Downlowd: The Rise and Fall of Harry Knowles and Ain't It Cool News

THE MID SEASON FINALE. In this special two-part episode, SXSW celebrates the 15th Anniversary of Ain't It Cool News in 2011 -- a time when its legacy was shadowed by many unpleasant truths. Also, Drew McWeeny sacrifices his filmmaking dreams for AICN while Harry Knowles does the opposite.

Written, Edited, and Narrated by Joe Scott

Executive Produced by Kristina Bell

Sound Engineered by Eddie Garcia

With Production Assistance by Ries Allyn

And Online Production by Janessa Smith

With Ben Jones as the voice of Harry Knowles, Sarah Griffith as Catherine Shoard, Yemonja Stanley as Bonnie Cressler, A.J. Schrader as Eli Roth, and Jake Steward as the voice of Drew's Anger,

The Rise of Harry Knowles and Ain't It Cool News will return with a brand new episode on Thursday, April 28th.

In 1996, a semi-paralyzed man named Harry Knowles launched Aint-It-Cool-News, a massively popular website that, for better and for worse, pushed for changes in cinema culture that we see to this very day. The first season of Downlow.d, titled "The Rise and Fall of Harry Knowles,” will chronicle the meteoric rise of proto-online influencer Harry Knowles as told by key collaborators (aka, 'spies'), colleagues, journalists and filmmakers before both Knowles and his website were engulfed in controversies. Coming soon wherever you find great audio stories. Subscribe today!

Through his website’s only technological innovation, Harry Knowles exploits a secret that will eventually transform future social media platforms into billion dollar companies. And Drew McWeeny 'fixes' one last major film production before leaving AICN for good.

Written, narrated, and edited by Joe Scott.

Executive produced by Kristina Bell with sound engineering by Eddie Garcia.

Production assistance by Reis Allyn and Abrar Mubashar as well as online production by Janessa Smith.

Featuring Ben Jones as the voice of Harry Knowles with a chorus of angry ‘Talkbackers’ played by AJ Schraeder, John Chenoweth, Reid Pegram, and David Decareax.

Visit our website at https://www.downlowdpod.com/.

Part I (0:00) - In September of 2017, a perfect storm of controversies threaten to destroy the Alamo Drafthouse, Fantastic Fest, and Ain't It Cool News.

Part II (50:07) - The bravery of the women who stepped forward to speak out against Harry Knowles helped one woman to gain new context for events that transpired in 2004. Plus an examination of the culture that enabled sexual harm in the Austin film and internet movie geek communities for more than two decades.

Written, narrated, and edited by Joe Scott.

Executive produced by Kristina Bell

With production and sound engineering by Eddie Garcia.

Editorial assistance by Erin Poythress.

Production assistance by Abrar Mubashar

And Online production by Janessa Smith.

With Ben Jones as the voice of Harry Knowles.
AJ Schraeder as James Gunn

Jake Steward as Devin Feraci

Cabell Wilkinson as Caroline

Jon Chenoweth as Todd Brown

Kristen Korkowski as Jen

And Jasmine O'Connell as Diane.

Got questions or comments?

Visit our website at www.downlowdpod.com

What was it like to be on set for Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and witness the fights between the legendary film critics that didn't make it to the airwaves? In this special archive interview, Joe Scott shares the full conversation he had with TV director Don Dupree, who made more than 200 episodes of Siskel & Ebert. Topics include getting Harry Knowles ready for TV, the lack of a comprehensive archive of old Siskel and Ebert episodes, as well as one of the most underrated comedies of the 90s. We also give shoutouts to everyone who supported the Comics For Kids fundraiser, which ended successfully on May 6th.