More Than a Trend: Rise of Creator Filmmakers

Speakers

• 

  Monica Khan Founder & CEO, Creator Revolution
  

  Monica Khan

  Founder & CEO, Creator Revolution

  Monica Khan is a creator economy executive, entrepreneur, and Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company on the creator economy. She regularly writes and speaks on the creator economy and modern media strategy. She is the Founder of Creator Revolution, a talent management and advisory firm that helps creators and brands build scalable, audience-led businesses and modern growth strategies. She is also the Co-Founder of Creator Gold and Bay Area Creator Economy, communities that convene creators, founders, and investors.

  Monica previously held leadership roles at Spotter, Meta, and YouTube. She began her career in investment banking at JPMorgan Chase, earned her undergraduate degree from Columbia University, and later completed her MBA at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Originally from New Jersey, Monica now resides in San Francisco with her husband and their two children.

• 

  Brian Welk Senior Reporter, Business, IndieWire
  

  Brian Welk

  Senior Reporter, Business, IndieWire

  Brian Welk is the Senior Reporter for IndieWire’s business team, covering entertainment industry news and analysis along with festival and awards coverage, primarily focused on the film. Prior to joining IndieWire in 2022, Welk spent six years at the Hollywood trade publication TheWrap, eventually working his way up to the role of Senior Film Reporter. In that time, he’s attended and covered the Oscars, Sundance, TIFF, SXSW, the Golden Globes and more. He’s also served as a moderator for industry panel discussions at SXSW and elsewhere and appeared as an expert on “Good Morning America,” BBC News, and for other outlets.

  Welk in 2022 won the New York Press Club Award for National Entertainment News (online) for his series of pieces focused on opportunities for deaf actors in Hollywood. That year, he was also nominated for online entertainment journalist of the year from the Los Angeles Press Club. And in 2024, Welk won an LA Press Club Award for Best News Feature for a piece about runaway film production from the U.S. to overseas.

  Welk received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University with a concentration in communications and culture and a master’s degree in Specialized Journalism: The Arts from the University of Southern California. Welk began his career in film criticism, and some of his freelance work has appeared in the Village Voice, LA Weekly, Consequence, and other publications, as well as on his own personal blog. For over two years and over 150 episodes, Welk also co-hosted an independent film news podcast called The News Reel, which featured guest journalists and critics discussing the biggest stories from that week in film news. Welk is native to the Chicagoland area and is based in Los Angeles.

• 

  Fassa Sar Founder, Callo
  

  Fassa Sar

  Founder, Callo

  Fassa Sar is the founder of Callo, a startup at the intersection of the creator economy and entertainment, founded in 2022. She is a recognized changemaker honored by Variety,TheWrap, CNBC, Forbes, and Essence Magazine.

  Fassa began her career in public service, working on Kamala Harris’ Senate campaign and serving as a Fellow for Congress on Capitol Hill, before making a deliberate pivot to entertainment. She went on to hold roles at Variety and UTA before joining Sony Pictures, where at 24 she became the studio’s youngest Creative Executive, acquiring productions under $50 million with mentorship of Worldwide Acquisitions President Joseph Matukewicz and TriStar President Nicole Brown. A trajectory that gave her a rare, full-spectrum view of how stories get made, sold, and scaled. Driven by a vision to put the resources of Hollywood in the hands of the next generation of creators and producers everywhere. Fassa left Sony to become a Fulbright Scholar and pursue her Master’s at University College London’s School of Management, where she founded Callo, an operating system that helps creators and producers develop projects, build teams, and move their work toward market. Named after corpus callosum, the bridge connecting the brain’s two hemispheres, Callo reflects the symbiotic relationship between the creative and business sides of the entertainment industry.

• 

  Jackie Brenneman President & CEO, Independent Film & Television Alliance
  

  Jackie Brenneman

  President & CEO, Independent Film & Television Alliance

  Jackie Brenneman is President and CEO of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA®) and the American Film Market® (AFM®). A longtime advocate for independent film and the global creative community, she brings decades of experience at the intersection of policy, business strategy, and market innovation.
  Prior to joining IFTA, Brenneman served as Executive Vice President & General Counsel of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and as founding President of The Cinema Foundation, where she helped launch National Cinema Day and led major industry-wide initiatives focused on growth, accessibility, and audience engagement. She is also a co-founder of The Fithian Group, a strategic consultancy supporting the evolving theatrical and independent film ecosystem.
  Brenneman is known for her collaborative leadership style, deep policy expertise, and commitment to strengthening cross-border partnerships that support independent storytellers worldwide.

  Brenneman serves on the Board of Directors of the Attend Theatrical Marketplace, a platform she played a key role in developing, and holds a seat on the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission.