The cast of corporate characters that will be in the Main Street core during the Sundance Film Festival is starting to be revealed.
The Park City Council at a recent meeting began the annual approvals needed for corporate interests to have a temporary presence in the city during the festival. The list of licenses provides a preview each year of which name brands will be in Park City during Sundance.
The elected officials at the recent meeting approved a series of special event temporary alcoholic beverage licenses, allowing alcohol to be served. They include:
• Canada Goose, 558 Main St.
• Precious Entertainment, 780 Main St.
• XRM Media Lounge, 751 Main St.
• Chase Media Studio, 580 Main St.
• Netflix Lounge, 890 Main St.
• Chase Sapphire, 573 Main St.
The corporate interests operate in leased space, usually along Main Street or just off the street, providing them visibility during one of the top marketplaces of independent films on the international circuit. The locations are seen as important marketing opportunities with the attention of the film industry focused on Park City.
The firms typically transform the interior and exterior of the leased spaces with their own branding for receptions, film-premiere parties and panel discussions. Some of the locations provide public access at certain times and at other times the spaces are used for the private functions.
The locations, though, are also important economic drivers along Main Street. The lease agreements between the corporate interests and the building owners or tenants are negotiated privately, but some of the deals in previous years were believed to run into the six figures.
Sometimes leases cover the entire festival while other deals can cover just the especially jammed first several days of Sundance.
Building owners or tenants that enter into the agreements see them as optimal compared to remaining open at a time when the Sundance crowds and traffic may make it more difficult for their typical customers.
The City Council at the recent meeting also approved the first convention sales licenses — another license category that covers some of the temporary activities during Sundance. The approvals included a Peet’s Coffee location at 591 Main St. and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts at 317 Main St.
More locations are expected to be approved as Sundance approaches. City Hall said in a statement to The Park Record that additional applications were submitted after the recent City Council meeting.
In response to Park Record inquiry about the number of corporate interests seeking the necessary permits, the municipal government said in a statement “we are keeping pace with a ‘typical’ or ‘normal’ year for number of applications at this time, some applicants are changing their plans day-to-day so it is hard to predict now how many entities will activate come Festival time.”
Sundance is scheduled from Jan. 20 until Jan. 30 with an in-person festival in Park City and an online presence in the year after all in-person events were canceled in Park City out of concern about the spread of the novel coronavirus. The market for temporary leases collapsed in 2021 as a result of the cancellation of the in-person events.