Finding Gold: Discovering Captivating Narratives and Essential Story Ideas for Your Next Project
Join top producers and executives as they share their insider strategies for unearthing groundbreaking ideas and crafting narratives that truly resonate with film and TV audiences. Learn how to bring compelling stories to life and stand out in a crowded content landscape.
Moderator
Phil Goldfine, Producer
Panelists
Michele Kanan, Emmy winning Producer, Emmy nominated Writer and Director
Miranda Bailey, Cold Iron Pictures
Karin Chien, dGenerate Films, Art & Action Productions
Michael Musante, Cherokee Film
Speakers
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Karin ChienFounder & CEO, Art & ActionKARIN CHIEN has a proven track record building impactful companies across media production. Karin is both a results-driven problem solver and a strategic systems thinker.
Karin is currently the founder & CEO of Art & Action Productions, a production company innovating at the intersection of art and action, which spearheaded the international production expansion of MasterClass. By innovating her role as a producer, Karin is building cross-monetization opportunities for film-centered IP. Karin is working on new revenue models, more equitable production structures, and radically different distribution solutions. For her producing work, Karin has been recognized with top honors in her field, including the Independent Spirit Producers Award, the Humanitas Prize, the Sundance Audience Award, the inaugural Cinereach Producers Award, and the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Producers Keynote speaker.
Karin is also the co-founder & president of the distribution company dGenerate Films, which works in partnership with Icarus Films to distribute over 70 fiction and nonfiction titles of independent Chinese cinema. dGenerate Films was awarded a Special Recognition for Distribution from the New York Film Critics Circle in 2023. Karin is also the co-founder of the collective Distribution Advocates, which launched a new distribution innovations fund in Sept 2024. Other recent roles include partner at Louverture Films, strategic consultant to Color Congress, and Film Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center.
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Michele KananEmmy winning Producer, Emmy nominated Writer and DirectorEmmy® winning producer and co-writer of Way of the Cobra Couples, Michele Kanan was living in the suburbs, carpooling and serving as administrator for a successful medical practice when she decided to step out of her comfort zone to make a movie. Fast forward, and Kanan found herself and her kids married to the ‘Bad Boy of Karate’ Sean Kanan, while beginning a Hollywood career as a producer, writer and director.
She has produced ten films including ’Til Death Do Us Part with Jason Patric, Orlando Jones and Cam Gigandet; Darkness of Man with Jean Claude VanDam; and a Cannes Film Festival sci-fi favorite, Colonials with Greg Kriek.
In 2021, Kanan was nominated for an Emmy® for writing and she won an Emmy® as producer for Outstanding Digital Drama for STUDiO CiTY (Amazon Prime, ROKU). STUDiO CiTY has received over 20 Emmy® nominations and garnered Kanan a 2019 Indie Series Award for Best Writing.
Currently Kanan is in post-production on the young adult television show, Pretty Little Gun and is set to direct the feature films, A Gift of Magic and Snipers. She has four projects in development, including one with Eric Roberts and another with Orlando Jones. In addition, Kanan is launching a web3 interactive game and token in conjunction with her show Pretty Little Gun, while running a flourishing e-commerce/digital marketing boutique agency.
In 2022, she received a star on Palm Springs prestigious Walk of Fame in recognition for her work in entertainment and philanthropy in the Coachella Valley and Hollywood. In her spare time, Kanan spoils Beatrix, her Pug and she adores spending time with her five grown children and international television star husband.
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Miranda BaileyCEO & Producer, Cold Iron PicturesAs the CEO of Cold Iron Pictures, Miranda Bailey most recently produced Morrisa Maltz’s JAZZY, a follow-up to Maltz’s first feature, THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY, which premiered at Tribeca 2024, and won for Best Lead Actress in a Feature. THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY, starring Lily Gladstone, premiered at SXSW 2022 and sold to Music Box for domestic theatrical release. Bailey also produced and directed an episode of the LGBTQ+ independent comedy series, UNCONVENTIONAL. Bailey’s other recent projects include: Amanda Kramer’s BY DESIGN, which Cold Iron is producing alongside Smudge Films (I SAW THE TV GLOW) starring Juliette Lewis and Mamadou Athie, and is currently in post-production; GOD’S COUNTRY, which premiered at Sundance 2022 and sold to IFC Domestic and Universal International; and THE BOY WITH THE LIGHT BLUE EYES, a Greek-language feature film.
Bailey’s producing career spans over two decades, during which she became known for uplifting new talent and putting up-and-coming directors on the map. She worked with Noah Baumbach on his Oscar-nominated debut film, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. After that, James Gunn came to her with his wacky indie film, SUPER, starring Rainn Wilson and Kevin Bacon. Bailey also produced Marielle Heller’s first film, THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, leading to multiple Gotham and Spirit Awards. Most notably, she also produced the radical directors DANIELS’ first film SWISS ARMY MAN, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to sell to SPC and A24.
Aside from elevating new directors, Bailey has also worked with established filmmakers like foreign film director, Joseph Cedar, for his first English language film, NORMAN, which starred Richard Gere, Michael Sheen, Dan Stevens, and Steve Buscemi. Bailey produced Mike Birbiglia’s DON’T THINK TWICE, starring Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Birbiglia, and Kate Micucci, and Lake Bell’s second feature I DO… UNTIL I DON’T.
In addition to Cold Iron Pictures, Miranda Bailey is an actress and director. Her documentary THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST and comedy Feature, BEING FRANK, starring Jim Gaffigan, gained several film festival awards. In 2018, unsatisfied with the number of female film critics and jobs for female film journalists, Miranda founded CherryPicks, a female-fronted film and tv review site aimed at growing the voices and critical writings of women and nonbinary writers. www.TheCherryPicks.com.
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Michael MusanteExecutive in Charge of Film & TV Finance and Development, Cherokee FilmMichael is Executive in Charge of Film & TV Finance and Development at Cherokee Film. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Film Production and Acquisitions at American Zoetrope for over seven years and a co-founder, along with Roman Coppola, of The Decentralized Pictures Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting independent filmmaking and filmmakers from underserved and underrepresented communities. He continues to serve on its board. He is an attorney, admitted to practice in New York and North Carolina, and received his BA from Duke University and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2001. He practiced law for 10 years before becoming a full-time creative film producer. He has worked closely with such accomplished filmmakers as Roman Coppola, Sofia Coppola, Gia Coppola, Ted Kotcheff, Martha Coolidge, Fred Roos, and Richard Chew before and during his time at American Zoetrope. During his tenure at American Zoetrope, he oversaw development and production of several feature films, including Gia Coppola’s Mainstream starring Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke, Nat Wolfe and Jason Schwartzman, Fairyland starring Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy, as well as the production of The Outsiders Musical, which debuted on Broadway at the Bernard Jacobs Theater on April 11, 2024 and received the Tony for Best Musical.
