This Conference is now on-demand for $26.00 USD. You will receive a link shortly after payment is completed.
CONTENT. TECHNOLOGY. COLLABORATION.
The Confluence Summit is a conference that sits at the Intersection of Tech & Entertainment fostering conversations between Innovators, Storytellers, Entertainment Executives, Producers, Filmmakers, Strategy Executives, Investors and Advisors for meaningful conversations with the very Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists who are disrupting and influencing the entertainment industry.
As the forces of technology and entertainment continue to both disrupt and influence one another, thought leaders will explore the latest developments in Multi-Platform Storytelling, Finance and Impact Investing!
SPEAKING FACULTY:
Carlos Cruz
Executive Director at Fifth Third Bank
Carlos Cruz is a Director at Fifth Third Bank and has been financing middle market companies across a variety of sectors including: Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT), Restaurant & Retail, Energy, and Commercial & Industrial. For the last 9 years, Carlos has focused solely on the TMT sectors, including: film and television production and distribution, broadcast and cable television, music and new media (Ad-tech, Martech, and Ed-tech). Carlos began his career in the Investment Banking Group at Merrill Lynch before moving to Jefferies’ Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to Fifth Third Bank, Carlos spent 6 years at the CIT Group where he focused on media, entertainment and gaming transactions. Carlos holds a BA from Rutgers University and a MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Holly Liu
Founder of Kabam, Co-Founder & Managing Partner PKO Investments
Holly Liu founded the venture backed mobile gaming company, Kabam in 2006. Her work has contributed to record revenue growth for Kabam year over year from $0 to $400MM annually, which led Kabam into the unicorn club in 2014. She led the design for Kabam’s award-winning "Kingdoms of Camelot" franchise, grossing over $250 million in less than four years. She was also the founding mobile designer for Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North, which was the top grossing app on iOS in 2012.
She was Chief Development Officer in charge of developing Kabam’s relationships internationally through key relationships - starting with China.
Prior to that she was Kabam's Chief of Staff and oversaw HR, leading the talent experience for over 1500 employees (including contractors) at Kabam globally. Holly oversaw the team responsible for recruiting and retaining top talent, and has grown the Kabam staff 500% in three years.
Kabam successfully sold in 2017 to Netmarble and FoxNext combined for a billion dollars.
Holly was previously a Visiting Partner at Y Combinator, an early stage accelerator that has birthed companies like Twitch, Airbnb, Dropbox and many others.
She now runs a collective - PKO - with Patrick Lee (founder and former CEO of Rotten Tomatoes , Kun Gao (founder and former CEO of Crunchyroll) and Kevin Lin (founder of Twitch). We get the most notable people (founders, execs, celebrities and investors) in entertainment and tech to support one another and the next generation. Together, since 2021, we have funded over 40 companies and raised over $33M for those companies. Give us a follow @pko_xyz and drop us a line!
She currently tweets @hollyhliu.
An Tran
Director and Producer
An Tran is a director and producer based in Los Angeles and Vietnam. She is known as a versatile filmmaker who makes engaging, thought-provoking content. She is especially interested in amplifying the voices of independent filmmakers of the Global South on an international scale.
An co-directed/produced the feature-length documentary "Moving Pictures: Filmmaking and the Art of Cinematography," which premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2020. She also directed/produced over 50 episodes of the web series "The Filmmakers View."
Producing credits include "The Summer People" for director Todd Louiso, indie feature "Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf” written/directed by Susan Youssef and episodes of the PBS sci-fi anthology “Futurestates” for writer/director Trevin Matcek. She formerly helmed the ARRI Emerging Filmmaker Grant program, where she championed award-winning films like “Beasts of the Southern Wild” by director Behn Zeitlin, “Fruitvale Station” for writer/director Ryan Coogler, “Imperial Dreams” by Malik Vitthal, “Beach Rats” for Eliza Hittman and the documentaries “The Donut King” for director Alice Gu, Elizabeth Lo's "Stray" and “A Town Called Victoria” by Li Lu.
She is a Film Independent Producers Lab Fellow, an IFP Emerging Narrative alumni and Project: Involve Fellow for writing & directing. An is a member of the Producers Guild of America and has served as a Film Mentor for the SXSW Film Festival and Locarno Open Doors in addition to advising for Film Independent’s Fast Track and Industry Connect Programs.
The daughter of political refugees who fled Vietnam at the end of the war, An was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. Her family ran a Chinese restaurant (yes, Chinese) where customers witnessed her ringing up the cash register and waiting on tables. These experiences of her family growing up in the Midwest and then returning to Vietnam inspired the feature documentary "Tran 5" (now in post). She is a graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts and School of English. In her spare time she can be found outdoors or volunteering at a pet rescue.
W. Joseph Anderson
Partner Manatt Entertainment
Joseph Anderson is a Manatt Entertainment partner in the Firm’s Los Angeles office. His practice focuses on corporate transactional matters affecting the entertainment industry—with broad experience across music, film, television, gaming, podcasting, XR/metaverse and other digital media—as well as potential issues arising from intellectual property, copyright and corporate law. He has deep experience drafting and negotiating a variety of leading-edge agreements, including those involving publishing, distribution, financing, licensing and development for all manner of entertainment and IP-based projects. Joe is putting this diverse skillset to use actively advising and representing clients leveraging opportunities in the metaverse and Web3 era.
Joe comes to Manatt from a boutique law firm in Los Angeles, where his practice focused on corporate and intellectual property transactional matters for its entertainment and media practice. His clients included several platinum-level recording artists, as well as a range of production, distribution and development fund companies of all sizes. Additionally, Joe worked as the business and legal affairs manager for a custom scoring company and a production music library owned by Sony Music, in partnership with Hans Zimmer.
Garcí Iñigo
Executive Producer
Multilingual and a born optimist, Garcí leads with boundless humanity and connects easily with others. His wide range of experiences and international background have made him an essential business ally for clients of all kinds, including Rolex, Ferrero Rocher, Unilever, Hyundai Motor Company, Videotron, SAQ, L’Oréal, and many others. Garcí is a campaign and product expert who previously served as artistic director, group director of operations, and group director of account services. Paired with his wealth of professional and personal experiences, that multidisciplinary role forged his understanding of the complex needs of today’s consumers.
Now Vice-President of Account Services at Sid Lee, Garcí is both an open book and a fascinating enigma, with countless anecdotes and atypical experiences around the globe.
Outside of work, Garcí is a well-known Star Wars fan and collector. (He once delivered a Star Wars–themed talk on leadership to a crowd of over 500 people.) He’s also an avid rugby player who coaches the Saint Lambert Locks here in Montreal.
Elliot Kotek
Producer
A 4x recipient of SxSW Interactive's Innovation Awards and SxSW featured keynote speaker on "Technology for the Sake of Humanity," Elliot is the producer of the feature documentaries "for Tomorrow," "Queen Mimi," "Unzipped" and other award-winning favorites such as the Netflix Original "Little Miss Sumo" (Tribeca, BFI London) and the NBC Peacock Original "Black Boys" (Bentonville, American Black Film Festival). Originally from Australia, Elliot Kotek is a recognized leader in the power of purposeful content, and his innovative impact-driven documentaries have delivered social robot ducks to kids going through chemotherapy and have led to the world's first 3D-printed prosthetic limbs lab. A member of the Television Academy and the Producers Guild of America, his projects have racked up several billion media impressions and earned 5 Cannes Lions (including the Titanium Lion), 2 Clios, 2 Anthem Awards, Emmys, Webbys, archiving at MoMA as well as recognition from the U.S. Congress and House of Representatives.
Lisha Li
Founder and CEO, Rosebud
Lisha Li is the founder and CEO of Rosebud. Rosebud is building PixelVibe, an AI generated stock photo and video platform. We're the team that built Tokkingheads that allows any portrait/photo/face to be animated in seconds with no skill. And Synth (https://www.synth.run), a simple mobile app that allows users to create images based on generative models.
Jay Rosenkrantz
Co-Founder and CEO, Heroic Story
Jay Rosenkrantz is the co-founder and CEO of Heroic Story. Heroic Story is building a massively multiplayer, tabletop RPG platform for web3, hosted by the world's greatest game masters. Our Fortunata World Pass collection was #1 on OpenSea in late September
James Zhang
CEO, Concept Art House
James Zhang is the CEO of Concept Art House. Concept Art House is the premiere web3 creative agency in art and entertainment. CAH strategize, design, create and engage for the largest brands, IP, and original projects in the space. With 15 years of production experience and 2 years as a dedicated web3 agency, we have the scale and knowledge to build the web3 infrastructure for creators, projects, and brands in the open metaverse
Daniel Lisi
Publisher, Producer, Writer
Daniel Lisi is a publisher, producer, and writer. He is co-founder of the award-winning independent publisher Not a Cult, and in 2020 co-founded Chapter House, a publishing group Forbes called a "new path for competitive small-press publishing in the digital era."
Chuka Chase
Co-Founder and CEO, Integral Studio
Program:
10:00am-10:05am (PT)
Welcoming Address
Amy Baker, Co-Founder and CEO, Winston Baker
10:05am-11:00am (PT)
FIRESIDE CHAT: “for TOMORROW: 360 STORYTELLING FOR GRASSROOTS INNOVATION"
Tech and storytelling behind 'for Tomorrow', The Film. Hear directly from the creatives on building the 360 ecosystem that fueled the project and its ultimate reach to a wider audience.
Conversation Between:
GARCÍ IÑIGO, Executive Producer
AN TRAN, Director and Producer
ELLIOT KOTEK, Producer
11:00am-12:00pm (PT)
DISCUSSING THE CREATOR ECONOMY
The number of people choosing to enter the creator economy is growing each day. Hear from this diverse and established panel of artists and founders as they talk about how to stay ahead of the game, how to protect your own creative content rights, and how they continue to help others in the same space.
Moderator:
W. JOSEPH ANDERSON, Partner, Manatt Phelps & Phillips
Panelists:
CHUKA CHASE, Co-Founder and CEO, Integral Studio
DANIEL LISI, Co-Founder, 'Not a Cult' and 'Chapter House'
CARLOS CRUZ, Executive Director of Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Fifth Third Bank
12:00pm-12:45pm (PT)
THE FUTURE OF TECH AND ENTERTAINMENT
This panel features founders building in web3, AI and the intersection of tech and entertainment. We will be discussing how web3 and AI are changing art, writing, and the future of entertainment.
Moderator:
HOLLY LIU, Co-Founder, Kabam; Managing Partner, PKO Investments
Panelists:
JAMES ZHANG, Founder and CEO, Concept Art House
LISHA LI, Founder and CEO, Rosebud AI
JAY ROSENKRANTZ, Founder and CEO, Heroic Story
HOSTED BY:
Amy Baker
Co-Founder and CEo
WINSTON | BAKER
As Co-Founder and CEO of WINSTON | BAKER, Amy Baker oversees the company’s global strategic planning, editorial programming, event production, business development and vendor relationships. Amy co-founded the FILM FINANCE FORUM® SERIES, a series of conferences across the globe dedicated to bringing film and finance executives together.
Prior to establishing Winston Baker, she successfully directed B2B and B2C business development efforts for over 10 years by leveraging innovative sponsorship methods to engage business professionals. At ALM, as Vice President of Business Development, she provided finance executives and marketers with targeted channels for reaching decision-makers within the legal, entertainment, healthcare and tech sectors. In her previous position, Director of Business Development at RPMC, she worked with entertainment, music, and sports companies, creating event marketing programs, travel incentive services, sweepstakes, and media promotions.
Amy received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with honors from New York University and is proud to be a member of the National Board of Advisors for the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.
Amy is also a Certified COVID-19 Compliance Officer.
