New Season of AFF's On Story Starts Saturday

Local writer-director Jeff Nichols is the first to admit he was not the obvious choice to make a movie about a historic civil rights case.

Jeff Nichols discusses his film, Loving, on the debut episode of On Story's seventh season. (credit: Austin Film Festival)

“I’m a white guy born in 1978,” Nichols said. “I’m probably not the best person to lay that story out for people.”

But as he recounts in an upcoming episode of On Story, all Nichols needed was a push from the right person.

So when acclaimed director Martin Scorsese gave him an impromptu phone call asking that he consider writing a film about Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple who became the face of the 1967 Supreme Court case that invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage, Nichols agreed. That film, Loving, came out in 2016, topping many critics’ lists for the best films of the year.

Nichols delves into the process of writing a script based on historic events in the premiere episode of the seventh season of the Austin Film Festival’s On Story. The 30-minute series, which airs on PBS nationwide, is part of The On Story Project, a multimedia effort that gives a forum to writers and filmmakers to discuss their creative efforts and includes a public radio show and two book anthologies.

The seventh season of the KLRU series debuts April 15 at 7:30pm. The 20-episode season boasts other big names such as Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give, Father of the Bride), Justin Marks (The Jungle Book), Paula Pell (Saturday Night Live), Emmy Award-winners Tony Hale (Veep) and Marta Kauffman (Friends, Grace & Frankie), and Academy Award-winner John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck).

Viewers can find past episodes and podcasts on the program’s website: www.onstory.tv.