Austin Film Festival's On Story

This week on On Story, we're joined by comedian and screenwriter Tim Herlihy for a look back at the beloved 90s romcom The Wedding Singer.
Set in 80s New Jersey, the film follows the romantic misfortunes of Robbie Hart, a rock-star turned wedding singer played by Adam Sandler, whose life is thrown off track when his fiance dumps him on their wedding day. Robbie's love life is further complicated when he starts developing feelings for his friend Julia, a waitress, played by Drew Barrymore, who's feeling discouraged because her businessman fiance has yet to commit to a date for their wedding. 
Tim Herlihy started his accidental comedy career writing standup material for his friend Adam Sandler while they were roommates at NYU. When Sandler was hired at Saturday Night Live, he and Herlihy continued their working friendship, with Herlihy writing material for Sandler in an unofficial capacity. While working as a lawyer, Herlihy wrote the script for Billy Madison, with Sandler as his co-writer. Herlihy continued working with Sandler on the scripts for Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, Little Nicky, Hubie Halloween, and more. In 1994, Herlihy was officially brought onto the writing staff at SNL, where he rose through the ranks to serve as head writer and producer. In 2006, Herlihy co-wrote the book, and two songs, for the Broadway adaptation of The Wedding Singer, earning him a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical. 
Barbara Morgan sat down with Tim Herlihy for a conversation on his experience working with Adam Sandler on the duo's first romcom, negotiating with studios, and handing the reins to Carrie Fisher, whose rewrite ended up saving the script. 
Wedding Singer clips courtesy of New Line Productions, Inc.

This week on On Story, a conversation with Shane Black on his work co-writing and directing The Nice Guys.
 
Set in 70s Los Angeles, The Nice Guys stars Ryan Gosling as Holland March, a down-on-his-luck private detective and single father hired to investigate the death of a local adult film star. March's detective work puts him on a collision course with the brass-knuckle-wearing private enforcer Jackson Healy, played by Russell Crowe. Healy and March form an unlikely team as their investigation leads them deeper and deeper into the corrupt and crumbling industries of porn, politics, and auto manufacturing. The Nice Guys also features scene-stealing supporting performances by Margaret Qualley and Angourie Rice. 
 
Shane Black has a long resume as a writer and director in the thriller and action-comedy genres. In the 80s and 90s, Black wrote the scripts for Lethal Weapon, The Last Boyscout, and The Long Kiss Goodbye. In 2005, Black made his directorial debut with the neo-noir crime-comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Black co-wrote and directed Iron Man 3, which combined his signature dark-comedy with a more serious exploration of Tony Stark's struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Following The Nice Guys, Black co-wrote and directed the sci-fi thriller The Predator. Black recently co-wrote and directed the heist thriller Play Dirty starring Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield.  
 
I sat down with Shane Black for a conversation on The Nice Guys' beginnings as an experimental writing exercise, its legacy as a cult-favorite "midnight movie", and his love of protagonists who are past their primes and in over their heads. 
 
Clips of the Nice Guys courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

This week on On Story, a conversation with Brian Helgeland on his work writing and directing the 2001 medieval sports-comedy A Knight's Tale.
 
A Knight's Tale stars Heath Ledger as William Thatcher, an ambitious fourteenth-century squire who is determined to change his fate and escape his life of servitude. William's chance at glory arrives when his master is killed in a jousting tournament, and he decides to don his master's armor and compete in his place. With the help of his fellow squires, and the writer Geoffrey Chaucer (played by Paul Bettany), William adopts a fake identity as a nobleman and fights his way through the ranks of the jousting tournament, all while falling in love with a real noblewoman and concealing his true identity. 
 
Writer-director Brian Helgeland decided to pursue filmmaking after encountering a book entitled "A Guide To Film School" while working on a fishing vessel. Helgeland broke into the industry by way of the horror genre, writing scripts for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and Tales From the Crypt. Helgeland won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work writing L.A. Confidential, a neo-noir crime thriller following three detectives trying to uncover a conspiracy within the corrupt LA police department. Helgeland made his directorial debut in 1999 with Payback, starring Mel Gibson. Helgeland has continued writing in the thriller and neo-noir genres throughout his career, including Mystic River, Man on Fire, Green Zone, Finestkind, and more. Helgeland also wrote and directed the sports drama 42, which follows the life of baseball player Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball, and stars Chadwick Boseman in his breakout role. 
 
Barbara Morgan sat down with Brian Helgeland to talk about his experience writing A Knight's Tale as a spec script, directing Heath Ledger, and crafting the film's anachronistic stadium-rock score.

This week on On Story, we'll travel back to the 90s with a retrospective on the crime thriller Se7en, with its screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker.
 
Directed by David Fincher, Se7en stars Brad Pitt as David Mills, an idealistic young detective with a short fuse, who's still adjusting to the violence and apathy of life in the big city. Mills is paired with William Somerset, a jaded Detective Lieutenant who's only one week from retirement, played by Morgan Freeman. Mills and Somerset are tasked with investigating a pair of homicides that are exceptionally depraved and theatrical. The detectives realize that the two murders are only the beginning of a sadistic killing spree where each crime will be based on one of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust. Mills and Somerset begin a desperate game of cat and mouse as they try to get inside the mind of this depraved killer, and catch him before he can carry out his plan. The film was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Original Screenplay. 
 
Se7en was screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker's first script to be sold. During Se7en's three year development period, Walker wrote the scripts for two horror movies: the sci-fi slasher Brainscan, about a troubled teen who's seduced into committing crimes by a hypnotic interactive horror game, and the psychological horror Hideaway about a man who survives a near death experience and finds himself psychically connected to a serial killer. Walker has continued writing and producing in the crime thriller and sci-fi genres throughout his career. Walker wrote the script for 8mm, which follows a private detective investigating a snuff film which may depict a real murder. Walker collaborated with David Fincher again on the 2023 film The Killer, and on an episode of the animated series Love, Death & Robots. His writing credits also include Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, the animated comedy Nerdland, the crime thriller Windfall, and many more. 
 
AFF moderator Andy Volk sat down with Andrew Kevin Walker for a post-screening conversation on his experience writing Se7en based on a one-sentence logline, getting the script in front of director David Fincher, and working with the film's production crew to craft a version of New York City city lost in time.

Next Up, we're joined by three accomplished writers, Virgil Williams, Nicole Perlman, and Scott Rosenberg, for a conversation on finding and maintaining inspiration. 

Virgil Williams began his career in television, writing on 24 and ER. In 2011 Williams joined the writing staff of the grisly FBI procedural Criminal Minds, and stayed on for a six-season run as a writer and producer. Williams earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work writing the script for the 2017 historical drama Mudbound, following the clash between two Southern families as they grapple with the effects of racism and PTSD after World War II. Next, Williams wrote the script for the romantic drama A Journal for Jordan, based on the memoir by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Dana Canedy. Williams collaborated with filmmaker Malcolm Washington to co-write the script for The Piano Lesson, based on the play by August Wilson. The script blends traditional family drama with elements of horror and magical realism. 

Nicole Perlman broke into the film industry via Marvel's screenwriting program, where she selected the Guardians of the Galaxy comics as the basis for a film adaptation. Perlman is credited as a co-writer on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, alongside the film's director James Gunn. Perlman also co-wrote the story for Captain Marvel and Detective Pikachu. Recently Perlman has been working as an executive producer on the police procedural CIA, created by Dick Wolf and David Hudgins. 

Scott Rosenberg has been writing for film and TV since the 90s. His early film projects include Things to do in Denver When You're Dead, Con Air, Disturbing Behavior, and High Fidelity. He also worked as a writer on the horror anthology Tales from the Crypt, and has worked as a writer-producer on shows like Life on Mars, and Zoo. More recently, Rosenberg served as an executive producer for Everything Sucks! and the TV adaptation of High Fidelity starring Zoë Kravitz. Rosenberg co-wrote the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Jumanji: The Next Level, as well as the superhero film Venom. 
 
AFF moderator Greg Garrett sat down with Scott Rosenberg, along with Nicole Perlman, and Virgil Williams, for a conversation on the drive, discipline, and routines which help them develop an idea from inspiration to completion.