2016 Austin Film Festival and Conference Schedule: When Romance Met Comedy: The Rom Com

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When Romance Met Comedy: The Rom Com

It’s a classic formula: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Romance and comedy are two of the most difficult genres to get right, so why do we keep coming back to them? How do you create something fresh when it seems like everything has been done? Meet the writers of such cliché-challenging films as Friends with Benefits, Man Up, and (500) Days of Summer for a conversation on how to bring authenticity to emotional beats, how to relate to your audience, and how to follow conventions without being conventional.

Moderators

Tiffany Paulsen

writer Nancy Drew, Adventures in Babysitting

A former professional actress, Tiffany launched her writing career in 2006 after she won a prestigious Disney/ABC writing fellowship. In 2007, she created the big-screen version of the iconic NANCY DREW series for Warner Brothers, starring Emma Roberts. Since then, she has developed projects for Disney, FOX, MGM, Universal, ABC Family, Disney Channel, FOX TV, Nickelodeon and others. In 2015 she wrote a sequel to the 1987 classic ADVENTURES IN... Read More →

Panelists

Will Gluck

writer/director Friends with Benefits, Easy A, Annie; co-creator The Michael J. Fox Show

Will Gluck is a filmmaker with a uniquely authentic voice and an aim to create projects that reflect popular culture and captivate audiences. Gluck has made a name for himself as a great comedic filmmaker who brings heart and a down-to-earth quality to all of his endeavors. Gluck most recently released the modern-day reimagining of ANNIE, which he directed and co-wrote for Columbia Pictures. The film stars Quvenzhané Wallis in the... Read More →

Tess Morris

writer Man Up

Born and bred Londoner, Tess has been writing since she could walk (not 100% true) and her first words were ‘Elvis is the King!’ (100% true). Her first screenplay, the romantic comedy MAN UP, made the 2011 Brit List, was picked up by Big Talk Pictures, co-produced by Studio Canal and BBC Films and released in 2015 directed by Ben Palmer and starring Simon Pegg and Lake Bell. Tess is currently writing original screenplay TEXTBOOK... Read More →

Michael H Weber

writer (500) Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now, The Fault In Our Stars, Paper Towns, The Masterpiece, Our Souls At Night

Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are screenwriters and producers of various studio and independent films. Their 2014 adaptation of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS opened as the #1 movie in America and went on to gross over $300 million dollars worldwide. | The pair wrote the hit Fox Searchlight comedy/romance, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The film was nominated for "Best Feature - Comedy" at the... Read More →

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