The screenwriter might be the last person you’re thinking about walking out of a movie theater. Nonetheless, it is the screenwriters who provide the foundational art for all movies by giving moviemakers… often themselves… the emotional narrative to create their visual masterpieces. For a generation, the Austin Film Festival has honored some of the greatest storytellers in film and television. Now entering its 29th year of championing the story and its creators, AFF strives to continue to bring a new generation of writers into the spotlight because their work is cause for celebration. Once again partnering with MovieMaker, here are 15 screenwriters that have been given that spotlight. Read their stories. They are names you should know.
Read MovieMaker’s article here, or click on the screenwriter below to read all their answers to our interview.
AFF’s 2022 Screenwriters to watch
C. Bailey Werner
C. Bailey WernerThe One You’re With & Dot Dot Dot
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Writer/Director A Perfect Host & The One You’re With creator/showrunner Van Go
Bio
C. Bailey Werner is an actor, writer, and director originally from Texas with a deep love for comedy, filmmaking and visual flair. Chad got his start in the comedy scene while working in an array of productions from commercials, music videos, sketch, series, and award winning shorts. His feature film directorial debut A Perfect Host was released in 2020. He produced and acted in the upcoming comedy The Get Together (2021) and is the writer/director of The One You’re With (2021)
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
Right after graduating college in 2014 I had a producer from one of my classes reach out to me. His production company was looking to make a movie and they had some money to commission a script, it was a dark comedy about a security system salesman that got involved in stealing from the houses he was setting up. Not my best work, but I was 21 and extremely thankful to have my first paid gig. I think having that exterior validation was more important than the money, I was encouraged to keep writing and telling stories. Soon after that I was writing a show with my best friends for another production company, again it didn’t go anywhere (yet hah) but it was the reps that kept me alive. I would probably be selling security systems for a living if it weren’t for those initial jobs at an early age.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Oh man. I asked a producer (a big Hollywood type) I was shadowing on a film set when I was like 19 how to make it as a writer. He told me “keep writing and keep reading” I thought that was a flippant answer at the time. I was more thinking, “no dude, how do I get a job? How do I not die?” That advice, however, has been the most helpful. I kept writing good, bad and ugly (those are adjectives not an on-spec remake of the Spaghetti Western) and eventually those ideas opened up doors and experience that I didn’t think possible. The other two biggest lessons: done is better than perfect & don’t ask for permission. So many people talk about their ideas, but rarely execute them. Shoot it on an iphone for free and use a free editing software and get your reps in. It will not be perfect, gone are the days of the $20,000 film becoming an indie darling and making millions of dollars. It doesn’t mean you can’t make something that you’re proud of that eventually opens the next door and the next door and the next. Also as much as I wish it’s true no one will come knocking at your door overnight because you let people know you’re a filmmaker. This is a business of longevity. Lasting longer and a steady paycheck is my hope, not 15 seconds of virality that has be crash and burn into a piling heap of TikTok algorithms. Go make things, even if it’s cheap, even if it’s not the best. People follow doers not sayers.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
I wrote a sweeping small-town epic set in a fictional Texas city. Creating the history of the town and the characters was a lot of fun, but I think I forgot to tell the story. The subsequent drafts have been focused on simplifying the story to its core, as writers we love imagining but it’s sometimes tough to just focus on the facts and discovery of the story. Peeling back that initial world has been a journey, but a good lesson to learn.
What was a major turning point in your career?
While I still feel like I’m in a new chapter every day at this point. I can definitively say my first movie A Perfect Host was a turning point. It’s easy to call yourself a filmmaker and have never made a feature movie. Making a feature though opened up doors (believe me not all at once, and some of those doors were just a slight crack) that have allowed me to do this full time. We didn’t get a big wide release, and we had no marketing behind our movie, and no one from Hollywood Reporter was calling me, but it was the fact that I finished a movie and got it out there that brought the attention of some collaborators. Which led to the next project and then the next and then the next. Showing that you can do something from start to finish, even if it’s not perfect by a longshot (A Very Imperfect Host) will grab the attention of folks and allow you to keep making films. But it took me deciding to write a script, and then deciding to make the movie, and leaning on a ton of friends who believed in us to make that movie.
What are you working on right now?
I’m wrapping up showrunning a new Discovery+ series Van Go I kind of fell into the unscripted space with this show through some friends, but this season is something I’m very proud of and shows off my extremely talented and hilarious buddy as he builds out vans for people. I also have a family comedy script in the works and a several comedy shows were pitching at the moment.
What are some of your favorite films?
Okay I will try to narrow down to a few. The Big Lebowski is an immensely rewatchable movie for me. I find something new and loveable and weird in that movie every time I watch it. My Man Godfrey is one of the best movies of all time in my opinion. Dumb and Dumber is maybe the perfect script? Being There is a movie that made me want to make movies, but so is Hot Rod. More recently Phantom Thread blew me away and immediately went to my top 10. And because you didn’t give me any rules here: To Be or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch), Local Hero (Bill Forsyth), Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme), The Place Beyond The Pines (Derek Cianfrance), Widows (Steve McQueen), Ishtar (Elaine May), and anything made by or starring Albert Brooks (especially Finding Nemo!).
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
I love that AFF really does connect the weirdest and kindest people in this industry: writers. That’s not a slight on actors, directors, producers, or anyone else. Writers are nerds who like to read and be alone in a room, so to create this giant networking event that makes you feel less alone is a beautiful thing. I love that it’s a celebration of writing too. I met a really talented filmmaker who wrote/directed a film Ranch Water (Sophie Miller) and I think she has a lot of talent and is headed somewhere. I also love getting to meet established writers and realize, “oh man these folks are just like me” Shane Black comes to mind. What a gem. He loves writing. He loves talking about writing. He is extremely encouraging and welcoming. Other than that, seeing my little movie on a big screen in the paramount with our title on the Marquee will be something I cherish forever.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
I’ve been wrapping up Season 2 of our show and writing a few more projects that we hope to produce and get out there this year!
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
When you’re an indie filmmaker it’s easy to get the “Sisyphus syndrome” a condition I just made up. You feel like you’re constantly pushing the rock up the hill all alone. AFF reminded me to get out there and collaborate. To make things with friends old and new. Can’t wait to come back next year hopefully and get re-energized.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Making some more work to show off to folks!
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
Van Go is out now on Discovery+, The One You’re With is available for rent/purchase anywhere you buy movies (linktr.ee/cbwerner) and Far West a short film I co-wrote is premiering at SXSW this year!
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
The Coen Brothers, Albert Brooks, Elaine May, Wes Anderson, Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo, Adam McKay, Will Forte
C. Bailey Werner
Writer/Director A Perfect Host & The One You’re With, Creator/Showrunner Van Go
Pedro Correa & Fabio Frey
Pedro Correa & Fabio Frey
My Dead Dad
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Pedro Correa: Writer, Producer, Actor My Dead Dad
Fabio Frey: Writer, Director My Dead Dad
Bio
Peruvian-American filmmaker, Pedro Correa, has most recently co-wrote, produced and stars-in the coming-of-age drama My Dead Dad. In-front of the camera, Pedro has recurred on ABC’s hit sitcom The Middle, performed across Kerry Washington, Zac Efron, and has worked with the likes of Apple+, Hulu and Disney. Born in Switzerland, raised in South Carolina, now based in Los Angeles, Fabio Frey cut his teeth in college producing short films for Comedy Central, and later directing commercials. Since then he’s directed and co-wrote the festival winning feature My Dead Dad, along with acclaimed shorts.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
Pedro: I feel that, if you are not prepared to walk into the fire alone, no one will follow. The break into screenwriting began alongside our decision that we’d do anything it takes to self-produce our first feature film, completely independently… Not, just the ‘feeling’ of an “indie” movie, but like, actually indie — Asking permission from no one, ready to shoot come hell or high-water on favors only. Luckily, when the ‘burn the ship’ mentality grew contagious, investors followed, along with the rest of our crew (who were way out of our league, including the casting director of Green Book, Rick Montgomery).
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Pedro: Some of the biggest lessons I learned were that Act 1 is strictly reserved for setting up conflict, theme, and your characters. No one cares about how your protagonist’s ex-girlfriend’s part-time job is going, if it never pays off in an interesting way later your story. It turns out… an experienced editor can double as a great writing teacher, if you’re lucky (thank you Michael Taylor).
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
Fabio: There’s a scene at the end of My Dead Dad where Lucas and Sophie confront each other one last time. It was hard because typically scenes will have a ‘good’ character and a ‘bad’ character and you can play them against each other. But in a scene like this, they are both right and wrong at the same time, so it’s hard to keep it balanced without making it boring. I think once we took the gloves off each character and had them box it out, there was a good but too long version of the scene that we were able to whittle down and shape.
What was a major turning point in your career?
Fabio: I would say that the biggest turning point for me internally was when I realized that the team is more important than myself individually. Since then, I’ve always looked for good collaborators. It can be frustrating because four out of five times it’s just not a good fit chemistry-wise, but when you find people that you work well with then amazing things will happen.
What are you working on right now?
Pedro: Fabio and I are in development on a series, and our sophomore feature film. Though, personally, my main focus is finding more time to sleep.
What are some of your favorite films?
Pedro: City of God, Little Miss Sunshine and Good Time.
Fabio: Sideways, Bottle Rocket, Sliding Doors, The Godfather, The Terminator. Once I like a movie I almost always will watch it twice, and if I like it on the second watching then it enters my yearly rotation.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
Pedro: It was 2 AM in Downtown Austin, and I’ll never forget the image of a shirtless guy lounging on top of the cab of a moving cement truck. The cement driver’s horn was blaring at the stranger, to get off his truck, but he wouldn’t. He seemed pretty chill, honestly. Keep Austin weird, I think?
Fabio: The last two years I’ve been living in my RV full time, so I just took the whole thing to the festival. A couple people from the My Dead Dad team came to the festival and we had a great time driving it through the Downtown Austin streets, blasting rap music and looking for parking.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
Pedro: Writing, shooting, and sweating-out pitch decks.
Fabio: Traveling around the country in my RV, and grinding out some creative sessions with my partner in crime Pedro Correa in cheap rental offices.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
The Austin Film Festival has been a great way to meet and stay in touch with storytellers who understand that the script is the most important element in filmmaking, which oddly, tends to be a rarity these days.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Pedro: I’m looking forward to getting our sophomore feature in the can, and learning to juggle the life-threatening art of producing multiple projects at once. Fabio: Directing projects as a gun for hire, and writing our next couple of features. Hopefully attending Austin again.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
http://MyDeadDadMovie.com
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Pedro: Greta Gerwig, Fabio Frey, Noah Baumbach.
Fabio: Alexander Payne, Pedro Correa, Taylor Sheridan.
Pedro Correa & Fabio Frey
My Dead Dad
Julie Cavaliere
Julie Cavaliere
Puppet Me
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Writer: Puppet Me
Bio
Julie Cavaliere is a writer, actor, and producer in New York. She began her career working for Scott Rudin productions, and up until recently, served as Director of Development for the boutique production company, M.E.G.A. Films. Selected credits include Colin Quinn’s Cop Show, (Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, Chris Rock), Affluenza (Nicola Peltz, Grant Gustin). Julie’s work has been featured by Funny or Die, CollegeHumor, Elizabeth Banks’ WhoHaHa, and has been in competition at several festivals including the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance, Austin Film Festival, and Slamdance.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
It came out of my acting career. The audition grind started getting to me. I was caught in this cycle of trying to book the job and when I didn’t, I took it personally. I felt like I had something to say and got tired of asking for permission to say it. So, one day I challenged myself to put pen to paper and I signed up for a sketch writing class at UCB. I dropped out of the class twice before finally committing. It was surprisingly scary and vulnerable but once I did commit, I had amazing teachers who were very encouraging. Slowly my confidence built and then I was accepted into a summer writing program at Columbia University. That gave me the opportunity to explore my voice and what kind of stories I wanted to tell.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
There isn’t one way to get where you’re going. Just because someone you know followed a certain path, doesn’t mean it will work for you. Your journey is an individual one and there’s no such thing as a waste of time. Maybe the experience will lead to the next opportunity, maybe it is a lesson you needed to learn, or maybe it’s going to be material for your next project.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
Each project always feels impossible when I’m in the thick of it, but a particularly difficult scene for me was in Puppet Me. I was trying to navigate a daughter grieving for her famous ventriloquist father using his puppet. I didn’t want the puppet to be sentient and I wanted to make sure the protagonist didn’t feel crazy. It was a difficult balance to strike. How did I tackle it? I sent it to mentors and trusted peers for feedback. Then I rewrote it…a lot.
What was a major turning point in your career?
Probably after I finished the program at Columbia. It built my confidence and I started finding ways to bring my producing, writing and acting experience together. It was an ah-ha moment and that’s when things started to change career wise.
What are you working on right now?
I can’t get into detail because they haven’t been announced yet, but one project is a musical dark comedy, and the other is an anthology series that is being produced in VR.
What are some of your favorite films?
I’m the worst at this. It changes all the time. I’m someone who will watch a film over and over again before moving onto another film. Right now, I’m taking a deep dive into old Hollywood. Basically, I’m a TCM addict and am obsessed with their behind-the-scenes commentary. It’s my Real Housewives.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
I couldn’t attend AFF because of the pandemic, but I was really struck by how wonderful their virtual program was. Especially loved the virtual hotel where I connected with several other filmmakers, and we are still in touch.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
I had a baby in August which has certainly kept me busy and has been a moment of clarity for me in the best way. I want my son to see his mother pursuing what she loves so hopefully one day he will do the same. On a professional note, I am working on several projects that I look forward to sharing soon!
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
I love how focused AFF is on storytelling and feel so honored to be part of it. Having the opportunity to connect with other creators who are just as collaborative and passionate about the work has been invaluable. I am even collaborating with an AFF alum on an upcoming project!
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
All of it. Shake the dice and roll it, I’m ready!
Julie Cavaliere
Writer: Puppet Me
Zan Gillies
Zan Gillies
Last Strike
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Writer/Director, Last Strike
Bio
Zan Gillies is a filmmaker and screenwriter who’s trying his best and would like some credit for that. He’s the writer of the 2021 feature film Kringle Time and co-writer of the upcoming film 500 Fireflies. His short film Last Strike was an Audience Award winner at AFF 2021. He doesn’t technically own a cat. He doesn’t fully understand how airplanes work but he’s willing to trust pilots for the moment. Like – he understands Bernoulli’s principle and all that, but should air really be doing that? Feels like a fluke. But again, pilots know what they’re doing I guess.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
Like most millennials out there, my sister and I started making movies with a VHS-C camcorder as kids (editing between two VCR’s) and then just never stopped. Our equipment has gotten a smidge better and our crew is a little bigger, but the heart of the operation is still the same. I wrote my first (terrible) feature-length screenplay in high school and then just kept chipping away at the craft of it. I’d like to think I’ve gotten a little better since then, but I won’t promise anything.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
I definitely started out with an idea that “being a writer” just meant banging out a brilliant first draft and then getting whisked away into Hollywood stardom – I think a lot of people have that idea at first. I had to learn that this is not entirely accurate. There’s never going to be a moment when you’re at home writing and you type FADE OUT and suddenly balloons rain down and the national anthem starts playing and Martin Scorsese climbs out of your dresser and says “Come with me, you’ve made it.” Not only do you have to revise and revise in order to write anything great, but you have to figure out what to do with it afterward. It’s a lot like pushing a boulder up a hill for all eternity – so you might as well enjoy the exercise while you’re pushing.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
Last Strike (my thesis short that screened at AFF) took close to a decade off-and-on to figure out. The premise popped into my head when I was in my mid-20’s and I wrote a draft or two, but it felt way too big for me and I couldn’t quite nail down what specifically interested me about it or what I wanted it to be about. It turned out I just hadn’t existed long enough at that point. After I turned 30 and came back to it, I just went “ohhhh, a crippling fear of mortality? Okay yeah gotcha cool cool, I get that now.”
What was a major turning point in your career?
A few years ago, a buddy of mine asked if I wanted to write a feature for him to direct in a kind of zero-budget fashion and we made a tiny little indie called Kringle Time – and it ended up being a hell of a learning experience. While there’s plenty that he and I would both agree we’d change or do differently with that film today, it ended up being the first thing I’ve written that got a bit of distribution, which was a nice validation. In the midst of the isolation of the pandemic, having just a little sense of “hey, someone likes us!” was significant.
What are you working on right now?
In addition to my standard laundry list of screenplays-in-progress and a pilot I’m writing with a couple of buddies, my sister Lysandra and I co-wrote a small-town dramedy called 500 Fireflies that we shot last summer – we’re currently in post on that and hoping to put it out into the world later this year.
What are some of your favorite films?
I watched Jurassic Park about a thousand times growing up – saw it in the theater at the age of six, was absolutely terrified, then my sister and I went back to see it endlessly that summer and got it on VHS the day it came out. So that’s ingrained into my psyche in various ways I’m sure. (I even studied to be a paleontologist in college before I realized that I’m not cut out for it.) I’m also a huge fan of Terry Gilliam and the Coens. I watched Brazil ad nauseum in high school – it was my first Criterion Collection DVD, I watched every featurette and listened to every commentary on it. It kinda blew my mind that you could make a movie like that.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
The first year I attended AFF, I remember sitting in a panel about writing craft and feeling such a palpable difference from other festivals and conferences I’d been to. There’s something so distinct and energizing about sitting in a room full of people who are like-minded about being complete screenwriting dorks. I’ve met so many lovely human beings through AFF.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
A big chunk of my time these days is more on the production side than writing – I have a little production company with my sister and brother-in-law and we’re in the midst of shooting a season of a docu-series for Virginia PBS called “Life In The Heart Land” that’ll be airing this fall. Between that and post-production for Fireflies and teaching a class and squeezing in other projects between all of that, it’s been busy!
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
Just having a space every year to go and meet screenwriting nerds and celebrate storytelling is a huge thing. I firmly believe that the world becomes a better and more understanding place the more stories we tell, and AFF completely embodies that.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Just crossing my fingers that the world won’t end! Just kidding. I mean, I’m not. But not ruling it out. It’ll be fine. Right? Also Doctor Strange 2.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
Stay tuned for our feature, 500 Fireflies, coming soon! Starring an Austinite, Brian Villalobos, in the lead! (Sneak peek here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaQVCLE2nas)
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
I absolutely adore the Coen brothers’ writing – their screenplays are so focused and yet massive and universal at the same time. It’s the same type of writing from my favorite Shakespeare plays – ones like the Henry IV plays or Antony & Cleopatra – that have that blend of comic and tragic all at once, scenes that can turn on a dime, where you can’t fully categorize them because they encapsulate everything that’s crazy and unpredictable about life. (Also of course David Koepp, that legend behind Jurassic Park.)
Zan Gillies
Writer/Director, Last Strike
Priya + Phillip Domfeh
Priya + Phillip Domfeh
Cary in Retrograde
Year selected for AFF: 2019
Writer/Director Rudeboy’s Restaurant, and Cary in Retrograde
Bio
The Domfehs (Philipp Yaw + Priya Jane) are a husband and wife writing/directing team from Los Angeles, CA. Founded in 2018, their production company Cosmic Otter Productions, was created with the sole intent of following their curiosity wherever it leads them as they collectively develop, write, direct and produce film and television projects. Their debut short film, Rudeboy’s Restaurant, was funded by Ghetto Film School, Vimeo, and Dolby Labs through the 2019 Emerge! Filmmaker Lab and screened in both the 2020 American Black Film Festival and the 2021 LA Shorts Fest. Their follow up project, Cary In Retrograde, premiered as part of the 2021 ABFF Comedy Festival in June and will go on to screen in the Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Buffalo Film Festival and Black Star International Film Festival. It has gone one to win the Jury Award for Best Produced Digital Series at the Austin Film Festival, as well as Best Episodic at the Nashville Film Festival and the Buffalo Film Festival. Additionally, the TV pilot script for Cary in Retrograde was a second round participant in the 2021 Sundance Episodic Lab. Collective credits/recognition include: – 2021 Disney Launchpad Short Film Incubator: Producer – 2020 American Black Film Festival: Emerging Directors Showcase – 2020 Shore Scripts TV Competition:Drama Finalists – 2019 ABC | Disney Writers Program: Comedy Finalist – 2019 AT&T Mentorship Program: Executive Producer – 2018 Fox Writers Lab: Semi-Finalist – 2017 Sundance Next Category: It Happened in LA, Art Director – Westworld, How to Get Away with Murder, Good Trouble, Maggie: Art Department
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
Priya: Phillip is a few years ahead of me in his screenwriting career, but I always read all of his scripts and would creatively produce them. Really it wasn’t until 2019 that we started co-writing together.
Phillip: I started out as a musician and then ostensibly when my music career didn’t take off when I was hoping to I turned to another interest, film. I started my writing career writing about musicians. I wrote my first feature script as a musical about Rick James called Street Songs, and it made it to the semi-finals at the Fox writer’s lab.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Try and understand how you best work. we’re so thankful that our strengths compliment each other so well. Even if you don’t have a writing partner, we would recommend finding someone whose feedback you trust and will push you to be a better writer.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
When it comes to writing in general, regardless of project, it can be challenging because we have seasons or time constraints on when we are able to write. We both have full careers in addition to writing to forcing ourselves to write when we have time, rather than when inspiration strikes, can be challenging. We both try and keep each other accountable and take turns when life gets busy.
What was a major turning point in your career?
Sincerely, winning the Jury award for best produced digital series at the Austin Film Festival really felt like a turning point for both of us. It was both such a meaningful experience, as well as a huge feather in our cap because the AFF really means something to people in the industry.
What are you working on right now?
We’re working on a Cary in Retrograde feature and some horror shorts.
What are some of your favorite films?
Priya: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ex-Machina, The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, Raiders of the Lost Ark & Jurassic Park.
Phillip: Hustle and Flow, Empire Records, Blade II, Neverending Story.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
Our film Cary in Retrograde draws some inspiration from Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow, and to be able to win the Jury award (for 2021 AFF Winner Produced Digital Series) and have Craig Brewer be present to give us a handshake as we exited stage was an amazing moment of synchronicity. We felt incredibly proud and grateful to have been able to participate.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
We’ve been strategizing on our next projects and outlining what we want to work on this year.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
The name recognition of the Austin Film Festival really legitimized us. People in the industry take our work more seriously now.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Hopefully getting back in the director’s chair.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
It is very possible that we might have some fun creative news to share later in the year! As of this moment we don’t have anything to announce, but please follow us at cosmicotterproductions.com or on social media and we will update you with any new projects!
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Priya: Alex Garland, Charlie Kaufman, Robert Eggers, Sofia Coppola, & Edgar Wright. Unsurprisingly all of these people are writer/directors!
Phillip: Nick Cave, David Lindelof, Quentin Tarantino Wes Anderson, Charlie Kaufman.
Priya + Phillip Domfeh
Cary in Retrograde
Angela Bourassa
Angela Bourassa
The Dirty Work
Year selected for AFF: 2019
Writer: IF YOU WERE THE LAST, TURN ME ON
Bio
Angela is a WGA screenwriter, mom, and mediocre-but-enthusiastic crafter. Angela signed with her reps after reaching the finals of the 2019 AFF Screenplay Competition. Her feature script IF YOU WERE THE LAST made the 2020 Black List and was filmed earlier this year. Currently in post-production, IF YOU WERE THE LAST is directed by Kristian Mercado and stars Anthony Mackie and Zoe Chao. Her next original feature, TURN ME ON, directed by Michael Tyburski and starring Bel Powley and Nick Robinson, is set to film in fall 2022 and be distributed by IFC Films. Angela serves as an Executive Producer on both films.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
My finalist finish at AFF and a Gold Prize from PAGE in the same year were instrumental to my break-in — alongside some good ol’ fashioned networking, perseverance, and a whole lot of luck.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
As a screenwriter, you have so little control over what — if anything — ever makes it to screen, so it’s essential to embrace that chaos and remember that the journey is what really matters, much more so than the destination.
What was a major turning point in your career?
First signing with my excellent managers during AFF 2019 and then my awesome agents at UTA a few months later. At that point, I’d already put in a decade of work, so having champions pushing me forward gave my career real momentum for the first time.
What are you working on right now?
I can’t share details yet, but I recently sold a short story I wrote to a dream producer and am adapting it into a feature with them. I’m very excited to bring this one to life!
What are some of your favorite films?
Lars and the Real Girl, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Top Gun, Edward Scissorhands, The One I Love, Moana, Palm Springs, The Princess Bride, Little Miss Sunshine, Arrival (among many, many others).
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
I got to direct a table read of my pilot script, THE DIRTY WORK, a few years back at AFF. Working with the actors and seeing my words come to life was a thrilling experience.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cannes-2022-ifc-films-bel-powley-nick-robinson-film-acquisition-1235150971/
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Greta Gerwig, Diablo Cody, Katie Silberman, Lorene Scafaria, Emerald Fennell, and Taika Waititi (gotta throw in a dude for good measure).
Angela Bourassa
Writer: The Dirty Work, If You Were The Last, Turn Me On
Brian Siegele
Brian Siegele
Black Box
Year selected for AFF: 2019
Writer/Director Black Box
Bio
Brian Siegele is a Colorado and Los Angeles-based film, television, and audio creator. A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he is a former Austin Film Festival Screenplay Winner (2013) and Podcast Finalist (2019). Though he began his career writing tentpole features, he has since pivoted to generating high-concept IP for the podcast ecosystem. His first audio series BLACK BOX starred Joel McHale and Kelsey Grammer and being set up for television, and he is now at work on several new series.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
My big break came, conveniently enough, after winning the 2013 AFF Screenplay Competition! I met most of my former rep team at the festival and conference, and the momentum I gained there helped me stand out in a crowded field.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Believe in your work! As writers, it’s easy to get stuck in our heads or fall prey to the divergent opinions of everyone around us. But there’s a time to stick to your guns, and that’s often when the payoff is the highest.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
I once developed a feature for an extraordinarily insecure producer who had absolutely no idea what kind of story he wanted to make, so every decision felt like it was happening on a sea of shifting sands. To cope, I had to find a way to sell the producer on my take while making him believe the idea was his own. It’s a fine needle to thread!
What was a major turning point in your career?
Shifting my focus to audio was by far the most consequential decision of my career. In the feature world, I was often working on ideas I didn’t own or which were unlikely to ever get made. But with podcasts, I’m in the driver’s seat for the entire production process, from ideation to final cut. That’s allowed me to not only flourish as a writer, but also as a producer.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m working on a spacebound action series and a gritty crime thriller with a fun twist.
What are some of your favorite films?
I have a soft spot for historical dramas – things like Gladiator or Apollo 13 or Titanic. Consider them my guilty pleasure.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
At the 2019 festival, I was lucky enough to grab drinks with several writers I admire. Now I keep running into them at various events, and without Austin, we’d just be passing in the wind.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
Working nonstop. Especially now that I’m producing my own material, the world is my oyster. I don’t need to worry about what X studio or Y producer might want anymore. I worry about what I want.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
Meeting all the other podcast writers and producers at the 2019 festival helped open my eyes to the opportunities in that space, and set me on the path I’m on now.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Delving into TV. I always thought of myself as a feature writer, but with Black Box, I’ll get to learn more about the TV writing and producing process.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
I wish I could but the deals haven’t closed quite yet!
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Tony Gilroy’s work has always particularly inspired me. I’m also a sucker for anything by James Cameron.
Brian Siegele
Writer/Director Black Box
Jason Russel Waller
Jason Russel Waller
Con Man Daddy
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Writer/Creator Con Man Daddy, Writer/Director The Devil’s Cello, Writer/Director Transcendental Butterfly
Bio
Jason Russel Waller grew up on the road and on the run with a con-man father and unstable stepmother. Movie theaters were a frequent hideout for his family and, as it turns out, geysers of inspiration for a boy with abundant creativity. Sights and sounds working together to produce an emotional experience inspired Jason to one day make movies of his own. He began his career as a teenage actor, and at 27 realized his dream of writing and directing his first feature film, The Devil’s Cello. Currently, Waller is revisiting his past. He’s written a pilot for a One-Hour Drama titled Con Man Daddy about his incredibly true adventures of a childhood filled with car chases, ludicrous scams, and escape through imagination.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
I used to sneak into the University of Texas and study whatever resources I could find on filmmaking. I wrote the script for my first feature film The Devil’s Cello in the UT library. But since I wasn’t an actual student I’d have to continue my education another way; I decided to learn by doing. I needed a budget in order to turn my screenplay into an actual film so I mowed lawns, got a couple credit cards, and occasionally received small residuals from a tv commercial I was in. I obsessively wrote and directed for three years until all the words on the page were up on the silver screen. I’ll never forget the summer of 1999 looking up at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema marquee and seeing The Devil’s Cello.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
When I began writing I felt I had so much to say and couldn’t get all my ideas out fast enough. But my writing came off as singular and flat. Moving forward I realized the more I listened, the better my stories would get. Listening to conversations and listening to the space between voices and absorbing others’ emotions taught me how to filter my ideas through personalities different from my own.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
My two brothers and I spent our childhood living out of cheap motels and shitty cars, always staying just one step ahead of the law because our father was a fugitive—a real life con man, hence the title of my current One-Hour Drama Con Man Daddy. Our mother was a real piece of work too. Her personality was unpredictable, flipping in an instant from kind and caring to unbalanced and violent. There’s a scene in Con Man Daddy where the family is traveling down a Texas highway when our mother abruptly turns from the front passenger seat and begins viciously attacking my ten-year-old brother and ripping the hair from his head. As difficult as this memory was to resurrect, the only way to find the scene was to write my way through it. And on the other side I found healing.
What was a major turning point in your career?
We’ve got to be a real gluttons for punishment to be in this industry, I mean—good god—it’s like we’re eager for rejection! As a young actor I quickly learned that rejection was part of the game. But I was young and naïve and full of fight. As a young filmmaker—same thing, my feature film debut was rejected by more festivals than accepted. As a writer. More rejection. But kept fighting. Rejection had made me tough, I was always able to get in the ring and last fifteen rounds. But somewhere along the way I got so used to surviving that I forgot to win. It was only three years ago I woke up one day and realized that I was no longer fighting; that was a turning point. I opened up my laptop and got to work. Real work. Hard work. Disciplined and focused work. I know there will always be rejection but these days I’m not writing to survive, I’m writing to win.
What are you working on right now?
I have written a pilot titled Con Man Daddy. This One-Hour Drama is a true account of my childhood while growing up on the road and on the run with a con man father and unstable stepmother during the 1970s and ‘80s. I have written and recorded an extensive library of stories and memories in preparation for the series’ episodic content. In addition, I am continually adding to the show bible as well as promotional tools.
What are some of your favorite films?
Growing up, I lived for late night TV which meant I saw a lot of gangster flicks. They were as fun to listen to as they were to watch. That’s probably the first time I ever noticed the craft of screenwriting. The rhythm of gangster conversations and rat-a-tat-tat of their speech—it made my ears perk up! “G” Men and Little Caesar were a couple of my favorites.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
I had never “pitched” a script before, but knew it was a skill I needed to learn. And the best way for me to learn was to just jump in and do it, so I entered the 2020 AFF Virtual Pitch Competition. I was a little nervous and not exactly sure what the hell I was doing, but things went pretty well. Okay, not well enough to advance to the next round, but I was learning. The judges shared what worked, what didn’t and how to improve. One year later I was at it again. I entered the Virtual Pitch Competition and actually won in my category! That same year in October I entered the Live Pitch Competition at the festival where I advanced to the Finals and placed 3rd.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
I have written a pilot titled Con Man Daddy. This One-Hour Drama is a true account of my childhood while growing up on the road and on the run with a con man father and unstable stepmother during the 1970s and ‘80s. I have written and recorded an extensive library of stories and memories in preparation for the series’ episodic content. In addition, I am continually adding to the show bible as well as promotional tools.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
Writing is a lonely and neurotic exercise in frustration. There’s a point when you’ve written and rewritten something so many times you don’t even know what you’re looking at anymore. By attending the AFF and entering the Pitch Competition I was able to share what I had been working on with other writers and they were able to share their projects with me. Interacting with this community of writers gave me the encouragement and invigoration I so desperately needed. I received positive feedback from the likes of Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Adam Kolbrenner—this kind of thing only happens at the Austin Film Festival.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
I have crafted and prepared my One-Hour Drama Con Man Daddy, not to mention the lifetime it took me to live the story. I’ve done the work. It’s ready. In 2022 I’m looking forward to making the connection that is the impetus to getting the series produced.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
In 2018 I attended a Snap Judgment Live tour in Austin, Texas. There, I connected with Producer/Writer/Comedian Don Reed and told him about my own adventurous upbringing. That fortuitous meeting led to Mr. Reed serving as mentor throughout my writing process and creation of my One-Hour Drama Con Man Daddy. Don Reed introduced my story to Producer Glynn Washington at NPR’s award-winning radio show and podcast Snap Judgment. Soon after, Snap Judgment was interviewing me about the complex relationship between my father and I. The Snap Judgment episode is aptly titled Con Man Daddy. Listen to the moving half-hour episode anytime at https://snapjudgment.org/episode/con-man-daddy/ iMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1635466/ And please check out https://www.jasonrusselwaller.com to learn about all the excitement happening in 2022!
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
I remember being inspired by one script in particular. I was thirteen years old in 1982—no internet at the time, but there was a place out of California where you could mail-order screenplays from your favorite movies. Cool! I ordered The Long Riders written by Bill Bryden, Steven Phillip Smith and Stacy & James Keach. I read it over and over; studied the simplicity of the descriptions and the exclusion of proper English in dialogue. I noted which lines had been rearranged, combined or simply omitted from the actual film. Thumbing through that paper script was really my first lesson in screenwriting. Using pencil and paper I began writing little screenplays of my own. To get the spacing and indentations correct I placed my loose leaf paper over The Long Riders script and used it as a pattern.
Jason Russel Waller
Writer/Creator Con Man Daddy, Writer/Director The Devil’s Cello, Writer/Director Transcendental Butterfly
Diego Ongaro
Diego Ongaro
Writer/Director: DOWN WITH THE KING (co-written with Xabi Molia)
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Writer/Director
Bio
Diego Ongaro is a French writer/director living in rural Connecticut. Down With the King, his second feature film, premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, won the Grand Prix at the Deauville American Film Festival in France and will be released by Sony Pictures on June 28th. Bob and the Trees, his first feature film, had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, won the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic and screened in more than 20 international festivals throughout the world. He was short-listed for the Someone to Watch Award at the 2016 and 2022 Independent Spirit Awards for both feature films. Prior to that, he directed more than a hundred children’s programs for French Television in my early 20’s then wrote and directed four acclaimed short films: Me, My Bag, and my Ball, Return to Labradoria, Rice and Meat and Bob and the Trees (the short that inspired the feature bearing the same name).
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
It was my first short film, Me, My Bag, and My Ball, which I directed with my best friend Thomas Pousson in 2005. It was a pretty unorthodox method of brainstorming together and piecing together elements that we each had in mind and wanted to see on screen. Having not been in film school, we had no road map or method but it felt like a very candid and spontaneous experience. We then rented a DV camera for the weekend for $300 which basically was the budget of the entire film and enlisted my family members for actors and shot it over a weekend. The 7-minute short film made ended up playing in competition at the 2006 Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival where it won the Canal Plus Prize which consisted of $30,000 directed to make another short film.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
Writing Bob and The Trees, my first feature was very difficult. I never went to film school and had no method for how to write a feature screenplay. I just had my experience writing and directing short film, but the span felt much bigger. I started working with my wife on it, Courtney Maum, and anyone who has been working with a partner/spouse knows it’s not easy. The process was pretty chaotic and took two years of labor and doubts but we eventually ended up with something that we were happy with. We then shot it for very cheap and the film premiered at Sundance.
What was a major turning point in your career?
Being selected at the Cannes Film Festival with Down With the King, my second feature film, is something I’m extremely proud of. Growing up as a Frenchman, Cannes films always had a big influence on me and still have today. The best of the world cinema meets there every year and it was incredible to be part of that group. Being selected at Cannes got us a lot of visibility and helped to sell the film to Stage 6/Sony Pictures Entertainment.
What are you working on right now?
I am writing a new script with Xabi Molia, a renowned novelist/screenwriter/director from France who was my writing partner on Down With the King. It’ll be a contemporary western set on a horse raising ranch in the Rockies. It will delve into the act of farming in the 21st century, a common theme in my first two feature films.
What are some of your favorite films?
Toni Erdman by Maren Ade, The Rider by Chloe Zhao, Western by Valeska Grisebach
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
Screening Down With the King, my second feature film, as a festival spotlight in the Paramount Theater. The theater is absolutely gorgeous, my lead actors, Freddie Gibbs and Bob Tarasuk were there, the room was packed and I could feel the pulse of the audience in the room. The best screening experience you could hope for.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
Since AFF, I’ve been on the road doing festivals with Down With the King. We ended up screening into more than 30 international festivals that took me all around the world.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
In 2022, I look forward to the imminent release of Down With the King, my second feature, at the end of June – it’ll be released by Sony entertainment Pictures. And I look forward to see my new script take shape.
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
I usually look up to writers/directors as I always judge a film as a whole. For me it’s hard to separate the two when I watch. Some writers/directors I admire are Sean Baker, Kelly Reichardt (and her writing partner Jon Raymond), Chloe Zhao, Jeff Nichols, Quentin Dupieux.
Diego Ongaro
Writer/Director: Down With The King
Kim Tran
Kim Tran
Houston’s Finest
Year selected for AFF: 2017
Writer, Space Force (Netflix). Writer/ Director, Zoe and Hanh, Pussy Talk
Bio
Kim Tran is a first-gen Vietnamese American writer, director and comedian from Austin, Texas. Most recently, she wrote for SPACE FORCE (Netflix), punched up jokes for THE END IS NYE (Peacock) and was in the NBC writing program. She studied Biochemistry and Radio-TV-Film at UT Austin, then received the Michener Fellowship to pursue her MFA in Screenwriting. As an improv/ sketch comedian, she has performed at SF Sketchfest and Del Close. Her films have played at SXSW, Palm Springs ShortFest and Clermont-Ferrand. Her love language is leaving her shoes at your door.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
I got accepted into the Michener program at UT Austin as a screenwriting and playwriting fellow. I spent 3 years there writing, directing, performing and getting my MFA. Afterwards, I got reps, was accepted into the NBC writing program and got staffed on Space Force.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Right from myself. Only I have my POV.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
Countless scenes come to mind because every project has so many hard scenes where I’m not sure how to write it. I think for me, usually the scene is hard because I don’t know what I’m supposed to be accomplishing in the scene or the point I’m trying to get across, so I have to go back to outline or treatment or question what my POV or this project was even about. That’s when it gets real fun.
What was a major turning point in your career?
Getting staffed on Space Force!
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on a new pilot sample, developing my SXSW short Zoe and Hanh into a feature and recently was selected for the Orchard Project’s Audio Lab this year to work on my first scripted audio series.
What are some of your favorite films?
For movies, it’s really hard for me to choose… So I’ll do TV! I really love PEN15, Righteous Gemstones, Abbott Elementary, Money Heist, Made For Love, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, New Girl, The Office, Modern Family, and Parks and Rec.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
The friends I made from interning there!
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
I haven’t gone to AFF in almost 6 years, so I don’t know if I have a good answer for this, except… lived a lot of life.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
It’s always inspiring to hear from artists I look up to or to hear their advice as they’ve tackled similar paths.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Spending more time with loved ones, playing with my dog, traveling and having new experiences, eating good food and, of course, continuing to nurture my relationship with my writing.
Kim Tran
Writer/ Director: Houston’s Finest, Space Force, Zoe and Hanh, Pussy Talk
Liz Fields
Liz Fields
Vampire Facial and Savages
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Bio
Liz Fields is an Asian-Australian-American writer and filmmaker who has lived in and traveled to 40 different countries across six continents searching for stories that illuminate human existence, struggles, and truth. Liz draws inspiration for her ethically murky female protagonists and darkly comedic dramas and thrillers from the stranger-than-fiction situations she’s experienced as an award-winning journalist. After graduating from Columbia University, Liz worked at VICE, where she helped launch their nightly news show on HBO and documented the insanity of the modern American condition as a 2016 campaign embed. Since then, Liz has written and produced content for Netflix, Hulu, and more. Her TV scripts have also been recognized at multiple screenwriting awards, including receiving consecutive finalist laurels at the Austin and Atlanta film festivals.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
I started writing TV pilots while I was producing documentaries on location around the world. I’d write under covers at night in sketchy hotel rooms or while waiting for media transfers. It was a crazy time.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Be kind, be diligent, be humble. Be your own cheerleader — and everyone else’s. Learn to laugh at yourself. Rejection is part of the game… persevere! And above all, keep writing!
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
They’ve all been hard!
What was a major turning point in your career?
See below answer on AFF!
What are you working on right now?
I’m currently developing multiple TV projects and writing another scripted project connected to a doc feature my partners and I are producing.
What are some of your favorite films?
The Talented Mr Ripley, The Godfather, The Birdcage, Atonement, American Psycho, Sunset Boulevard, Call Me By Your Name
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
Just casually seeing Lisa Joy wandering around the Driskill Bar.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
Equal parts writing, development and networking.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
I am so grateful to AFF for helping to launch my writing career. I first attended the festival in 2019 (sans script) and had an amazing time at the panels and meeting new writerly friends. The next year, I decided to submit a script, which became a finalist in the AMC pilot competition. Even though Covid prevented us from attending in person that year, I had numerous reps and execs reach out independently after appearing in the AFF Producer’s Book. In 2021, I tried my luck again and entered another pilot, which also ended up receiving laurels. I was thrilled to once again attend in person — this time as a finalist — and meet many talented writers and creatives at the awards gala. Afterwards, I had more meetings with execs and reps and eventually signed with Eric Williams (a panelist at the festival) and Cameron Cubbison at Zero Gravity Management. The same pilot went on to help me land a spot in the 2022 CAPE New Writer’s Fellowship and multiple development opportunities with independent producers and networks. I highly encourage every aspiring writer to submit to the AFF script competition. As someone with years of experience in journalism and documentary, but few connections in the scripted world, being part of the AFF community has opened up Hollywood in many wonderful and unexpected ways.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
So much.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
I was accepted into the 2022 New Writer’s Fellowship with CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) https://deadline.com/2022/04/cape-2022-class-of-writers-celebrates-1235011438/ and one of the nonfiction shows I worked on for Hulu recently won Television Academy Honors, which recognizes exceptional programs and their producers who have leveraged the immense power of television to fuel social change, and a 2022 James Beard Media Award nomination. https://www.emmys.com/news/awards-news/honors-announce-2022
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Too many! Pedro Almodovar, Lena Waithe, Adele Lim, Kathryn Bigelow, Nora Ephron, Scott Frank, Bong Joon-ho, Spike Jonze, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Emerald Fennell, Taika Waititi and many more…
Liz Fields
Vampire Facial and Savages
Adam Sjoberg + Seanne Winslow
Adam Sjoberg, Seanne Winslow
The Falconer
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Adam Sjoberg: Shake the Dust(2015) – Writer / Director I Am Sun Mu (2016) – Writer / Director The Messenger (2021) – Lead Editor / Co-lead Writer / Co-lead Producer The Falconer (2022) – Writer / Director Songs of a Lost Island (2023) – Writer / Director
Seanne Winslow: The Falconer – Writer / Director The Lego Movie (Warner Bros.) – Executive Producer The Witchverser (D+ and Baobab Studios ) – Head Writer & Co-Producer Alleycats – Director Nowhere (Netflix) – Writer
Bio
Adam Sjoberg is a multi-faceted filmmaker and commercial director with a passion for telling stories that bridge the gap between popular culture and pressing global issues. His directing and producing has taken him to over fifty countries and led to projects with Nas, 21 Savage, Bono, and Kanye West, as well as bespoke brands like Warby Parker, Mini Cooper, and Apple. In 2021, he made his first foray in podcasting with the award-winning documentary podcast series, The Messenger, a Spotify original produced by Awfully Nice in collaboration with Dreamville Studios. He is currently in post-production on his fourth feature film, Songs of a Lost Island, a collaboration with NFL Hall-of-Famer Troy Polamalu. His feature films include The Falconer, I Am Sun Mu, and Shake the Dust. He is based in Lisbon, Portugal. 
Seanne Winslow is a multi-hyphenate whose unique ability to tell stories that entertain, delight, and inspire global audiences is evident throughout her work as a writer, director, and producer. After writing and directing The Falconer with Adam Sjoberg, Seanne joined forces with Eric Darnell (Madagascar) to develop The Witchverse, an animated TV show for D+ and Baobab Studios, which explores and upends common misconceptions about global witch mythology from different cultures. She is the head writer and is co-producing. Seanne also recently finished a re-write of the thriller, Nowhere (Netflix), which garnered the movie a green light. She will be directing Alleycats, an adrenaline-packed action movie produced by Brian Brightly and Aaron Weiderspahn. And she is currently developing Ilona, which is inspired by her childhood in a German castle and produced by Benjamin Munz. Seanne was also the Executive Producer of THE LEGO MOVIE starring Will Ferrell, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman, and oversaw SHERLOCK HOLMES starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law for Dan Lin at Rideback Ranch.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
SW: I studied writing and directing at USC Film School and was hired to write my first screenplay when I was 21. But it was a miserable experience. I didn’t have any role models and felt incredibly vulnerable as a young woman in the industry. I decided that to tell the kind of stories I wanted to tell I needed power. I started out as an assistant for Jerry Bruckheimer and then worked for Dan Lin who became my mentor. I worked hard and I was fortunate to have people who believed in me, which is how I became the creative on-set producer of The Lego Movie. I kept writing the whole time and when Adam told me the story of The Falconer I took the plunge back into full-time writing and directing.
AS: I’ve been writing scripts since I was 9 years old on a typewriter I kept in my bedroom. But my foray into filmmaking came through documentaries. I started making docs because I didn’t feel like I needed anyone’s permission – I just bought a camera and got on airplanes. But making scripted films was always the long-term goal. Collaborating with Seanne on The Falconer over the course of several years taught me a lot about the craft. From going to talks, reading books, attending festivals, taking meetings with writers and putting work in on several different scripts, I feel like I’m (ever so slowly) beginning to master the craft. I still make documentaries, and my skills in screenwriting have informed that process. I always work from a paper edit/script for documentary films.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
SW/AS: On The Falconer in particular we learned to write for production. There are probably 20 other drafts of this movie that didn’t make it to screen. And when we finally got the funding to make the movie, it wasn’t enough to make it the grand Hollywood film we started out writing. So, we stripped the script way back and went on location with a 60-page scriptment. It had all the key scenes in it and plot points, but as we cast locations and actors we fleshed it out. The lesson in this for us was to follow the story. Write in service of what can be shot. It’s part of what makes giving notes or doing rewrite work so fun. As a writer/director, you know what can be shot and you can write towards that.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
AS/SW: It feels like the hardest project you’ve ever had to write is the one you are working on at this moment. Each time one sits down to a blank page it takes a tremendous amount of courage and imagination. The truly crazy thing about writing is that you’re dreaming up this world that is entirely in your head and then on the page. But in a movie it becomes real! The room you wrote actually gets built. The character you created becomes embodied. It’s like you’re a magician. But it’s not magic. Writing is hard work. The way we navigate this is by scheduling a time to write and then writing. Sometimes it flows and sometimes it doesn’t but when you set a time to write – write. Showing up like that for our craft is one of the ways we navigate the challenges of writing.
What was a major turning point in your career?
SW: The biggest turning point in my career was leaving my job as the Executive Producer of the Lego franchise to write and direct my own movies. I learned so much from working with Lord & Miller and it was hard to leave such an awesome team of people. Working with them prepared me to lead a team of creatives and to make a movie that is commercial and authentic at the same time. When The Lego Movie was finished, I knew was ready to tell my own stories. My experience as a producer has made me a better writer and director and I apply what I learned on Lego every day – as the writer/director of The Falconer, the head-writer on The Witchverse and as the director of Alleycats.
AS: My first big turning point was when I made my first documentary Shake the Dust, and the legendary rapper Nas came on board to support the project. It validated that we were onto something beautiful and timely, and elevated the stature of the film which allowed me to experience a lot of things I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Since then, each new project teaches me more new things. The documentary podcast series The Messenger that I worked on last year continued that education. I co-wrote it with two other partners and it was a lot of fun but a lot of work. Eight 35-minute episodes on a series that spanned centuries, continents, and many intersecting themes. I loved it and it stretched me so much.
What are you working on right now?
SW: I’m writing Witchverse for D+ (Disney) and Baobab Studios. It’s an animated TV show I developed with Eric Darnell (Madagascar) during the pandemic. Witchverse is a global celebration of the international cultural phenomena of witches, their magic, and their universal connection to nature. Each witch-i-sode will explore and upend common misconceptions surrounding global witch mythology and lore from a mélange of cultures and perspectives around the world. I’m also in early prep on the movie Alleycats for Sugar House Films that I’m directing this year in Thailand. It’s a high velocity action movie written by Brian Brightly and the first movie I’m directing that I didn’t also write. So, that’s a whole new adventure for me and I could not be more excited about it.
What are some of your favorite films?
AS/SW: One of the things that makes collaborating so fun was that we have this incredible lexicon of shared movies that we love. Children of Men is probably top of the list. Moonlight & Rachel Getting Married are two more. We watched The Rider by Chloé Zhao at Sundance together and it really influenced the way we approached The Falconer.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
SW/AS: We actually came to the Austin Film Festival for the first time with Terry Rossio in 2014! It’s where we first started working on The Falconer together and Adam designed our first mock poster. In a lot of ways, Austin was the beginning for us in making this movie!
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
AS/SW: The Falconer has been playing at a lot of festivals. This weekend we’re closing in on 20 festivals, and we just won our 12th and 13th Jury Awards for the film. It’s been an amazing journey and so gratifying to see how much audiences and juries resonate with this movie.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
AS/SW: We attended a conversation between Jonathan Demme and P.T. Anderson at the festival in 2013 and their thoughts on writing and directing had a huge impact on us. The Austin Film Festival has always been a festival by filmmakers for filmmakers. It’s a place where those of us who are working writers and directors can come to be inspired. It’s a true gift to the filmmaking community and has inspired us in our personal careers.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
AS/SW: Time with friends and family. Good books. Good food. Time in nature. Work that gives us joy.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
SW/AS: The Falconer was just acquired by Gravitas for North American release! Bill Guentzler recently joined the company as the Senior Director of Acquisitions. He used to run a big film festival. So he’s really got his finger on the pulse and we’re excited to be working with him and the rest of the team over there to bring The Falconer to a larger audience
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
AS: I’ve learned a lot from Michael Arndt. His talk on endings is legendary and he was kind enough to have lunch with Seanne and me while we were in the middle of writing The Falconer, which had a huge impact on our story.
SW: Terry Rossio was one of my mentors as I came up through the ranks, and I’ve learned lot from him about how to tell a good story. Shane Black too. They are both some of the most generous people I know and have a deep understanding of their craft. Beyond that – Lord & Miller always make me laugh harder than almost anybody else. I love their writing. And Cuarón writes the stories I want to tell. My friend A.C. Bradley just wrote Ms. Marvel, which I’m really excited to watch!
Adam Sjoberg + Seanne Winslow
The Falconer
Gabriele Fabbro
Gabriele Fabbro
The Grand Bolero
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Film Director
Bio
Gabriele Fabbro was born in 1996, in Milan, Italy. He’s a film director with a BFA degree in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy. Since 2011, he wrote, directed and produced over 25 productions including features, short films, music videos, documentaries and commercials. Among his most known works, he directed the music video If You Run (2020) for Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age). His latest short film 8 (2019) screened at the 76 Venice Film Festival. The Grand Bolero (2021), his first fictional feature, premiered in competition at the 2021 Austin Film Festival.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
In middle school I started to write scenes, ideas, characters based on memories and experiences. In high school and at the New York Film Academy, I learnt the craft of screenwriting and I started to write fully developed scripts.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Don’t be a poet! We are writing for producers, cast, crew members that need to turn this words into shots. Our writing has to make their life easier. No matter if it’s a feature or a short, always condense, sum up, use short cuts. Cinema is all about summing up big themes and complex relationships and present them in the quickest and simplest scenes. Actions over words. Always. Remember that people never do what they say or say how they actually feel. For some reason, we always love to bury the truth under loads of futile words. Your writing should reflect this.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
It’s really hard for me to say which one was the hardest. Screenwriting is always a challenge. It’s probably the most challenging aspect of filmmaking. No matter how big and beautiful the production is, no matter if you shoot with Arri Alexa, Anamorphic lenses, have A list actor playing the lead, if the story is not there, the audience won’t give a damn. What you write will determine the success/failure of the final production so you always feel this huge responsibility on your back. You think harder and harder to make the script as intriguing as it could be. Page after page. That’s where your personal life and collected memories come into play. If you write about something you’re passionate about or that resembles your past experience, usually that leads to good results.
What was a major turning point in your career?
Definitely my first feature, The Grand Bolero. I struggled so much the past years to pitch myself to direct feature films. Because I’ve directed mainly short content, people were skeptical about letting me direct films. After making The Grand Bolero, I finally see people recognizing my craft and being more open to discussing feature projects with me.
What are you working on right now?
I’m currently raising funds for my second feature and directing a new short.
What are some of your favorite films?
Gosh, the list would be endless but to make it short: 2001 A Space Odyssey, Mary Poppins, The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 8 1/2, Schindler’s List, Amadeus, Modern Times
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
I premiered my first feature with the AFF last year. The whole experience was remarkable. After you spend 3 years of your life in darkness, fighting to make your movie happen, you want to premiere at a festival that really loves your work and that will do a huge promotion out of it. AFF had it all. One of my favorite moment of the festival was actually when I first arrived at the registration office and my programmer Tim Gray, which I never met before, recognized me and greeted me yelling “Gabriel!!!!!” From day one I felt so welcomed. The audience attending AFF are all film lovers so there was a general excitement to discuss movies. Can’t wait to be back with another project, hopefully soon.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
I’ve been mainly writing and pitching my next projects while working on sets and editing for other filmmakers, and of course, promoting The Grand Bolero, which is wrapping up its festival circuit.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
Seeing the joy and the passion of the filmmakers/audience/programmers I met at AFF, reminded me how this glamorous film industry, at its core is based on a childish love for sharing stories with one another. If you put that childish love into your films, your story will eventually “speak” to someone.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Get my next feature financed.
Any news with your project or career you would like to share?
There are many news about The Grand Bolero! Since AFF, the film got picked up by other film festivals such as the Phoenix Film Festival (where I won best world cinema director!), St. Luis International Film Festival, Los Angeles Italia Film Festival (in competition with academy award nominees such as Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God or Disney’s Luca), Cinequest, Beverly Hills Film Festival and Arpa International Film Festival (where we won “Best Feature”). The film will also be playing in Phoenix at the Orpheum Theatre (equipped with a massive theatre organ) on September 4th and will play in selected theatres in South Africa and Italy. Finally the movie will be released on Amazon Prime later in October. The soundtrack is coming out in just a few weeks! Here’s a sneak peak: https://youtu.be/pBeew23uHf0
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
James Ivory, Alice Rohrwacher, Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ennio Morricone (as Sergio Leone said, I also believe that this incredible composer contributed so much to the writing of his films).
Gabriele Fabbro
The Grand Bolero
Evan McNary
Evan McNary
Ragged Heart
Year selected for AFF: 2021
Director / Co-Writer of Ragged Heart
Bio
I grew up in a religious cult where I assisted exorcisms from a young age and had no access to secular movies or music until my mid-teens. After high school, I made up for lost time by studying art in San Francisco, logging thousands of miles and countless audio books as a cross-country trucker and then earning a film MFA at Florida State. Next stop was Los Angeles, where I worked at ICM and Anonymous Content for a number of years before moving into writing and directing. Ragged Heart – my first feature film as director (and co-writer with my sister Debrah) – premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2021.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
Making short films and spec commercials.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one. (Courtesy of William Goldman of course)
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
Whenever I run into road blocks, I find that simply describing the situation and my feelings about them out loud – either to a friend or to an empty room – helps organize things and pinpoint flaws in my thinking.
What was a major turning point in your career?
Premiering Ragged Heart at AFF 🙂
What are you working on right now?
I’m finishing up my next feature script – a psychological thriller called Chambers with plans to shoot it later this year.
What are some of your favorite films?
Raging Bull, The Conversation, The Conformist, Dancer in the Dark , The Prestige, Persona, Breaking the Waves, The Sweet Hereafter, Passion of Anna, The Master, Blood Simple, Spirit of the Beehive, Birth, While You Were Sleeping, Memento, Mulholland Drive, Miller’s Crossing, the Big Sleep, Brick
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
Sitting with the cast and crew of Ragged Heart as they watched the film for the first time.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
Writing, as well as directing a few commercials.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
I met some talented, interesting folks and I’m enjoying watching their latest projects take shape via Instagram and twitter.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Filming my next feature.
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Paul Thomas Anderson
Evan McNary
Director / Co-Writer of Ragged Heart
Dan Steele
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – SEPTEMBER 22: (L-R) Writer Dan Steele, writer Stefanie Leder and Creator Carter Covington of MTV’s “Faking It” receive a ceremonial key to the city of West Hollywood during a City Council Meeting on September 22, 2014 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images for MTV)
Dan Steele
How I Met Your Mother spec script
Year selected for AFF: 2010
Writer Pretty Big, Retreat!, Gossip Girl
Bio
Dan Steele is an LA-based screenwriter and playwright, an alumnus of the Warner Bros. Television Writers’ Workshop, and a winner of the Austin Film Festival’s Bronze Typewriter for his How I Met Your Mother spec script (2010). Originally from Texas, Dan was raised as a homeschooled Jehovah’s Witness until he decided to trade in his holy evangelizing for the hustle of Hollywood. Dan is currently developing Pretty Big, a dance competition feature for Warner Bros. with MACRO and John Legend’s production company, Get Lifted, as well as Retreat!, an action-comedy produced by Hartbeat Productions for Netflix. But Dan cut his teeth in television, with writing credits on over 100 episodes for shows such as Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie. He was a Co-Producer on MTV’s Faking It and The Donors for executive producer Kevin Hart. Dan’s first short film, Miracle, was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011.
How did you get your start in screenwriting?
The Warner Bros. TV Writers’ Workshop truly felt like the definition of “big break.” It was like being handed a golden ticket for entrée into the industry. I was so green at the time. It taught me what it was like to be inside the writers’ room, they helped me get my first job, my first agent. I wouldn’t be here today without that program.
What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?
In television: respect the hierarchy and culture of the room. Every room is different. Become an encyclopedia for the show. Volunteer for everything. In feature films: be prepared to wait YEARS between concept and payment. Finding the right producer is like a cheat code to selling a script, but make sure you and your producer(s) are on the same page for what you want the final product to look like.
What’s the hardest scene or project you’ve ever had to write in your career? How did you navigate the challenge?
Those first couple of scripts for Gossip Girl were the toughest. Even with the WB Workshop, being thrown into a room for the first time, and that room in particular, was like constantly playing catch-up. I recently re-read my writer’s draft of my first episode and it was AWFUL. Luckily, they believed in me and kept me around to keep growing and getting better.
What was a major turning point in your career?
After working for five years straight in television, the jobs just sort of dried up. The landscape was changing to shorter orders, smaller rooms, top-heavy room budgets… the need for mid-level writers bottomed out. I sold a few pilots here and there to survive, but I was worried about what was in store long-term. So I pivoted to features. Again, not a path to a quick paycheck, but perseverance and persistence has finally paid off.
What are you working on right now?
Feature films for Netflix and Warner Bros. As I type this, we’re getting very close to turning in the first draft of Pretty Big to the studio. A very exciting first for me.
What are some of your favorite films?
Fight Club. 8 1/2. Groundhog Day. Eternal Sunshine. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Her. Dave.
Share a memorable experience sparked from Austin Film Festival?
Way back in a college, I managed to secure myself a ticket to the AFF Dazed and Confused 10th Anniversary Reunion Party. Talked to Linklater, Posey, Mcconaughey… even danced with Sandy Bullock. The fun and spirit of that evening solidified for me that this was my career path.
How have you been spending your time since being a part of Austin Film Festival?
Working. Hustling. I’ve created countless pilots, series, screenplays, and feature pitches that went nowhere and will never see the light of day. You have to be prepared to create worlds you love and then leave them behind. That’s just the job. But at least we’re in this together.
How has being part of the Austin Film Festival Community helped spark your storytelling journey or career?
The year I won the Bronze Typewriter, I met two people that I still work with to this day, including one of my closest friends and sometimes co-writer, Matthew Kellard. The AFF Writer’s Conference is simply the best event of its kind anywhere in the world.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Paychecks! And hopefully a greenlight or two.
Who are some of your favorite screenwriters? Who do you look to for inspiration?
Charlie Kaufman. Aaron Sorkin. Gary Ross. Taika Waititi. Alexander Payne. Nora Ephron.
Dan Steele
Writer Pretty Big, Retreat!, Gossip Girl