Austin Film Festival (AFF) is the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s creative contribution to film. Its annual Film Festival and Conference offers screenings, panels, workshops, and roundtable discussions that help new writers and filmmakers connect with mentors and gain advice and insight from masters, as well as refreshing veterans with new ideas. To extend the Festival’s reach, AFF produces On Story, a television series currently airing on PBS-affiliated stations and streaming online that presents footage of high-caliber artists talking candidly and provocatively about the art and craft of screenwriting and filmmaking, often using examples from their own films.

This book distills the advice of renowned, award-winning screenwriters who have appeared on On Story, including John Lee Hancock, Peter Hedges, Lawrence Kasdan, Whit Stillman, Robin Swicord, and Randall Wallace. In their own lively words and stories transcribed from interviews and panel discussions, they cover the entire development of a screenplay, from inspiration, story, process, structure, characters, and dialogue to rewriting and collaboration. Their advice is fresh, practical, and proven—these writers know how to tell a story on screen. Enjoy this collection of ideas and use it to jumpstart your own screenwriting career.

Barbara Morgan cofounded Austin Film Festival in 1993 and has served as Executive Director since its inception. A feature filmmaker and producer, she also developed and produces the TV series On Story: Presented by Austin Film Festival.

Maya Perez is a producer/consultant for On Story: Presented by Austin Film Festival and a board member of the Austin Film Festival, for which she has also served as Conference Director. She is a Michener Fellow in Screenwriting at the University of Texas at Austin until 2015.

• Foreword by Brian Helgeland
• Acknowledgments
• Screenwriter Biographies
• Introduction by Barbara Morgan
• I. Inspiration
  • A Conversation with Randall Wallace
• II. Story
  • What Makes a Great Story: A Conversation with Bill Wittliff
  • Steven Zaillian on Where the Story Originates
  • Peter Hedges on Crafting Story
  • Lawrence Kasdan on Story and Theme
• III. Process
  • A Conversation with John Lee Hancock
  • Sacha Gervasi on Getting Started
  • The Basics with Nicholas Kazan
  • Advice from Bill Wittliff
  • Anne Rapp's Writing Routine
  • Caroline Thompson’s Writing Process
  • Lawrence Kasdan on the Challenges of Writing
• IV. Structure
  • Structure and Format: A Conversation with Frank Pierson, Whit Stillman, Robin Swicord, and Nicholas Kazan
  • Caroline Thompson on Structure
  • Lawrence Kasdan on the Rules of Script Formatting
  • Visual Storytelling: A Conversation with John August, John Lee Hancock, and Randall Wallace
• V. Character and Dialogue
  • Building Characters and Mapping Their Journeys: A Conversation with Lawrence Kasdan and Anne Rapp
  • Nicholas Kazan on Writing Characters
  • Crafting Characters: A Conversation with Lawrence Kasdan
  • Dialogue and Finding the Voice: A Conversation with John August and John Lee Hancock
• VI. Rewriting
  • Writer's Block: A Conversation with Bud Shrake and Bill Wittliff
  • Bill Wittliff on When to Let Something Go
  • Steven Zaillian on Defining Scenes: What to Keep In, What to Leave Out
  • Anne Rapp on Keeping the Writing Fresh
  • Nicholas Kazan’s Rewriting Process
  • On Rewriting: A Conversation with Daniel Petrie, Jr., Peter Hedges, and Sacha Gervasi
  • Lawrence Kasdan on How You Know When You’re Done
• VII. Collaboration
  • A Conversation with Steven Zaillian
  • Peter Hedges on Collaborating
  • Lawrence Kasdan on Writing with a Partner
  • Randall Wallace on Working with Other Writers
• VIII. Go Forth