Spike Jonze, Propaganda/Satellite Films and Music Video Work: Talent management and the construction of an Indie-Auteur

Marketing and critical discourse has frequently described Spike Jonze as an indie-auteur, a label placing him alongside filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers and Steven Soderbergh. Yet while many of his contemporaries gained recognition via the film festival circuit, Jonze’s filmmaking career began in part thanks to his music video work, particularly for Propaganda Films. Indeed, a talent management and media production company, Propaganda Films played a significant role in developing Jonze’s career and profile as an indie auteur, not least by co-producing his debut feature, and winner of the Independent Spirit Award, Being John Malkovich (1999). Accordingly, this paper analyses Jonze’s work with Propaganda Films and its subsidiary division, Satellite, in order to explore his emergence and profile as indie-auteur.

The paper investigates the economic and industrial practices and strategies underpinning Jonze’s cultural and commercial profile as indie-auteur. To do so, the paper adopts a synthetic approach, conducting textual analyses of Jonze’s music videos – including The Pharcyde’s Drop and Fatboy Slim’s Praise You – as well as marketing and critical discourse analysis, and grounded within an analysis of industry reports. For instance, the paper analyses Propaganda Film’s talent management practices and their role in helping to develop Jonze’s brand and industry profile. In doing so, the paper aims to reconfigure Jonze’s authorial profile specifically, while considering cultural implications for the indie-auteur label in general.