This website is dedicated to criticism and creative works inspired by film noir, mystery/crime writing, and hard-boiled literature.

It is a nexus of innovative projects intended to bring noir fans, critics, writers and filmmakers into meaningful dialogue and debate. Ultimately, this website is part of an active workshop exploring the vast potential of noir (its past, present, and future), which we've dubbed the OuFiNoPo—an acronym standing for Workshop of Potential Film Noir. We hope you'll check out our podcasts, our book, and our current and forthcoming multimedia projects, and will contact us—and fellow Noircast contributors—with ideas for other potential noir collaborations.



(Photo caption: A screen grab composite from some of the films covered on Out of the Past Podcast)

Clute and Edwards: The Backstory

Clute and Edwards met as junior faculty members at Saint Mary's College of California. Our first podcasting collaboration, Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir, came out of our shared love of film noir. Since its inception, Out of the Past has followed a consistent show format: each episode investigates a single film in relation to the body of film. We saw podcasting as a medium that would help us capture our ongoing scholarly and interdisciplinary conversations on film noir, as well as a means to share our film discussions with a broader audience of scholars, students, and fans.

(Photo caption: Richard Edwards (left) and Shannon Clute (right) on the set at TNT for TCM's Slapstick Course, 2016)

Since that time, our podcasts have been downloaded over one million times worldwide.. Out of the Past has grown to a catalog of 53 episodes and inspired our first book on film noir, The Maltese Touch of Evil: Film Noir and Potential Criticism (Dartmouth College Press/UPNE Press, 2011). Three spinoff podcast series followed: Behind the Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed is an author interview show that has included such guests as Michael Connelly (author of the Harry Bosch series), George Pelecanos (athor of over 20 novels, and writer/producer for HBO’s The Wire), Eddie Muller (novelist, film noir scholar and host of the Turner Classic Movies franchise Noir Alley) and Megan Abbott (multiple award-winning novelist and story editor for HBO’s The Deuce). Noircast Specials allowed us to address noir happenings in theatre, video gaming and film archiving. Yaddocast The Chronicle of Higher Educationwas commissioned by the prestigious artists retreat Yaddo, to highlight its impact on American Arts and Letters by telling the story of twenty artists associated with the retreat. It served as the official audio companion to the "Yaddo: The Making of American Culture" exhibit at the New York Public Library. Our podcasts have received press in such publications as and O, The Oprah Magazine, have been cited in the New Media Consortium's Horizon Report, taught as a 'best practice in podcasting' in NITLE workshops by Bryan Alexander, archived by Merlot.org and New York University library, and were broadcast throughout Australia by ABC Radio National in 2012 as part of their “Top of the Pods” showcase of the world’s best podcasts. These many projects also have led to a partnership between Turner Classic Movies, where Shannon Clute has worked since 20008, and Ball State University, where Richard Edwards is Executive Director of iLearn Research. To date, TCM and Ball State have create three Massive Open Online courses that have enrolled over 45 thousand learners worldwide, beginning with Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir in summer 2015, and continuing with courses on Slapstick comedy and the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

About Shannon Scott Clute

Shannon Clute holds a PhD in Romance Studies form Cornell University. He is the co-creator of three popular podcast series (Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir, Behind the Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed, Yaddocast) and co-author of the The Maltese Touch of Evil: Film Noir and Potential Criticism (Dartmouth College Press/UPNE Press, 2011)—all with Richard Edwards. He is also the author of three unpublished novels, including The Mint Condition, which was named one of ten semi-finalists in the Court TV “Search for the Next Great Crime Writer” contest. He is known as an expert in classic film, brand marketing and business innovation, and since 2008 has held multiple positions with Turner Classic Movies. He is currently Director, Business Development and Strategy for TCM & FilmStruck (LinkedIn).

About Richard L. Edwards

Richard L. Edwards holds a PhD in Critical Studies from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. He has taught courses on classic Hollywood films and film noir at Loyola Marymount University, Saint Mary's College of California, and Indiana University.

He is the author of several articles and book chapters on film and media. With Shannon Clute, he is the co-author of The Maltese Touch of Evil (Dartmouth College Press, 2011) and the co-host of thre podcast series, including Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir. Edwards has given numerous keynotes and talks on topics related to film and media. Currently, he is the Executive Director for Strategic Learning in the Division of Online and Strategic Learning at Ball State University in Muncie, IN.

Clute and Edwards, 2005-2012