Alex Coco, Academy-Award winning producer of “Anora,” frequent collaborator of director Sean Baker and USC alum, returned to his alma mater for a panel and Q&A last Tuesday night. In a 45-minute conversation moderated by the School of Cinematic Arts’ Director of Programming and Special Projects, Alex Ago, Coco detailed his journey from USC to winning an Academy Award. He attended Colgate University for his undergraduate degree before coming to USC in 2012 for the graduate film program. While here, he took classes across various disciplines, such as being an assistant director (AD) before settling on producing.
While working on “The Florida Project,” some of the traditional responsibilities of a first AD fell to Coco, as they had to quickly hire a second AD shortly before filming. While this AD was just in charge of the set, Coco was responsible for the schedule, as he worked with Baker the most and knew the script intimately well.
Coco first met Baker when he was still a student at USC. Coco attended a screening for Baker’s movie “Tangerine,” and then approached him afterwards.
“The way he talked about making that movie was the experience that I wanted [to] have making a movie,” Coco said.
Working on “Red Rocket” proved to be a rewarding challenge, as it only had a 12-person crew due to COVID.
“[‘Red Rocket’] was the perfect next step for me, because I took on so many roles on that film, and that’s very much Sean’s ethos,” Coco said. “I took on that role [AD] in addition [to] location managing. I was [also] the post production supervisor.”
While he collaborated with Baker on “The Florida Project,” “Red Rocket” was his first film as a producer. Coco also discussed his experience working with Sean Price Williams on his film “The Sweet East.”
“Sean Price Williams introduced me to the independent film scene in New York,” Coco said. “The people, they’re all hanging out at this bar called KGB, and it’s like a real community… that was like a little Wonderland for independent cinema.”
Attendee Amber Laird, an actor, was inspired by his story of persisting through challenges in the industry and not giving up. “It’s been such a challenge to get momentum going in this industry, and just to hear, even from people who are having incredible success, [that] it’s a struggle and a fight every day to make things happen for yourself and fight for yourself, I found that very inspiring,” Laird said.
Following the panel, there were another 45 minutes of audience questions. Coco stayed afterwards to talk with students individually. Attendee Enrique Lopez enjoyed the fact that he stayed behind to connect with students.
“That was pretty awesome that he just took his time, answered all the questions, and really broke down things for people and was very comfortable explaining his career trajectory,” Lopez said. “He just won an Oscar, and he’s here now.”
Coco is also looking forward to when he’s able to watch “Anora” as an audience member.
“I can’t wait for like, four or five years, and then I’ll be able to experience it as just a viewer,” Coco said. “I did that with ‘Florida,’ I did it with ‘Red Rocket’ not long ago. And it’s pretty awesome, because then you’re like, whoa, who made this movie? This is great.”
Aside from that, Coco is still figuring out what he plans to do next.
“Every day seems different,” Coco said. “I’m just trying to make good movies.”