WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.439 Welcome to the Deep Dive. This is where we tackle 00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:04.500 the tough research so you can stay informed. 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:06.799 You give us the sources, we give you the insights, 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.050 the context, everything you need to know. Today, 00:00:10.150 --> 00:00:12.789 we're doing a deep dive into the career of Karina 00:00:12.789 --> 00:00:15.890 Longworth. She's, well, officially an American 00:00:15.890 --> 00:00:19.670 film critic, author, journalist. But her career 00:00:19.670 --> 00:00:22.230 path, it's really more like a masterclass in 00:00:22.230 --> 00:00:25.030 building intellectual weight in the modern media 00:00:25.030 --> 00:00:27.309 world. Yeah, absolutely. She didn't just navigate 00:00:27.309 --> 00:00:30.629 the huge shifts from print to digital blogs to 00:00:30.629 --> 00:00:33.109 audio. She kind of helped shape them. It's really 00:00:33.109 --> 00:00:35.189 quite a story. It is. And that's our goal today, 00:00:35.250 --> 00:00:37.090 right? We're not just listing jobs. We want to 00:00:37.090 --> 00:00:40.189 unpack how she built this success. Starting with 00:00:40.189 --> 00:00:43.789 her really strong academic background. Right. 00:00:44.049 --> 00:00:46.490 Then looking at her role in defining Internet 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.670 film criticism. Those early blog days were crucial. 00:00:49.850 --> 00:00:53.149 And finally, how all of that led to You Must 00:00:53.149 --> 00:00:56.270 Remember This, arguably the podcast on Hollywood's 00:00:56.270 --> 00:00:58.549 hidden histories. That transition is key. Exactly. 00:00:58.649 --> 00:01:00.750 It's about seeing how someone recognized that, 00:01:00.829 --> 00:01:05.319 OK, the medium changes, print, blog. Podcast, 00:01:05.579 --> 00:01:09.000 but deep research, compelling storytelling. That 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.920 stays valuable. And just the basic facts for 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:15.299 everyone. Karina Longworth, born July 10th, 1980. 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:19.680 So she's 45 now in 2025. Based in LA. Okay. And 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:21.760 yeah, her main thing now is writing, hosting, 00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:24.379 producing. You must remember this. Yeah. And 00:01:24.379 --> 00:01:27.540 that shows focus. The Secret and or Forgotten 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:29.900 Histories of Hollywood's First Century. That 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:31.980 tagline really tells you a lot about our whole 00:01:31.980 --> 00:01:34.099 project. It really does. It sets the stage perfectly. 00:01:34.379 --> 00:01:36.159 So let's start at the beginning then. If we want 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.319 to understand the authority she brings to the 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:40.780 podcast, we got to look at the foundation, the 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:42.680 academic work. Absolutely. Because she didn't 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:44.359 just, you know, fall into criticism. This was 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:46.620 built intentionally. She has a very specific 00:01:46.620 --> 00:01:48.819 educational background for this kind of work. 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:51.019 And it's quite unusual, that background. It is. 00:01:51.019 --> 00:01:53.500 It's this dual thing. First, a Bachelor of Fine 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:56.359 Arts. BFA in film from the San Francisco Art 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.840 Institute. OK, so the practical side first. Right. 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:01.299 Understanding how films are actually made. Framing, 00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:03.780 lighting, editing the craft. And then she followed 00:02:03.780 --> 00:02:06.239 that with a master of arts in cinema studies 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:09.479 from NYU. NYU. So the heavy theory. Exactly. 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:13.159 Deep, critical framework. Film history, theory, 00:02:13.419 --> 00:02:16.919 cultural context, psychoanalysis, all of it. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.419 How to analyze film, not just as entertainment, 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.259 but as like a cultural text that reflects society 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:25.430 power. That combination is fascinating. The BFA 00:02:25.430 --> 00:02:29.330 in making, the MA in analyzing. I can see how 00:02:29.330 --> 00:02:31.569 that lets her talk about historical films with 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:34.289 such depth. She gets the why behind the creative 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:36.430 choices, but also the how, the technical side. 00:02:36.610 --> 00:02:38.889 Precisely. She understands the constraints, the 00:02:38.889 --> 00:02:41.210 context, the whole picture. And I think that 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:44.990 gave her the confidence later on to really tackle 00:02:44.990 --> 00:02:47.189 Hollywood's power structures, which is a huge 00:02:47.189 --> 00:02:49.770 theme. And you must remember this. She had the 00:02:49.770 --> 00:02:52.300 credentials, the bona fides. She did. And she 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:54.460 knew how to use them. But importantly, she didn't 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:57.120 stay purely academic. She took that knowledge 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:00.360 straight into the exploding blog scene back then. 00:03:00.419 --> 00:03:02.180 Right, the early blogging boom. And she wasn't 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:05.219 just writing posts. No, she was founder. One 00:03:05.219 --> 00:03:07.159 of the founders of Cinematical. Which was a big 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:10.500 deal back then, late 2000s. Huge. Cinematical 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:13.139 sites like it. They weren't just diaries. They 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:16.400 were building internet film culture. Fast, opinionated, 00:03:16.419 --> 00:03:18.539 building community. She was right there at the 00:03:18.539 --> 00:03:22.039 start. Editing, shaping what online film talk 00:03:22.039 --> 00:03:24.460 looked like. And she edited Spout Blog too, right? 00:03:24.539 --> 00:03:27.099 She did. Cinematical and Spout Blog. So she's 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:29.139 not just a writer. She's an editor, a curator, 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:33.360 a gatekeeper, really, in this new digital space. 00:03:33.659 --> 00:03:35.740 Setting the tone. Yeah, setting standards. And 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.319 that experience, managing content, keeping a 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:40.960 consistent voice, deadlines that's basically 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.120 podcast production training, just in a different 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.280 format. That's a great point. And interestingly, 00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:47.599 that digital work kind of bounced her back into 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.360 more traditional media for a bit. It did. While 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:52.419 she was in New York, she started doing audio 00:03:52.419 --> 00:03:55.680 spots, regular appearances on PRI's The Takeaway. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:58.580 Ah, okay. So the seed for audio was planted early, 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.439 using her analytical voice, but without visuals. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:05.120 A really important step, looking back. But then 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.919 came what looks like a pivot, maybe even a surprising 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:11.729 one. From 2010 to 2012, she becomes the film 00:04:11.729 --> 00:04:14.750 editor and lead critic at LA Weekly. LA Weekly, 00:04:14.870 --> 00:04:17.209 that's proper old school print, right? A big 00:04:17.209 --> 00:04:20.509 established role. Exactly. High profile, institutional. 00:04:20.949 --> 00:04:24.269 So wait a minute. If her story is about pioneering 00:04:24.269 --> 00:04:28.750 digital, the new wave. Why jump back into a traditional 00:04:28.750 --> 00:04:31.310 print job like that? Doesn't that kind of contradict 00:04:31.310 --> 00:04:33.910 the narrative of media evolution? That's a really 00:04:33.910 --> 00:04:35.870 sharp question. And I don't think it was a step 00:04:35.870 --> 00:04:37.589 back at all. I think it was strategic. Yeah, 00:04:37.589 --> 00:04:40.410 so? It cemented her authority. Getting that LA 00:04:40.410 --> 00:04:42.089 Weekly title, that's establishment validation. 00:04:42.790 --> 00:04:45.480 It meant that later... When she went fully independent 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:47.720 with the podcast, nobody could just wave her 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:50.860 away as, you know, just a blogger. Ah, OK. So 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:52.800 she proved she could win by the old rules, too. 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:55.279 Exactly. Secured the traditional credential before 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:57.040 fully committing to the nontraditional path. 00:04:57.259 --> 00:04:59.040 It was smart. That makes a lot of sense. It was 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:01.740 like the final piece of legitimacy before launching 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:04.399 her own thing. And you see that versatility in 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.339 just the sheer range of places she was published 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:09.610 back then. Oh, the list is incredible. You've 00:05:09.610 --> 00:05:12.610 got the highbrow stuff, New York Magazine, Filmmaker, 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:16.329 Time Out New York, Cineast. Very academic, some 00:05:16.329 --> 00:05:19.470 of those. And then the big online players, Slate, 00:05:19.529 --> 00:05:22.889 IndieWire, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, The Village 00:05:22.889 --> 00:05:26.990 Voice, even Vanity Fair's awards blog, Little 00:05:26.990 --> 00:05:29.949 Gold Men. It's an amazing spread. She could do 00:05:29.949 --> 00:05:32.250 the deep analysis for Cineast, the quick takes 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:34.629 for The Daily Beast, the cultural commentary 00:05:34.629 --> 00:05:37.410 for Vanity Fair. She was fluent across platforms. 00:05:37.769 --> 00:05:40.149 Before that was even really a common thing. Which 00:05:40.149 --> 00:05:42.449 is exactly the kind of flexibility you need if 00:05:42.449 --> 00:05:44.149 you're going to eventually pour everything into 00:05:44.149 --> 00:05:46.910 one very specific medium like a history podcast. 00:05:47.209 --> 00:05:49.769 Absolutely. That adaptability was key. So this 00:05:49.769 --> 00:05:51.649 period, it wasn't just about getting bylines. 00:05:51.769 --> 00:05:54.029 It was happening during this huge, well, philosophical 00:05:54.029 --> 00:05:56.089 battle, wasn't it? The whole internet versus 00:05:56.089 --> 00:05:58.990 print criticism debate. Oh, the blog wars. Yeah, 00:05:59.009 --> 00:06:02.250 it was fierce. The established paid print critics 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:05.610 versus these rising, interactive, often unpaid 00:06:05.610 --> 00:06:08.149 bloggers. And Longworth was right in the middle 00:06:08.149 --> 00:06:09.670 of it. She's even in that dialogue. documentary 00:06:09.670 --> 00:06:12.129 for the love of movies. Right. And her take on 00:06:12.129 --> 00:06:14.410 what made blogging valuable is really telling. 00:06:14.610 --> 00:06:18.189 It is. She didn't focus on speed or clicks, though 00:06:18.189 --> 00:06:20.509 those were factors. She said the main thing, 00:06:20.589 --> 00:06:24.069 the primary virtue, was creating a back and forth 00:06:24.069 --> 00:06:27.069 dialogue with readers. Dialogue. That's the key 00:06:27.069 --> 00:06:29.730 word. Totally. Think about traditional criticism. 00:06:30.389 --> 00:06:33.209 The critic writes, maybe you send a letter, maybe 00:06:33.209 --> 00:06:35.310 it gets printed weeks later. That's it. Very 00:06:35.310 --> 00:06:37.980 one way. Right. Longworth champion dialogue. 00:06:38.459 --> 00:06:41.259 Criticism becomes a conversation. The critic 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:43.579 might actually have to engage, defend their points 00:06:43.579 --> 00:06:47.279 in real time. It was a fundamental shift in the 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:49.639 power dynamic. And that leads straight into that 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:52.240 famous quote of hers, the one about her qualifications. 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:55.220 It's so clever because it nods to her training, 00:06:55.300 --> 00:06:57.720 but also kind of pulls the rug out from under 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.019 the traditional gatekeepers. The master's degree. 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:02.699 Yeah, it's brilliant. Can you remind us? Sure. 00:07:02.819 --> 00:07:05.500 She said, I have a master's degree in film studies, 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:07.759 but I'm no more qualified to blog than a high 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.139 school student in Vermont. Let's unpack that 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:12.160 for a second. It does two things at once, doesn't 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:14.899 it? It really does. On one hand, she's saying, 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:17.100 look, I did the work. I have the academic background. 00:07:18.339 --> 00:07:21.379 Establishes her baseline. Yeah. But then immediately 00:07:21.379 --> 00:07:24.420 she says the platform itself, the Internet, makes 00:07:24.420 --> 00:07:27.000 that credential kind of irrelevant for just starting 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.980 the conversation. It democratizes access. Completely. 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:32.720 Expertise helps you write better, maybe argue 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.819 more effectively. But the barrier to just publishing 00:07:35.819 --> 00:07:38.790 your thoughts, gone. That high school student 00:07:38.790 --> 00:07:41.029 in Vermont, if they're passionate and smart, 00:07:41.170 --> 00:07:43.889 their blog post sits right alongside the MA graduates. 00:07:44.370 --> 00:07:46.649 It shifts the value from the institution, the 00:07:46.649 --> 00:07:49.129 degree, to the actual argument being made online. 00:07:49.430 --> 00:07:51.790 Exactly. Quality of thought, passion, voice. 00:07:52.410 --> 00:07:54.730 Those become the currency, not just the diploma. 00:07:55.069 --> 00:07:57.209 And the established media, they had to react 00:07:57.209 --> 00:07:59.589 to this. They often use Longworth as the example 00:07:59.589 --> 00:08:02.019 of this new challenge. They did. Even the New 00:08:02.019 --> 00:08:05.040 York Times, you know, the bastion of traditional 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:08.279 criticism called her freakishly smart. They recognized 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:10.420 the talent, even as her model kind of threatened 00:08:10.420 --> 00:08:13.319 theirs. You can almost feel the anxiety in the 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:16.339 industry trades back then. Oh, yeah. Look at 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:20.180 Variety. In 2008, they wrote about these ever 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:22.699 -proliferating bloggers. And they specifically 00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:25.079 named Longworth Spout, saying they'd become the 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:27.860 instant barometers for how a film plays. Instant 00:08:27.860 --> 00:08:31.360 barometers. That's a huge shift in power. Massive. 00:08:31.379 --> 00:08:33.259 It used to be the next day's newspaper reviews 00:08:33.259 --> 00:08:37.200 that set the initial buzz. Now, judgment was 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:39.940 immediate, decentralized, coming from people 00:08:39.940 --> 00:08:43.139 like Longworth. Print felt slow. And Variety 00:08:43.139 --> 00:08:45.000 saw this coming even earlier, didn't they? They 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.899 did. Back in 2007, they predicted that as the 00:08:47.899 --> 00:08:50.580 pool of well -paid print critics shrinks, the 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:53.419 next generation would come to trust critic bloggers 00:08:53.419 --> 00:08:56.419 like... Spouts Karina Longworth. So she wasn't 00:08:56.419 --> 00:08:58.279 just part of the trend. She was named as a future 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.799 authority figure. Explicitly. And the debate 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:03.240 got so big that the New York Times itself in 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:06.379 2008 basically asked out loud, are print critics 00:09:06.379 --> 00:09:08.600 really so all important with the web full of 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:10.559 debates? Right. And they name checked her sites 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:14.159 again. Zillmanical .com, blog .spout .com. Wow. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:16.679 So yeah, she wasn't just participating. She was 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:18.600 the visible proof that forced the establishment 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:21.600 to reckon with this new reality. Expertise, passion, 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:24.000 accessibility, she showed, it could thrive outside 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.159 the old walls. Okay, so she conquers the blogosphere, 00:09:26.419 --> 00:09:29.220 proves her worth in print. What comes next is 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:32.539 the big audio transformation. Right. All that 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:35.169 experience. The writing discipline, the voice 00:09:35.169 --> 00:09:38.350 she honed, the dialogue she fostered, it all 00:09:38.350 --> 00:09:40.990 seems like preparation for what came next. You 00:09:40.990 --> 00:09:43.169 must remember this. You must remember this. Yeah. 00:09:43.330 --> 00:09:47.889 Launched April 2014. And this felt like... Like 00:09:47.889 --> 00:09:50.549 the perfect synthesis of everything she'd done. 00:09:50.669 --> 00:09:54.169 The academic rigor, the critical eye, now focused 00:09:54.169 --> 00:09:56.590 on those lesser known Hollywood stories from 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:58.929 the 20th century. And the format itself is crucial. 00:09:59.330 --> 00:10:01.970 Absolutely critical. It's written, narrated entirely 00:10:01.970 --> 00:10:04.990 by her. One voice. One voice. It's not interviews, 00:10:05.090 --> 00:10:08.009 not a panel. It's pure, detailed, historical 00:10:08.009 --> 00:10:10.990 narrative. That requires immense listener trust. 00:10:11.190 --> 00:10:13.409 And it rests completely on the authority she'd 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:15.549 built up over the previous decade. And launching 00:10:15.549 --> 00:10:19.000 in 2014. Podcasting was really starting to professionalize 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:21.639 around then, wasn't it? It was. YMRT wasn't just 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:23.399 dropped onto a free server. It was distributed 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:25.659 by Panoply, which was associated with Slate magazine. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:29.799 Ah, Slate. So serious journalistic backing. Exactly. 00:10:30.179 --> 00:10:33.460 Panoply represented that move towards more polished, 00:10:33.580 --> 00:10:37.779 networked podcasts. It gave YMRT immediate reach 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:40.179 and a level of production quality that made it 00:10:40.179 --> 00:10:42.500 stand out from the thousands of totally indie 00:10:42.500 --> 00:10:45.980 shows. And the sheer volume of work. That level 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:48.320 of commitment is pretty staggering. It really 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.240 is. We're talking over 200 episodes as of 2025. 00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:53.980 And think about the research involved for each 00:10:53.980 --> 00:10:56.960 one. She's digging into archives, obscure sources, 00:10:57.299 --> 00:11:00.200 complex histories. Hours and hours for each episode. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:02.919 Easily. Producing that much original narrated 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.360 history. It's just a massive undertaking. A feat 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:08.440 of intellectual endurance, really. And it found 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:10.720 its audience almost immediately, didn't it? People 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.220 really responded to this format. They did. While 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:16.090 she was respected as a critic. The podcast really 00:11:16.090 --> 00:11:18.629 cemented her role as like a public historian 00:11:18.629 --> 00:11:21.070 of Hollywood. It quickly became seen as one of 00:11:21.070 --> 00:11:23.629 the absolute top film podcasts out there. The 00:11:23.629 --> 00:11:25.929 reviews really capture the appeal. The Washington 00:11:25.929 --> 00:11:28.629 Post called it knowledgeable and laceratingly 00:11:28.629 --> 00:11:31.190 funny. That combination is key. It's not dry. 00:11:31.350 --> 00:11:33.870 No, not at all. And Podcast Magazine gave it 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:36.769 five out of five mics. Perfect score. That mix, 00:11:36.929 --> 00:11:41.009 deep research, sharp wit, plus her very engaging 00:11:41.009 --> 00:11:44.110 personal delivery style. That's the magic, I 00:11:44.110 --> 00:11:46.580 think. That's what allowed these complex histories 00:11:46.580 --> 00:11:49.559 to, you know, cut through in a medium that loves 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:51.820 intimacy and personality. And the industry noticed, 00:11:51.860 --> 00:11:54.720 too. Awards followed. Yep. Academy of Podcasters 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.000 Award for TV and Film in 2016. Finalist again 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.519 in 2017. These aren't just participation trophies. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:04.019 It's peer recognition that she had successfully 00:12:04.019 --> 00:12:06.120 created something unique and dominant in the 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:08.279 audio space. If we want to really understand 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:09.940 the show's depth, maybe we should talk about 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:12.299 a specific series. The Polly Platt one gets mentioned 00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:14.419 a lot. Oh, the Polly Platt series. Yes. Yeah. 00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:17.600 That was huge. Reportedly the podcast's most 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:20.320 talked about series to date. And it was adapted 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.220 from Polly Platt's unfinished memoir. Polly Platt. 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:25.340 Not exactly a household name like a movie star, 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:27.690 but a major figure behind the scenes. Production 00:12:27.690 --> 00:12:30.269 designer, producer. Exactly. Yeah. Hugely influential, 00:12:30.490 --> 00:12:32.990 complex, often overlooked, especially as a woman 00:12:32.990 --> 00:12:35.970 working in that male -dominated system. And Longworth 00:12:35.970 --> 00:12:38.269 chose to dedicate, what, six incredibly detailed 00:12:38.269 --> 00:12:40.549 episodes to her story. A massive investment. 00:12:40.830 --> 00:12:43.830 A massive investment in someone pushed to the 00:12:43.830 --> 00:12:46.090 margins of the standard Hollywood narrative. 00:12:46.590 --> 00:12:48.809 And that really underscores the core mission 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:52.230 of YMRT, doesn't it? It does. Complex, forgotten 00:12:52.230 --> 00:12:56.429 stories, power dynamics, exploitation, the contributions 00:12:56.429 --> 00:12:59.149 of women. She's deliberately digging beneath 00:12:59.149 --> 00:13:01.429 the glossy surface. Yeah, she's not doing puff 00:13:01.429 --> 00:13:04.149 pieces. It's investigative history, but crafted 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:06.730 beautifully for audio. The Polly Platt series 00:13:06.730 --> 00:13:09.289 is probably the quintessential example of what 00:13:09.289 --> 00:13:12.230 makes YMRT so compelling and important. And this 00:13:12.230 --> 00:13:15.169 dedication to history, to deep research, it's 00:13:15.169 --> 00:13:17.230 not just in the podcast. She's got a whole bookshelf 00:13:17.230 --> 00:13:20.090 of nonfiction work, too. Absolutely. And looking 00:13:20.090 --> 00:13:21.929 at her books, you can actually trace a similar 00:13:21.929 --> 00:13:24.389 evolution in her focus, moving closer and closer 00:13:24.389 --> 00:13:26.269 to the kind of historical deep dive she does 00:13:26.269 --> 00:13:28.269 on the podcast. How so? What are some of the 00:13:28.269 --> 00:13:30.950 key titles? Well, early on, there's the Portal 00:13:30.950 --> 00:13:34.330 Spout blog in 2009, basically capturing her work 00:13:34.330 --> 00:13:35.950 from that digital frontier. Right, a snapshot 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:38.190 of that era. Then she moves into biography and 00:13:38.190 --> 00:13:41.120 analysis, Masters of Cinema. George Lucas in 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:44.139 2012. Then those two anatomies of an actor, books 00:13:44.139 --> 00:13:48.440 Al Pacino in 2013, Meryl Streep in 2014. Analyzing 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:51.259 the greats requires deep dives into performance, 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:54.779 filmography, connecting the theory and the practice. 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:58.059 Exactly. And then also in 2014, Hollywood Frame 00:13:58.059 --> 00:14:00.779 by Frame, which is fascinating. It's about unseen 00:14:00.779 --> 00:14:04.840 contact sheets from 1951 to 1977. Contact sheets, 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:07.409 so like... The photos between the famous shots. 00:14:07.590 --> 00:14:09.470 Yeah, the outtakes, the process. It shows this 00:14:09.470 --> 00:14:12.889 incredible focus on archival material, the stuff 00:14:12.889 --> 00:14:16.649 left behind. That's pure YMRT skill set right 00:14:16.649 --> 00:14:19.090 there. That archival digging is the bedrock of 00:14:19.090 --> 00:14:21.370 the podcast. It absolutely is. And her later 00:14:21.370 --> 00:14:23.950 books move even more directly into the podcast's 00:14:23.950 --> 00:14:26.350 territory. They shift from analyzing individual 00:14:26.350 --> 00:14:29.590 careers to really dissecting historical Hollywood 00:14:29.590 --> 00:14:31.769 power structures. Like the Howard Hughes book. 00:14:32.029 --> 00:14:35.750 Exactly. Seduction. Sex, lies. and stardom in 00:14:35.750 --> 00:14:38.549 Howard Hughes's Hollywood from 2018. That's not 00:14:38.549 --> 00:14:41.230 film criticism. It's pure history about manipulation, 00:14:41.549 --> 00:14:44.250 power, the dark side of the studio system. It 00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:47.070 sounds like a YMRT season in print form. It really 00:14:47.070 --> 00:14:49.490 does. The research focus, the themes, it's totally 00:14:49.490 --> 00:14:51.809 aligned. It just reinforces that she's not just 00:14:51.809 --> 00:14:53.610 a great narrator. She's a serious historian of 00:14:53.610 --> 00:14:55.649 Hollywood's underbelly, working consistently 00:14:55.649 --> 00:14:58.590 across different media. So the books, the blog 00:14:58.590 --> 00:15:01.509 work, the print criticism, the academic training. 00:15:02.669 --> 00:15:05.429 It all feeds into the podcast. It wasn't an accidental 00:15:05.429 --> 00:15:08.370 success. Not at all. It was built layer by layer. 00:15:09.009 --> 00:15:11.850 Rigorous intellect sharpened by digital journalism 00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:14.750 synthesized for audio. And just to round out 00:15:14.750 --> 00:15:16.950 the picture, any relevant personal background? 00:15:17.269 --> 00:15:19.529 Well, the sources mention her parents' British 00:15:19.529 --> 00:15:21.769 father, Duncan Longworth, and American Jewish 00:15:21.769 --> 00:15:25.000 mother, Joan Lee Scheinman. And of course, her 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:27.539 connection to modern filmmaking through her marriage 00:15:27.539 --> 00:15:30.539 to director Rian Johnson in 2018. Rian Johnson. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:32.200 Right. Yeah. And there's that little detail. 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:34.019 She got a special thanks in the credits for Knives 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:36.440 Out. She's still very much connected to the industry. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:38.889 She spent so much time analyzing. OK, so let's 00:15:38.889 --> 00:15:41.610 try to wrap this up after diving deep into Karina 00:15:41.610 --> 00:15:44.250 Longworth's career. What's the big picture? What's 00:15:44.250 --> 00:15:46.450 the main takeaway here? I think her career is 00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:49.289 just this incredible roadmap for how intellectual 00:15:49.289 --> 00:15:52.169 authority is built and maintained in our current 00:15:52.169 --> 00:15:54.830 media landscape. Yeah, she successfully navigated 00:15:54.830 --> 00:15:57.549 what, like three major media shifts? At least. 00:15:57.889 --> 00:16:01.669 Academia. pioneering web criticism, establishment 00:16:01.669 --> 00:16:04.570 print, and then defining a new kind of historical 00:16:04.570 --> 00:16:07.950 podcasting. She mastered each stage. Starting 00:16:07.950 --> 00:16:10.809 with that solid MA foundation, getting scrappy 00:16:10.809 --> 00:16:13.309 in the blogosphere, earning the traditional credentials 00:16:13.309 --> 00:16:16.309 at LA Weekly. And then taking all of that experience 00:16:16.309 --> 00:16:18.909 and pouring it into this very specific, very 00:16:18.909 --> 00:16:22.710 personal, very intimate audio format with YMRT, 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:26.340 over 200 episodes deep. It really shows that 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:29.519 expertise isn't tied to one platform, is it? 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.860 It's about the person and how well they can communicate 00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:34.659 their knowledge for the medium they choose. Exactly. 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.600 She moved her knowledge from print to pixels 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:40.220 to podcasts, and her authoritative voice came 00:16:40.220 --> 00:16:42.000 through consistently. She proves that, yeah, 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:43.659 credentials help build the knowledge base, but 00:16:43.659 --> 00:16:45.840 it's the passion, the consistency, and finding 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.799 the right format for your specific expertise. 00:16:48.580 --> 00:16:50.620 That's what bids the dedicated audience. Which 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:52.220 brings us back to that really interesting quote, 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:53.860 maybe a final thought for you, the listener, 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.480 to chew on. The Vermont high school student quote. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.960 Right. Longworth said her M .A. didn't make her 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:01.460 inherently more qualified to blog than that student. 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:05.559 But that expertise clearly became absolutely 00:17:05.559 --> 00:17:08.819 essential for the kind of deep, specialized historical 00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:12.359 work YMRT requires. There's a tension there. 00:17:12.460 --> 00:17:15.599 There is. So the provocative question is, where 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.460 does authority really come from today? Is it 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:21.220 the institution, the degree, is it the platform, 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:23.740 the reach of the blog or the podcast? Or is it 00:17:23.740 --> 00:17:26.140 something else? Or, as Longworth's career seems 00:17:26.140 --> 00:17:28.299 to suggest, does the ultimate authority now rest 00:17:28.299 --> 00:17:31.180 with that singular compelling voice? The one 00:17:31.180 --> 00:17:33.240 that just consistently proves its expertise through 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.339 the quality of the work itself, no matter where 00:17:35.339 --> 00:17:38.019 it's published. Institution, platform, or voice. 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:40.599 It's a central question for how we think about 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:41.940 knowledge and influence right now.