David Midell’s The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, starring Frankie Faison. The screenwriter is one of the names spotlighted by Austin Film Festival in their fifth annual Screenwriters to Watch list.

Film and TV production may have ground to a half in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but one area that keeps going is the creation of ideas. As Austin Film Festival consistently reminds us, it all starts with the writers, and that’s why the festival just released their annual list of 25 writers to watch. Addendum: it’s actually 29.

This year’s list includes four writing duos, most notably the Benson sisters, Julie and Shawna, who have recently parlayed their success in writers rooms for Wu Assassins and The 100 into critically-lauded runs on Batgirl and The Birds of Prey for DC Comics.

AFF’s picks include a long roster of festival Alums, including Audience Award winners from the 2019 festival: Jérémy Laval, who took home the prize in the Dark Matters category for his feature, Noise; and Patrick Wimp, creator of digital series Brothers From the Suburbs. On the jury awards side, Indianna Bell won the Best Narrative Short prize for “Call Connect,” while Zoe Cheng became the first ever winner of the HUMANITAS Originals Prize for When a Flower Falls. Meanwhile, Hannah Leder and Alexandra Kotcheff, and David Midell took home both jury and audience awards for their work (Leder and Kotcheff for the fuzzy comedy The Planters, Midell for shocking true crime recreation The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain).

Launched in 2016 to celebrate two decades of AFF, this is the festival’s fifth year of releasing their 25 Writers to Watch list, and their prognostications have often proved correct. Just from last year’s list, Davia Carter has joined the writing room for the CW’s series Katy Keene (starring Austinite Zane Holtz); Tripper Clancy (Stuber) is working on Kevin Hart’s Quibi vehicle, Die Hart; and Jean Lee is finishing her new documentary, The Heart of Puerto Rico.

Check out the full 2020 selection below, and head over to www.austinfilmfestival.com for more on each of the winners. Congratulations to all.

• Indianna Bell: Writer/co-director, The Recordist, Call Connect; co-director/producer Safe Space

• Julie Benson and Shawna Benson: Co-writers, Wu Assassins, The 100, DC Comics Batgirl, Birds of Prey comic, Green Arrow comic; co-producers Untitled Star Trek Animated Series for Nickelodeon

• Zoe Cheng: Writer, When a Flower Falls

• Jon Comulada: Writer, The Daily Dowager

• Christopher N. Corte: Writer, Service Animals

• Micah Cyrus: Staff writer, All American

• Jonathan Flicker: Writer, Ghostrunner

• Greg Fortier and Zarna Garg: Co-writers, Rearranged

• Giorgos Giorgopulos: Writer/director/editor, Not to be unpleasant but we need to have a serious talk

• Rupinder Gill: Writer/producer, Schitt’s Creek, I Feel Bad, Indebted

• Cris Graves: Writer/director, Alone Girl

• Josh Hallman and Kai Hasson: JH, Writer, Father-Daughter Day, Engaged, Robu, I F***ked James Bond; KH, Writer/director, Robu

• Hannah Leder and Alexandra Kotcheff: Writer/director, The Planters

• Jeremy Laval: Writer/director, NOISE

• David Midell: Writer/director, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain

• David Pantano: Writer, Backfired

• Par Parekh: Creator, The Happy

• Larry Postel: Writer, Flip Turn, High Holiday, The Main Event

• Chris Retts: Writer, Wade in the Water (2020), Deceit (pre-production), The Calling (in development)

• Caitlin Scherer: Writer, Fritter Families; Writer/director/producer, Wicked Image

• Kelly Strathmore: Writer, East Palo Alto

• Yi Tang: Writer/director, Black Goat

• Christina Tucker: Writer, From the Wilderness; Writer/director Chores, The Ghost and the Writer

• Patrick Wimp: Creator, Brothers from the Suburbs

• Gareth Wronski: Writer, Roomies, Raw Data, Holly Farb and the Princess of the Galaxy

This article appears in May 1 • 2020.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.