IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

Updated: 29 Jul 2025 • 386 episodes
www.indiewire.com/t/filmmaker-toolkit-podcast

Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. From screenwriting to film language to cinematography, we'll be examining the innovative ways today's best filmmakers are getting their visions out into the world.

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On Toolkit we want to explore the challenges facing filmmakers today, and a growing concern is A.I. But we find for all the promises and fears of what A.I.will do, there are few conversations about what A.I. is actually able to do right now. Writer and director Scott Z. Burns has the perfect case study for us: trying t

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Kenneth Lonergan, one of our host's favorite filmmakers, joins Toolkit to reflect on his first film as a director, 'You Can Count On Me.' He walks us through his transition from writer to the director's chair, and shares stories of working with Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney on the film that would be their Sundance brea

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Jennifer Kaytin Robinson joins IndieWire features writer Jim Hemphill to talk about rebooting the 1997 slasher classic. Robinson discusses integrating the original cast members into the story (warning: spoilers!), balancing horror and comedy, and the influence of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” on her summer thriller. Learn

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Ari Aster returns to the toolkit for the fourth time with his fourth film, a paranoid social thriller about the summer of 2020 told in a way only this filmmaker can. Ari explores the origins of the film's politics, how he made a western so modern the guns are phones, and unpacks the incredible final act. Learn more abo

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Toolkit is taking an ongoing look into the current state of independent filmmaking, and today we have some rare good news to report; indie collectives are on the rise! Two of the filmmakers behind Omnes, which produced this year's 'Eephus' and the new release 'No Sleep Till' join us to discuss how these artists share t

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One of our favorite insights into David Lynch's filmmaking comes from Dean Hurley, Lynch's all around sound guy and one of the master's closest collaborators for decades. Hurley reveals that to create one of a kind art, one must have a one of a kind creative process. Listen to our deep dive into Lynch's approach to sou

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