James M Raney & Jason Kiesel
Unpacked: the Misadventures of an Indie Film Company
What happens when two lifelong cinephiles finally decide they've had enough of what Hollywood is putting out these days? Well, they start their own film production company of course... and find out first hand just how hard it is to take something from the blank page to the silver screen. Jason Kiesel is a tech startup wiz who was on the ground floor with a little site called MySpace back in the day, then built his own tech startup and sold it... twice. He also happens to love cats and movies. Mat Raney is a novelist turned screenwriter who won some awards and worked on a show called Bull for C...
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Episodes
A Hill of Beans 14.03.2026 29:20
Mat and Jason talk about the decision to go out and try to raise capital to take Packed House and Inverted to the next level, and also talk about Jason seeing a classic for the first time: Casablanca.
It's Alive? 27.02.2026 39:03
Mat and Jason chat for a bit about AI in the indie movie landscape, and also talk about Guillermo Del Toro's Netflix update on a classic: Frankenstein.
Influ-enza 21.02.2026 33:33
Mat Jason talk about casting (and financing) for an indie film in the age of content creators and influencers, and also wander down memory lane to talk about one of the most successful (best marketed) indie films of all time, The Blair Witch Project.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? 14.02.2026 35:52
Mat and Jason talk about how the best intentions don't always lead to the best result... and talk about trying to avoid the pitfalls of making a bad indie movie by way of the infamous A24 disaster, "Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III".
A Few Brass Tacks 30.01.2026 44:37
Mat and Jason talk about finally making some portions of the dream a reality... namely building our own funding tool and selecting the first scripts to option. We also talk about one of the greatest indie film maestros of all time, John Carpenter, and, ironically, one of his big studio efforts, Big Trouble in Little China.
Is It a Question of Money? 23.01.2026 34:26
Mat and Jason talk about the challenges involved in not only trying to finance indie movies, but getting people to pay to watch them once they've been made. This somehow leads to a conversation about a great movie, Hell or High Water...
Searching for Diamonds 16.01.2026 33:57
Mat and Jason talk about taking the first steps toward becoming an actual production company... by finding the next great low-budget, original indie script. Somewhere along the way they also talk about a "big" original movie: Sinners.
What the hell are we thinking? 09.01.2026 34:59
Mat Raney and Jason Kiesel introduce UnPacked, a podcast series following them as they start their own indie film production company... from literally nothing. In this episode, the guys talk about why they thought this would be a good idea in any way, shape, or form... and perhaps realize it isn't. At least not yet! They also happen to talk about the most recent Best Picture winner, Anora, and how...
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