SUMMIT HILL, Pa., Jan. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — As a kid growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Kenrick Cohen was like just about every American boy of his generation, obsessed with Star Wars. Seeing it multiple times in its original theatrical run, he confidently declared that he would make films for the rest of his life.
Now, decades later, continuing to expand his own dynamic resume as a writer, producer and media company entrepreneur, he’s helping people turn their own dreams into professionally-produced and marketed films. As a one-stop shop Moviemaking Architect, Cohen puts together the nuts and bolts of creating films for those with great ideas and secure funding.
“With independent film, the money person must be excited about the writer’s project – but what if the money people don’t want to make that movie?” Cohen asks. “I reasoned they want to see their own project on the big screen and would foot the cost of the film, retaining all the rights. That’s the beginning of the special Done-For-You Moviemaking Concierge program.”
While handling everything from A to Z, including scripting, hiring a team of experienced film and media professionals (including a top director and veteran crew), distribution and paperwork, he’s created a foolproof, revolutionary way to make independent films. His concept of the “Done-For-You Moviemaking Concierge” also includes a set of continuity programs, including newsletters connecting current events and industry business trends to the impact those things have on today’s indie filmmakers.
The decades-long road to making Cohen’s childhood dream of filmmaking a reality had its share of twists, turns, challenges, exhilarating moments and career shifts. These included stints as a news producer for the local CBS affiliate in his hometown, leading a live TV crew at age 25; co-creating a highly-rated hockey TV series, “Inside Bulls Hockey,” that ran 18 episodes; teaching English as a Second Language in Japan, then teaching and creating marketing DVDs and podcasts for Gateway Language Village school in China. He also briefly opened an English language school in Japan.
Since launching his company The Republic Media, LLC (TRM) in 2009, the versatile and adaptable Cohen has drawn on his powerful skills as a manager and coordinator – and his ability to react and “put out fires” on the fly – to amass a coolly eclectic resume as a producer and film director. Focusing on producing and distributing online and filmed entertainment media for a global audience, TRM has produced live events for TV, feature films, award-winning internet pilots and shorts, as well as industrials.
Over the past few years, Cohen has executive-produced a spec pilot for the World of Unpredictable Wrestling based on the “live event” aesthetic TRM was founded on. He also directed a horror short (“Emmy”) that featured at several festivals, and numerous industrials; associate-produced horror-comedy feature film Shankman’s; produced the award-winning sci-fi web-series pilot The Abandon; and wrote, directed and produced the award-winning comedy short You’re It!
Upcoming projects include feature films, including urban crime thriller King, R-rated youth comedy The Ball Drop and sci-fi film noir Atlantic & Pacific.
The success of TRM is more impressive considering that during the time Cohen was building the company and working on these projects, he had gone back to Long Island University (LIU) Brooklyn to receive an MA in Media Theory and an MFA in Media Management (Line Producing).
The many surprising lessons he learned while attending grad school now fuel his passion as a Moviemaking Architect, putting together the minutest crucial details for people with passion, vision and money but not the “below the line” resources to make their film happen.
“I use my experience to create a pitch package and marketing plan to show the person I’m working with how the project will earn their money back and eventually profit,” Cohen says. “TRM functions as an employee, then subcontracts the director, crew and anyone else we need to fulfill the production needs. That allows the creator and/or financier who hires me to retain all gross revenue and not have any headaches. I don’t keep anything on the back end. Once the film is done, my company helps supervise royalties and rights while facilitating distribution and some exhibition.”
Read more: http://therepublicmedia.com/index.html
Atomic Fangirl 