99 episodes

Austin Film Festival's On Story Podcast is the companion to Austin Film Festival's television show, On Story. Get an uncensored inside look at the creative process of film making through the eyes of some of the entertainment industry's most prolific writers, directors and producers.

Austin Film Festival's On Story Austin Film Festival

    • TV & Film
    • 4.7 • 81 Ratings

Austin Film Festival's On Story Podcast is the companion to Austin Film Festival's television show, On Story. Get an uncensored inside look at the creative process of film making through the eyes of some of the entertainment industry's most prolific writers, directors and producers.

    American Fiction, with Cord Jefferson

    American Fiction, with Cord Jefferson

    This week on On Story, a conversation with Cord Jefferson on adapting the novel Erasure into his strikingly sharp debut feature American Fiction.

    Cord Jefferson is an Emmy-winning writer who earned his chops on some of television’s most formative shows in recent years: Master of None, The Good Place, Succession, and Watchmen. His debut feature, American Fiction, won the Audience Award at the 30th annual Austin Film Festival.  
    American Fiction is an adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel Erasure. The film introduces us to Thelonius Monk, played by Jeffrey Wright, a weary writer frustrated by the publishing industry’s obsession with reducing artists of color into stereotypes. In an effort to show the industry its own foolishness, Monk offers up a pandering manuscript that, much to his chagrin, becomes wildly successful.
    Cord discusses bringing his own perspective and sense of humor to the source material, and marrying comedy and drama in one film.

    Clips of American Fiction courtesy of Amazon/MGM Studios.

    • 22 min
    The Bear, with Joanna Calo

    The Bear, with Joanna Calo

    This week on On Story, a conversation with Joanna Calo, showrunner of the character-driven dramedy The Bear.

    Joanna delves into her experience sharing showrunning duties with creator Christopher Storer, and discusses their approach to incorporating real life events into the show’s deeply grounded characters and high stakes world. 
    As a television veteran, Joanna’s writing credits include Bojack Horseman, Hacks, Beef, and today’s subject, The Bear. The Bear tells the story of Carmy Berzatto, played by Jeremy Allen White, an award-winning chef who returns home to Chicago in the wake of his estranged brother’s suicide to find that he has inherited the family sandwich shop. Audiences fell in love with The Bear’s fast-paced dialogue, anxiety-inducing stakes, and deeply human characters in the show’s first season. In season 2, the show’s stakes raised even higher as Carmy attempted to open his own fine dining restaurant in Chicago. In today’s On Story conversation, Joanna share her insights surrounding the infamous mid-season episode Fishes featuring guest star Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as the well-crafted characters of Richie, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Marcus, played by Lionel Boyce.
    Clips of The Bear courtesy of FX.

    • 34 min
    Contact, with James V. Hart

    Contact, with James V. Hart

    This week on the On Story Podcast a conversation with James V. Hart, writer of the science fiction drama Contact directed by Robert Zemeckis.
    In his decades-long career, Hart has written beloved films including Hook, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Tuck Everlasting, and August Rush. Hart discusses the process of adapting Contact from Carl Sagan’s novel about a scientist who discovers definitive proof of extraterrestrial life. From working with the author to discern his original intent and establishing a thematic purpose, to embedding a story with high stakes and finding the story’s emotional core, Hart lends us a close look at the intricacies of structuring a screenplay.
    Clips of Contact courtesy of Warner Bros.

    • 19 min
    Iron Man 3 w/Shane Black

    Iron Man 3 w/Shane Black

    This week on On Story, a conversation with writer-director Shane Black about the making of Iron Man 3.
    Shane Black, the original creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise, is well-known for his irreverent comedic style and witty dialogue, as well as turning established genre tropes on their head. Black does just that in Iron Man 3, a superhero film that sets aside hero's bravado to dissect the man inside the suit.
    Barbara Morgan sat down with Black to discuss finding larger-than-life characters' interiority, navigating fan expectations, and working within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
    Clips of Iron Man 3 courtesy of Marvel Studios.

    • 19 min
    Dolemite is My Name w/Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, and Craig Brewer

    Dolemite is My Name w/Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, and Craig Brewer

    This week on On Story, a conversation with celebrated writing team Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, alongside filmmaker Craig Brewer, to discuss their collaboration on the hilarious, outrageous film Dolemite Is My Name.
     
    Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are an accomplished duo best known for the “anti-biopic” - postmodern movies that defy genre expectations by focusing on lesser known people, like in their films Ed Wood, The People Vs. Larry Flynt, and Big Eyes. The pair have also earned critical and commercial success by fictionalizing well-known true stories in their hit TV show American Crime Story: The People Versus O.J. Simpson, and as we discuss today, their acclaimed account of the life of Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name.
     
    Craig Brewer’s career as a writer and director has spanned two decades, launched by his well-received debut The Poor and the Hungry and his Oscar winning sophomore feature Hustle & Flow. Brewer directed Dolemite Is My Name, a biographical comedy that chronicles Rudy Ray Moore’s making of beloved blaxploitation film Dolemite.
     
    Dolemite is My Name Clips Courtesy of Netflix.

    • 32 min
    Lawmen: Bass Reeves w/Chad Feehan, Christina Voros, and Damian Marcano

    Lawmen: Bass Reeves w/Chad Feehan, Christina Voros, and Damian Marcano

    This week on On Story, a conversation with the creative team behind Lawmen: Bass Reeves, a show based on the incredible real life of Bass Reeves, a man who was born into slavery and later became a Deputy U.S. Marshal. He was the first black man west of the Mississippi River to hold that title, and according to creator and showrunner of the series Chad Feehan, he was “arguably the greatest lawman in the history of this country.”
    Taylor Sheridan is responsible for making it all happen, and this limited series is the latest installment in his television universe.
    Creator Chad Feehan has written on shows known for their gritty realism, like Southland and Ray Donovan. A meeting with David Oyelowo made him obsessed with Bass Reeves. Enough to create this series. Oyelowo plays the title role. He had been trying to get a show made about Reeves for years.
    Christina Voros is very familiar with the Taylor Sheridan universe. She directed and co-executive produced for megahits Yellowstone and 1883. She is the executive producer of the Bass Reeves series, and she directed the pilot beautifully.
    Damian Marcano, director on the intense, fast-paced Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty and the neo-noir television series, American Gigolo, directed several episodes of Lawmen: Bass Reeves.
    Barbara Morgan talked with Chad, Christina, and Damian about how they took on the material and some of the challenges that come from making historical fiction.
    Lawmen: Bass Reeves Clips Courtesy of Paramount Plus.

    • 25 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
81 Ratings

81 Ratings

Emmy from the block ,

Almost 100% male

Loving Joanna Calo ep. But please interview more women writers.

Charles Dye ,

Stop Bleeping. Please stop bleeping interviews

Look... this is an AMAZING podcast! But you’ve GOT to stop bleeping the swear words. They completely lose intelligibility.

I just heard the interviewer compliment Akiva Goldsman, and I have NO IDEA what they’re talking about now, because I have no idea what she said. All he replied was, “thanks.”

You’ve got to leave some context, but your heavy handed bleeping is making the people speaking impossible to understand at times. And it was your HOST you bleeped. Come on!!! Get this together.

At minimum... bleep like the rest of the world... allow us to understand the swear word without actually hearing it. Please do a better job with the bleeps, if they must stay.

Troyboy72648@262 ,

Great show for writers

Great show and great production staff! So much great behind the scenes knowledge and insight

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