Austin Film Festival’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2019, Presented by MovieMaker

Shruti Swaminathan & Ronak Shah

Who: Shruti and Ronak met during their time at UCLA and they collaborated to write Love Goes Through Your Mind, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2018.

Biggest Lesson Learned: “That characters don’t need to be good, or likable, or even heroic; they just need to be interesting.” — Shruti Swaminathan

Joshua Toro

Who: Joshua Toro is a director, writer, and producer based in New York City. His award-winning, debut short film, “Suspicion,” earned Yale’s Lamar Prize in Film and screened at the 25th Austin Film Festival.

Biggest Lesson Learned: “Every film professional worth his or her salt offers the truism, ‘all excellent projects start with an excellent script.’ Well, there’s a reason. Not only does a tight script encourage bang-up performances and ease the editing process, but it also helps insure your financial investment.”

Paul Vance

Who: After graduating from Auburn University with an English degree, Paul moved to Austin and now works as a script supervisor. He directs his own stuff when he can.

Biggest Lesson Learned: “Barely anything I’ve written has looked like what I expected it to look like when I first started it. Accept the change that will come. Don’t push it away.”

Wenonah Wilms

Who: Wilms has written over 20 feature-length screenplays and has had six short films produced.

Hardest Scene to Write: “Writing things that you’re not passionate about for any amount of pay can be hard. It’s a job, yes but you need to find passion in the act of writing and discovering and creating characters.  When I’m working on a project that isn’t my own, I try to channel the reason this script/story needs to be told and how I can best serve the people that want to tell it.”

Sara Zandieh

Who: Sara Zandieh is an award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker. Her feature film, Simple Wedding, recently premiered at Film Independent’s L.A. Film Festival and will be released theatrically in 2019 by Blue Fox Entertainment.

Career Turning Point: Making my first short film, The Pool Party, was a big step. I grew so much on that film and having it recognized at Tribeca was both heartening and surprising. My first feature film, Simple Wedding, has also been a major turning point. I shed some of that adolescent happy go lucky filmmaking student attitude; the feature made me much more meticulous and aware about time and money.

Every year, AFF brings together writers and storytellers for eight days of programming and networking. At this year’s screenwriters conference, AFF and MovieMaker will present a “25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2019” panel featuring writers from this list. More information at austinfilmfestival.com (October 21-31, 2019).

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