A Fine Frenzy One Cell in the Sea (Virgin Records) What’s mediocrity? It’s Lethal Weapon, George Clooney and the latter day works of Stephen King. It’s not bad, but when faced with other, more appealing and engaging choices, it doesn’t seem quite up to par. That’s mediocrity. That’s One Cell in the Sea. But hey, what is one person’s uninspired ‘eh,’ is another person’s guiding star. You could fall in love with the twinkling pop......

“In the movie about your life, are you the hero or the anti-hero?” It’s the question we’ve always wanted to ask prodigious screenwriter, Shane Black, and we finally got the opportunity. Not that Black is inaccessible, just. . . intimidating from a distance. His reputation precedes him. Known for “reinventing” the action flick as much as breaking with the stereotypical screenwriter persona of a bespectacled pipsqueak, Black prefers to shun the conventions of the movie......

David Milch ("NYPD Blue," "Deadwood"), Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) and Sydney Pollack (Tootsie, Three Days of the Condor) gathered Saturday for the Creating Classic Characters panel at the Austin Film Festival. The conversation quickly became a completely engaging discussion of the craft of writing, managing expectations of the studios, Dostoevsky and much more. Black was his general convivial and vulnerable self, while the affable Pollack spoke with great humility about......

Beyond screening over 100 excellent films, the Austin Film Festival also offers over 60 panels and roundtable discussions, led by more than 100 industry professionals. This year the panels will focus on ‘telling your story by any means necessary.' The panelists will give an informative look into how they sold their scripts, got distribution deals, had their pilots picked up, etc. If you are (or want to be) a writer, producer or director, you......

Cinephiles rejoice! The Austin Film Festival kicks off this Thursday, featuring a bevy of shorts, documentaries, advance screenings and parties! Of course, the festival is not just about watching movies; it’s also a fantastic opportunity for you wannabe filmmakers to hear from a slew of panelists about the craft of filmmaking and the industry in general. Among the distinguished panelists at the screenwriters’ conference are Judd Apatow (40-Year-Old Virgin, Freaks and Geeks, The Larry......