Austin Bunn is an associate professor in Cornell University’s Department of Performing & Media Arts, where he teaches screenwriting and playwriting. Mr. Bunn won the 2017 Carpenter Memorial Advising Award for his work helping students connect with professionals in film, television, theatre, and media. As a filmmaker, he co-wrote the script for ”Kill Your Darlings,” starring Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and won the International Days Prize at the Venice Film Festival. He has also written feature screenplays for Fox 2000, Lionsgate, Participant Media, and Page1, and he has served as a mentor at the Screenwriters Colony (Nantucket) and Outfest Screenwriting Lab. Mr. Bunn’s award-winning short films “Lavender Hill” and “In the Hollow” have screened nationally and internationally at various film festivals. He is also the author of the short-story collection “The Brink,” which was selected as a Lamdba Lit finalist and for the Electric Literature “Best Short Story Collection of 2015.” Mr. Bunn worked for nearly a decade as a journalist, and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Zoetrope, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Science and Nature Writing, and elsewhere.
From the Big Red to the Red Carpet
Event Overview
Join us as Cornell alums Scott Ferguson and Michael Kantor reflect on their award-winning careers in film and television production. The former Cornell classmates will discuss their parallel paths in narrative and documentary filmmaking from their student days at Cornell to their current roles as executive producers of HBO’s “Succession” and the PBS series “American Masters,” respectively. They’ll share clips and stories from nearly four decades of work in a conversation moderated by College of Arts & Sciences Austin Bunn, Associate Professor of Performing and Media Arts, screenwriter, and author.
What You'll Learn
- Tips and tricks for making it in the entertainment industry
- Insights into the dynamic role of a producer in TV and film
- What really happens during the process of creating a TV show or film, from four decades of work
- What an Emmy award looks like up close
Speakers
Michael Kantor joined “American Masters” as the PBS series’ executive producer in 2014. A two-time Emmy and three-time Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, Mr. Kantor’s own films include “Cornerstone” (HBO), which he co-directed with Stephen Ives; “American Masters: Quincy Jones: In the Pocket,” and “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy.” His multi-part series for PBS include “Make ‘Em Laugh” (hosted by Billy Crystal), “Superheroes” (hosted by Liev Schreiber), and “Broadway: The American Musical” (hosted by Julie Andrews), which won the Primetime Emmy and was honored with a special screening in Washington on the occasion of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ 40th anniversary. Mr. Kantor holds a B.A. in theater studies from Cornell and an MFA in directing from the University of California, San Diego.
Scott Ferguson has been privileged to work as a producer with such highly celebrated filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Stephen Frears, Jay Roach, Steve Zaillian, Lisa Cholodenko, and Jesse Armstrong as well as Academy Award winners Barry Levinson, Milos Forman, Sydney Pollack, Robert Benton, and Ang Lee. Mr. Ferguson has received Emmy, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and Producers Guild Awards for each of his two seasons of “Succession” that have been aired, as well as a Peabody Award for Season 3. He received the 2014 Emmy Award as producer of the Outstanding Movie for Television for “The Normal Heart,” which also received the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America, and the 2010 Emmy for “Temple Grandin,” which also received a Peabody Award. Mr. Ferguson received a B.A. in theater from Cornell and an MFA in film producing from Columbia University.
Austin Bunn is an associate professor in Cornell University’s Department of Performing & Media Arts, where he teaches screenwriting and playwriting. Mr. Bunn won the 2017 Carpenter Memorial Advising Award for his work helping students connect with professionals in film, television, theatre, and media. As a filmmaker, he co-wrote the script for ”Kill Your Darlings,” starring Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and won the International Days Prize at the Venice Film Festival. He has also written feature screenplays for Fox 2000, Lionsgate, Participant Media, and Page1, and he has served as a mentor at the Screenwriters Colony (Nantucket) and Outfest Screenwriting Lab. Mr. Bunn’s award-winning short films “Lavender Hill” and “In the Hollow” have screened nationally and internationally at various film festivals. He is also the author of the short-story collection “The Brink,” which was selected as a Lamdba Lit finalist and for the Electric Literature “Best Short Story Collection of 2015.” Mr. Bunn worked for nearly a decade as a journalist, and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Zoetrope, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Science and Nature Writing, and elsewhere.
Michael Kantor joined “American Masters” as the PBS series’ executive producer in 2014. A two-time Emmy and three-time Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, Mr. Kantor’s own films include “Cornerstone” (HBO), which he co-directed with Stephen Ives; “American Masters: Quincy Jones: In the Pocket,” and “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy.” His multi-part series for PBS include “Make ‘Em Laugh” (hosted by Billy Crystal), “Superheroes” (hosted by Liev Schreiber), and “Broadway: The American Musical” (hosted by Julie Andrews), which won the Primetime Emmy and was honored with a special screening in Washington on the occasion of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ 40th anniversary. Mr. Kantor holds a B.A. in theater studies from Cornell and an MFA in directing from the University of California, San Diego.
Scott Ferguson has been privileged to work as a producer with such highly celebrated filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Stephen Frears, Jay Roach, Steve Zaillian, Lisa Cholodenko, and Jesse Armstrong as well as Academy Award winners Barry Levinson, Milos Forman, Sydney Pollack, Robert Benton, and Ang Lee. Mr. Ferguson has received Emmy, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and Producers Guild Awards for each of his two seasons of “Succession” that have been aired, as well as a Peabody Award for Season 3. He received the 2014 Emmy Award as producer of the Outstanding Movie for Television for “The Normal Heart,” which also received the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America, and the 2010 Emmy for “Temple Grandin,” which also received a Peabody Award. Mr. Ferguson received a B.A. in theater from Cornell and an MFA in film producing from Columbia University.
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