AFF 2010 Quick Snaps: Black List and 'By Way of Helena' Reading

Austin Film Festival is over for another year, but we're still covering it. And now that official photos from AFF are available for the panels related to By Way of Helena, here they are. Above are DB Sweeney and Jeff Fahey, who took the lead roles during Friday's script reading.

So why was this particular script read, and why are we talking about it? By Way of Helena was included in the top 10 on Franklin Leonard's 2009 Black List, meaning that of all the screenplays floating around unproduced in Hollywood in 2009, it was considered one of the best. Writer Matt Cook used to live in Austin; he was even a contributor for Texas Monthly. He's pictured above on the right, with Austinite and Lone Star creator Kyle Killen on his left. I think that in this picture, Cook is talking about Javelina, a film he acted in which is about a particular type of peccary native to Texas.

Back to the script reading. Black List founder Franklin Leonard (pictured below) was not only on the Black List panel, but introduced the script reading. The picture above has the entire lineup at the front of the room, in order, starting with screenwriter Cook, Jason Newman (Silas, Clem), Lauren Wolf (Maria), Richard Dillard (Saul, Governor Ross), Yesenia Garcia (Marisol), DB Sweeney (David), Jeff Fahey (Abraham), Savannah Welch (Naomi), Karl Anderson (Isaac), Shannon McCormick (George) and John Spong (Narrator).

[Photo credit: All photos courtesy Austin Film Festival.]