Check this space often for Grainy News, Website updates, Split Screen air dates and times and anything else we feel like tossing on here.

Split Screen streaming now on The Criterion Channel

Catch all 10 Seasons of Split Screen on The Criterion Channel now.

Your wild ride through the indie film world - by filmmakers, for everyone. From 1997 to 2001, producer and author John Pierson and his band of cinephiles roved the U.S. seeking pockets of movie madness, for this irreverent sixty-episode series.

Watch now

2016

Reel Paradise is released on DVD February 14, 2006.

Award-winning director Steve James' (Hoop Dreams, Stevie) Reel Paradise tells the extraordinary story of one American family's unique adventure running a cinema in one of the most isolated villages on the planet. John Pierson, noted indie film maven and author of Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes uprooted his family for a year and moved to Taveuni, a remote island in Fiji. John's passion is the 180 Meridian Cinema, which becomes the island's focal point of entertainment after he makes admission free and starts showing the most current popular worldwide releases - everything from Bend it Like Beckham to Jackass. In the meantime, his wife, Janet and their two kids, Wyatt (13) and Georgia (16), immerse themselves in Fijian culture, discovering in very personal ways what it is like to be the outsider.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:

• AUDIO COMMENTARY WITH STEVE JAMES AND JANET PIERSON
• 16X9 ANAMORPHIC PRESENTATION
• DELETED SCENES
• ALTERNATE ENDING
• SPLIT SCREEN: FIJI STOOGES
• TRAILERS
• 5.1 MIX

Buy Reel Paradise on DVD here or here.

January 2005

Reel Paradise

September 2004

THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE - "Me Talk Dirty One Day"

Bryan Poyser and Jacob Vaughan come clean on their "Dear Pillow'

By John Pierson.

More...

Summer 2004

THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE - "Good News and Bad News"

"Say what you will ­ maybe it ain't the Seventies reborn ­ but the cultural impact of independent cinema has been kind of spectacular."

So says John Pierson, who, let's mince neither words nor pies here, knows what the fuck he speaks of. The longtime New York-based indie agent provocateur, producer, gadfly, and author of the seminal Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes was the first to vaunt Spike Lee, Kevin Smith, Michael Moore, and some guy named Linklater, among scads more of the Nineties-era cinematic revolutionaries whose low- and no-budget cinematic outbursts coalesced into something of a golden age of indie film that continues ­ more or less ­ through today.

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February 2004

INDIEWIRE - "Reloaded" Pierson Book Examines A Decade of Independent Films

Long before Peter Biskind's "Down and Dirty Pictures," John Pierson wrote a must-read book about independent films and filmmaking. Published in 1995, "Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes" looked at 10 years in independent cinema, from "Stranger Than Paradise" in 1984 through "Clerks" and "Pulp Fiction" in 1994. Pierson, recently back from a stint living in Fiji where he and his family ran a movie theater, is on bookshelves once again with "Spike Mike Reloaded," a slightly revised version of his definitive indie tome.

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January 2003

BACK STORY

Showing free movies in Fiji: Is he an ugly American?

By John Pierson, Special to The Times

Showtime. Saturday night. As I stood in the funky lobby of Fiji's 180 Meridian Cinema, Vin ("XXX") Diesel coolly played his "new breed of secret agent" to a full house inside. I was not cool. I was squirming because I actually thought I might go to jail for refusing to charge admission at my theater.

More...

July 2002

FIRST PERSON

Isle of Forgotten Fans

In Fiji, a decaying theater with patrons from 8 months to 80 rekindles an indie maven's love of film

By JOHN PIERSON

I recently became the proud owner of the world's most remote movie theater. A year from now, you could be wearing a T-shirt that says, "I saw it at the 180 Meridian Cinema." At least that's how I see it.

My wife and kids, whom I dearly love, have a slightly different take.

More...

Summer 2001

Slack Where We Started

Richard Linklater and John Pierson Ponder 'Slacker' and Its Aftermath.

What Should John Do Next?

The results are in!

Fall 2000

Split Screen 2000 and Split Screen: Projections

If you're wondering what we've been up to during the extended off-season, we turned How's Your News? (see Episode #44) into a feature documentary, and traveled halfway around the globe in search of the world's most remote movie theater. We found it, the 180 Meridian Cinema, in Fiji. You'll see it on Split Screen's fourth season Labor Day premiere, the first of sixteen all-new episodes.

But we're really having a double premiere this fall. For twelve weeks starting October 2nd, Split Screen will be shifting gears. In conjunction with the publication of the newest editions of Faber & Faber's splendid Projections, we'll be showcasing a series of twelve extended interviews unified by the theme of filmmaking in New York.

May 2000

Split Screen announces new season premiere on September 4, 2000

January 2000

The Decade According to John Pierson

John talks with Eugene Hernandez and Mark Rabinowitz from indieWire about the last decade in Independent Film.

November, 1999

The Story Behind The Missing Split Screen Episode (#47)

If you tuned in to Split Screen on Monday, October 18th expecting to see one of our ten "all-new" Fall '99 episodes, you saw a repeat instead. We now reveal why.

October, 1999

Catch John Pierson and Split Screen at the Walter Reade Theater - October 11th at 7:00pm

Back for a second go-round on the big screen at the Walter Reade Theater, John Pierson's TV series Split Screen is completing its third year on the Independent Film Channel

August 24th, 1999

IFC's 5^th Birthday Weekend Kicks Off On Friday September 3 at 8:00PM/ET With the Premiere of The Best Of Split Screen

Indie Expert John Pierson Hosts an Hour-long Restrospective of the Series He Created Exclusively for IFC

Christopher Walken and his Exploding Shrimp headline the Season Premiere of SPLIT SCREEN this labor day on The Independent Film Channel

Indie Film Expert JOHN PIERSON Serves Up a New Season of Epicurean Delights Every Monday Night at 8:00PM Beginning on SEPTEMBER 6

The Blair Witch Connection

Psst. Wanna buy a non-bootleg videotape?

Indie Film Expert John Pierson Invites Fans to Experience the Independent Film Channel; Nine City National Tour Kicks Off Tuesday, May 25

Fresh from the Cannes International Film Festival, John Pierson, the creator and host of IFC's original signature series Split Screen, and author of the acclaimed book Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes, hits the open road for a cross-country tour, bringing his patented indie wit and wisdom with him. From Cherry Hill, New Jersey to Sacramento, California, film fans are invited to hang with John for a first-hand look behind the scenes of the indie film world.

Lost Script from the 1999 Independent Spirit Awards

We stumbled over this unused script for Randy Quaid and Vicki Lewis from the 1999 Independent Spirit Awards. Check it out here.

John's Top Ten for 1998

John's put in his Top Ten for 1998. Check it out here.

Split Screen Special Event at the Walter Reade Theater, NYC August 1998

The Walter Reade Theater Program from August 1998 features an article about John and Split Screen and details the August 25th appearance.

John Pierson/Split Screen Travel Schedule

Catch John Pierson and/or the Split Screen crew at these following locations in 1999.

January 18th, 1999

Free Sundance! - Premiere Magazine - February 1999

Check out John's article in the February issue of Premiere Magazine - what if Sundance gave up the growing wards glut and let the films speak for themselves? Read the full article here.

January 16th, 1999

PBS premiere of Blackside's (Eyes on the Prize)

Feb. 3, 1999

PBS premiere of Blackside's (Eyes on the Prize) new six hour documentary on Black Arts in America: the "She's Gotta Have It" episode.

January 11th, 1999

SPLIT SCREEN SCOOPS SUNDANCE - IFC SIGNATURE SERIES BOOSTS PARK CITY FESTIVAL ENTRIES

Media attending the Sundance Film Festival this January will be on the lookout for new stories - searching for the next big thing. Split Screen, the Independent Film Channel's original signature series, has been there, done that. Now the traveling movie 'zine is stopping in Park City long enough to celebrate the five Festival selections which have already been the subjects of Split Screen segments

January 5th, 1998

To all you enterprising American independent filmmakers

1997

Our site becomes the victim of a Cyber Hostage Taker. Read all about it here.