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Published on:

3rd Mar 2026

Raven Whisnant: Indie Empire & the porcelain doll situation

This episode starts with princess birthday parties and immediately swerves into a staircase ghost and an army of redheaded porcelain dolls living in Raven Whisnant’s basement. So yes, we are thriving.

Raven is an actor-writer-director-editor-producer (casual) and the co-founder of New 32 Productions, a woman and queer-owned indie film company that actually cares about set culture and treats people like humans. We talk Sundance buzz, vintage sci-fi, why bad sci-fi can be perfect, and how she accidentally became a horror girl after getting emotionally scarred by The Ring on a middle-school double date.

Then we get into Indie Empire, Raven’s new film education app built to give filmmakers what she didn’t have in 2016: mentorship, community, and a “big sister in film” you can actually call.

Follow Raven at @new32indiefilms and @indieempireofficial, and check out the Indie Empire app.

Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias

Mentioned in this episode:

Thank you to our sponsor, Mezcla Media Collective. Please follow them on Instagram @mezclamediacollective and join the community at mezclamediacollective.org

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About the Podcast

Ilse Will Say
Ilse Will Say is an EVERYTHING podcast with a core focus on the entertainment field. Expect Ilse’s takes on TV shows, pizza, nostalgia, bigfoot, butterbeer, the weird little S we all drew in middle school—literally everything. If it lives in your group chat, it lives here too.

About your host

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ilse zacharias

Ilse Zacharias Rivera is an actor, writer, and stand-up comedian who has never had a thought she didn't want to talk about. You may have seen her on The Exorcist (FOX) or Chicago P.D. (NBC), or on stage during her years in Chicago theater. Now based in Los Angeles, she hosts Ilse Will Say so she finally has somewhere to put all of it.

Find Ilse Will Say on Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.