In this article we will be taking a look at IndieWire, focusing on what they do, how they do it, and what they are all about. If you’re interested in articles by Indie Wire based around media such as independent film, TV, music, and digital news, this is a great public source!
We will also be looking at some alternative sources which are similar to Indie Wire later on in this article.
For now, though, let’s get stuck in as we explore the world of Indie Wire. Stay tuned for everything you need to know!
What Is IndieWire?
IndieWire is an online publication that touches ground on reviews, interviews, TV, film, and digital news.
It was established in 1996, with its primary focus being on independent film. A group of writers and filmmakers were the founders. The company is also a subsidiary of Variety magazine, owned by the Penske Media Corporation.
What Does IndieWire Do?
Originally conceived as an online forum and newsletter for filmmakers and festivals, Indie Wire has grown over the last two decades into a pre-eminent source for film and television news, reviews, interviews, global festival coverage, and more.
Since their start, they have hosted talks and Q&As at prestigious events such as the Sundance film festival. They’ve also interviewed big-time actors and directors of the independent film industry. Let’s dive in a bit deeper.
IndieWire Podcast
In 2015, they started to release the Indie Wire podcast series, which is currently available on their main site. We can also find these on other blogging networks and podcast streaming services such as SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple podcasts.
Screen Talk
Their main attraction is their podcast “Screen Talk”, which is released weekly. This IndieWire podcast stars IndieWire’s chief film critic Eric Kohn and IndieWire’s Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson.
They have discussions on the world of independent film and beyond. Subjects tend to include talks on new releases, upcoming film festivals, and the future of the industry.
Their main attraction is their podcast “Screen Talk”, which is released weekly.
IndieWire Filmmaker Toolkit
IndieWire Filmmaker Toolkit is another podcast. It involves interviews with leading film and TV creators about their craft and the process they go through to get their desired results.
Anything from cinematography, film language, and screenwriting can be the topic. They constructively examine innovative ways today’s best filmmakers are expressing their visions through the world of film.
IndieWire Influencers Podcast
They also had the ‘IndieWire influencers’ Podcast, featuring Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris. She did weekly chats with key influential figures in the film that are currently creating a stir in the industry.
These chats are normally focused on awards contenders, giving you a deeper understanding of where the critics are coming from. Their podcast was unfortunately discontinued, but you can still check out previous episodes.
IndieWire’s ‘Very Good TV’ Podcast
Another discontinued podcast from Indie Wire was their ‘Very Good TV’ Podcast. This featured IndieWire’s TV editor Liz Shannon Miller and TV critic Ben Travers. They would talk weekly, examining the best shows, stories, and trends across TV that were relevant.
Alongside this, there were some recommendations of what to watch and look out for. The series has 212 episodes, with the final episode airing on the 2nd of June, 2019.
What Topics Does IndieWire Cover?
IndieWire offers a plethora of selections for sections when it comes to their articles.
They cover topics ranging from the latest film releases, all the way to gift-shopping ideas. Here you’ll find a breakdown of the topics they cover.
Film
Anything to do with independent film is always on the radar for IndieWire. For example, under the IndieWire Film section on their website, once a month they make a new ‘The 7 Best Movies New to Netflix in (Insert month here)’ post.
These IndieWire Netflix posts highlight newly released films, along with smaller easily overlooked independent films that would normally get lost in the sea of new releases that Netflix produces and buy. They go into detail about each film mentioned, giving in-depth analysis and a critical rating.
In the film section of the IndieWire website, we can view ‘best of the decade posts’. Here, they list roundups of the top performances, movies, directors et cetera. They then give us in-depth detailing about the core reasons on why they’re worthy of the top spots. In the same section, you can also find interviews and an Indie box office section; listing new and upcoming releases, alongside information about their respective distributors, budgets as well as gross earnings.
TV
On the TV section of the website, we can see recent reviews for TV shows or programs. These focus on specific seasons at a time and give detailed breakdowns along with constructive criticism. There is also a section that focuses on interviewing said TV directors, stars, and industry professionals.
They also have links to their articles on the Emmys, alongside Emmy predictions. These give us a deeper look into the decision-making that may go into nominating contestants and choosing winners. The Emmys is a reward ceremony that recognizes excellence in various areas of television and emerging media.
Awards
This section focuses on the most recent awards given out by the most esteemed award ceremonies and film festivals. There are also a few past honorable mentions. Here you can find the ‘Awards calendar’ subsection; where you’ll be able to see a detailed timeline of tonnes of upcoming award ceremonies and when they’ll be announced.
There’s an ‘awards spotlight Winter 2021’, which is updated each season by IndieWire Editor-at-Large and awards analyst Anne Thompson, with editing from IndieWire creative producer Leo Garcia. This consists of discussions with actors on the top film contenders of the year, with the most recent being a video series presented by Amazon studios, centered around deconstructing Sacha Baron Cohen and his writers ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’.
We also have IndieWire Oscar predictions. Similar to their Emmys predictions, this list will take you through their predictions for each award category. They outline what each film is about and touch on why they think their prediction will be nominated or awarded. Included are Spoiler alerts for the weary watcher.
The last few subsections in their awards category are ‘Thompson on Hollywood’, which once again involves Anne Thompson voicing her opinion on the current affairs of the movie and TV scene and industry. We also have a subsection dedicated to Animation here. Lastly is the subsection ‘Top of the Line’, which highlights IndieWire’s Crafts Editor Bill Desowitz’s take on the best that the industry of film has to offer.
Video
Within the Video section of the IndieWire website, under the subsection ‘Consider This conversation’, we find a more abstract look at how certain movies impact the world with their messages, and convey emotions through media, film work, and design. These articles make for a very open-minded read, leaving most of the takeaway down to the reader’s perspective.
Under the ‘Toolkit’ Subsection, we can find a link to the subsequent articles that go alongside the ‘IndieWire Filmmaker Toolkit’ podcast we mentioned earlier. These give up a bit more depth as well as a quick summary of the best parts of the interviews.
If we look at the ‘Tune In’ subsection, we get a look at the archived past video posts, along with their in-depth articles elaborating on the subject of said videos.
Lastly, we have the ‘Sundance Studio’ subsection, where they talk about IndieWire Studio, being held at the annual Sundance film festival. Similar to the film fest itself, IndieWire Studio will be attending this year digitally, interviewing the biggest actors, artists, and directors behind the largest independent U.S. film festival in the world at the week-long event. For your viewing please, IndieWire uploads the video interviews on their website daily.
Shop
Our first subsection in the shopping menu is ‘Gift Guides’. This is pretty self-explanatory. It consists of lists of items certain target markets such as gamers, tech heads, film fans, etc. might be interested in. This is very helpful if you need to find that perfect gift for a friend or family member.
They also have a ‘Tech’ subsection, which previews some of the up-and-coming tech inventions as well as excellent reviews on items such as cameras, microphones, Bluetooth speakers, and more. Another great source of gift inspiration.
Lastly, we have the subsection ‘Movies & TV to Buy or Stream’, which is also rather self-explanatory, giving recommendations on great movies you can stream or buy. This subsection seems to be fairly new, with only 3 articles at the time of writing.
Want More?
Lastly, we have the ’More’ section. This is comprised of ‘About’, giving a detailed description of IndieWire and the inner workings, ‘Team’, telling us more about their team of professional writers and critics and an ‘Advertise with IndieWire’ subsection.
We feel it’s also worth mentioning that IndieWire used to have an IndieWire app on the Apple Store and Google Play Store, but they have recently removed it.
We looked into this and found out this quote why: “We’re always thinking about the best ways to get your film and television news to you. We’re focusing our team on improving our publishing tools and your mobile web experience with no download required.”, mentioning how you can subscribe to their email newsletters and enable push notifications for their website.
IndieWire Alternatives
Indie Wire is a great news source, but it isn’t the only one out there.
We’ve searched the internet so we can present to you a few alternative options that are similar and still just as informative.
Raindance
Raindance, founded by Elliot Grove in 1992, is a host to many independent film communities and events. Namely, their film school, which helps independent filmmakers learn the art of the industry, with courses available online. They also host the Raindance Film Festival, the UK’s biggest independent film fest, which attracts dozens of thousands every year. This is free to view online this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so it’s worth checking out.
The main similarity here is that Raindance has a blog with dedicated news on the art of film, independent films, and advice for young budding filmmakers to follow in their strive to get their feature products off the ground.
Raindance is very similar to the U.S.-based Sundance Institute, you could almost call it the UK equivalent, and as mentioned before IndieWire works alongside Sundance at their festival, getting interviews similar to the ones Raindance would, but likely with different directors and artists, making it worth a look even if you’re up to date with everything from Indie Wire.
Filmmaker Magazine
Filmmaker Magazine is another great online resource for articles and columns on film, TV, digital news, reviews, and interviews. Just like IndieWire, their main focus is independent film; keeping their audience up to date on the breaking news as well as giving sharp-to-point reviews.
They upload quite frequently here, it’s not rare to see multiple posts on the daily. If a column grabs your interest, you can subscribe to the email newsletter service they offer. This is definitely worth at least a quick peek if you like IndieWire.
Мusic Gateway
Of course, we couldn’t mention ourselves here at Мusic Gateway! Aside from our main goal of empowering artists by providing products and services that help create a level playing field of opportunity and productivity for creative professionals, we understand that media all eventually come together like clockwork. Movies want music, and music wants music videos, etc.
We express our passion for these forms of art on our blog, where we cover film, TV, reviews, interviews, digital news, gaming, and even more media! We’re always doing our best to stay on top of the hot topics so it’s worth checking in frequently!
That Was Our Review On Indie Wire
So, when it comes to sources for news and reviews on independent film, as well as TV and interviews, we hope now you’ve got a good idea of where to go! Be sure to check out the IndieWire alternatives, they’re just as good a source of information!
In conclusion, we believe that IndieWire’s team of exceptionally talented, well-educated, and highly experienced professionals are undoubtedly passionate about their work. They seem to be extremely dedicated to writing articles or getting interviews that give us the information we’re longing for. They’re concise in their judgments and extremely knowledgeable in the art of cinematography, making them one of the best sources for the work they do on independent film.
We’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Independent film, and we can’t wait to see more articles from IndieWire and the like!
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