IndieWire Hires J. Kim Murphy as Film and Media Reporter

IndieWire has hired award-winning journalist Jackson Kim Murphy as its new Film and Media Reporter. Murphy, whose byline is J. Kim Murphy, will be based in Los Angeles and will cover indie studios, emerging filmmakers, content creators, and new and emerging technology. He will report to Editor-in-Chief Brent Lang.

Murphy joins IndieWire from TheWrap, where he served as the publication’s weekend news editor. Previously, he was an associate news editor at Variety, where he was first hired as an editorial intern. At both publications, he covered breaking news in the entertainment industry, developed enterprise reporting and edited other reporters. He has reviewed new releases, reported from film festivals and covered weekly box office grosses. Murphy has also contributed to IGN Entertainment and the Golden Globes.

“I worked with Jackson at Variety for several years and was impressed by the depth of his film knowledge, as well as his writing and reporting skills,” Lang said. “He is a true talent, and I know IndieWire readers will enjoy reading his work. We are excited to welcome him to our team!”

“It is a thrill to be joining IndieWire, a publication that had no small part in shaping my own moviegoing sensibility and has driven me to understand how we get the films that we do,” Murphy said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to contribute here in return, as well as to work under the confident direction of Brent and alongside an incredibly sharp and passionate editorial team.”

Murphy received a Southern California Journalism Award in 2025 for his coverage of HBO’s docuseries “Ren Faire,” directed by Lance Oppenheim. Other nominations from the Los Angeles Press Club recognized his reporting on Warner Bros.’ release of Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2,” the cancellation of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” and an interview with experimental filmmaker Godfrey Reggio. Murphy has also interviewed Steven Soderbergh, Claire Denis, Robert Towne, Charles Burnett, Frederick Wiseman, Jia Zhangke and Paul W.S. Anderson, among many more filmmakers.

Murphy graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor of arts in film and media studies. There, he also served as chief film critic and arts editor for The Daily Californian and worked as a personal assistant to film scholar Linda Williams.

Murphy was born and raised in San Francisco, Calif. and worked at the city’s Balboa Theater and 4 Star Theater. He can be reached at [email protected].