Hollywood Lessons: What I Learned The Hard Way
The film industry is a difficult business to navigate, and even more so when you are just starting out. There are a lot of questions to be answered and decisions to be made: NY? LA? Internship? Mailroom? Set work? Agency? Studio? And more. This panel will feature young film industry professionals reflecting on how they made film their day job and where they are going from here. Discussions will include: breaking into the industry, career goals, how those goals can change while finding a place in the industry, and how to prepare for a life in the film business. These topics and others will be addressed from a variety of perspectives and positions within the industry, both positively and negatively.
Presenters
Jennifer Cochis is a film and music video producer; in 2011 she produced the feature film SMASHED and co-produced the documentary film THE OTHER DREAM TEAM. Both films went on to have their world premieres in US Dramatic and US Documentary Competitions respectively at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival where SMASHED was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Independent Producing. In 2010 she was named a Fellow of the Sundance Institute's Creative Producing Lab and was awarded the Sheila C. Johnson Fellowship. In addition to film, she has produced numerous music videos working with some of the most exciting directors and musicians in Los Angeles. Currently, Jennifer is collaborating with other filmmakers in developing several multi-genre feature film projects that she will produce.
Shay currently works as Creative Executive at 2929 Productions and most recently associate produced Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie; She's excited to be a first-time panelist at SXSW this year and will be the new best friend of anybody offering a ride to Smitty's.
JUSTIN MARKS is a screenwriter known for his work in multiple genres. He has written on major studio projects, including HE-MAN, GREEN ARROW: ESCAPE FROM SUPERMAX, and SUICIDE SQUAD for Warner Brothers, VOLTRON for New Regency, 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA for Disney, and PATRIOT DOWN for Paramount. Produced films include the celebrated masterpiece, STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI. He has also written on video games such as ARMY OF TWO: THE 40TH DAY (EA). He is about to go into production on REWIND, a TV series he created for the SyFy network, and he is writing THE RAVEN for Universal Pictures, which has Mark Wahlberg attached to star.
Stephanie currently works at Cross Creek Pictures, the production and finance company most known for Academy Nominated BLACK SWAN and George Clooney’s IDES OF MARCH.
She previously produced a series of documentaries for the United Nations before serving as the Creative Executive of Ten/Four Pictures, where she Associate Produced LUCKY, a dark comedy directed by Gil Cates, Jr.
Stephanie began her career at Paramount Pictures. She is originally from Dallas, Texas and is a graduate of UT.
After graduating from USC film school, Adam worked at New Line Cinema, Fine Line, Picturehouse, Plan B and The Jinks/Cohen Co. He became an exec at Macari Edelstein Ent., but later left to produce the film CAROLINE & JACKIE.
Adam went on to produce multiple commercial projects including a series of Metro PCS spots starring Snoop Dogg.
After producing several for Fourth Wall Studios (a new media studio creating high-budget interactive stories), the studio offered Adam a fulltime position as the Director of Development.
Sunday, March 11
