Austin Film Festival's On Story

This week on On Story, we'll travel back to the 90s with a retrospective on the crime thriller Se7en, with its screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker.
 
Directed by David Fincher, Se7en stars Brad Pitt as David Mills, an idealistic young detective with a short fuse, who's still adjusting to the violence and apathy of life in the big city. Mills is paired with William Somerset, a jaded Detective Lieutenant who's only one week from retirement, played by Morgan Freeman. Mills and Somerset are tasked with investigating a pair of homicides that are exceptionally depraved and theatrical. The detectives realize that the two murders are only the beginning of a sadistic killing spree where each crime will be based on one of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust. Mills and Somerset begin a desperate game of cat and mouse as they try to get inside the mind of this depraved killer, and catch him before he can carry out his plan. The film was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Original Screenplay. 
 
Se7en was screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker's first script to be sold. During Se7en's three year development period, Walker wrote the scripts for two horror movies: the sci-fi slasher Brainscan, about a troubled teen who's seduced into committing crimes by a hypnotic interactive horror game, and the psychological horror Hideaway about a man who survives a near death experience and finds himself psychically connected to a serial killer. Walker has continued writing and producing in the crime thriller and sci-fi genres throughout his career. Walker wrote the script for 8mm, which follows a private detective investigating a snuff film which may depict a real murder. Walker collaborated with David Fincher again on the 2023 film The Killer, and on an episode of the animated series Love, Death & Robots. His writing credits also include Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, the animated comedy Nerdland, the crime thriller Windfall, and many more. 
 
AFF moderator Andy Volk sat down with Andrew Kevin Walker for a post-screening conversation on his experience writing Se7en based on a one-sentence logline, getting the script in front of director David Fincher, and working with the film's production crew to craft a version of New York City city lost in time.

Next Up, we're joined by three accomplished writers, Virgil Williams, Nicole Perlman, and Scott Rosenberg, for a conversation on finding and maintaining inspiration. 

Virgil Williams began his career in television, writing on 24 and ER. In 2011 Williams joined the writing staff of the grisly FBI procedural Criminal Minds, and stayed on for a six-season run as a writer and producer. Williams earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work writing the script for the 2017 historical drama Mudbound, following the clash between two Southern families as they grapple with the effects of racism and PTSD after World War II. Next, Williams wrote the script for the romantic drama A Journal for Jordan, based on the memoir by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Dana Canedy. Williams collaborated with filmmaker Malcolm Washington to co-write the script for The Piano Lesson, based on the play by August Wilson. The script blends traditional family drama with elements of horror and magical realism. 

Nicole Perlman broke into the film industry via Marvel's screenwriting program, where she selected the Guardians of the Galaxy comics as the basis for a film adaptation. Perlman is credited as a co-writer on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, alongside the film's director James Gunn. Perlman also co-wrote the story for Captain Marvel and Detective Pikachu. Recently Perlman has been working as an executive producer on the police procedural CIA, created by Dick Wolf and David Hudgins. 

Scott Rosenberg has been writing for film and TV since the 90s. His early film projects include Things to do in Denver When You're Dead, Con Air, Disturbing Behavior, and High Fidelity. He also worked as a writer on the horror anthology Tales from the Crypt, and has worked as a writer-producer on shows like Life on Mars, and Zoo. More recently, Rosenberg served as an executive producer for Everything Sucks! and the TV adaptation of High Fidelity starring Zoë Kravitz. Rosenberg co-wrote the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Jumanji: The Next Level, as well as the superhero film Venom. 
 
AFF moderator Greg Garrett sat down with Scott Rosenberg, along with Nicole Perlman, and Virgil Williams, for a conversation on the drive, discipline, and routines which help them develop an idea from inspiration to completion.

This week on On Story, a conversation with screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, on the years-long labor of love that brought Wicked from the stage to the big screen.
 
Wicked takes us back in time to before the events of the classic film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story follows Elphaba Thropp, played by Cynthia Erivo, a misunderstood outcast who was born with green skin, and magical powers that she can't always control. While escorting her younger sister to her first day at university, Elphaba accidentally uses her powers in an emotional outburst. The university's Dean of Sorcery sees this display and decides to take Elphaba under her wing and privately tutor her. Elphaba accepts in the hope that she can fulfil her lifelong dream of working with The Wizard of Oz, who she believes will see past her unusual exterior and value her for her magical talents. Elphaba finds herself reluctantly sharing a room with the popular and wealthy Galinda, played by Ariana Granda. The pair clash and compete for academic attention, before forming an unlikely friendship. But, when Elphaba learns about the mounting oppression of Oz's population of anthropomorphic animals, she is forced to make a choice between being accepted into Oz's ruling class, or standing up for what she believes in. Wicked was the first in a two-film series, followed by Wicked: For Good. 
 
Winnie Holzman has been writing in the world of Oz since the late 90s, when she wrote the book for the stage musical Wicked, alongside composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. The stage musical was inspired by the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, written by Gregory Maguire. Holzman has been drafting the film adaptation for the last decade, with the process moving into hyper-speed once her co-writer Dana Fox, and director Jon M. Chu joined the project. She also created the edgy 90s teen drama My So Called Life. Her other TV writing credits include Thirtysomething, and Huge, and she has appeared as an actor in Jerry Maguire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more. 
 
Co-writer Dana Fox broke into the industry writing romantic comedy films including The Wedding Date, What Happens in Vegas, and Isn't it Romantic. More recently, Fox co-wrote the script for the 2021 film Cruella, starring Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil. 
 
Dana Fox and Winnie Holzman sat down with AFF moderator Erin Hallagan Clare to talk about worldbuilding, the process of adaptation, and writing an emotionally grounded story in the movie-musical Wicked.
 
Clips of Wicked courtesy of Universal City Studios Productions LLLP

This week on On Story, we're taking a trip back in time to an interview with writer, creator, and showrunner Graham Roland, as he discusses developing his AMC series Dark Winds. Roland joined us to share the origins of the project, the creative challenges behind adapting Tony Hillerman's iconic novels, and what excited him most about bringing these characters to the screen. Let's dive into his conversation and hear his thoughts on crafting Dark Winds.

This week on On Story, Clint Bentley will talk to us about his work writing and directing Train Dreams. 
Train Dreams recounts the life of Robert Granier, an early 20th century logger and railway construction worker played by Joel Edgerton. Granier works in seasons, and his work keeps him separated from his family for months at a time. Throughout the story, Granier is haunted by the violence he's witnessed in the course of his work, and he spends his life searching for meaning in the face of a world that seems to destroy and reconstruct itself around him at breakneck speed. Clint Bentley, and his writing partner Greg Kwedar, adapted the script from Denis Johnson's 2011 novella of the same name. 
Clips of Train Dreams courtesy of BBP Train Dreams, LLC