Putting the “Indie” in Indie Entertainment Magazine
What does one do upon graduating with a BA in History, changed plans when it came to law school, and a love of writing?
You start networking. And then you take on your first entertainment industry freelance position.
Indie Entertainment Magazine, also known as i Entertainment News depending on the day, started in 2014 by a journalist and real estate agent based out of St. George, Utah. She used her connections made over years in Los Angeles and at the Sundance Film Festival to get into music festivals, film festivals, and secure interviews with indie talent.
I began as a freelance journalist in July of 2017, and became Editor-in-Chief by mid-August. In the short nine months with the publication, I hired a team of six writers and two photographers, attended three music festivals, grew the Instagram account from low double digits to 650+ followers, established connections with multiple PR agencies and representation firms, and created content standards and schedules.
From logos to loglines, content calendars to creative decisions, it was a nice opportunity to learn about film and music journalism while building a portfolio of writing samples.
Logos & Branding
The first logo felt more retro than it did radical, and less innovative than it was informative.
First things first, I created a sheet with 10 possible logo ideas. From the ideas, the owner selected a basic dark grey background with a clean and clear serif font. She did ask that it have two lines for both names of the company, which I protested but created a mock-up anyway. After about a month of using that logo, I was able to convince her to use the simpler and cleaner “Indie Entertainment Magazine.”
I updated the magazine’s theme and design to better fit the logo and branding, and then updated socials so that the logo and color scheme matched throughout.
Social Media
When I started, the Instagram had no identity, and 5 posts. 3 video clips from red carpet interviews, and 2 inspirational quotes over stock images. Hey, we all start somewhere.
First things first, I set up a Buffer, cracked open Photoshop, and dedicated a Drive and Dropbox folder to everything. Next, I went about developing an organization and naming scheme for files and drafting templates for communicating with agencies, talent, and production companies.
Whether it was a scheduled post for a new movie release and album drop, an evergreen post, or a recap after a film or music festival, we established a consistent tone, color scheme, and style.
