IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

The “Euphoria” creator talks about writing his new Netflix film around Zendaya’s persona and talents, throwing away the first two days of shooting, lacking confidence on set, finding the right needle drops, making the special “Euphoria” episodes, being aware of the audience’s (and his own) attention span, and severely restricting the number shots, angles, and lenses he uses. We also address (at the beginning and end of the podcast) Malcolm’s (John David Washington) attacks on film critics in the film, which Sam believes is being misconstrued and I believe is problematic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Gunda' Director Victor Kossakovsky by Chris O'Falt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” premiered at Sundance last January it sparked a predictable conversation about what qualifies as a documentary. Bill and Turner Ross’ nonfiction story about the last night of a bar on the outskirts of the Las Vegas Strip was actually shot in a New Orleans bar, its patrons were bar flies the co-directors had met in an extensive casting process of visiting late night watering holes throughout the city. What got lost in the focus on the behind-the-scenes elements of making “Bloody Nose” was the craft that went into it and art that unfolded on screen. Bill and Turner are masters of direct cinema, and on the podcast we give them an opportunity to dig into their craft and process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fascinating filmmaking discussion about how echoes Truffaut, Scorsese, Peckinpah, and Bergman found their way into this intimate nonfiction drama. Ree and “the Painter” (Kysilkova) talk about their unique collaboration and what happened off-screen before filming, while the director also opens up about how he was mentally drained and ready to give up on the film before getting an important call from Sundance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most cinematically exciting, joyous, and sad films of the year, the director behind "Cameraperson" talks about her process of making a Netflix film with her father about his dementia and inevitable death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How ‘Son of Saul,' 'Lincoln' and other scripted narrative films Influenced this Documentary’s Up-Close and Widescreen Subjectivity. From casting to editing, a deep dive into the Grand Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary at Sundance 2020, and the frontrunner for the 2021 Oscar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Possibly the film of the year, Garrett Bradley takes us inside the creation of her poetic cinematic process in making a film about love, family, and incarceration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Succession' Deep Dive: Creator Jeremy Armstrong and His Craft Team Break Down the Season 2 Finale – "The Is Not for Tears." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Damon Lindelof and the ‘Watchmen’ nominated crafts team analyze Episode 6 “The Extraordinary Being" and the filmmaking behind Hooded Justice's origin story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IndieWire is launching a new Craft podcast called Deep Dive on Monday with Watchmen creator Damon Lindelof and his creative team of artisans breaking down episode 6 "This Extraordinary Being." To learn more listen to this trailer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hulu series' star and co-creator talks about stepping into the showrunner role and directing four episodes for Season 2. Also discussed: Editing during the pandemic, short films vs. formulaic TV structuring, and the letter he shared from "Ramy" parking coordinator Jon Johnson Sr. that went viral throughout the production world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gould on how he is approaching the end of “Better Call Saul” and his writers room tackles character on the series that is a prequel to "Breaking Bad.” We also discuss how the visual and aural language of the show has evolved from co-creator Vince Gilligan's original series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The executive producer and director of episodes 1, 2, and 8 breaks down how she translated the graphic novel's cynical tone and visual style for creator Damon Lindelof. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Good Fight" Creators Michelle And Robert King by Chris O'Falt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The reporter who got inside Fox News talks about adapting his definitive book on Roger Ailes into the limited series starring Russell Crowe and how Ailes was a real life Citizen Kane, who mixed the talents of Leni Riefenstahl and Louis B. Mayer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Ex Machina" and "Annihilation" director on his move to TV and his limited series "Devs." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spike talks about trying to capture the essence of Beastie Boys’ friendship and the unusual (and totally “unprofessional”) creative process he, the band, and editor Jeff Buchanan went through in creating this unique documentary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Real-time virtual sets are Hollywood’s future. These enormous (75 x 20 feet) curved LED walls serve as a live backdrop that eclipses the need for green screen. But what does that mean for filmmaking? We talked to Fraser about exactly that. The cinematographer has been pioneering “Stagecraft” with ILM for years and with "The Mandalorian" being its first large scale implementation, he saw firsthand both the possibilities and early limitations of this ground-breaking technology. …Fraser also touches on his two new highly anticipated projects: Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" and Matt Reeves' "The Batman." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the best reviewed films of 2020 is coming to VOD early (Apr 3), but before its theatrical run got cut short by COVID-19 I sat down with writer/director Eliza Hittman and one of her closest collaborators, her husband and editor Scott Cummings, to talk about the origins and making of this incredible film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sciamma talks about how to film desire, memory, and getting out of the conventions of a normal love story. She breaks down the creation of the incredible chanting song and bonfire scene, the laborious process of lighting the interiors, and how filming the ideas behind a movie can be the most rewarding type of cinema. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the help of translator Sharon Choi, director Bong talks about the careful construction of the Oscar winner “Parasite.” From his days of being a tutor and that feeling of infiltrating a wealthy family's home, to the careful construction of the house set in his film, to the profound influence of Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How after over 40 years of working with Martin Scorsese, "The Irishman" offered something the 3-time Academy Award winning editor had never done before. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wilde explains how Big Lebowski influenced Booksmart, being intimidated about not having gone to film school, advice she got from Clint Eastwood about directing herself (in her upcoming thriller/horror film), and building ultimate high school movie soundtrack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lulu Wang on learning not to compromise her voice, how and why she used widescreen long takes, shooting in China, her next sci-fi project, and her real life grandma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gerwig goes deep into the process, craft and inspiration behind her remarkable adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deakins and Mendes talk about shooting their new WWI film so it was experienced as one-long take. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tarantino talks about about falling in love with Richardson and the unusual circumstances in which he hired him to shoot "Kill Bill." While the two collaborators breakdown their most recent film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." Recorded at Camerimage in Poland, where Tarantino and Richardson were honored for their work together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Safdie Brothers break down their improbable 10 year journey to making "Uncut Gems," working their way through a handful of different NBA stars (including Kobe Bryant), while "earning their stripes" and learning how to tell a story of this scale. What it meant to go union, how famed cinematographer Darius Khondji helped shape the project and sound mixer Skip Lievsay introduced them to incredible possibilities with sound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Heller emotionally grounded a story about Mr. Rogers and made it her own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spoiler Warning: Rian Johnson gets into the nuts and bolts of how he built his modern day Agatha Christie whodunit, the murder mystery "Knives Out." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trey talks about writing / scoring Waves to Frank Ocean, Kayne West and Animal Collective, while mining his personal story of grief, as we break down the color, sound and movement of his remarkable third film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The duo behind the Netflix's "American Factory" share their insight into how documentary filmmakers can gain trust and access, crafting story, and how they shot this remarkable film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Marriage Story" Director Noah Baumbach by Chris O'Falt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"One Child Nation" Director Nanfu Wang by Chris O'Falt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mangold breaks down what’s wrong with our modern day green screen, sensory overload action films and how his new racing film, “Ford v Ferrari,” is a throwback to a more classical mode of Hollywood filmmaking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most Screenwriters Work to Music, Robert Eggers Listened to Waves and Wind in creating Willem Dafoe's Pirate Dialect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cotton Club was intended to be a well balanced story about the black and white performers, patrons and gangsters of the legendary Harlem club in the 1920s & 30s. Coppola talks about the pressure he faced to trim down the film so it focused more on Richard Gere's story and his recent effort to restore and re-edit it to bring the film back to what was originally intended. "Cotton Club Encore" is theaters this weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Kubrick, Brad Pitt and how hard it is to make a film in a black box with one actor on a wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Praised by Guillermo del Toro, Aronofsky, Iñárritu and critics everywhere, Landes is one of the most exciting new directors to emerge this year. On the podcast he talks about making his allegory for the 60 year Colombian Civil War, shooting in impossible situations, and how he got composer Mica Levi to score the film. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 14 time Oscar nominee on the importance of the right location, why VFX shouldn't be separate from cinematography, and how Donna Tart's novel felt personal to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stiller on what it took to make his prison escape series as authentic as humanly possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tenaglia and Collins talk about their 19 year collaboration with Bourdain, how he found his voice, the show evolved, and avoided the traps of cookie-cutter TV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Headland talks about the fear of how to end the show and the misogynist side of the auteur theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The husband-wife duo dig into S2 of their Emmy winning show to explore how they've translated their trademark dialogue into cinematic visuals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The director behind “Battle of the Bastards” and “Hardhome” takes us inside the creation of some the series’ biggest moments. Sapochnik also brings us inside the show’s final season, including the arduous 55-night shoot of “The Longest Night,” and how he filmed the destruction of King’s Landing, in the penultimate episode “The Bells,” through the lens of questioning his own role in creating the show’s most violent moments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Esmail scored his thriller with old film scores, adapting the popular podcast, and how both writing & directing "Mr. Robot" is unsustainable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hader returns to the podcast to talk about having the confidence to find his voice as a director in S2, breaking down "Ronny/Lily" and the season finale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stahelski breaks down how he pulled off the big John Wick 3 action scenes and explains why Keanu's character will never walk off into the sunset. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did Terry Gilliam finally make the most cursed production in movie history? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How "Roma" is the extension of the ideas and filmmaking Cuarón explored in "Children of Men" and "Y Tu Mamá También." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices