Hear John Pierson's 2009 Master Classes on KUT

Every spring, John Pierson teaches a master class at The University of Texas in which filmmakers, actors, producers, and other film-related professionals chat about the work they've been doing. And in the summer, KUT broadcasts many of the best moments from these classes so we all can enjoy hearing these professionals.

The excerpts will play on KUT's show "The Best of Public Radio" starting on Sunday, June 21 at 11:30 am. The Austin Chronicle film blog, Picture in Picture, has posted a tentative schedule of the shows. You can hear Pierson and his class talk with Harvey Weinstein, Morgan Spurlock, Mike Judge, Ellen Kuras, and local film critics Marjorie Baumgarten and Chris Garcia. I've attended Pierson's classes in the past and the discussions are always lively and interesting.

One of Pierson's classes that isn't making it to KUT this year is his conversation with novelist and screenwriter Tom Perrotta (Little Children). However, Austin Kleon drew one of his cool "mind maps" of the session, which I've included above -- a visually engaging way of taking and sharing notes. Thanks very much to Austin for putting a Creative Commons license on his illustration so I could share it here. And if you want to see a photo of Pierson and his guests in action, here's an entry with photos I took from the class with Matt Stone in 2008.