Now entering its 23rd year, the Austin Film Festival continues to celebrate the art and craft of filmmaking by inspiring and championing the work of screenwriters, filmmakers, and artists. This year, the fest is set to honor the talents of celebrated directors Paul Feig and Nancy Meyers. In addition, the fest recently announced its impressive list of A-list artists and creators from film and television who will be in attendance during the Writers Conference which is slated for the first day of the festival that runs from October 13-20. House of Cards showrunner Beau Willimon will also present a staged script reading of his unproduced play War Story.
The following guests and panelists are scheduled to appear:
Mark L. Smith (writer, The Revenant)
Katie Dippold (writer, Ghostbusters)
David Mandel (showrunner, VEEP)
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (writers, The Fault in Our Stars)
Justin Marks (writer The Jungle Book)
Elizabeth Meriwether (creator of New Girl)
Nicole Perlman (writer, Guardians of the Galaxy)
Lindsay Doran (producer, Stranger Than Fiction)
Michelle Ashford (creator of Masters of Sex)
Kim Bass (creator of Sister, Sister)
Max Borenstein (writer, Godzilla)
Wendy Calhoun (writer, Empire)
Stephen Falk (creator of You’re the Worst)
John Hamburg (writer-director, I Love You, Man)
Tim Herlihy (writer, Happy Gilmore).
Mark Johnson (executive producer, Better Call Saul)
Monica Macer (writer, Nashville)
Mark Medoff (writer, Children of a Lesser God)
Melanie Marnich (writer/co-executive producer, The Affair)
Raamla Mohamed (writer, Scandal)
Aisha Muharrar (writer, Parks and Recreation)
Paula Pell (writer, Saturday Night Live)
Matt Selman (writer/executive producer, The Simpsons)
Sanjay Shah (writer/co-executive producer, Fresh Off the Boat)
Ed Solomon (writer, Men in Black)
James Wong (writer/director, Final Destination)
Alan Yang (co-creator of Master of None)
Edward Ricourt (writer, Jessica Jones)
Jose Rivera (writer, The Motorcycle Diaries)
Tom Szentgyorgyi (writer, The Mentalist)
Alexander Woo (writer, True Blood)
Linda Woolverton (writer, The Lion King)
The AFF has also introduced a new Playwriting Competition for the 2017 season. This will be an extension of its Screenplay Competition. The fest will accept full-length stage plays and provide aspiring playwrights exposure to a wide array of theater professionals. Writers who place in the competition and seek to transition into film and television will be given access to special programming and networking opportunities through the annual Writers Conference. Details will be available when the competition opens in early 2017.
Dino-Ray Ramos | Staff Writer
