The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced 12 business roundtable discussions set for its 5th annual Summit, “A New Reality: Content Creation and Distribution.” The daylong interactive forum Oct. 26 at the W Hotel in Hollywood will bring together creatives, executives and visionaries from diverse disciplines to illustrate new pathways to creativity and problem solving. Business roundtable moderators include senior executives from Walt Disney Studios, Paradigm Talent Agency, Method Studios, The Third Floor, Scarecrow Visual Effects and Digital District.
Sessions include:
- “Women in VFX” - Getting women involved as artists, managers and technologists in visual effects.
- “The Art of the Deal in Content Creation” - Working within the agency world to get the best project deal.
- “Tapping into the Investor Community” – Strategies for finding the right investor for any project.
- “VFX Facilities of the Future” - A look at how visual effects facilities will evolve to remain competitive.
- “The New Frontiers for VFX” - Exploring new markets beyond feature films, commercials and video gaming.
- “Crowd Sourcing Funds: Kickstarter Successes” – Tapping alternative finance streams for project funding.
- “Operating Multiple Offices Around the World” – Pros and cons of a workforce that straddles the globe.
- “Strategic Partnerships Between Companies” – Symbiotic affiliations between specialized providers to stay competitive – what can they bring to the competitive equation?
- “Virtual Studios: The New Reality” – Using crowd-sourced talent, cloud rendering and online bidding as a new business model.
- “Shooting VFX” – The latest advancements in cameras, production techniques and technology.
- “Collaboration with the Art Directors Guild” – Building new realities.
- “VFX for Commercials” – Current challenges for visual effects production in the fiercely competitive commercial market.
These prominent speakers will share insights into success in the new VFX landscape:
- “Center Square: AMPAS Presidents Exclusive” – Current and former Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Presidents (AMPAS) Cheryl Boone Issacs, Sid Ganis and Hawk Koch will look into life at the center of the changing entertainment industry.
- “Mission: Possible” – Interplanetary robotics expert Nagin Cox will share her frontline perspectives on exploring new frontiers as a systems engineer and manager on multiple missions including NASA/JPL’s Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Mars Exploration Rover Missions and the Kepler telescope mission to search for earth-like planets around other stars.
- “In the Black: New Strategies for VFX Profitability” – Building on the VES’ July 2013 whitepaper, “The State of the Global VFX Industry,” Carnegie Mellon Professor Carl Rosendahl will lead a discussion with top-tier studio and facility experts on new formulas for financial success in the dynamic global marketplace. Panelists include: Chris DeFaria, president, digital production, animation and visual effects, Warner Bros.; Christian Kubsch, president, Method Studios; Tim Sarnoff, president, digital productions, Technicolor; and Ed Ulbrich, producer and former CEO, Digital Domain.
