Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Immersive Hollywood: VR – AR - MR

Session II: - Haas Conference Center - Room 172 & 173, Live Webcast

VR/AR: The Creators - Transforming Entertainment, Media & Advertising and Location Based Entertainment

Dane Smith, Global Head of Business Development, THE THIRD FLOOR, INC.

Jennifer Chavarria, Head of Studio, Kite and Lightning

Shauna Heller, President, North America, AiSolve Limited

Andy Cochrane, ‎‎Independent Digital Director

Tom Wright, Head of Technology and Production, Miltton Group

Andy Vick, Co-President of Virtual Reality & Immersive Entertainment, STXsurreal

Steven Masur, Senior Partner, MG+, Moderator

Dane Smith brings more than a decade of experience as a producer and innovator in visual effects and digital entertainment production to his role leading global business development and strategy at THE THIRD FLOOR.  Across his career, Dane has managed the delivery of over 100 studio and independent projects ranging from live-action and animated features to television series and emerging media platforms, including the motion pictures:  Deadpool, Warcraft, San Andreas, Star Trek Beyond, Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Amazing Spiderman and Looper. In television, he has worked on top episodic shows such as Star Trek: Enterprise, The Man in the High Castle and Game of Thrones. Dane

was visual effects producer on the acclaimed stop-motion animated feature Anomalisa, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Golden Globe and Annie Award nominations, in 2016.  Dane has also contributed to the evolution of 3D stereoscopic production and conversion with projects like Deepsea Challenge for James Cameron, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and 2 and Titanic. In 2015, he expanded his interests to virtual reality, producing VR-presented episodes of Stan Lee and Kapow Entertainment’s Cosmic Crusaders VR, and winning a 2017 Telly award in the process. In his spare time, he educates and inspires the next generation of digital Artists as a faculty member at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects and is an active member of BAFTA, VES and the Producers Guild of America.

Jennifer Chavarria, Head of Studio, Kite and Lightning: Jennifer Chavarria is a passionate individual that thrives on exploring new frontiers in the entertainment industry. As a Producer, Executive Producer, and Head of Production she has managed projects from development through delivery in the film, commercial, music video, live event, interactive, and experiential markets. Jennifer started her career producing and marketing original Live Entertainment IPs that headlined casino showrooms in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. This led to a role as a live segment-consulting producer collaborating on multiple televised award shows for Cossette Productions. As a post and VFX producer, she has worked on projects seen on NBC, FOX, ABC, Amazon, and HBO. Jennifer has also led numerous post and VFX teams to deliver work that has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Visual Effects, received two VMA Award wins for Best Editing and Video of the Year, and a MVPA Award win for Best Editing. As Head of Production of Mind Over Eye Studios, a content creation division of TEN: The Enthusiast Network, she was an integral part of growing and expanding the studio which distributes content to the largest automotive and outdoor enthusiast audience in the world. This past year she has joined the award-winning virtual reality studio, Kite and Lightning, as Head of Studio to launch a tournament style multiplayer VR game called “Bebylon Battle Royale.”

Shauna Heller is President, North America of AiSolve: AiSolve is a ten year old British technology company that uses artificial intelligence to create VR and MR applications across leisure and simulation training. Their products include WePlayVR, a turn-key multi-player location based VR attraction for theme parks and family entertainment centers and VRSims, a simulation training platform for enterprise, defense and healthcare. Prior to assuming that role, Heller was the founder of Clay Park, an advisory firm for institutions, corporations and developers exploring VR.  Heller began her work in immersive technology at Oculus, where she was the developer relations specialist managing VR development across enterprise, education and location based entertainment.  BVR (before virtual reality), Heller was an LA-based director of business development for boutique creative technology companies working in virtual production and performance capture, where she focused on building partnerships and projects spanning education, entertainment and themed entertainment.

Tom Wright, Head of Technology and Production, Miltton Group: Tom Wright is Miltton Group’s Head of Technology and Production, bringing a focus on innovative content and creative technology production in AR, VR and experiential marketing to Miltton’s offering. Miltton is a Nordics-based global agency network, focused on the relationship between brands and society, including consumers, governments, and societal and social movements. Prior to joining Miltton, Tom was Managing Director for North America at Ntropic, a creative production agency, and Co-Founder of VR, AR and experiential studio Tactic. At Ntropic, Tom was responsible for its San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York offices. During his time there, Ntropic worked on commercials, content, digital and print executions for brands such as Coke, Visa, Xbox, Ford, Apple, eBay, Google, Nest and the NY Times. Experiential projects included a sixteen-screen Times Square takeover by artist Marco Brambilla, the opening for the Google i/o conference, the engine-based Google Play “Cube” generative art installation, and launch work for Apple on products including the Mac Pro, iPad and Apple Watch. As a founder of Tactic, Tom worked on VR capture technology and IP, and the development of room scale CG experiences, giving him a strong perspective as a direct VR and AR technology partner for brands since 2012. Among other achievements,Tactic was Webby honored for a Jose Cuervo Augmented Reality app, developed for McCann NY. In his advertising life, Tom was most recently SVP, Director of Integrated Production at twofifteenmccann (IPG), handling award winning work for Xbox Global, Halo, HP Global, and Coca Cola, among others. Before that, Tom was VP, Director of Integrated Production at Hal Riney (Publicis), and Integrated Executive Producer at Cutwater (Omnicom). Tom’s consulting work over the years has included work for Nike, Ford Global, Brand Jordan, Starbucks, and a host of other clients. Tom’s work and the work he’s led has been awarded at Cannes (Cyber, Integrated), TED's "Ads worth spreading", The One Show and One Show Entertainment, the Webby’s, Andy's, FWA, Clios, Effies, and numerous AICPs. Tom has been a speaker on VR/AR disruption of Entertainment and Advertising, and has served as a judge for the One Show and AICP awards competitions. Tom was chairman of the San Francisco Show in 2016.

Andy Vick, Co-President of Virtual Reality & Immersive Entertainment, STXsurreal: Andy Vick joins STX as Co-President of Virtual Reality & Immersive Entertainment. Vick co-founded Surreal, a content and technology company, producing and distributing immersive experiences. Prior to launching Surreal, Vick was Head of Development at Maker Studios, where he oversaw creative development across the company's 22 owned and operated verticals. During this period Maker was the largest distributor of short form content in the world. After The Walt Disney Company acquired Maker in early 2014, Vick continued to build the bridge between digital and linear by selling long-form programming into the Disney ecosystem developed with the company’s high profile digital talent. Previous to Maker, Vick wrote and produced Television and Film for companies such as DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox with credits including Neighbors from Hell on TBS, as well as rewrites for DreamWorks’ animated feature franchises, Madagascar and Shrek. Vick sold a number of original pilots, including a half-hour comedy to FOX in 2010. His first industry job was a Production Assistant at J.J. Abram’s company, Bad Robot.

Andrew Cochrane is a Director working in interactive and immersive mediums such as virtual and augmented reality, installations, live events, and mobile and web apps. Many of his recent projects have been through Mirada‘s exciting digital group, which focuses on combining the company’s passion for storytelling with emerging technologies. As a creative and technical leader, Andrew offers a unique blend of narrative focus, artistic savvy, and high-tech problem solving. Andrew is very involved in the growing immersive entertainment space, having created content for Google Cardboard, GearVR, and PC-based HMD’s.  As a director, some of his recent credits include overseeing a VR tour of Google’s retail program, the intro for Google’s Jump 360º video platform, and a commercial for the Barco Escape theater system featuring M&Ms. He also created and directed a real-time visuals piece for Intel that was featured in their Realsense Anthem ad campaign and featured on their mainstage at CES 2016. Additionally, Andrew was a creative and technical lead on VR experiences for USA Today, Mr. Robot, The Strain, Error! Hyperlink reference not valid., and Michigan Football. He is also working on multiple projects that use technologies such as Google’s Tango, real-time performance capture, and various augmented reality platforms. He has also served as a technical lead for many exciting interactive projects that used techniques such as projection mapping, dataviz and the world’s first WebGL interactive music video. His traditional credits include directing commercials for clients such as M&M’s, Google, VIZIO, Target, LG, and Disney. He was also a director and creative technical supervisor on the iPad App “Cornelia Funke’s MirrorWorld” which won a Cannes Silver Lion for “Best Visual Design/Aesthetic.”

Steven Masur, Senior Partner, MG+: Steven Masur has over 22 years of experience advising emerging and established businesses on new opportunities and business challenges. He focuses his practice on corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, entertainment, emerging businesses and strategic guidance. Steve has extensive experience in angel and venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and cross-border transactions in Europe and Asia. He is passionate about helping new businesses plan a path to success, and helping older businesses bridge the gap to new markets. Steve brings a unique mix of legal, business, and strategic experience to bear on client matters. He has counseled enterprise level clients including Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, Bob Vila and Conde Nast Publications in corporate, digital media, and new business matters. He has also helped emerging businesses in a wide variety of sectors, and is especially knowledgeable in media, entertainment, advertising, consumer products, food and technology, including mobile, games, digital music, social media, augmented and virtual reality, software and hardware. Steve has been recognized as a “Rising Star” and a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers. He serves on a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards and industry associations, and lectures and writes about major issues in venture capital, emerging businesses, entertainment law, technology and corporate strategy.