips of The Prince of Egypt courtesy of DreamWorks, LLC

Clips of Brave courtesy of Pixar & Disney Enterprises, Inc.

This week on On Story we’ll hear from veteran screenwriters John Lee Hancock, Brian Helgeland and Robin Swicord on the process of creating compelling characters. And later, award-winning writer and director Brenda Chapman discusses how female perspective, a love of art, and an understanding of flawed characters influenced her writing in the animated classics The Lion King, The Prince of Egypt, and Brave.

Characters are the emotional anchor for all great stories. No matter how intricate the plot, well-developed characters are crucial ingredients for engaging an audience and encouraging them to invest in a story's journey. I spoke with a group of veteran screenwriters about their process of crafting compelling characters at the Austin Film Festival. John Lee Hancock is a director, writer and producer most known for his work on The Blind Side, A Perfect World and his latest film The Little Things. Brian Helgeland is a screenwriter, producer and director. His writing credits include L.A. Confidential, Man on Fire, and A Knight’s Tale. Robin Swicord is the writer of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Memoirs of a Geisha and Little Women.

Clips of A Knight's Tale courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Clips of A Perfect World courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc

Clips of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Clips of Man on Fire courtesy of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation & Regency Entertainment

This week on On Story we’ll hear from veteran screenwriters John Lee Hancock, Brian Helgeland and Robin Swicord on the process of creating compelling characters. And later, award-winning writer and director Brenda Chapman discusses how female perspective, a love of art, and an understanding of flawed characters influenced her writing in the animated classics The Lion King, The Prince of Egypt, and Brave.

Characters are the emotional anchor for all great stories. No matter how intricate the plot, well-developed characters are crucial ingredients for engaging an audience and encouraging them to invest in a story's journey. I spoke with a group of veteran screenwriters about their process of crafting compelling characters at the Austin Film Festival. John Lee Hancock is a director, writer and producer most known for his work on The Blind Side, A Perfect World and his latest film The Little Things. Brian Helgeland is a screenwriter, producer and director. His writing credits include L.A. Confidential, Man on Fire, and A Knight’s Tale. Robin Swicord is the writer of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Memoirs of a Geisha and Little Women.

Clips of A Knight's Tale courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Clips of A Perfect World courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc

Clips of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Clips of Man on Fire courtesy of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation & Regency Entertainment

Hello podcast listeners, you’re listening to Austin Film Festival’s On Story. This week on On Story we’ll hear from the filmmakers behind The Outpost. The film, which stars Scott Eastwood and Orlando Bloom, was adapted from Jake Tapper’s book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor which follows the story of a team of American soldiers as they valiantly work together to survive behind enemy lines. The panel included writers Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy, director Rod Lurie, and producer Paul Merryman. We spoke with the team behind The Outpost at the Austin Film Festival.

Clips of The Outpost courtesy of Millennium Media & Screen Media Films

Hello podcast listeners. This week on On Story we’ll hear from Bill Hader and Alec Berg, the creators of HBO’s hit crime show, Barry. Alec Berg is a writer, producer and director whose credits include Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley and Barry which he co-created with Bill Hader. He’s been nominated for eighteen Emmys, ten Writers Guild awards and a Razzie. Bill Hader is an actor, writer and producer best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, for which he received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and Peabody Award. We spoke with Alec Berg and Bill Hader at the Austin Film Festival, at a panel about their process of creating the hit HBO series Barry, which stars Bill Hader as a hitman who travels to Los Angeles to kill someone and finds himself drawn towards human connection in the form of a group of aspiring actors.

Clips of Barry courtesy of Home Box Office Television

Hello podcast listeners, I’m Barbara Morgan and you’re listening to Austin Film Festival’s On Story. This week on On Story we’ll hear from Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Alexander & Karaszewski are a screenwriting duo, best known for their unusual biopics with larger-than-life characters. Their film credits include: The People vs. Larry Flynt, American Crime Story: THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON, and Ed Wood. Their first commercial success was 1990’s Problem Child, which later spawned two sequels. In 1994 they released the biographical dramedy Ed Wood which was directed by Tim Burton and won two Academy Awards. Their first foray into television was American Crime Story: THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON, a true crime anthology drama based on the O. J. Simpson  murder trial. The show went on to win nine Primetime Emmys after it aired on FX in 2016, with Alexander and Karaszewski nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special. Producer Barry Josephson spoke with Alexander & Karaszewski at a panel at the Austin Film Festival.

Clips of Problem Child courtesy of Universal City Studios & Imagine Entertainment

Clips of Ed Wood courtesy of Touchstone Pictures & The Walt Disney Company

Clips of The People vs. Larry Flynt courtesy of Columbia Pictures Industries

Clips of American Crime Story courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation & FX

Clips of Man on the Moon courtesy of Universal Pictures

Hello podcast listeners, I’m Barbara Morgan and you’re listening to Austin Film Festival’s On Story. This week on On Story we’ll hear from Seinfeld writer David Mandel. David Mandel was the executive producer and showrunner of the Emmy Award-winning TV show Veep, and was also an executive producer and director of Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was a writer for several seasons of Seinfeld and also co-wrote the screenplay for the 2003 film adaptation of The Cat In The Hat. Comedian John Merriman spoke with Mandel at a retrospective screening of episodes of Seinfeld at the Austin Film Festival.

Clips of Seinfeld courtesy of NBC

This week on On Story we’ll hear from Gone Girl author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn.

Gillian Flynn is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Gone Girl, for which she wrote the Golden Globe-nominated screenplay. She is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Dark Places and Sharp Objects. Flynn later adapted and executive produced the Emmy-nominated SHARP OBJECTS for HBO in 2018, which starred Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson. Also in 2018, Flynn co-wrote, with director Steve McQueen, the screenplay for the heist thriller WIDOWS, starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, and Cynthia Erivo. Most recently, Flynn wrote and executive produced UTOPIA for Amazon. I spoke with Gillian Flynn at the 2020 Austin Film Festival about her creative process of writing across mediums and adapting her own work. 

Clips of Gone Girl & Widows courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation & Regency Entertainment

Clips of Sharp Objects courtesy of Warner Brothers Television & HBO

Clips of Dark Places courtesy of A24 & Denver & Delilah Films

This week on On Story we’ll hear from Ed Solomon, the screenwriter behind Men in Black and the co-writer of the Bill & Ted series. Solomon has had a major film released in each of the last 5 decades starting in 1989 with his first feature Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which he co-wrote with Chris Matheson. That film has spawned 2 sequels, both written by Solomon and Matheson, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, and 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music. Solomon wrote Men in Black, Now You See Me, and HBO’s interactive series Mosaic. I spoke with Solomon about his writing and the process behind deciding which ideas to pursue at the 2020 Austin Film Festival.