You are listening to The Next Best Picture podcast, and this is my interview with the Oscar winning producer of the film Anora, Alex Coco.

ABC Mark?

First question.

Okay.

It seems like Anora is the culmination of everything you built in over 25 years of filmmaking.

Do you say that's an accurate way to see it?

Um, so I guess that you could say that.

Sean Baker is really a great filmmaker.

He mixes reality with fiction in a very beautiful way.

I mean, I don't know if it's appropriate to say, but like he's definitely my favorite filmmaker I've ever worked with.

There were three eyebooks.

You can see from the production of this movie, we're not making a ton of money. So I had to sell off one of the iPhones to pay your rent, okay? I come from the independent film world. Lots of us wear many hats in this world. So I'm a writer, director, editor. I have a stiff neck. I'm one of the producers. Looking back at takeout, I had to shoot clandestinely.

I had to shoot in a business that we couldn't shut down.

Only two crew members.

I mean, we were the entire crew.

I think the biggest challenge is simply sticking with it.

You know, for so many years, if you're an independent filmmaker, you're barely paying rent.

Before your work gets recognized, you're the only one who's going to believe in your work.

I saw her from about maybe 35 feet away and she just drew me in.

The challenge was really just getting through these years,

learning how to still stay in the industry,

by taking editing jobs, by shooting corporate videos,

...