Austin Film Festival (AFF) is delighted to announce that its original series, Austin Film Festival’s On Story®, premieres its 8th season nationwide in April 2018 on public television stations. Available in more than 70% of U.S. markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, D.C., and Houston, On Story gives viewers an inside look at the creative process behind some of our most popular and beloved films and television shows.
This season’s 20 all-new episodes feature in-depth and entertaining conversations with Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Mark Frost (Twin Peaks), Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle), Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator), Walter Hill (The Warriors), Scott Frank (Godless), and many others.
“On Story is an encyclopedia of all the hard-earned knowledge you wish were taught in school. Before now, you could only get this from experience," says Oscar®-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer, featured in this year’s season with an episode on the journey of bringing blockbuster and award-winning filmArrival to the screen.
Each On Story episode traces a theme – reinventing classic stories, writing culturally groundbreaking comedies, dramatizing true life stories for the screen, creating a cult favorite show, crafting fairy tales, and more – sometimes highlighting the topic with a specially selected short film previously screened at Austin Film Festival.
Every year, Austin Film Festival hosts almost two hundred conversations between writers, TV creators, and filmmakers that simultaneously inform, enlighten, and entertain. This season will bring you the best of these conversations.
On Story producer and writer Maya Perez says, "Getting to hear these artists talk about how they do what they do—their creative processes, behind-the-scenes decisions behind our favorite TV shows, analyzing and offering new insight into beloved movies—is such a gift, and it thrills me that through On Storyprogramming we get to share these recorded interviews with audiences around the world for free."
In addition to the nationally distributed weekly television series, On Story content is available through the following:
- One-hour weekly radio program via PRI that includes such guests as Issa Rae (Insecure) and Alec Berg (Barry, Silicon Valley)
- Three books published by University of Texas Press: On Story – Screenwriters and Their Craft, On Story – Screenwriters and Filmmakers on Their Iconic Films, and the forthcoming On Story – The Golden Ages of Television to be released this October, coinciding with the 25th Anniversary of Austin Film Festival
- Free podcasts; and
- Archives from 24 years of the festival, housed at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University.
On Story is co-produced by AFF Co-Founder and Executive Director Barbara Morgan and filmmakers Miguel Alvarez and Maya Perez and is presented by KLRU. The series is funded by the Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation and distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA). Past episodes and more information can be found at www.onstory.tv.
Check local public television listings to find out when On Story airs in your city. The On Story radio series is available via Public Radio International.
