Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference, the premier film festival that champions the writers' contribution to film, television, and new media, is thrilled to announce David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as the recipients of the "Outstanding Television Writer" Award at the 26th Annual Austin Film Festival, October 24-31, 2019.

Benioff and Weiss are the award-winning co-creators, writers, executive producers, and showrunners of the critically-acclaimed HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the bestselling book series by George R.R. Martin. With a record-breaking 47 Emmy Awards, one Peabody Award, and an average of 30 million viewers per episode, the series has altered the landscape of episodic storytelling, setting a new bar for the caliber of narrative and cinematic production in modern television.

Benioff and Weiss have also found great success in the worlds of film and literature. D.B. Weiss is the author of the fiction novel Lucky Wander Boy. David Benioff adapted his first novel, The 25th Hour, into a feature film directed by Spike Lee. His second novel, City of Thieves, has been translated into thirty-five languages, and stories from his collection, When the Nines Roll Over, appeared in Best New American Voices and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. His screenplays include The Kite Runner, Brothers, Troy, and Stay.

Benioff and Weiss will accept the award on Saturday, October 26 during the Awards Luncheon, and participate in Conference programming at the 26th Writers Conference. Past recipients of this award have included Vince Gilligan, Marta Kauffman, Norman Lear, and Keenen Ivory Wayans.

AFF will present over 150 panels on the art and craft of storytelling, featuring a slate of prominent industry professionals working in film, television, and new media. Benioff and Weiss join a growing roster of panelists including Megan Amram, Alec Berg, Christina Hodson, David Mandel, and Alex Tse, with more panelist and awardee announcements to come.

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