While the official festival film kicks off Thursday night, the unofficial Sundance fun festival peaks this weekend.
"The number of events this year is up -- way up," Christopher Ryan, creator of the coveted private master grid of Sundance events that makes its rounds in Hollywood each January, told TheWrap.
And everything's open for a corporate activation. "The name of my list might change if I have a brand sponsor it," Ryan says.
With that caveat, TheWrap has chosen the buzziest in advance. Here are the places to be seen:
Best Place to Scout the Next Big Things Now
Before Jennifer Lawrence hunted in “The Hunger Games” or broke out in “Winter’s Bone," she was a Gen Art Fresh Face in Film. “All the attention goes to creative individuals who are already getting all of the attention,” Gen Art’s Jeff Abramson told TheWrap. Seth Rogen associate Ari Graynor and Lizzy Caplan are on the 2012 slate for the post-dinner cocktail party on Friday night.
Best Place to Park It: Bing Bar
It’s also the best bet to see Robert Redford. He hosts the annual “Day One” press conference at the three-story complex that takes over the Claim Jumper hotel.
As an official partner of the film festival, Microsoft’s search for a talent lineup got results for every day part and entertainment category. The veritable Club Med even has its own cruise director, Ross Matthews, who’s the in house correspondent for digital broadcasts.
(Pictured, Florence and the Machine rock Bing Bar last year.)
Talent ranges from feature figures William H. Macy, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bruce Willis, to buzz bands like Group Love and Theophilus London, nightly headliners Drake, Wiz Khalifa and Jason Mraz, and even comedy with popular podcaster Marc Maron sharing the stage with Aziz Ansari on Saturday night.
The six-day cruise sets sail on Friday and lasts longer than most of the other spaces, wrapping up Wednesday.
Best Place to Move and Shake
Follow the credentials and flashbulbs to the stairs at the bottom of Main Street. The T-Mobile/Google Music Village at the Lift is back.
After trotting out Drake, Maroon 5 and Bustah Rhymes to Google Music’s LA launch in November, T-Mobile’s monstrous complex will one-up itself in Park City with nightly performances. But for all those sporting credentials that get them waived behind the barricade during the day, beware. Those credentials don’t mean a thing a night.
Nightlife gurus from celeb friendly TAO will convert the 5,000-square-foot underground garage in to a satellite nightclub. One of the more entertaining visuals at Sundance is watching the national convention of scenesters from both coasts converge on the entry.
When every attendee is a VIP, badgering familiar host Deb Grimmel for the expedited entry they’ve come to experience in L.A.
