Unpacked: the Misadventures of an Indie Film Company

About 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 CBS. He has a wife and two kids that for some reason keep putting up with him (and even let him sneak out to the movies here and there.) Each week, Jason and Mat talk about their ongoing adventures founding an independent film company, Packed House Pictures, and their efforts to source, finance, and make their first indie film, and along the way talk about movies they love (and maybe not love so much) and how they inspire them. For more info, visit www.packed-house.com (http://www.packed-house.com) or www.indiefund.film (http://www.indiefund.film)

Publisher

James M Raney & Jason Kiesel

Category

business · tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jan 2026

Latest episode

14 Mar 2026

Latest episodes

8 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   14 Mar 2026

   A Hill of Beans

   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.

2. 

   27 Feb 2026

   It's Alive?

   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.

3. 

   21 Feb 2026

   Influ-enza

   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.

4. 

   14 Feb 2026

   What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

   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".

5. 

   30 Jan 2026

   A Few Brass Tacks

   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.

6. 

   23 Jan 2026

   Is It a Question of Money?

   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...

7. 

   16 Jan 2026

   Searching for Diamonds

   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.

8. 

   9 Jan 2026

   What the hell are we thinking?

   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 the success of that film may (or may not) bode well for more original, indie productions in the future.

Contact Unpacked: the Misadventures of an Indie Film Company

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.