Austin Film Festival's On Story

This week on On Story, a conversation with Joanna Calo, showrunner of the character-driven dramedy The Bear.

Joanna delves into her experience sharing showrunning duties with creator Christopher Storer, and discusses their approach to incorporating real life events into the show's deeply grounded characters and high stakes world. 
As a television veteran, Joanna's writing credits include Bojack Horseman, Hacks, Beef, and today's subject, The Bear. The Bear tells the story of Carmy Berzatto, played by Jeremy Allen White, an award-winning chef who returns home to Chicago in the wake of his estranged brother's suicide to find that he has inherited the family sandwich shop. Audiences fell in love with The Bear's fast-paced dialogue, anxiety-inducing stakes, and deeply human characters in the show's first season. In season 2, the show's stakes raised even higher as Carmy attempted to open his own fine dining restaurant in Chicago. In today's On Story conversation, Joanna share her insights surrounding the infamous mid-season episode Fishes featuring guest star Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as the well-crafted characters of Richie, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Marcus, played by Lionel Boyce.
Clips of The Bear courtesy of FX.

This week on On Story, a conversation with screenwriter Michael Arndt.

Arndt began his screenwriting career on a high when he wrote the script for the family road trip dramedy Little Miss Sunshine. That script earned Arndt the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Next, Arndt wrote the script for Toy Story 3, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, making Arndt the first ever writer to be nominated in both of the Academy's screenplay categories for his first two scripts. Arndt wrote the script for the second installment in the Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. A decade later, he co-wrote the script for the prequel film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Arndt also co-wrote the script for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. 
 
Arndt's website, pandemonium inc. dot com, hosts educational tools for writers, including the full scripts for Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3, and his video-seminars on "Beginnings: Setting a Story in Motion", and "Endings: the Good, the Bad, and the Insanely Great". 
 
AFF moderator Erin Hallagan Clare sat down with Michael Arndt for a conversation on story structure, beginning with his advice for creating high stakes, and writing great endings.

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.