Austin Film Festival (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing writers’ and filmmakers’ contributions to film, television, and new media, announced today new programming for the 2015 Screenwriters Conference, held the first four days of the Festival this October 29-November 5.
Brian Helgeland will receive AFF’s Distinguished Screenwriter honor at the Awards Luncheon, joining Outstanding Television Writer, Norman Lear. Among the films Helgeland has written and directed are Legend, 42, A Knight’s Tale, and Payback. Helgeland’s writing credits include L.A Confidential, Man on Fire, The Taking of Pelham 123, Conspiracy Theory, Green Zone, Blood Work and Mystic River for which he received an Academy Award nomination. Helgeland is also the recipient himself of the Academy Award, the Writers Guild of America Award, the PEN Center Literary Award, the Edgar Alan Poe Award, a two time recipient of the USC Scripter Award and the Sidney Lumet Award for Integrity in Entertainment.
The 2015 Awards Luncheon is held Saturday, October 31st at the Austin Club. Previous Distinguished Screenwriter award recipients include James L. Brooks, Lawrence Kasdan, Callie Khouri, Frank Pierson, Harold Ramis, Caroline Thompson, Steven Zaillian, and more.
Continuing the Festival’s long history of staged script readings, AFF will present an unproduced teleplay by Norman Lear, entitled Guess Who Died?, a series about the life-loving and fastest growing segment of our population who ask this question daily.
Writing team Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (writers The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, (500) Days of Summer) will bring their unproduced screenplay Rosaline to the Festival for a reading to be directed by Alex Timbers (co-creator Mozart in the Jungle), based on the novel When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle and the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
New programming also includes panelist additions Michael Arndt (writer Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3), Charles Burnett (writer Killer of Sheep), John Ridley (writer 12 Years a Slave; creator American Crime), and Gary Ross (writer/director Seabiscuit, Pleasantville).
The Screenwriters Conference (October 29-November 1) will feature over 150 panels and speakers, with conversations that explore the art, craft, and business of writing for film, television, and new media. Among the list of confirmed panelists are Shane Black (writer/director Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3), Jack Burditt (writer 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Peter Craig (writer The Town, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Parts I and II), Chad and Carey Hayes (writers The Conjuring, The Reaping), Mark Heyman (writer Black Swan, The Skeleton Twins), Angela Kang (writer The Walking Dead), Todd Kessler (co-creator Bloodline), Simon Kinberg (writer Sherlock Holmes, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), Jenny Lumet (writer Rachel Getting Married), Kelly Marcel (writer Saving Mr. Banks, 50 Shades of Grey), Jonathan Nolan (writer Interstellar, The Dark Knight), Nicole Perlman (writer Guardians of the Galaxy), Mark Protosevich (writer Thor, I Am Legend), Issa Rae (creator The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl), Jason Reitman (writer/director Up in the Air, Thank You For Smoking), Phil Rosenthal (creator Everybody Loves Raymond), Terry Rossio (writer Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean), Liz Tigelaar (writer/producer Bates Motel, Nashville), David Wain (writer/director Wet Hot American Summer) and many others.
The complete list of programming at the 22nd annual AFF, including the marquee program, short films, competition titles, and Conference panels, will be announced in late September.
