Austin Film Festival's On Story

This week on On Story, a conversation with screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, on the years-long labor of love that brought Wicked from the stage to the big screen.
 
Wicked takes us back in time to before the events of the classic film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story follows Elphaba Thropp, played by Cynthia Erivo, a misunderstood outcast who was born with green skin, and magical powers that she can't always control. While escorting her younger sister to her first day at university, Elphaba accidentally uses her powers in an emotional outburst. The university's Dean of Sorcery sees this display and decides to take Elphaba under her wing and privately tutor her. Elphaba accepts in the hope that she can fulfil her lifelong dream of working with The Wizard of Oz, who she believes will see past her unusual exterior and value her for her magical talents. Elphaba finds herself reluctantly sharing a room with the popular and wealthy Galinda, played by Ariana Granda. The pair clash and compete for academic attention, before forming an unlikely friendship. But, when Elphaba learns about the mounting oppression of Oz's population of anthropomorphic animals, she is forced to make a choice between being accepted into Oz's ruling class, or standing up for what she believes in. Wicked was the first in a two-film series, followed by Wicked: For Good. 
 
Winnie Holzman has been writing in the world of Oz since the late 90s, when she wrote the book for the stage musical Wicked, alongside composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. The stage musical was inspired by the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, written by Gregory Maguire. Holzman has been drafting the film adaptation for the last decade, with the process moving into hyper-speed once her co-writer Dana Fox, and director Jon M. Chu joined the project. She also created the edgy 90s teen drama My So Called Life. Her other TV writing credits include Thirtysomething, and Huge, and she has appeared as an actor in Jerry Maguire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and more. 
 
Co-writer Dana Fox broke into the industry writing romantic comedy films including The Wedding Date, What Happens in Vegas, and Isn't it Romantic. More recently, Fox co-wrote the script for the 2021 film Cruella, starring Emma Stone as Cruella de Vil. 
 
Dana Fox and Winnie Holzman sat down with AFF moderator Erin Hallagan Clare to talk about worldbuilding, the process of adaptation, and writing an emotionally grounded story in the movie-musical Wicked.
 
Clips of Wicked courtesy of Universal City Studios Productions LLLP

This week on On Story, we're taking a trip back in time to an interview with writer, creator, and showrunner Graham Roland, as he discusses developing his AMC series Dark Winds. Roland joined us to share the origins of the project, the creative challenges behind adapting Tony Hillerman's iconic novels, and what excited him most about bringing these characters to the screen. Let's dive into his conversation and hear his thoughts on crafting Dark Winds.

This week on On Story, Clint Bentley will talk to us about his work writing and directing Train Dreams. 
Train Dreams recounts the life of Robert Granier, an early 20th century logger and railway construction worker played by Joel Edgerton. Granier works in seasons, and his work keeps him separated from his family for months at a time. Throughout the story, Granier is haunted by the violence he's witnessed in the course of his work, and he spends his life searching for meaning in the face of a world that seems to destroy and reconstruct itself around him at breakneck speed. Clint Bentley, and his writing partner Greg Kwedar, adapted the script from Denis Johnson's 2011 novella of the same name. 
Clips of Train Dreams courtesy of BBP Train Dreams, LLC

This week on On Story, we're joined by screenwriter Austin Kolodney for a conversation on the historical crime thriller Dead Man's Wire. 
The film is based on the true story of a 1977 kidnapping carried out by Tony Kiritsis. Kiritsis believed that his mortgage broker, Richard O. Hall, was conspiring to unjustly seize Kiritsis' property for himself. On a cold February morning in 1977, Kiritsis went to Hall's office and wired the muzzle of a sawed-off shotgun to Hall's neck. The trigger of the gun was connected to Hall by a "dead man's wire" meaning that if Hall tried to run, or if anyone tried to intervene in the crime, the gun would fire, and Hall would be killed. Kiritsis' demands were clear: he wanted five million dollars, freedom from prosecution, and an apology. 

But before we travel back to 1977, we recommend you follow On Story wherever you get your podcasts. Are you under the gun trying to finish your screenplay? With a wide range of experience writing across film and television, our guests are here to help.

This week on On Story, we're joined by a titan of the action genre, Christopher McQuarrie, for a behind the scenes deep dive into Top Gun: Maverick. 

But before we ride into the sunset, we recommend you follow On Story wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes finishing your screenplay can feel like trying to land an F-14 Tomcat with a blown out engine and an empty gas tank, but, armed with a wide range of experience writing across film and television, our amazing guests are here to bring you home.