Austin Film Festival's On Story

This week on On Story, a conversation with Nicole Perlman and Jodi Hildebrand on their experiences as writers and producers working with existing intellectual property, or IP.

Nicole Perlman is best known for working as a co-writer on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain Marvel, as well as Detective Pikachu. For eight years, Perlman has worked as a Creative Advisor at the Sundance Screenwriting Labs, in addition to mentoring for Global Media Makers, Women in Film, the BlackList, and more. She is currently developing television projects for Fox Searchlight, Amazon Studios, and Netflix.

Jodi Hildebrand is a film and TV producer, who currently runs the Scripted Television and Film team at Conde Nast Entertainment. In this role, Hildebrand works with writers from publications like The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair, on adapting their articles for film or television. Hildebrand recently produced the 2018 film adaptation of Peter Rabbit, and its sequel, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.

AFF moderator Paul Alvarado-Dykstra sat down with Perlman and Hildebrand for a conversation on the ins-and-outs of working with existing IP, from respecting the lived experiences of the protagonist in a true story, to optioning the rights to your favorite book.

Clips of Guardians of the Galaxy courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Clips of Luke Cage courtesy of Disney+.

Clips of Thor: Ragnarok courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

This week on On Story, a covnersation with writer-director Rian Johnson on his love of genre media from noir to sci-fi, and the long process of outlining which allows him to craft intricate stories without getting lost in the second act.

Johnson made his directorial debut in 2005 with the neo-noir mystery, Brick. Set against the backdrop of a suburban high school, Brick draws inspiration from classic noir mysteries while adding a coming-of-age twist. Johnson dove into the sci-fi genre with his time-travel action-thriller Looper, released in 2012. Starring Bruce Willis, Looper follows the work of contract killers who are tasked with executing targets who have been sent backwards through time by crime syndicates from the future. Next, Johnson served as writer-director for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, an installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Most recently, Johnson has been busy writing, directing and producing his murder-mystery film franchise Knives Out.

After earning Johnson an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, Knives Out was followed by its first sequel, Glass Onion. The third film in the series, Wake Up Dead Man, will be coming to select theaters this November before streaming on Netflix. The series is known for its star-studded ensemble cast, led by Daniel Craig, as the eccentric, gentlemanly detective, Benoit Blanc. In addition to his work in film, Johnson has also directed episodes of Breaking Bad and created the case-of-the-week crime-comedy series Poker Face, starring Natasha Lyonne.

Barbara Morgan sat down with Rian Johnson for a conversation on his expansive career and his intricate writing process.

Clips of Brick courtesy of Focus Features.

Clips of Looper courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing.

Clips of Knives Out courtesy of Lionsgate.

Clips of Poker Face courtesy of Peacock.

This week on On Story, a conversation with Julie Plec on her love of YA storytelling, and her experience co-creating and co-showrunning The Vampire Diaries.

The Vampire Diaries is a supernatural, romantic teen-drama which ran for 8 seasons from 2009 to 2017. The show follows the life of a mortal teen girl, Elena Gilbert, as she navigates grief, love triangles, small town politics, and supernatural threats from ghosts, to werewolves, to evil doppelgängers. The success of The Vampire Diaries allowed Plec to expand this magical world into two spinoff shows, The Originals, and Legacies.

Plec began her career as a co-producer and personal assistant to Wes Craven while he directed the first three installments of the Scream franchise. She did rewrites for Scream and Scream 2, and in that process she befriended legendary horror screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who would later become her co-creator and co-showrunner on The Vampire Diaries. Plec has gone on to serve as co-creator and co-showrunner of Peacock's Vampire Academy, and direct episodes of Roswell, New Mexico, and Riverdale. In 2020, her production company, My So-Called Company, signed an overall deal with Universal Television, which included the production of her new show for Amazon Prime, We Were Liars.

AFF moderator Fabienne Harford spoke with Plec about how she responds to pressure from fans while writing, and her insistence on writing YA content that respects its audience.

Clips of Vampire Diaries courtesy of CBS Studios and Warner Brothers

Clips of the Originals courtesy of CBS Studios and Warner Brothers

Clips of Riverdale courtesy of CBS Studios and Warner Brothers

This week on On Story, a conversation with Gia Coppola on her process directing The Last Showgirl.

This dazzling drama follows the sunset years of Shelly Gardner, a middle-aged Las Vegas showgirl, played by Pamela Anderson. Shelly faces an uncertain future after the iconic revue she's been starring in for decades stages its final performance. At the same time, Shelly must navigate her relationships with her fellow dancers, and her estranged daughter, played by Billie Lourd. The film had its Texas premier at the 2024 Austin Film Festival, and went on to receive nominations at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards.

Gia Coppola is a director and screenwriter who made her directorial debut in 2013 with Palo Alto, a coming-of-age drama following a group of self-destructive teenagers in a California suburb.

I sat down with Coppola to talk about her collaborations with her star–studded cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, and John Bautista, and her process bringing the glitz and glam of The Las Vegas Strip to the big screen.

Clips of The Last Showgirl provided by Roadside Attractions.

This week on On Story, a conversation with screenwriter Mark L. Smith on writing Twisters – the 2024 summer film that took audiences by storm…literally! The action-packed, thrilling adventure directed by Lee Isaac Chung is a standalone sequel to the 1996 film Twister starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton and produced by Austin Film Festival awardee Kathleen Kennedy. Yet, as the plurality suggests, stakes are raised in Twisters as meteorologist Kate Copper, played by Daisy Edgar Jones, tests a groundbreaking storm tracking system. Copper's world spirals when she crosses paths with cowboy, social media superstar Tyler Owens, played by Glen Powell as the two storm chasers fight for their lives in the plains of Oklahoma.

Mark L. Smith is best known for writing the screenplays The Revenant, starring Leonardi Di Caprio whose performance in the film earned him the Academy award for Best actor, The Midnight Sky, directed and starring George Clooney, and The Boys in the Boat, produced and directed by Clooney. Simply put, Smith is a mastermind at crafting stories that are sure to keep audiences at the edge of their seats.

I sat down with Smith at our annual Writers Conference to discuss writing captivating action sequences and his process of writing a script which both honors and builds off the original 90s blockbuster.

Twisters clips courtesy of Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures.