Dan Cogan Wiki: Founder, Net Worth, 'Impact Partners', 'Icarus' & Facts To Know

Dan Cogan is the co-founder of 'Impact Partners' and the founder of DMC Films which is a New York based film production company. DMC Films is always on the hunt for new and emerging voices in documentary and fiction films while remaining open to new models of independent film finance Currently, DMC Films has ongoing projects with New Line Cinema, Universal Studios and Casey Silver Productions. Another project called the Chrysler Film Project was launched by Cogan in 2006. This project was a screenwriting and directing competition, underwritten by Chrysler. It was developed in order to identify emerging and credible new voices in American independent films and to finance their final project. In the program, Cogan oversaw the screenplay and directing competition and secured co-financing for Chryslar for the winning film. One winning project of the program, 'Blue Valentine' starred Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. It was directed by Derek Cianfrance was released in August 2008. Dan Cogan has also backed the film, 'Torte Bluma'. It is a short film based on the true story of Nazi death camp commandant Franz Stengl. 'Torte Bluma' was directed by Benjamin Ross and starred Stellan Skarsgard and Simon McBurney. Dan Cogan worked as a speechwriter before he plunged into the film industry. He was a speechwriter for Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and a journalist for The New Republic, The New York Observer and The Washington Monthly. Dan Cogan earned his B.A. from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude, and attended the Film Division at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts. His wife's name is Liz Garbus. Liz Garbus is an American documentary film director and producer. Her 2011 film, 'Bobby Fischer Against the World', opened the documentary section of that year's Sundance Film Festival, reserved for master American documentary filmmakers.

Dan Cogan is also the co-founder of Gamechanger Films which finances narrative features directed by women. He founded Gamechanger Films along with Julie Parker Benello, Geralyn Dreyfous, and Wendy Ettinger. Mynette Louie is the President, and Mary Jane Skalski is the senior adviser. His company, 'Impact Partners' has financed more than 50 films since its inception in 2007 including films like, 'The Cove' and 'The Garden.'Both films were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film in 2009. His film, 'Hell and Back Again' won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize and Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. 'Hell and Back Again' was also nominated for an Academy Award for best Documneatry Feature in 2012. His other film, 'How to Survive a Plague' was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2013. Dan Cogan produced the documentary film, 'Knuckleball!' in 2012. 'Knuckleball!' is a documentary that showcases baseball's most unpredictable pitch. It follows the 2011 seasons of Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey, Major League Baseball's only knuckleball pitchers that year. 2016 saw the release of the documentary film, 'Death by Design' co-produced by Dan Cogan. 'Death by Design' explores the cost of digital dependency on lives and the environment. At the Oscar 2018, his film, 'Icarus' is nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Film. Oscar 2018 will be held on March 4, 2018. Mr. Cogan has spoken on documentary films and film financing at several film festivals, conferences and classes around the world, including Sundance, Toronto, Hot Docs, Tribeca, the IFP’s Independent Film Week, Film Independent’s Filmmaker Forum, and Columbia University.

Dan Cogan's net worth is $850,000.

Unlike many of the other documentary funders that exist, Impact Partners does not give out money as grants, but as equity investment. “Our goal is to put money into a film, and be able to get it back, so we can roll it into the next film,” explained Cogan. “If we can do that, we could put more money to work, so the money becomes a renewable resource.” Cogan dispels the idea that Impact Partners profits from the films that they support. “It’s an investment strategy that comes out of Silicon Valley,” he explained. “It’s not about just making successful films, but making them sustainable, and able to stand on their own feet.” Impact Partners receives 500 to 600 documentary submissions every year but they must use certain parameters in order to choose a film to finance. They look for the following parameters while shortlisting a film: * “Does the project have the potential to be great cinema?” — i.e. great characters, a narrative arc — and “will it be entertaining and emotionally engaging?” because according to Dan Cogan, social impact and commercial success of a film go hand-in-hand. * "Does the project deal with compelling social issues?" Cogan explains that the current Impact Partner's most popular topics are women’s empowerment and international human rights. * "Can the project make its money back in the marketplace? If a film jumps through those hoops, then we present it to our investors,” said Cogan. "And once the investors see the project, some can choose to invest, whereas others can decline. Every film has its own coalition,” said Cogan. Cogan also added in the interview that Impact Partners is not interested in making money. "They’re doing it because they believe in the power of documentary filmmaking as a means for social change.” Cogan said.