Anne Thompson of IndieWire.com On A Life Of Film + The Post COVID Industry - Ep 291

We have so many burning questions about the film biz during this COVID-19 crisis. Luckily, Anne Thompson is here, and she drops all kinds of knowledge about how the festivals, streamers, studios, and of course, how the Academy may persevere & live on! What Is This Episode?/Introducing Our Guest- Top of Show Anne Thompson of IndieWire.com! SETTING THE TABLE: Getting Through Quarantine - 3:46 “Do The Oscars Exist? And If So, What’s Their Role?” - 6:00 ANNE’S LIFE IN THE FILM INDUSTRY: Her Upbringing Through Film - 9:01 Getting to LA As Publicist for an MMO Fave - 12:00 From Publicism to Full Time Journalism - 13:31 Anne’s Golden Rules in Covering Hollywood - 15:23 Playing Disruptor And Landing at IndieWire - 17:24 FESTIVAL CIRCUIT TALK: Her Fondest Festival Memories And Why She Still Loves It - 22:42 The Evolving Importance (Or Lack Thereof) of Sundance - 24:00 The Pros And Cons of Prime’s SXSW Efforts - 26:41 Short and Long Term Implications of Cannes/Tribeca’s Virtual Markets - 30:01 ACADEMY/OSCARS TALK: How The Oscars Can Help Save Film - 32:50 The Strength, Importance, and Grace{?} of Netflix - 35:10 MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRY TALK: Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Oscar? - 40:26 How A Professional Judges Incremental Industry Progress - 42:46 THE WORST POSSIBLE MOVIE, ACCORDING TO ANNE THOMPSON - 47:28 Anne’s Work and Socials - 49:45 (And Your Daily Words of Wisdom) Your Homework/Our Socials - 51:47 What’s Next For MMO - 52:31 Anne Thompson is a dream guest of ours. So when we prepped the episode, we made damned sure to ask every single burning question that’s been bending our brains, probably since the start of our podcast, but certainly since the start of this pandemic. Was that fair? To ask the impossible in a 1 hour interview? To not only expect answers, but entertaining ones at that? Luckily for us, Anne Thompson is Anne Thompson, and she blew us away with her responses. So make sure you all follow Anne on Twitter at AKStanwyck, buy her book “The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance to the Oscars, an Inside Look at the Changing Hollywood System, read all her work via Thompson on Hollywood at IndieWire, and listen to her podcast, IndieWire: Screen Talk with co-host Eric Kohn. Anne Thompson is the quintessential Hollywood insider, she’s a globe trotting film journalist of all the festivals, and she’s certainly one of our go-to awards pundits. Our MMO Interviews format kicks off with some Oscars talk as we beg Anne to elaborate on some scary existential questions she & Eric raised on their latest Screen Talk. We then ask Anne about her career in the business from her past life as a publicist for awards level films to even better ones like Halloween III: Season of the Witch (@ us!). Why did she transition into film journalism, what are the golden rules of covering this industry, & how did she find such a wonderful home at IndieWire? Anne then takes us through the film festival circuit from Sundance & Minari’s awards profile to what SXSW is attempting to do with Amazon Prime, to the options Cannes may have later this summer, all the way back to how the Oscars might survive. How much power have streaming services gained, does Premium VOD work, and is Anne hopeful about the state of female directors in Hollywood? Do not miss this one, MMO’ers. As always, we wanna hear your thoughts. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thanks for listening.