This week, we’re spotlighting two incredible TV writers whose journeys were meaningfully shaped by the Austin Film Festival. Sylvia Batey Alcalá (A MAN ON THE INSIDE, PRIMO) and Mac Smullen (SOUVENIR, ALASKA) share how AFF helped get their names out there —building momentum, sparking connections, and opening doors that had long felt closed. But a…

255 | From Finalist to Staffed: How Austin Film Festival Helped Us Break In (ft. Sylvia Batey Alcalá & Mac Smullen)

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Your favorite musicians, filmmakers, and other creative minds one-on-one. No moderator, no script, no typical questions. The Talkhouse Podcast offers unique insights into creative work from all genres and generations. <a href="https://pod.link/Talkhouse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Subscribe now</a>, and explore more illuminating shows on the <a href="https://talkhouse.com/category/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Talkhouse Podcast Network.</a>

Talkhouse Podcast

Eugene Mirman is probably best known as the voice of Eugene Belcher on the animated comedy Bob’s Burgers, but he’s also a veteran of the alt-comedy world with many albums and countless live performances under his belt. He’s the subject of It Started As A Joke, a documentary about the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, and his song with Lucy Wainwright Roche, “How Do You Lie To Your Child About Santa,” is now available to stream and as <a href="https://prettygoodfriends.com/merch/vinyl-christmas-card-how-do-you-lie-to-your-child-about-santa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">limited-edition vinyl</a> via his label, PGF Records.

Eugene Mirman

Robyn Hitchcock is one of England&#8217;s most enduring contemporary singer/songwriters and live performers. A surrealist poet, talented guitarist, cult artist and musician&#8217;s musician, Hitchcock is among alternative rock&#8217;s father figures and is the closest thing the genre has to a Bob Dylan (not coincidentally his biggest musical inspiration).
Since founding the art-rock band The Soft Boys in 1976, Robyn has recorded more than 20 albums as well as starred in Storefront Hitchcock an in-concert film recorded in New York and directed by Jonathan Demme.
Blending folk and psychedelia with a wry British nihilism, Robyn describes his songs as &#8220;paintings you can listen to.&#8221; His most recent album The Man Upstairs is a bittersweet love letter to a vanishing world. Produced by legendary folk-rock svengali Joe Boyd (Pink Floyd, Nick Drake) the album was critically acclaimed by Mojo, Uncut and The Quietus.
(Photo credit: Laura Partain)

Robyn Hitchcock

Podcast

Eugene Mirman Talks with Robyn Hitchcock on the Talkhouse Podcast

863: Little Fish’s Anna Sonenshein and Niki Vahle on Fundraising, Firing 50,000 Fish Sandwiches, and That $20,000 Fridge

1017. – Yotam Ottolenghi

Transmissions :: Derrick Bang on Vince Guaraldi

Nick Dawson talks with filmmakers, musicians and comedians whose work he loves, avoiding the mundane, predictable questions they&#8217;ve heard numerous times and instead asking substantive, thoughtful questions that get to the heart of who they are.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Juliette Binoche

862: Ryan Bartlow of Ernesto’s and Bartolo, Formerly of Alinea, Momofuku, Akelarre, Is Kind of a Living Legend

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Talkhouse

Horse Jumper of Love is a band from Boston, MA. The 10th anniversary edition of their self-titled debut is out now on Run For Cover Records.

Horse Jumper of Love

Music

Horse Jumper of Love and Shallowater Invent a New Kind of Bass

One of Hollywood’s most versatile and accomplished character actors, Josh Pais can now be seen in the new dark comedy <a href="https://www.freestyledigitalmedia.tv/film/checkout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Checkout</a>, which is now on VOD. His other recent credits include The Friend, opposite Naomi Watts, and Netflix’s A Man In Full, opposite Jeff Daniels. His extensive television work includes Hulu’s critically acclaimed The Dropout, Showtime’s Ray Donovan, HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher and High Maintenance, and TV Land’s Younger. On the film side, Pais has appeared in a wide range of notable productions, including Joker, Funny Pages, produced by the Safdie brothers, and Nicole Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings. Drawing on decades of experience both on screen and on stage, Pais founded Committed Impulse, an innovative performance methodology emphasizing spontaneity, physical awareness, and authentic creative expression. He is also the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790583/lose-your-mind-by-josh-pais/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lose Your Mind: The Path to Creative Invincibility</a>, published by Penguin Random House/Hay House, which is now out in paperback.

Josh Pais

Film

Three Great Things: Josh Pais

Lou Turner is a writer and musician (Styrofoam Winos, Ryan Davis &amp; the Roadhouse Band, MJ Lenderman, and others) based in Nashville, TN. She is the author of Twin Lead Lines (Third Man Books, 2025) as well as the editor of Quarter Notes, a literary magazine with a musical ear. Turner’s third solo record, Strangels (out Nov 6th via SPINSTER) was named “her most creatively complex and ceremonious concrete body of work to date” by The Self Portrait Gospel.
(Photo Credit: Trevor Nikrant)

Lou Turner

Anne Malin Ringwalt is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. What Floods and Strange Power! are out now as a joint release from Inside the Castle and Dear Life Records, with recognition from the Poetry Foundation. The recipient of the Excellence Fellowship at UNC Greensboro, she is currently pursuing a PhD in English while teaching at the North Carolina Governor&#8217;s School.