This week on On Story we’re joined by The Sopranos creator David Chase for a conversation on writing a hit television show.

David Chase is a screenwriter, showrunner, director, and producer, best known for writing and producing the HBO drama The Sopranos. Chase has also produced and written for such shows as The Rockford Files, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure. He created the original series Almost Grown and has won seven Emmy Awards. Chase's film debut came in 2012 with Not Fade Away, followed by 2021’s The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel film to The Sopranos.

The Sopranos ran for six seasons from 1999 and 2007, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest television shows of all time. It is the first cable show to ever be nominated for, and win, the best drama series Emmy, and it helped to put HBO on the map and ushered in what some regard as the platinum age of television, which featured a slew of new shows and showrunners that could hold their own against the big screen.

Moderator Barry Josephson spoke with Chase about his work on the show at the Austin Film Festival.

Clips of The Sopranos courtesy of Home Box Office Television.

This week on On Story we’ll join Breaking Bad creator & showrunner Vince Gilligan for a retrospective look at the 1971 cult-classic The French Connection.   

Based on a true story, William Friedkin's 1971 hit The French Connection, gave audiences its first taste at what a truly realistic cop film could be. Starring Gene Hackman as detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, the film follows the story of a driven New York cop whose intuitive street sense allows him to sniff out the secret players in a colossal heroin import operation, bringing the drugs into New York from Marseille. At a time where drug addiction was at an all time high, The French Connection brought a sense of realism to Hollywood’s law enforcement films by throwing the proverbial book at them.

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, an avid fan of Friedkin’s work, sat down with me after a retrospective screening of the film at the Austin Film Festival.

Clips of The French Connection courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation