“Quality is great, but a hook is even better,” Jay Cohen of the Gersh Agency, an expert in indie financing, told the crowd during TheWrap’s industry panel at the Sundance Film Festival. Pictured from left to right: Matthew Rhodes, Derek Callow, Sharon Waxman, Cary Murnion, Teri Schwartz, Marc Hofstatter, Cohen and Alicia Van Couvering.
TheWrap film reporter Lucas Shaw talks with “Cooties” director Cary Murnion after the panel.
Alicia Van Couvering, Derek Callow, Jay Cohen and Marc Hofstatter discuss the film industry.
Alicia Van Couvering, Derek Callow, Jay Cohen, Marc Hofstatter, Cary Murnion, Matthew Rhodes, and Sharon Waxman talk about movie making at TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel.
Jay Cohen answers a question during TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel.
“Some people think social media is magic,” “Cooties” director Cary Murnion (pictured) said. “You can’t just think ‘I’ll put it on YouTube and get five million hits.’”
“Would I spend $10 of my own money to see it? The answer is almost always no,” said Alicia Van Couvering, in regards to thinking about an audience when making a movie. “If you are just backing into an audience you are repeating what came before and that’s where people lose all their money.”
CEO Sharon Waxman introduces TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel.
Alicia Van Couvering, Matthew Rhodes and Jay Cohen stop and pose at TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel.
“He has built this community through digital and YouTube,” said YouTube’s Derek Callow of film-school graduate and YouTube star Freddie Wong. “As he continues through his career, those people are following him.”
Alicia Van Couvering, whose “Happy Christmas” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, argued that you should only trust your own taste as a filmmaker.
A sizeable crowd turned out for TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel in Park City, Utah.
Movie lovers and industry insiders alike showed up for TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel.
UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television Dean Teri Schwartz poses for a photo with TheWrap CEO Sharon Waxman.
Panelists Jay Cohen and Marc Hofstatter further discuss filmmaking at TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel.
Sharon Waxman and panelist Matthew Rhodes pose for photos at TheWrap’s Sundance Industry Panel.
Panelist Jay Cohen, of the Gersh Agency, says too many independent movies are getting made, which means that quality alone is not enough.
A standing room-only crowd showed up at the YouTube space on Main Street to learn about the indie marketplace
