Kyle Buchanan

I’m a pop culture reporter and serve as The Projectionist, the awards season columnist for The New York Times.

What I Cover

In addition to covering movies, I spend the fall and winter writing dispatches from Los Angeles about Oscar season.

Though the monthlong awards gantlet is sometimes derided as silly and superficial, I’ve always been fascinated by the ways in which this seemingly narrow pocket of pop culture has wide-ranging ramifications that often ripple outward through the culture at large. Movements like #OscarsSoWhite have had a major impact on how we see the world and even a simple Oscar snub isn’t always just a snub: It can tell us a lot about what we canonize as a society and reveal where our blind spots still lie.

My Background

I have covered Hollywood and pop culture for two decades and I’m as Southern Californian as it gets: I graduated from USC and have lived here all my life. Before joining The Times in 2018, I worked for several years as a senior editor at New York Magazine’s Vulture. In 2021, I was named Journalist of the Year by the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. I also wrote the best-selling book “Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Journalistic Ethics

As a Times journalist, I am committed to upholding the standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. Expenses incurred as I work are paid for by The Times, and I do not participate in paid panel discussions for studios or accept the free airfare, lodging, or jury positions offered by film festivals.

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