Press Release from VES

Los Angeles, June 22, 2010 -- The Visual Effects Society (VES), the world's premiere visual effects organization, announced today that it will hold its second annual Production Summit for the greater entertainment industry on October 23rd.  Production Summit 2010: Navigating Tomorrow’s Business Models will convene a unique consortium of leading creatives, executives and visionaries to look at how to thrive over the next five years in a rapidly changing global economic and technological entertainment environment.  The event will bring together the entertainment community for a day of inspiration, conversation and collaboration.  It will be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey.

“Our inaugural Summit held last October proved to be an amazing success by offering a great opportunity to bring together leading creatives for a wide-ranging discussion covering the gamut from previs to building worldwide pipelines,” says Eric Roth, Executive Director of the VES.  “Because industry changes come so rapidly – on the creative, technological and business fronts – and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future, we decided that bringing key industry stakeholders together annually would be truly beneficial to everyone in our industry.”

This year’s summit will feature ongoing interaction between directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, technologists and visual effects leaders internationally acknowledged for their innovative thinking and responsibility for moving the industry into the next decade.  Attendees will be encouraged to not only think outside the box but also to reinvent the business models of tomorrow which will guide the future of the entertainment industry as its technologies, financial challenges, shrinking schedules, globalization and proliferating distribution platforms continue to evolve.

The Sessions will include:
DOES IT COME WITH WHEELS? How Pushing the On-Set Tech Envelope Affects Your Business
Major industry identifiers are telling us to change.  Pre-postproduction is now a common term on-set.  Smaller, faster, cheaper technology, aggressive timelines, unrealistic budgets and unrelenting competition are all prompting us to do something different.  With the proliferation of the digital cinema/HD cameras, the post industry is now much closer to actual content capture.  With all this technology creeping nearer to the director and cinematographer, we’re heading toward an unprecedented intertwining of relationships between creatives, technologists and manufacturers.

If this becomes the new operating paradigm, what kind of business model is needed – do producers need to budget for more resources up front?  Should greater creative collaboration between creatives, producers and technologists in the pre-production phase become even more pronounced?  Ultimately, what will working on-set in the future look like and how will ever-advancing changes in technology impact creative decisions and everyone’s bottom line?

IT’S SO COOL!  How an ‘Aha’ Moment Offers New Business Opportunities
Creativity arises from various starting points.  We will take a look at individuals and companies who have unleashed their creativity and generated solutions which allow filmmakers and fellow artists greater fluidity in telling stories.  R&D is a challenging and expensive proposition.  There is no return on investment unless the product is used or sold in the marketplace and becomes an industry standard.  Find out the motivation behind companies that stick with R&D on new and uncharted technology.  What made them choose to stay with products that weren’t yet tested globally?

If you or your company has an ‘aha’ moment, how do you capitalize on this creativity and move it forward?  Do you market it internally or seek outside help?  This panel of innovators will discuss the motivation and processes for turning in-house tools into products and profit centers.

TOMORROW'S PRODUCTION RENAISSANCE: Adapting to Ever-Changing Roles