In a Web-exclusive report, John Pierson -- who has represented, financed, or produced dozens of first-time independent films, including Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It," Michael Moore's "Roger & Me," Richard Linklater's "Slacker," and Kevin Smith's "Clerks" -- takes stock of what it means to be "independent" today.
		Some say Hollywood bought out the indies years ago. But as experience has shown, you can't keep the truly independent spirit down. Here are excerpts from FRONTLINE's interviews with actor and producer Michael Douglas; critic Elvis Mitchell; filmmaker Allison Anders, director of "Gas, Food, Lodging" (1992), "Mi Vida Loca" (1994), and "Things Behind the Sun" (2001); and filmmaker Kevin Smith, writer-director of such films as "Clerks" (1994), "Chasing Amy" (1997), and "Dogma" (1999).
		"The Mainstreaming of Indies"
		"Indies now form an industry that runs not so much against Hollywood as parallel to Hollywood. American culture has two legitimate film industries, mainstream and independent, each grounded in its own organizational structure." An excerpt from Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film (1999), by Emanuel Levy.
		"Out on the Ledge"
		"In the increasingly crowded world of independent film, truly risky material is being squeezed out." (Los Angeles Times, Sept. 9, 2001)
		"The New Math"
		"The fact is that after a 10-year indie boom, independent cinema seems to be receding into the brackish depths where it waited out most of the 1980s. Even if such depths are nothing more or less than the Hollywood of today." (LA Weekly, June 8-14, 2001)
		"Richard Linklater, 'Slacker' for the New Millennium"
		"'Reinvent cinema.' That's such a big concept," says filmmaker Richard Linklater in this interview. "Maybe a subtler word would be renew. I've always tried to do that in my own way, try to tell stories that haven't been told or try to go to places in your head that haven't been seen on film." (indieWIRE, Jan. 9, 2001)
		"The Auteur as Gearhead"
		"Notes on the digital video revolution, part one." (LA Weekly, Nov. 5-11, 1999)
		"Independents Day"
		"Digital video is smashing the celluloid ceiling." (Wired, October 1999)

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