AFF Film Program Director Kelly Williams' Panel Picks

Here are my top five conference panel picks. These are the panels I would attend if I didn’t work here...


Using Improv to Improve Your Script
Stephen F. Austin, Ballroom
Friday, 10/22
Improv and table reads can be incredibly useful for hearing your dialogue spoken aloud and punching up the comedy quotient. How to invigorate your script through improvisation.
Amanda Austin, Owen Egerton, Dan French, Peter Murrieta, Chuck Sklar


Script-to-Screen: THE BIG EASY with Daniel Petrie, Jr.
Friday, 10/22
Extended length panel: 1:45pm-3:45pm
Driskill Hotel, Citadel Room
With script in hand and film clips on the wall, screenwriter Daniel Petrie, Jr., will dissect his lauded crime noir thriller about police corruption and New Orleans violence. And how many of us wish we had the chance for do-overs? Dan was granted that once in a lifetime opportunity to write the script for the upcoming remake of THE BIG EASY and he’ll also talk about changes he made and the remaking/updating process.


Film Critics and the Industry
Alamo Ritz - Friday, 10/22
Print film critics have recently been in the spotlight, criticized for being out of touch with the majority of filmgoers. What purpose are film reviews serving now? Who's reading them and how are they using them? And with more movie critics driven to the internet, what does this change for the audience? More importantly, what is the impact on the film and the filmmakers? Film critics from print and blogs address these questions and others.
David Denby, The New Yorker; Neil Miller, filmschoolrejects.com; Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times; Scott Weinberg, Cinematical/Moviefone and FEARnet; Chase Whale, gordonandthewhale.com
Moderated by Charles Ealy, Austin American-Statesman


The $2 or the $200,000 Film: What You Need to Know
Stephen F. Austin, Assembly Room – Saturday, 10/23
Anyone can get their hands on a video camera these days, but that doesn’t mean you won’t still need a budget, story boards, a schedule, and an overall plan. Not to mention a great script. Regardless of your budget, there are basics you want to make sure you have covered to insure that your film is not only a success, but that it gets completed at all.
Greg Carter, Tom Copeland, Victor Moyers, Mark Potts
Moderated by Dawn Wiercinksi


A Conversation with Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
Driskill Hotel, Ballroom – Sunday, 10/24
Join a conversation with writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, screenwriters of THE HANGOVER, FOUR CHRISTMASES, and GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST
Moderated by Daniel Petrie, Jr.


What's on your schedule? The full line-up is here.

Kelly Williams has been involved with the Austin Film Festival since 2001. In 2004, he became the Film Program Director at the Austin Film Festival where he programs features and shorts as well as oversees the full scope of the festival’s programming. He was awarded the International Film Festival Summit Excellence Award for his "significant contribution to the success of the festival" in 2007. He has produced numerous award-winning short films, including the Student Academy Award nominee Perils in Nude Modeling, and also wrote and directed the short film Richard and the doc short Sid Smith for Congress. He is an active member of the Austin Media Arts Council. Williams attended the writing program at the Second City in Chicago and is also a graduate of the film program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Music Related Films and Panels at AFF

THE FILMS

Echotone
Run time: 88 min. | USA
Directed by Nathan Christ (Austin filmmaker)
Featuring: The Apeshits, Belaire, The Black Angels, Dana Falconberry,
The Octopus Project, The Pity Party, Sound Team, Sunset,
Ghostland Observatory, Ume, The White White Lights, Black Joe Lewis
Internationally known as ‘The Live Music Capital of the World,’ Austin’s music culture has led it to become one of the world’s most sought-after destinations. As nearly two dozen high-rise buildings pop up throughout the city amidst economic downfall, how does the working musician get along? Following artists like rising star soul revivalist Black Joe Lewis (who is selling out concert halls by night and delivering fish by day), the film interweaves the tales of young artists to form a mosaic illustrating the universal struggle many contemporary fringe cultures are experiencing. Directed by AFF Alum Nathan Christ and beautifully photographed by Robert Garza, Echotone is a cultural portrait of the modern American city examined through the lyrics and lens of its creative class.
Screenings:
1:00 PM Sat, Oct 23 Alamo Ritz 2
10:00 PM Tue, Oct 26 Texas Spirit Theater


Rubble Kings
Run time: 75 min. | USA
Directed by Shan Nicholson
Institutional change comes in many forms. Rubble Kings, directed by AFF alum Nicholson, documents the courageous movements that combated the widespread gang scene in New York during the late sixties and early seventies and provided the inspiration for Walter Hill’s cult classic The Warriors. Outside of the civil rights movement, people fought for their rights in the street. From the eventual end of these violent times came the birth of a new cultural movement, hip-hop. Nicholson delicately documents a world-changing era that spread a beat from the streets of New York around the globe and brought the city out of an era of gang violence.
Screenings:
8:15 PM Sat, Oct 23 Rollins Theatre
10:00 PM Mon, Oct 25 Alamo Lake Creek

Rainbow’s End
Run time: 93 min. | USA
Directed by Eric Hueber (Austin filmmaker)
A documentary feature that feels like a narrative, Rainbows End is all adventure, albeit humorously so. In their bus, “Green Hell,” a gaggle of East Texan natives set out on a journey to California to achieve their dreams! Country Willie is a talented musician who is invited to record with the Legendary Stardust Cowboy in San Jose. This prompts the group’s ramshackle journey. The group includes “austintatious” Audrey Dean, Brian “Birdman” Birdwell, a cock-fighting entrepreneur who wants to expand his business, and Peter Guzzino, a high school valedictorian who is more character than musical talent. This somewhat chaotic journey has a bittersweet ending that brings out the voyager in all of us.
Screenings:
5:15 PM Sat, Oct 23 Convention Center
10:00 PM Wed, Oct 27 Texas Spirit Theater

Dig
Run time: 80 min. | USA
Written and Directed by Stephen Belyeu (Austin filmmaker)
Music by the Austin-based band Hotel, Hotel
Set against the backdrop of rural South Texas, Dig is the story of a young man’s search for answers following the untimely death of his father. Returning to his small hometown, Mike finds himself once again rooted in his surroundings. Numb to his father’s passing, Mike is left with only his grandparents and the desolate countryside of his youth for solace. Here, he hopes time will begin to heal the pain of his recent loss, however, something seems to linger in the back of Mike’s mind. Upon returning, Mike is inevitably forced to come face to face with a secret he ran away from three years ago; a secret he has carried with him all these years. Now, with his return, pieces of a new puzzle begin to rise to the surface, and Mike unknowingly embarks on a journey for answers. Pushed to his limit, Mike begins to uncover the truth, one that threatens to tear at the bond of his family. There’s only one question left for Mike; is he ready to face it?
Screenings:
9:30 PM Fri, Oct 22 Convention Center
7:00 PM Mon, Oct 25 Rollins Theatre

Pickin’ & Grinnin’
Directed by Jon Gries
Run time: 106 min. | USA
There aren’t too many hit songs written about corndogs. Unfortunately, that’s what music-loving brothers, Johnny and Milo Johnson, have to do to make a living. As they begin to grow tired of playing music in small towns, being ridiculed for being losers, and playing shows in small hick towns, they hear about a sing-a-long contest in Nashville. From that setting, the film Pickin’ & Grinnin’ is born. As their Winnebago makes its way across the country, the boys learn about music and brotherhood. Writers Johnny Dowers and Garrett Mathany accurately capture the quick quips of two men who have known each other their whole lives, but find out they still don’t know everything.
Screenings:
3:45 PM Sat, Oct 23 Alamo Ritz 2
7:00 PM Wed, Oct 27 Alamo Lake Creek

Bloodworth
Run time: 105 min. | USA
Directed by Shane Dax Taylor, Written by W. Earl Brown
Starring: Dwight Yoakam - in attendance, Val Kilmer, Kris Kristofferson, W. Earl Brown, Frances Conroy
The Bloodworth family is disjointed and disgruntled. The patriarch, E. F. Bloodworth, has wandered the world forty years, after leaving behind a wife and three sons. When he finally returns to Tennessee, he finds his wife aged and his sons full of rage. Despite his sons’ stagnating development due to anger and vengeance, E. F.’s grandson treats his grandfather with respect. Fleming sees what his family has become and is determined not to let the emotion that his driven his family to bitterness and distance define him. Bloodworth, adapted by W. Earl Brown (who plays one of the three sons along with Yoakam and Kilmer), shows that no one has to be defined by limitations set by a family name and a heritage of resentment.

The Secret to a Happy Ending
Featuring The Drive-By Truckers
Run time: 101 min. | USA
Filmmaker Barr Weissman compiled footage from three years in the career of the Drive By Truckers, an alternative southern rock group that channels the emotions of the deep south into their music. The band members are as close as family; vocalist Jason Isbell and bassist Shannon Trucker are married. Patterson Hood, lead singer and songwriter, comes from a musical family. His father is David Hood, a bass player. This closeness translates into emotional performances that draw audiences in. Their pasts, troubles, and experiences on the road become intertwined in their music and in this documentary. The Drive by Truckers work tirelessly for success and musical creativity, leading to a story of not just a band, but also a true family
Screenings:
8:30 PM Sun, Oct 24 Convention Center
7:00 PM Thu, Oct 28 Alamo Lake Creek


We Are the Sea
Run time: 112 min. | USA
Written and Directed by Neil Truglio
Featuring music by Iron & Wine
Recovering from the near fatal consequences of a life in conflict, Sean and his family, uniquely vulnerable, learn who they are for each other. Quietly drifting through a seemingly aimless life, Sean cannot seem to make sense of things. As an English teacher working at the same high school he attended, Sean’s distracted and as a father, he’s mostly absent. Sean tries to find a path to redemption while moving beyond a life full of mistakes. Truglio has scored the entire film with the music of artist Sam Beam, otherwise known as Iron & Wine.
Screenings:
5:45 PM Sun, Oct 24 Convention Center
7:00 PM Thu, Oct 28 Regal Arbor


THE CONFERENCE

Sunday, 10/24
1:15pm-2:30pm
Music and Sound in Film
Driskill Hotel, Hogg Room
A conversation on how to direct story and guide emotion in film through the use of music and sound. The panel will include examples, discuss how music has been effectively used in film, and talk about its potential in the future, with new digital technology becoming more easily accessible and affordable.
Tom Hammond, Graham Reynolds, Neil Truglio

3:00pm-4:15pm
Music Licensing for Film
Driskill Hotel, Maximilian Room
Since copyright terms keep getting extended, now is a good time to figure out what is legal and what is not. A discussion on licensing music for your film, including how to keep costs down - cost of the song against its value for your film, and checking out what’s in public domain - and figuring out who to contact for that perfect song.
Andrew Halbreich, Dominique Preyer
Moderated by Aadip Desai

A Letter from Shane Black

A LETTER FROM SHANE BLACK:

My lucky decision to check out the Austin Film Festival back in its inaugural year has rendered me a long-standing fan and (lately) an enthused board member. I've kept a date with this remarkable festival for 16-odd Octobers; and with each passing year, been ever more blissful as I packed my bags - I'd soon be in provocative, subversive and (without fail) thrilling company.

My credentials are adequate; you can see KISS KISS, BANG BANG (which I brought to AFF) or go back in time, to those first LETHAL WEAPON pictures; or skip to my first big-budget bomb, the THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT; or join the midnight-movie line for MONSTER SQUAD and THE LAST BOY SCOUT. There are a lot of stories behind these movies (and still others which languish unproduced) and AFF gives me the privilege of relating those stories, every October, to young, hungry filmmakers. I can speak to them of tricks and traps, wax poetic about structure and such, until that most wonderful of things happens: in lecturing others, I without warning blurt out something I didn't know I knew. I come to realize, through them, what I've truly learned.

My credits. Ha. I feel them dwindle as here come James L. Brooks, Lawrence Kasdan, and Jim Sheridan, brushing past me on the way to dinner at the Driskill Hotel. Simple fact is, Austin routinely features a lineup that qualifies as once-in-a-lifetime; it's a known fact in Hollywood that Austin is the festival to beat. Filmmakers go there because they WANT to. Because it's the only festival they like, or trust. Because they know they'll learn as much as the students.

I was with my buddy Terry Rossio (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, SHREK) at 3:00 a.m., coming back to our hotel. We stopped in the lobby for a snack, and a film argument broke out. Soon students gathered, and joined in. Huge writers, walking by, leaned in to briefly opine.

The audience grew. Soon the lobby was overwhelmed with students, AFF, and industry pros, all dissecting craft. This event was not scheduled. People walking by simply dropped what they were doing, and joined in.

We got to bed around 5:00.

This is the best show in town, folks. AFF walks the walk, knowledge-wise, and that's all there is to it. I have dropped what I'm currently doing to fire off this note and heartily endorse what to me is both a yearly passion and a home away from home. Barbara Morgan and the Austin staff are my extended family.

Godspeed -

Shane Black
++++++++++

Join Shane and other amazing panelists at the 17th Annual Austin Film Festival & Conference!

Register now for unparalleled access to screenwriters and filmmakers like Shane Black, David Peoples, Robert Rodriguez, David Simon, Michael Arndt, Jennifer Salt, Allan Loeb, Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, Nancy Pimental, Noah Hawley, John August, Simon Kinberg, Daniel Petrie, Jr., Michael Brandt & Derek Haas, Pamela Ribon and Diane Drake. Representatives from UTA, WME, Pixar Animation Studios, Fortis Films, Josephson Entertainment, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox Animation, Vox3 Films, di Bonaventura Pictures, Mosaic Media, and more.

October 21 - 28, 2010
4 days of panels.
8 nights of film.
Late night parties.
Countless networking opportunities.
And did somebody say tequila?

Randall Wallace is Coming to Austin!

It has been too long since his last appearance and we are thrilled that Randall Wallace will be back at the Conference this year! A champion of storytelling based on the classic values of love, courage, and honor, Wallace wrote the Academy Award winner BRAVEHEART and the blockbuster PEARL HARBOR. He also wrote, directed, and produced the critically acclaimed WE WERE SOLDIERS and THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. For his work on BRAVEHEART, he received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Wallace is also the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels and the lyricist of the acclaimed hymn Mansions of the Lord, performed as the closing music for President Ronald Reagan’s national funeral. And, in 1999, Wallace founded Wheelhouse Entertainment. The guy works non-stop.

His most recent project was directing SECRETARIAT, the life story of Penny Chenery, owner of the racehorse Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973. The film stars Diane Lane, John Malkovich and Scott Glen (who will always be URBAN COWBOY's Wes to me) and will be in theaters October 8th, so be sure to check it out!

Check out our interview with Wallace below. Buy your Badge to the Conference now and ask him your own questions in October!


AFF: What recent movies have you liked?
RW: I haven't had time to see many movies while I've been directing Secretariat, but I think that John Lee Hancock did a superb job in designing The Blind Side. The hardest I've laughed at any movie in a long time was at The Hangover. I saw Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World just the other day and thought it was fantastically creative.

AFF: How do you approach adapting a novel like Atlas Shrugged into a screenplay?
RW: It's a challenge. But I don't shrink from a challenge—and neither do the characters of Atlas Shrugged. The studio wasn't sure whether it was going to be two movies or three or maybe even a mini-series. When I signed on to write the screenplay, they already had a script of 169 pages, and it only dealt with the first half of the story! I told them "I don't want to see it or anything else anyone else has written. And it's either one movie or it's nothing." The essence of any great story is lost if it's not focused, and what was required here was my saying, "this is the narrative spine of this story."

AFF: What attracts you to tell specific stories?
RW: People ask me how I choose the stories I want to tell. The answer is simple: I look for something that will cause my heart to pound and my soul to soar. My latest movie, SECRETARIAT, which comes out October 8, has those qualities. And that makes me rejoice.

AFF: Would you please describe your writing schedule?
RW: For years I got up every weekday morning to write at the same time, usually at about 5:30am, sometimes earlier if I couldn't sleep. Now I sleep as long as I can — for 8 hours minimum — before I get up, but I still follow the same routine every morning. I get up, get dressed, and sit down at the computer. I always have a set goal for page count (no more than 5 a day for a screenplay, usually 3 or 4 if I'm not facing a deadline) that I have to hit in order to stop, and I never go over. If I feel like there's more to write once I get my 4 pages, I jot notes to myself on where I'm thinking the story might go, questions I have, etc. For me, after 4 pages I hit the point of diminishing returns, even if I'm full of thoughts. Once I'm done with my pages, then I eat breakfast and start the rest of my day. Early mornings work well for me because it's pretty much the time of day when no one is calling on the phone and there's nowhere else to be. Especially when I'm directing, the only time to write is before the day starts, because once things get rolling, it's non-stop all day long.

And questions from two registrants:

When you got your big break as a writer was it because of your agent or, did do all the foot work of marketing your writing yourself?

RW: Agents are an anomaly in this business in that the people who don't have them need them the most. I did a lot of foot work marketing myself early on — sending my manuscripts out to various publishers and facing the wall of rejection until one finally bit — and at the time I did not have an agent. But I wouldn't necessarily recommend that to someone today. At least in the film business, these days people are so afraid of getting sued that they usually won't read anything sent to them directly unless it's sent via an agency. My company is even more strict — we do not take any submissions, whether represented or not — because we develop everything in-house. My first really big break in writing for TV was because a mutual friend set me up with a meeting.

I am a college student studying the art of film through broadcasting. I have dreams of becoming a film producer/director. The directing and acting in Braveheart was amazing and very inspiring. I look forward to the release of Secretariat. I dream of becoming a film director/producer like yourself.

I do have a few questions for you from a student's standpoint. Where did you go to school? What did you major in? I went to Duke University, and majored in religion, with a minor in Russian How did you get connected into the community of filmmaking?

RW: I'd written several screenplays before I got paying work writing for TV, working for Stephen J. Cannell productions, but in all honesty, it took a long time before I felt connected to the community. I'd written and sold several screenplays before one of them was green-lit, shot, and released. Through all of that, I got to know a lot of the people in the community, and it was one of those people I met early on who ended up giving me a chance to direct.

Check out the full list of panelists here. See you in October!