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The Coen Brothers have been labeled as independent filmmakers ever since they started their career in the middle of the 1980s, and are still considered independent today in spite of their frequent collaborations with the Hollywood studios. This status, quite uncommon in Hollywood, of “emancipated” directors, is made clear through their aesthetic and, to a lesser extent, ideological independence. Their position as directors/producers/screenwriters/editors also provides them with what I will call their “screenwriting independence”. Nevertheless, the questioning of their independent status over the last ten years seems to be related to the financing of some of their films. To what extent are the Coen brothers still independent filmmakers when they collaborate with majors? How does their status as director-writers participate in their independence? Eventually, can we consider the possibility of an alternative way in which the Coens could appear as precursors?