Paul Schrader, Michael Mann to Attend Austin Film Festival

Posted on June 15, 1998

Writer/director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, American Gigolo) and writer/director Michael Mann (The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Miami Vice) will be among the panelists sharing information and inspiration about screenwriting and filmmaking during the Austin Film Festival's 5th Annual Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference, to be held Oct. 1-4, 1998, in Austin, Texas.

Also scheduled to take part in the conference's 50 panels are:

-- Writer Brian Helgeland (Academy Award-winning LA Confidential, A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) -- Writer/director Stuart Gordon (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and creator of Disney TV series Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, cult classic H.P. Lovecraft's Reanimator) -- Writer/director John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf In London) -- Writer Dan Petrie Jr. (Beverly Hills Cop, The Big Easy, president of Writers Guild of America-West) -- Writer Kevin Williamson (Scream 1, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, now working on his directorial debut, Killing Mrs. Tingle) -- Writers Paul Dyer and Sarah Dyer (Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, animated TV series Superman/Batman) -- Writers/executive producers Dan Staley and Rob Long (Cheers, George & Leo)

Joining this impressive list are members of the festival's Board of Advisors including producer Barry Josephson (Men In Black, Air Force One, In The Line Of Fire); writer/producer Polly Platt (Pretty Baby, War of the Roses, Bottle Rocket, Say Anything); writer/producer Bill Wittliff (Lonesome Dove, Legends of the Fall); Oscar-nominated writer/director Whit Stillman (Barcelona, The Last Days Of Disco); Columbia Pictures Senior Vice President of Production Doug Belgard; and Kopelson Entertainment Vice President of Production Matthew Gross.

Between now and Oct. 1, the list will grow as more than 70 industry professionals annually take part in the conference, addressing such panel topics as "Practicing Your Pitching Skills," "Writing Visually" and "Budgeting Your Independent Film." The Austin Film Festival is the first festival dedicated to celebrating the writer, the script and their ultimate yield -- the movie. In further pursuit of recognizing the writer, the festival sponsors an annual script competition that received more than 3,500 screenplays this year. The Columbia Pictures release Excess Baggage and Warner Bros.' upcoming Goodbye Lover were both from scripts found through the festival's competition.