A co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade and performer with Second City, Adam McKay hit his stride as a director and head writer at “Saturday Night Live” in the late 1990s. After six seasons, McKay peeled off into features and directed the comedies “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Step Brothers,” all co-written with former “SNL” colleague Will Ferrell. One production company (Gary Sanchez Prods.), online venture (Funny or Die) and seminal viral video (“The Landlord”) later, McKay lets loose Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in “The Other Guys,” opening August 6.

Do you expect much trouble with the MPAA in getting your PG-13 rating?
Adam McKay: They’ve given us a hard time on a couple of lines I’m really surprised by. Because this is not a dirty movie. There’s one dirty joke in the end, but it’s still pretty harmless. We don’t even say “fuck.” We say “shit” a bunch of times, but they don’t care about that for PG-13. It’s implied sexual content. They’re so square with that.

What was the original spark for “The Other Guys?”
McKay: We did a song for the Oscars that was Judd [Apatow], myself and Marc Shaiman wrote it, and it was called “The Comedian at the Oscars.” One of the beats in it was a joke about someone giving Mark Wahlberg a hard time, but then saying, “I apologize, I know you actually are a badass.” I heard through the grapevine that he’s a fan of Will’s, and he really made me laugh in “I Heart Huckabees.” So we had dinner with him, and I left going, “You guys have to do a movie together.”

Melissa Rosenberg already had a healthy career in features (“Step Up”) and television (“The O.C.,” “Dexter”) when Summit Entertainment hired her to adapt a vampire romance novel called “Twilight.” Four years, three scripts, two movies and one billion dollars later, she is entering the home stretch of her wildly successful “Twilight” run and finally starting to think about a life beyond Bella, Edward, Jacob and author Stephenie Meyer. With “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” poised to sink its teeth into the boxoffice June 30, Rosenberg talked to me about the benefits of failure, splitting “Breaking Dawn,” murderous dreams and the pleasure of writing about a genuinely horny girl. You just gave the commencement address at your alma mater, Bennington College. What was your focus? Melissa Rosenberg: It was really hard. At the same time I was working on a draft of the “Breaking Dawn” script, and I was more nervous about this commencement speech. It's a very different kind of writing. I'm not a speechwriter. The performance part wasn't what I was nervous about. It was the content. But once I hit on realizing I'm not speechwriter, I'm a screenwriter, and started embracing a screenplay format, that helped me be comfortable in the role. So I talked in terms of Fade In and Exterior: Bennington Campus… It was a three-act speech. Rosenberg: Yes, it was! Its past commencement speakers have been political journalists and world peace advocates — you know, people who are doing stuff. (Laughs) You're entertaining billions of people! Rosenberg: So the only thing I had to offer is my own experience, so that's what I went for and I just talked about basically every failure I've ever had, which really adds up to quite a bit.

Jay Roach has helmed two of the most successful comedy franchises in history (“Austin Powers” and “Meet the Parents”). After six years off the big screen, he returns this year with “Dinner for Schmucks,” a comedy starring Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and fellow ShoWest honoree Zach Galifianakis. THR: Have you always been interested in movies? Roach: I got more interested in films in college. I didn't grow up as a movie buff. In college, I worked my way through school as a projectionist and ultimately running a film series. That changed everything. I was pre-law and wanted to be a politician or go into public service of some kind.

After directing the raucous comedies “Road Trip,” “Old School” and “Starsky & Hutch,” Todd Phillips made “The Hangover,” which became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time ($480 million worldwide) last summer. For his encore, he reteams with “Hangover” co-star and fellow ShoWest honoree Zach Galifianakis for the November Warner Bros. release “Due Date,” which also stars Robert Downey Jr. THR: Would you say your movies have a common theme? Phillips: They're about holding on to your youth or putting off responsibility as long as possible. There's a point in your life where you have to choose responsibility, and the characters are putting off that choice.

He’s been a working comic for years, but thanks to “The Hangover,” Zach Galifianakis and his bushy beard are now bona fide movie stars. This year he co-stars with Robert Downey Jr. in “Due Date,” directed by “Hangover” filmmaker and ShoWest honoree Todd Phillips, and “Dinner for Schmucks” for another ShoWest honoree, Jay Roach. THR: Congrats on your award! Galifianakis: I'm flattered; I've never won anything before. Well, I won at my friend's Bingo game about a year ago, but I provided the prizes so it didn't count.

The rare female screenwriter working in non-romantic comedy genres, Læta Kalogridis has had her hands on a diverse array of scripts in the past 15 years -- “Scream 3,” “Tomb Raider,” “Wonder Woman,” “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” “Night Watch,” and “Alexander,” to name a few. Friday, Paramount releases the Martin Scorsese-directed “Shutter Island,” her adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s paranoia-soaked Cold War thriller. And this summer Fox will let loose its action tentpole “Knight and Day," which Kalogridis co-wrote. She also served as an uncredited helper on James Cameron’s record-busting “Avatar.” Here, Kalogridis talks about the bloody inspiration in Greek myth, female superheroes and the appeal of the “unbelievably, incredibly, outrageously violent.” How exactly do you pronounce your name? It’s Læta, with the diphthong—it’s Latin, actually. If it were Greek it would be Lay-eta. But it’s Latin, so it’s like Caesar. So your ethnic background is Greek? On my father’s side.

The SXSW Film Conference and Festival unleashed its complete feature lineup late Wednesday night, and it's got some must-see world premieres ("Kick-Ass," "MacGruber," "Elektra Luxx") and thus-far-unseen gems. Running in ecstatic overlap with SXSW's voluminous music and interactive fests -- from March 12-20 -- the film festival has developed its own distinct Texas flavor (separate from the great Austin Film Festival's screenwriter-centric identity). Industry vet Janet Pierson took over the job of festival producer in 2008 and here discusses her year-two approach to organizing the event. What's your background? You were a producer for a long time? I came up through distribution and exhibition in the late '70s. I was the assistant director of the Film Forum '81 to '86. John Pierson and I hooked up in '82, married in '83. After "She's Gotta Have It" opened, I quit the Film Forum and just worked with John for a couple decades as a producer's rep, co-creator and executive producer of "Split Screen," which was our filmmaker-friendly magazine format television show. It's funny, because the filmmakers who passed through that show, so many of them are still working and have features all over the place. We moved here in 2004 and I was asked to take over the festival in April '08 for the '09 festival.

It’s almost shocking that in the 62 year history of the Directors Guild Awards, no black director was ever nominated for best director before today. John Singleton earned a best director Oscar nomination for 1991’s “Boyz in the Hood,” but wasn’t similarly recognized by the DGA. And, amazingly, Spike Lee, despite such work as “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X,” never made the DGA cut. But that all changed Thursday morning, when the DGA welcomed “Precious” director Lee Daniels into the club. He’ll be competing for the trophy, to be handed out Jan. 30, with Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), James Cameron (“Avatar”), Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”). The Hollywood Reporter reached Daniels by phone shortly after he got the word, and he sounded genuinely amazed by the latest honor bestowed on “Precious.” THR: There’d been lots of speculation that “Precious” could earn you a nomination, so this mustn’t have come as a surprise. Daniels: It did, it really did. I was with my publicist the night before. She said, “I’m so nervous.” I said, “What are you talking about? It’s not going to happen. I’m OK with it. I’m not part of the club. There’s never been any African-American that’s been nominated.” So I went to bed, and I was OK with it. I just released it. But then I work up and got a call from (DGA president) Taylor Hackford. I’m floating on air right now and very humble. THR: It’s actually kind of shocking that no black director -- not even John Singleton or Spike Lee -- has been nominated before. What are you making of the fact that it’s fallen to you to make the break-through? Daniels: I can only compare it to “Precious’s” existence at the boxoffice. Aside from a very specific demographic, I never thought people would respond to “Precious.” That people of all colors have responded to “Precious” was shocking to me, and this was just as shocking. I hope I’m not blabbering, but I’m really, really humbled. I’m also really proud for all African-American filmmakers, because this gives people hope. It’s really a testament to “Precious.” When I was making it, I really thought it could go straight-to-video. I never saw all this happening. THR: When did you first realize what you had on your hands with the movie? Was it when it debuted at Sundance? Daniels: It was the minute that Oprah Winfrey called me after she saw the film. I thought uh, oh, this isn’t going straight-to-DVD now. Maybe, we’ll get it into ten theaters. That was the turning point for me. Even then, though, I didn’t expect it would do what it’s done. My studio, Lionsgate, has played an incredible part, marketing the hell out of it very smartly. It’s been an incredible, incredible journey. THR: So are you going to be working the awards circuit for the next two months? Daniels: I got to work. I’m prepping a film, “Selma,” and we start shooting in about a month. We’re just starting casting. But I enjoy working. I’m blessed to have a job right now. Jason Reitman, who’s been so wonderful to me, he said, “Lee, really stop and savor this right now because these things don’t come along that often.” So I’m kind of torn between Jason’s advice and just surviving.