The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today unveiled the nominees for its 2026 HPA Awards Innovation & Technology—the evolution of its Engineering Excellence Award—recognizing exceptional contributions to entertainment technology.

The HPA Awards Innovation & Technology program honors advancements across multiple categories covering the entire production life cycle—from pre-production through distribution and audience experience.

The 2026 nominees are:

Innovation in Preproduction

• Bria AI—GenAI Attribution Technology
• RivetAI Inc.—RivetAI
• Yamdu—AI Script Breakdown and Management Add-On

Innovation in Production & Capture

• American Society of Cinematographers—Media Hash List
• Creamsource—Slyyd Lighting Control App
• Méduse Inc.—Safe Guns Phase-Synced Flash-Gun System

Innovation in VFX, Virtual Production & Animation

• Foundry—Nuke Stage
• Nerfstudio and Industrial Light & Magic—Nerfstudio
• Volinga and XGRIDS—Virtual Production Pipeline

Innovation in Post-Production

• Adobe—Generative Extend in Adobe Premiere
• Flawless—TrueSync
• Storj—Production Cloud

Innovation in Distribution & Audience Experience

• Cineverse—CINESEARCH
• SyncWords Inc.—LiveCore + Kobe Muxer
• V-Nova Studios—V-Nova PresenZ

Winners will be announced Feb. 18 at the 2026 HPA Retreat at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

The HPA Transformative Impact Award and the HPA Tech Retreat Best in Show Award will be presented Feb. 19, at the close of the retreat.

Judging criteria for the Innovation & Technology categories include innovation, current industry impact, technical merit and adoption readiness. Judging panels were curated by experts with deep technical expertise and hands-on knowledge.

More information about each nomination is available on the HPA website.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association has announced several updates to its board of directors effective Jan. 1, including the election of Renard T. Jenkins as the organization’s president.

Jenkins was formerly vice president, co-chair of HPA’s ALL committee and former board liaison of its Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP) program. He is also the former president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).

Tapped to serve as vice president is Craig German, the former HPA secretary. He will continue to serve as the board’s liaison to the YEP and ALL programs.

Rosanna Marino was elected to serve as the HPA board secretary. She will continue to serve as Program Committee co-chair and as board liaison for Women in Post (WIP), HPA said.

Graylind Wherry will continue in his role as the organization’s treasurer.

New board members are Chuck Parker of Sohonet, Morgan Prygrocki of Adobe and Susan Sachs. Pryrgrocki will also serve as board liaison to the YEP program.

“It is an honor to serve as president of the Hollywood Professional Association at a moment of profound transformation for our industry,” Jenkins said. “HPA stands at the intersection of artistry, technology, and leadership, and I deeply value the members and volunteers who make this community a trusted space for innovation and progress. As we move into the new year, I look forward to helping HPA further connect artists, technologists, and executives in a manner that creates new opportunities for collaboration, learning, and a shared vision as we shape the future of storytelling and media together.”

HPA’s past president, Kari Grubin, will step down from the presidency but continue to participate in the organization’s activities, including the planning of the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat.

“I am extremely proud of my years of involvement and of my accomplishments, especially in founding the Women in Post and Young Entertainment Professionals programs, which have helped foster new opportunities and leadership in our community,” she said.

For more on the HPA, its board of directors or its leadership, visit HPAonline.com.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today said futurist Robert Tercek, creative technologist Jessie Hughes from Leonardo.AI and Emmy-winning creator Bernie Su are among the influential voices who will offer their insights during the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, Feb. 15-19, at the Westin Rancho Mirage (Calif.) Golf Resort & Spa.

This year also marks a milestone for the event as Mark Schubin, the prolific industry veteran who has served as program maestro for nearly three decades, curates his final event. Schubin's legacy of shaping the retreat will be celebrated throughout the week, HPA said.

During the four-day program, the retreat will explore how AI is transforming storytelling, how creator-driven platforms are redefining content strategies and how cloud-based workflows continue to reshape the media supply chain. In addition to Terek, Hughes and Su, leaders from OpenAI and CrunchLabs will be on hand.

The retreat will also shed light on Washington policy developments and conversations that look well beyond the present, it said.

“Our industry is at a critical crossroads, impacted by the challenges and opportunities that technology itself represents,” Leon Silverman, HPA Tech Retreat Planning Committee chair, said.

“For our 2026 Tech Retreat, we are convening an important and timely industry conversation and program filled with some of our industry's most informed voices who are navigating at the edge of this dynamic change and generously sharing their knowledge,” Silverman said. “And since the retreat’s inception, this collection of tech conversation leaders has been pioneered and curated by Mark Schubin, whose name is synonymous with the HPA Tech Retreat. His enduring contributions to this amazing industry innovation conversation, while also serving as the Tech Retreat’s face, brain, chronicler and timekeeper since its earliest days, will be a legacy long celebrated.”

The event’s Tuesday Supersession will look at the forces transforming media creation under the theme “WTF Is Going On in the Media Industry?” The program, curated by Silverman, will dive into AI filmmaking, creator-led economies and next-generation workflows.

Highlights include Ed Ulbrich on the artistry and ethics of generative tools, Hughes of Leonardo.AI exploring the intersection of algorithms and creativity and Su, alongside Chad Nelson of OpenAI and Pojo Riegert of CrunchLabs, unpacking the creator economy.

The day will also tackle the business of the business, as Seth Hallen moderates a conversation with Ethan Jacks, Vince Pizzica and Joe Harkins on how business leaders can navigate—and capitalize on—the massive disruption redefining today’s media supply chain. Other sessions will explore what these shifts mean for traditional film and television workflows, the rise of cloud-based production and how AI is reshaping vendor strategies as a new supply chain emerges, it said.

Monday sets the stage with the TR-X program themed “Imagine No Limits.” A call to rethink workflows and creative possibilities in an era of rapid transformation, the day will feature conversations on future-facing strategies, including a panel on what the next decade holds for media and entertainment and a CG Pro workshop focused on reskilling talent for evolving studio pipelines. Monday concludes with a keynote from futurist Tercek, who will share a provocative perspective on creativity and technology in a boundary-free future.

Other programming includes midweek roundtables and sessions on AI-assisted editing, cloud-era media pipelines, CES 2026 trends and a technology year in review. New features include gHack, a Google Hackathon on Sunday, designed to educate and foster collaboration. Other Sunday activities include the annual HPA Golf Tournament and informal networking, providing a relaxed start to an intensive week of ideas and discovery, it said.

The event schedule is available online.

BURBANK, Calif.—Hollywood Professionals Association Executive Director Phil Kubel has stepped down from the organization to pursue new opportunities, the group said.

“We thank him for his many contributions to HPA over the past six years,” HPA said in an email announcement sent by its board of directors.

HPA executives Joyce “JC” Cataldo and Alicia Rock will serve as interim executive directors while fulfilling their current duties, the group said. Cataldo is head of development and strategy, while Rock serves as director of operations and events.

The HPA is a trade organization serving individuals and companies that provide creative and technical expertise, support, tools and infrastructure for professional content creation, distribution and archive, the group said.

“Joyce and Alicia have been integral to HPA’s growth and are deeply committed to our mission,” the HPA board’s email said. “We’re in great hands with them at the helm.”

Kubel joined HPA as director in May of 2019, managing the group’s day-to-day business and supporting strategic planning, membership development and program development. He was promoted to executive director in 2022.

A graduate of the University of Southern California, Kubel worked in a number of production-related positions prior to joining HPA, including as vice president of postproduction for HRTV, a network specializing in horse racing and equestrian content. In 2015, he was named vice president and executive producer for Stromach Digital, where he oversaw the launch of XBTV, a multimedia horse racing product providing insight and analysis to bettors.

HPA said planning continues for its 2026 Tech Retreat, set for Feb. 15-19, 2026. “We’re excited to bring the community together again for a week of bold ideas, meaningful dialogue and powerful connection,” the HPA email said.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today said it has begun accepting submissions for its expanded HPA Engineering Excellence Awards, which now honor innovation and technology.

The expanded program, called HPA Awards Innovation & Technology, reflects how innovation and disruptive technology are contributing to the rapid evolution of the media content industry and the broader M&E technology space, HPA said.

“The Engineering Excellence Award created a legacy we’re proud of. These new awards take that foundation and move us into the future,” said HPA Awards Innovation & Technology co-chair Joachim Zell.

For 20 years, the HPA Engineering Excellence Award has recognized engineering achievement. The HPA Awards Innovation & Technology introduces new categories that cover the entire production lifecycle from pre-production through distribution and audience experience.

The expanded awards recognize the impact of innovation and technology on the broader professional media and entertainment ecosystem, spanning film, television, streaming, advertising and branded content for lifestyle and retail experiences, it said.

The criteria for judging will include innovation, current industry impact, technical merit and adoption readiness.

Awards will be presented for:

• Innovation in pre-production
• Innovation in production and capture
• Innovation in VFX, virtual production and animation
• Innovation in post-production
• Innovation in distribution and audience experience

HPA is also launching two special awards, the HPA Transformative Impact Award and the HPA Tech Retreat Best in Show. The former recognizes the single idea in any given year with the most potential to transform the professional media content industry ecosystem. Any submissions for the listed categories are automatically eligible for consideration for the transformative impact award.

The latter special award will be selected by HPA Tech Retreat attendees at the most innovative technology exhibited in the Innovation Zone at the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat.

“We’re expanding recognition to spotlight practical innovations that teams can deploy today — while highlighting the ideas most likely to redefine tomorrow,” said co-chair Chuck Parker.

The HPA Awards Innovation & Technology will be presented at the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat on Feb. 18, 2026, at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

HPA also announced key awards date:

• Submission deadline: October 17, 2025.
• Nominations announced: January 2026.
• HPA Awards Innovation & Technology Ceremony: Feb. 18, 2026.
• HPA Special Awards Honors given: Feb. 19, 2026.

More information is available on the HPA website.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has opened the call for proposals for conference sessions and Roundtables at the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, along with applications for the highly anticipated Innovation Zone.

The event will take place February 15-19, 2026, at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. As in past years, the venue will be exclusive to registered attendees for the duration of the event.

Now in its fourth decade, The 2026 HPA Tech Retreat will feature peer-submitted conference sessions, daily Roundtables, keynotes, networking events, and hands-on technology demonstrations. Its single-track format ensures that attendees move through the experience together, promoting meaningful dialogue across disciplines.

"Each year, the HPA Tech Retreat reminds us of the power of shared knowledge and community," said Kari Grubin, President of HPA. "The rapid pace of technological change makes it essential that we come together to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and inspire innovation. I encourage anyone with a fresh perspective or bold idea to submit a proposal — your voice can shape the conversations that define the future of our industry."

Proposals can be submitted for the following:

• Conference Session. Proposals may be brief and informal and should be submitted to proposals@hpaonline.com by October 1, 2025.
• Roundtable Proposals. These are first-come, first-served until full. Proposals should be submitted to proposals@hpaonline.com.
• Innovation Zone Applications. The Innovation Zone is a carefully curated showcase of breakthrough technologies. To learn more and apply, visit HPATechRetreat.com.

Capacity is limited, and the event is expected to sell out. Early registration and proposal submissions are strongly encouraged.

More information is available at HPATechRetreat.com.

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF.—The movers and shakers of the content production community gathered under the HPA Tech Retreat banner once again here in southern California’s Coachella Valley resort area to hear about the latest industry trends, technological breakthroughs and issues, network, and also “kick back” a bit from winter doldrums.

The year’s event, held Feb. 16-20, marked the 30th anniversary of a gathering that began as a rather small “winter break” and eventually morphed over the years into a consistently sold-out “must attend” conference, with attendance limited to 800. The Hollywood Professional Association serves the professional community of the post-production industry in film, television, and digital media.

As might be expected, the topic of artificial intelligence permeated the 2025 Tech Retreat, with AI either the subject or object of more than a third of the presentations, and managing to creep into a number of other panel discussions and exchanges of information. (AI-related topics even factored into the Retreat’s daily “breakfast roundtable” discussions where attendees could listen to, and join in, timely discussions as they enjoy breakfast.)

The Human Factor In AI-Based Content Creation
“This year’s topic could not be more timely,” said Seth Hallen, HPA past-president, in opening the conference’s initial “Supersession,” which was themed “The Evolving Human Role in AI-Driven Film and TV Production and Post-Production Workflows.”

“A year ago, we sat on this stage and introduced — and maybe in some cases — dragged people into this world of AI,” said Hallen. “Since then, we have marveled at the sheer power of these tools. AI is transforming workflows and long-held processes, and causing more debate than any technology shift that we’ve seen in years. But today, we’re going to shift our focus. Let’s refocus our attention away from the tools themselves and turn, in fact, to the humans, because the real power of AI isn’t about replacing creativity, it’s about amplifying it.

Hallen then turned the program over to Renard Jenkins, president and chief executive officer of I2A2 Technologies, Studios and Labs, who stressed the importance of the human factor in meaningfully creating anything with artificial intelligence.

Jenkins observed that one year ago, AI’s stage of development could be compared to that of an infant or toddler, and in the intervening period, that toddler has now developed into a teenager. “We’re at the stage where AI thinks it knows more than we do,” he said. “We can do nothing right in AI’s eyes. We are not helpful to AI.”

Jenkins noted, however, that whether or not “the teenager” agrees, it still needs guidance.

“The teenager still needs the input from parents. Teenagers — no matter how smart they think they are — can only learn, can only grow [if they have guidance].”

In relating this human analogy to AI, Jenkins stressed that developers of the technology needed to spend plenty of time to be sure that their models “are ethically sourced, responsibly built, and actually have a purpose,” and not to merely “graft off what’s already there.”

He also offered encouragement for anyone who might feel threatened by the incursion of AI into the content creation industry. “If anybody tells you that AI is going to replace the workers, replace the artists, AI is going to replace, replace, replace…, I will theorize that person is extremely misguided as to how these tools and how these systems should be used, and how they can be most impactful to us as a society.”

Jenkins admonished anyone whose work and career path will likely involve AI technology to take advantage of the educational opportunities that now exist in the area of artificial intelligence and get “upskilled.”

“Upskilling” is the way forward for those of you who are concerned about where our industry is going,” he said. “Start now Prepare yourself for where this is going. Get yourself into this space.”

A Fresh Look At AI
Tech Retreat presentations also examined changes in AI evolution during the past year.

In one of these — “Is The Industry Sitting On An AI Goldmine Or A Ticking Timebomb?” — Richard Welsh, SMPTE president and senior vice president of innovation at Deluxe, provided an update on recent legal decisions involving the technology, with one of these providing some amplification on the previously-established rulings on copyrightability involving AI.

“The [U.S. Copyright] Office confirms that the use of AI to assist in the process of creation or the inclusion of AI-generated material in a larger human-generated work does not bar copyrightability,” said Welsh, in citing a very recent (Jan. 29, 2025) U.S. Copyright Office bulletin. He added that this excluded, however, “the mere provision of prompts.”

Welsh said that the European Union is also taking a fresh look at AI, repeating a Feb. 12 dispatch from Reuters that reported that “draft rules that regulated technology patents, AI and consumer privacy to messaging apps had been scrapped.”

He also noted that an EU “Liability Directive” now allows consumers to bring lawsuits based on “harm due to the fault or omission of (the) provider, developer or user of AI technology,” and that new legislation requires generative AI developers to disclose if copyrighted material is used in training data.

Welsh said that the “ticking timebomb” in the title of his presentation referred to legal aspects surrounding content that involved AI in some way. “We in the industry need to spend a lot of time talking about this,” said Welsh.

In looking at some of the items content creators needed to consider when involving AI in their work, Welsh noted that “AI needs to be trained only on your own work, so data from other’s works doesn’t get in there.”

He also stated that traceability of all elements used in creating content was very important. “Rights are going to become more and more important; this is already a big issue,” said Welsh. With the explosion of content originating from dashcams, surveillance cameras, other non-mainstream sources, it’s more important than ever to know where your video clips are coming from.

“Every bit of data that comes into your organization needs to be tagged as to its source,” said Welsh. “Tag everything.”

Can AI Have A Role In Sustainability?
In a slightly different take on the value of AI in the media industry, Barbara Lange, principal and chief executive officer of Kibo121, noted in her presentation — “AI for Good: The Role of Emerging Tech in Sustainability”— that AI was something of a double-edged sword.

Lange observed that AI is a very energy-hungry technology, stating that “by 2030, over 20% of U.S. electricity could be powering data centers for AI,” and noting that in light of this “sustainability is not just a responsibility; it’s a business imperative.”

Lange stated that AI did have a “plus side,” as it is a powerful search tool, and in this application could be used effectively by content creators to reduce the need for re-shoots, which in turn would save time, money, and transportation costs, all of which would go to reducing the M&E industry’s carbon footprint.

“AI is already being deployed in other industries with an eye to sustainability,” she said. “Increasing efficiency in transportation, enhancing indoor climate control, making appliances smarter, optimizing agriculture outcomes, optimizing electricity use, and maximizing resources and utilities.”

Everyone Can Now Be A Content Producer/Distributor
Apart from the main AI theme, a special pre-conference TR-X (“Tech Retreat eXtreme”) program themed “Affordable Production” focused on today’s increasing democratization in the areas of content creation and distribution. “Affordable Production.”

“I don’t know of any other generation in Hollywood that’s been confronted with such a tectonic industry shift in such a small period of time,” stated TR-X co-chair, Mark Chiolis, in describing the disruption created by the emergence of inexpensive devices for capturing content and the pipelines and channels for distributing this content.

In his “Disruptive Pixels: The Big Power of Small Budgets” session keynote, Mike Cioni, founder of several start-up M&E production operations, described the shift in consumer content consumption patterns, citing a survey that revealed “in 2023 the average American purchased only two movie theater tickets, and 84% of podcasts are being viewed on video platforms.”

Cioni blamed this situation on a reluctance by the content production industry to break away from long-established practices and patterns associated with maintaining perhaps an artificially high level of quality, referring to this condition as “friction.”

“In order for us to maintain that quality, we introduced a lot of friction,” he said. “This worked for a long time. If you make a production, you know that it is slow, it is hard, it is expensive. Production and distribution is super complicated and hard. Many companies are now acting on their momentum rather than their propulsion. I believe that there is major trouble on the horizon. I believe that this is why our industry is facing what it’s facing.”

Cioni noted that while breaking away from established practices could be risky, there were rewards for those willing to try something new and different. “If you bet wisely on early adopted technologies, when those inevitably hit as industry standards, your path will be so far ahead that everybody else will be behind.”

Cioni drove home the fact that “the technology gap is shrinking,” by showing video clips illustrating the image quality provided by three very different cameras. The first was captured with an ARRI Alexa, the second with a Fuji GFX 100 camera in the under-$10K price range, and the third was produced by a consumer iPhone. Other than some slight differences in depth of field, the imagery was strikingly identical in quality.

“The difference between a camera costing nearly $100,000 is not that much different than a $1,000 camera,” said Cioni. “It’s all about accessibility to technology.”

In commenting on the shift in content distribution platforms, Cioni noted that “YouTube represented 20.3% of TV viewing in July 2024 according to Nielsen.”

Mark Schubin’s Industry Updates
A regular feature of Tech Retreats is Mark Schubin’s “Technology Year in Review,” in which, in his words, “presents news items involving the cinema and television industry that may have gone unnoticed by many.”

This year, Schubin, a multiple Emmy Award winner and the Retreat’s official “wrangler” or “program maestro,” led off with some good and bad news about movie houses.

“Cinema is still not dead, I’m happy to report,” said Schubin, observing that gross receipts for 2024 were just about what they’d been in 2005. “The problem is that the consumer product index has gone up 65% since 2005, so it’s not the same. It’s comparing apples to oranges.”

Schubin reported that in order to remain in operation, some citizens groups are now buying movie theaters and operating them on a non-profit basis.

Other lesser reported industry news in Schubin’s review included Nielsen figures indicating that streaming now accounts for more than 43% of all viewing, and that while the majority of streaming content a year ago was older TV shows, it’s now mostly new content. Another reversal is the way viewers are consuming content.

“The TV is now a primary viewing device,” he said. “People are not using their phones as much as they’re using their TVs.”

Other factoids from Schubin included a comeback of the videocassette, with a new movie, “Alien: Romulus,” being offered in VHS format in a limited release, genetically-engineered bacteria that can be used as a form of AI in solving a range of problems, the promised availability from Nvidia of a consumer supercomputer for less than $250, and a new satellite constructed entirely from wood.

Looking Forward
The 2026 HPA Tech Retreat will again be held at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa. Conference dates are set for Feb. 15-19.

LOS ANGELES—The 2025 Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Tech Retreat, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, has released the first program details for the retreat set for Feb. 16-20, 2025, at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California.

Programming at the event takes on areas of crucial interest to the industry, HPA said, including TR-X on Monday, Feb. 17, which will focus on Affordable Production. The complete schedule is available here.

The HPA Tech Retreat consistently sells out well in advance and registration is expected to reach capacity quickly, HPA said. Attendance is strictly capped to foster an atmosphere that promotes discussion, debate and connection, the group said.

“There are topics that make us pace the floor. As they always do, things in our industry are changing, and there’s concern and interest in that change,” said Mark Schubin, who has been guiding HPA Tech Retreat programming for more than 20 years. “We got more submissions than ever this year and the committee was impressed with not just the number, but the sheer quality of those submissions. Of course, AI is a consistent thread, but there is so much more, voices from the music industry and live events, sports, pure explorations of storytelling, business cases and cloud workflows all showed up. There was an abundance of riches. Reading these proposals is an honest behind-the-curtain view of what is happening in our industry and from those, we’ve come up with what I think is a bang-up program.”

HPA Tech Retreat programming opens on Monday morning, Feb. 17, when doors open for the Innovation Zone and the Welcome Brunch. TR-X follows in the afternoon. Details for the HPA Supersession, set for Tuesday, Feb. 18, will be announced shortly.

Sessions for Wednesday and Thursday’s program include the following:

Wednesday, February 19
What CES 2025 Means for the Media Industry
Speaker: Mark Harrison, DPP

What do CTOs really think? Key findings from the DPP Media CTO Survey
Speakers: Mark Harrison and Rowan de Pomerai, DPP

Deploying an UltraHD Broadcast Experience Through HDR and SDR Infrastructures
Moderator: Michael Zink, LG Electronics and the Ultra HD Forum
Panelists: Bill Baggelaar, UHD Alliance; Annie Chang, Universal Pictures

Joshua Pines Opines
Speaker: Josh Pines, Picture Shop

Is the industry sitting on an AI goldmine or a ticking time bomb?
Speaker: Rich Welsh, Deluxe

How entrepreneurs can successfully launch, fund, and grow a start-up tech company in the M&E sector utilizing advanced technologies including AI
Moderator: Ethan Jacks, MediaBridge Capital Advisors

Behind the Screens: Pushing the Boundaries of Live Entertainment at Sphere
Moderator: Jonathan Martin, WEKA

Live Event Tech: Tours, Festivals & Residencies—IMAG to Streaming
Moderator: Mark Chiolis, Mobile TV Group
Panelists: Jim Toten; Jeff Carman

Olympics Open and Coverage 2024: Advancing Live Production Technology
Speaker: Renard Jenkins, I2A2 Technologies, Studios & Labs

AI in Live Sports Production: IBM and Wimbledon’s Sustainable Tech Revolution
Speaker: Barbara Lange, Kibo121

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment’s Journey in Adopting Video Foundation Models for Content Creation
Speaker: Ryan Khurana, MLSE; Travis Couture, Twelve Labs

Harnessing Gen AI to Elevate Accessibility, Inclusivity, and Compliance in Media, Entertainment, and Sports
Speaker: Carin Forman, AWS

Rethinking Fast Turnaround Workflows for the Cloud
Speaker: Chris Swan, AWS U.K.

Transforming Archives Into Active Content Libraries: Unlocking the Potential of Legacy Media
Moderator: Soyoung Lee, Twelve Labs
Panelist: Heidi Shakespeare, Memnon Archive Services

Thursday, Feb. 20
Navigating the New Normal: Production Trends and Industry Shifts in TV and Film
Speaker: Alex LoVerde, ProdPro

AI Was Not the Great Disrupter
Moderator: John Footen, Deloitte Consulting
Panelists: Jason Williamson, Deloitte Consulting; Seth Hallen

Love Hurts—But It Doesn’t Have to in the Cloud!
Moderator: Annie Chang, Universal Pictures

Harmonizing Virtual Production and Visual Effects
Speaker: Mathieu Mazerolle, Foundry

Understanding the Threat Landscape of AI Workflows in Localization, Digital Film, and Dubbing
Mathew Gilliat-Smith, ConvergentDS
Panelists: Ben Stanbury, The Walt Disney Studios; Keith Ritlop, ConvergentDS (formerly Disney, NBCU, Fox)

Standards, SMPTE, and ISO
Sally-Ann D’Amato, SMPTE
Panelists: Thomas Bause Mason, SMPTE; Renard Jenkins, I2A2 Technologies, Studios & Labs; Andy Maltz, General Intelligence

From Stone Age to Screen Age: The Epic Tale of Visual Storytelling
Speakers: Seth Hallen and Alan Lasky

AI Applications in Media Workflows
Moderator: Thomas True, NVIDIA

Bridging the Uncanny Valley: Artificial Individual Intelligence (Aii)
Speaker: Dave Ginsberg and Jerry Rees, Artificial Individual Intelligence

Shaping Stories with Media Intelligence: From Search to Storytelling
Speaker: Morgan Prygrocki, Adobe

How Do I Deal With All These Live Streams?
Speaker: Chris Lennon, Ross Video

Media Cyber Security and Trust
Speaker: Hans Hoffmann, European Broadcasting Union

Vid2Vec: The First AI-Driven “Narrative Grammar” for Film & TV
Speaker: Yves Bergquist, Entertainment Technology Center—USC Cinematic Arts

Creative Flow or Friction? Exploring Artists’ Emotional and Cognitive Responses to AI in Media Production
Renard Jenkins, Clayton Moser, I2A2 Technologies, Studios & Labs
Panelist: Holly Beavon, Fielding Graduate University

Post-Retreat Treat: The “Ghost Army” That Fooled Hitler
Speakers: Anne Brooker-Grogan and Ed Grogan

TR-X Affordable Production (Feb. 17)
This year, the popular TR-X session will focus on behind-the-scenes insights from affordable productions. The afternoon includes case studies, panel discussions and keynotes that feature leading creatives and technologists who share experiences and expertise. Panels and speakers will bring their real-world experiences of bringing high-end, sports and lower-budget productions to outstanding results with limited resources. Current panelists include a keynote from Michael Cioni, and discussions with Kathryn Brillhart, Lori H. Schwartz, Angela Victor, Julian Higgins, Christopher Nichols, Alex LoCasale, Renard Jenkins, Erik Weaver, Jason Dachman, Brandin Grams, David Shapiro, Nick Busto, Tahira Foy, Starry H. Focus, Brian Tran, Lina Sanchez, Kiera Williams and more. Full details of the day are forthcoming.

BREAKFAST ROUNDTABLES (Feb. 18, 19 and 20)
The perennially popular HPA Tech Retreat Breakfast Roundtables take place before programming starts, Tuesday through Thursday. On those mornings, expert-led thought tables cover a wide variety of topics of interest to a vibrant group of attendees. With more than 75 tables currently booked and more added daily, the Breakfast Roundtables present an incredible bench of expertise, connection and dialogue. For a list of roundtables, visit HPATechRetreat.com.

INNOVATION ZONE (February 17, 18 and 19)
Registered attendees can explore the latest technologies in The Innovation Zone, the Retreat’s remarkable demo area where more than 60 curated technology companies demonstrate and discuss the most groundbreaking tech available today. For companies interested in exhibiting their tech, limited space remains; contact jcataldo@hpaonline.com for details.

NETWORKING (Every day from Feb. 16-20)
The 2025 HPA Tech Retreat takes place thanks to the generosity of The Studio-B&H, Sohonet, Dell Technologies, Adobe, Signiant, Dolby, and Tech Align Group. For information on sponsoring the 2025 HPA Tech Retreat, contact Joyce Cataldo at jcataldo@hpaonline.com.

For more information about the HPA Tech Retreat, visit www.hpaonline.com.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association, the trade group for entertainment industry creative and technical support professionals, has named Joyce “JC” Cataldo as head of development and strategy, a new role.

Cataldo was hired in 2017 as the director of business development at the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers and HPA, transitioning full-time to HPA in 2020. In her new capacity, she’ll lead a team tasked with expanding membership, enhancing opportunities and driving HPA’s strategic growth.

“Joyce plays an absolutely critical role on the HPA team,” HPA Executive Director Phil Kubel said in a statement. “She consistently demonstrates dedication, strategic insight, and commitment to growing the organization and serving the community. In her new role, Joyce will continue to bring her vision and leadership to the mission of HPA to serve and strengthen the professional media and entertainment community.”

Cataldo’s responsibilities include cultivating strong relationships with senior industry leaders, refining corporate membership offerings and pursuing grants and collaborative opportunities that align with the organization’s goals, HPA said. Her reports will include Deanna Villarreal, recently promoted to membership engagement specialist; Max Ma, who will continue to manage the group’s database, website and technical operations; and Roberta Gorman, membership consultant; as well as HPA’s sales team.

“I’m committed to the success of our members,” Cataldo said. “The relationships that I have developed over the course of my career are of paramount importance to me. I'm thrilled to continue building upon the important work we’ve begun to grow and serve our community.

“The HPA team, board, and our members are simply the best in the industry and it’s an honor to work with them,” she added. “Together, we’ll continue to nurture HPA’s membership and sponsorship ecosystem and build partnerships across traditional and emerging sectors in service to our members.”

Prior to joining HPA and SMPTE, Cataldo was senior account and business development manager at Wall Street Communications. Before entering the media and entertainment sector, she spent more than 10 years coordinating undergraduate recruiting at over 70 schools for investment bank J.P. Morgan. She also managed the on-campus recruitment program and sought sponsorships from Fortune 500 companies at New York University, her alma mater.

The HPA is a nonprofit group serving businesses and individuals who provide expertise, support, tools, and infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, television, commercials, digital media and other dynamic media content. For more on the group, visit hpaonline.com.

The Hollywood Professional Association Monday tapped a host of creative teams from high-profile projects as Creative Category Nominees in the 2024 HPA Awards, with ceremonies set for Nov. 7 at The Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre in Hollywood.

The 19th annual HPA Awards are intended to celebrate the exceptional contributions of creative teams and individuals to entertainment content, spotlighting the work of artists and technologists. The postproduction-focused awards recognize work in color grading editing, sound and visual effects across episodic TV shows, feature films, documentaries and commercials. There’s also a category recognizing excellence in the restoration of classic films.

This year’s nominees are:

• Outstanding Color Grading—Live Action Theatrical Feature: “Blink Twice,” Damien Vandercruyssen/Harbor; “The Creator,” David Cole/FotoKem; “Dune: Part Two,” David Cole/ FotoKem; “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Eric Whipp/Alter Ego; “Immaculate,” Andrea Chlebak/Harbor
• Outstanding Color Grading—Animated Theatrical Feature: “Inside Out 2,” Mark Dinicola/Pixar Animation Studios; “Ultraman: Rising,” Maxine Gervais/Picture Shop
• Outstanding Color Grading—Live Action Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature: “Eric – Episode 1,” Toby Tomkins/Harbor; “Loki—Glorious Purpose,” Matt Watson/Marvel Studios Finishing; “Masters of the Air—Part 5,” Steven Bodner/Picture Shop; “Shōgun – Anjin,” Élodie Ichter/The Mill; “Star Trek Discovery—Red Directive,” Todd Bochner/Harbor; “Time Bandits—Kevin Haddock,” Damian McDonnell/The Rebel Fleet
• Outstanding Color Grading—Animated Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature: “Hit-Monkey—History Lessons,” Patrick Woodard, Point.360; “Leo,” Keiran Lee/Feature Animation at Netflix; “Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie,” Alastor Pan Arnold/Keep Me Posted; “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—Night of the Mechazoids,” Ara Thomassian/Keep Me Posted; “War Is Over!” David Cole/FotoKem
• Outstanding Color Grading—Documentary: “American Symphony,” Seth Ricart/RCO; “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,” Nat Jencks/PostWorks; “Living with Leopards,” Dan Gil/Picture Shop; “Queens —Tiny Jungle Queens,” Blair Wallace/Evolutions Bristol; “Trilogy: New Wave,” Alastor Pan Arnold/FotoKem
• Outstanding Color Grading—Commercial: Air Canada, “Ticket to Dream,” Wade Odlum/Alter Ego; Miu Miu, “2024 Wander and Arcadie Bag Collection,” Yibin Su/Gloss Studio; Palo Alto, “Origin,” Eric Whipp/Alter Ego; Subway, “Globally Inspired,” Wade Odlum/Alter Ego; Taco Bell, “Taco TwosDay,” Quinn Alvarez/Apache Digital
• Outstanding Editing—Theatrical Feature: “Dune: Part Two,” Joe Walker, ACE; “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Eliot Knapman, Margaret Sixel, ACE; “The Holdovers,” Kevin Tent, ACE; “Inside Out 2,” Maurissa Horwitz; “Twisters,” Terilyn A. Shropshire, ACE
• Outstanding Editing—Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (30 Minutes and Under): “Bookie—The Super Bowl: God’s Gift To Bookies,” Tracey Wadmore-Smith, ACE; “Hacks— Better Late,” Rob Paglia; “Hacks—Bulletproof,” Jon Philpot; “Hacks—The Deborah Vance Christmas Spectacular,” Jess Brunetto, ACE; “Hacks—Just for Laughs,” Janet Weinberg, ACE
• Outstanding Editing—Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (Over 30 Minutes): “Ahsoka – Part Four: Fallen Jedi,” Dana E. Glauberman, ACE; “Ahsoka—Part 6: Far, Far Away,” James D. Wilcox, ACE; “House of the Dragon—The Red Dragon and the Gold,” Katie Weiland, ACE; “House of the Dragon—A Son for a Son,” Frances Parker, ACE; “Tokyo Vice—Illness of the Trade,” Gary Levy; “True Detective – Night Country: Part 5,” Mags Arnold
• Outstanding Editing—Documentary: “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life,” Bob Joyce; “The Commandant's Shadow,” Claire Guillon; “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,” Tal Ben-David; “Porcelain War,” Brendan Bellomo, Aniela Sidorska; “Ren Faire—Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got The Will?,” Max Allman, Nicholas Nazmi
• Outstanding Sound—Theatrical Feature: “Alien: Romulus,” Will Files, Lee Gilmore, Mark Paterson, Polly McKinnon, David Butler, Chris Terhune/Pacific Standard Sound; “Civil War,” Glenn Freemantle, Howard Bargroff, Adam Scrivener, Ben Barker, Gillian Dodders/Formosa Group UK; “The Creator,” Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Malte Bieler, David Bach/E² Sound; Tom Ozanich, Dean A. Zupancic/Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services; “Dune: Part Two,” Richard King, Dave Whitehead, Martin Kwok, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Andrew Bock/Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services; “Música,” Christopher S. Aud, Aaron Glascock, Eliza Pollack Zebert, Mitch Osias, Rob Young, Jennifer Barak/Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services
• Outstanding Sound—Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature: “All The Light We Cannot See—Episode 4,” Craig Henighan, Ryan Cole, Jill Purdy, Emma Present, David Grimaldi, Mark Paterson/Pacific Standard Sound; “Fallout—The Head,” Keith Rogers, Steve Bucino, Susan Cahill, Jane Boegel-Koch, Daniel Colman, Christopher Kaller/NBCUniversal; “Interview with the Vampire—And That's the End of It. There's Nothing Else,” Howard Bargroff, Harry Barnes, Jamie Caple, Mark Timms, Adam Armitage, Michael Holubec/Formosa Group; “No One Will Save You,” Will Files, Chris Terhune, Ailene Roberts, James Miller, Matt "Smokey" Cloud/Pacific Standard Sound; “True Detective – Night Country: Part 6,” Howard Bargroff, Mark Timms/Formosa Group UK, Martín Hernández, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley, Michele Woods
• Outstanding Sound—Documentary: “Chimp Crazy—Monkey Love,” Roberto Fernandez/Harbor; “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,” Tom Paul, Eric Offin, Ben Whitver, Peter Russell, Kristin Catuogno/Tom Paul Studios; “Kiss the Future,” Samir Foco, Ron Bartlett, Bryan Parker, William Harp, Taylor Jackson/Formosa Group; “Porcelain War,” Robert Mackenzie, Sam Hayward, Jared Dwyer, Andrew Miller, Alex Francis, Karina Rezhevska/RMS; “To Kill a Tiger,” Lou Solakofski, Jonathan Goldsmith, Ed Douglas, Elma Bellow, Jordan Kawai, Anita Kushwaha/Formosa Group
• Outstanding Visual Effects—Live Action Feature: “Alien: Romulus,” Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Ale' Melendez, Sebastian Ravagnani, Nicolas Caillier, Steven Denyer/Industrial Light & Magic; “The Creator,”James Clyne, Trevor Hazel, Keith Anthony-Brown, Danielle Legovich, David Dally/Industrial Light & Magic; “Deadpool & Wolverine,” Vincent Papaix, Georg Kaltenbrunner, Alexander Poei, Ziad Shureih, Russell Lum/Industrial Light & Magic; “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” Erik Winquist, Danielle Immerman, Stephen Unterfranz, Phillip Leonhardt, Sean Noel Walker/Wētā FX; “A Quiet Place: Day One,” Malcolm Humphreys, Jordan Harding, Charmaine Chan, Michael Lum, Steve Hardy/Industrial Light & Magic
• Outstanding Visual Effects—Animated Feature: “Inside Out 2,” Shaun Galinak, Toan-Vinh Le, Alyssa Lee, Enrique Vila, Jae Jun Yi/Pixar Animation Studios; “Ultraman: Rising,” Hayden Jones, Stefan Drury, Sean M. Murphy, Mathieu Vig, Kyle Winkelman/Industrial Light & Magic
• Outstanding Visual Effects—Live Action Episode or Series Season: “House of the Dragon —The Red Dragon and the Gold,” Sven Martin, Fausto Tejeda, Mark Spindler, Matt Perrin, James Thompson/Pixomondo; “House of the Dragon – Season 2,” Wayne Stables, Marcus Goodwin, Jason Snyman, Mark J. Julien/Wētā FX; Martin Pelletier/Rodeo FX; “Loki—Season 2,” Steve Moncur, Christian Waite, Jeremy Sawyer, Ben Aickin, Pieter Warmington // Industrial Light & Magic; “Percy Jackson and the Olympians—Season 1,” Erik Henry, Matt Robken, Jeff White, Jose Burgos, Donny Rausch/Industrial Light & Magic; “Star Trek: Discovery – Season 5,” Aleksandra Kochoska Dekovic, Brian Tatosky, Charles Collyer, Chelsea Wynne, Shawn Ewashko/CBS Studios
• Outstanding Visual Effects—Animated Episode or Series Season: “Ark: The Animated Series – Element 5,” James Baldanzi, Patrick Flanagan, David Hartman, Jon Terada/Lex + Otis Studios, Jeremy Stieglitz/Lost Continent Entertainment; “X-Men '97—Season 1,” Chris Graf, Dan McNaughton, Husain Untoro, Quentin Cordonnier, Andrew Stadler/Marvel Animation Studios
• Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects—Episode or Series Season: “All The Light We Cannot See—Season 1,” Laurens Ehrmann, Harry Bardak, Elisa Perez, Julien Martins/The Yard VFX; “Sunny—Mmmm, Hinoki,” David Lebensfeld, Tina Torunian, Francesca Orrach, Pablo Izaguirre, Edgar Pina/Ingenuity Studios; “The Sympathizer—Death Wish,” Chad Wanstreet, Daniel J. Lombardo/HBO/A24, Andrew Orloff/Zoic, Lawson Deming/Barnstorm VFX, Hallana Barbosa/Ingenuity Studios
• Outstanding Achievement in Restoration: “The Day of the Locust” (1975), Paramount; “Planet of the Apes” (1968), 20th Century Studios; “The Searchers” (1956), Warner Bros.; “Snow White” (1937), Disney; “The Sugarland Express” (1974), Universal Pictures

In addition to these categories, the HPA will honor postproduction facility FotoKem with the Charles S. Swartz Award for its lasting impact on the industry. The Engineering Excellence Awards, announced earlier this year, will include such honorees as as Adobe (Enhance Speech in Premiere Pro); Disguise and Cuebric (AI-Driven 2.5D Workflow); and Evercast (Evercast for Apple Vision Pro).

For information on event tickets, visit hpaonline.com.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Board of Directors has announced that Kari Grubin will succeed Seth Hallen as president of HPA on January 1, 2025. 

The HPA Board has also announced that Renard Jenkins will assume the role of vice president of the Board in January alongside Grubin. At that time, a new Executive Committee will take over. The 2025 HPA Board Executive Committee includes Grubin, Jenkins, Craig German and Graylind Wherry.

The group reported that Hallen and Grubin will work closely over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition.

The succession marks a noteworthy milestone in the group’s history. When Hallen passes HPA leadership to Grubin, Grubin will become the first woman to hold the HPA presidency and only its third president since the organization’s founding, following Hallen and HPA founder Leon Silverman. 

A recognized expert in technology, consultative expertise and post production services, Grubin possesses the experience and vision to help drive HPA through the next phase of the industry’s evolution, the group said. 

“I am truly honored and excited to be part of the leadership team of this great organization that means so much to me, and I will bring my passion and experience to this responsibility,” said Grubin. “Now more than ever, HPA is a critical and hyper-relevant partner for the individuals and companies at work in our industry as we face the significant change, challenge and opportunity ahead. HPA will continue to be a conduit for our community to grow, reach out for new opportunities and adapt. I’m assuming the leadership of a thriving organization, and I look forward to shepherding it through its next powerful new phase. I encourage our community to join us in the work ahead and look forward to the upcoming collaboration.” 

A dedicated HPA Board Member since 2020, Grubin has spearheaded several of HPA’s most impactful initiatives. She co-founded HPA Women in Post (2011) which provides leadership opportunities and visibility for women working in professional content creation. Under the leadership of Grubin and fellow board member Loren Nielsen, the Women in Post committee created and incubated the HPA Young Entertainment Professional program which has connected and mentored nearly 200 YEPS. 

In 2021, she and fellow Board member Renard Jenkins collaborated to launch HPA All, an initiative to strengthen the media and entertainment community by supporting and highlighting career pathways and creating opportunities for contributions by and visibility for underrepresented groups. Grubin led the HPA Tech Retreat Supersession in 2022 and is currently collaborating with Hallen and the Program Committee in the planning of the 2025 HPA Tech Retreat Supersession. 

As an active member of the entertainment and media industry,Grubin has also led many initiatives including serving as project director on SMPTE's industry-defining Rapid Industry Solutions on Set Virtual Production Initiative. She was asked to join the Production and Technology Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2021. 

Grubin is member services director for the Motion Picture Association's Trusted Partner Network, where her focus is on enhanced security preparedness and security best practices at all stages in the digital media supply chain. 

Her extensive career spans executive roles in the entertainment and technology industries. Grubin began her trajectory as a tour guide at Universal Studios, eventually becoming an assistant editor working on feature films. From Universal, she segued to Paramount Studios where she worked in Mastering for Studio Operations, eventually rising to head of technical operations. Moving to a new enterprise, Grubin was a co-founder and general manager of the mastering facility at Global Entertainment Partners (GEP) before selling the company to Deluxe Entertainment Services Group. At Deluxe, she was named vice president of post and restoration before joining the cybersecurity company, NSS Labs, as sales director, and then served as vice president of mastering for Walt Disney Studios. She is listed as a co-inventor for three U.S. patents in media and entertainment technology.

"Leading the HPA over the past nine years has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my career,” said Hallen reflecting on the change. “It's been an honor to work alongside such dedicated and passionate professionals who continuously push the boundaries of creativity and innovation in our industry. I am incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together, from fostering new talent and expanding our educational initiatives to navigating unprecedented challenges with resilience and unity. I have had the pleasure of working closely with Kari, and I have witnessed firsthand her vision, dedication, and unwavering commitment to the HPA community. Kari is an exceptional leader with the energy, expertise, and insight to guide HPA into its next era of growth and evolution. I have no doubt that under her leadership, HPA will continue to thrive and be a powerful force in shaping the future of our industry."

For more information, visit hpaonline.com. 

MediaBridge Capital Advisors, a leading boutique investment bank focused on the international media technology industry, has hired post industry veteran Leon Silverman as a Senior Strategic Advisor.

Ethan Jacks, Managing Partner of MediaBridge, remarked: “We are honored to have Leon join our firm as a Senior Strategic Advisor. He is a universally respected leader in the entertainment technology industry. His career experience and perspective will complement and add much to our team. We are excited to have him join”.

Silverman helped launch the pioneering post production company Laser Pacific, which was acquired by Eastman Kodak, where he additionally held senior executive roles. Silverman built and operated Disney’s on lot creative services infrastructure and team as General Manager of Disney’s Digital Studio, and served as a senior executive at Netflix, where he led global creative technology and operations teams.

He helped found the highly successful Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) and serves many industry organizations including Executive Committee leadership roles in Production and Technology and Science and Technology branches and peer groups at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Television Academy. Through his consultancy, Strategic Perspective, he advises a number of industry technology and media services organizations, and also serves MovieLabs, the joint venture technology laboratory, owned by the major studios, as a key advisor to its 2030 Vision initiative.

Leon commented: “I am excited to be joining MediaBridge at this pivotal time in the media and entertainment industry. There is tremendous opportunity in the industry today that can be enabled and enhanced through M&A and investment strategy. I look forward to working together with this focused team to provide support, guidance and the resources that will help create our industry’s future media supply chain.”

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced program details for the HPA Tech Retreat, Feb. 18-22, 2024, at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

The retreat consists of three parts: TR-X, Feb. 19, which focuses on Extreme Production; the Supersession, Feb. 20, (details will be announced later); and the main conference program on Feb. 21-22, HPA said.

“Each year we get many more outstanding submissions than time allows in the program, but this year was unprecedented,” said Mark Schubin, who has guided the main conference program for more than 20 years. “There wasn’t a dud in the bunch; it was really hard to choose the most important ones. We’ve ended up with presentations that run the gamut from a graduate student to a major C-level executive to top creatives in the field.”

For Wednesday., Feb. 21, the program includes: 

• What CES 2024 Means for the Media Industry—Mark Harrison, DPP.
• Quantum Dots and Color Imaging—Charles Poynton.
• The Death of Analog: Why Right Now Is the Time to Digitize Your Archive—moderated by Carin Forman, Amazon; with Heidi Shakespeare, Memnon; and Andrea Kalas, Paramount.
• New Developments in Open Source Software for the Motion Picture Industry—David Morin, Academy Software Foundation.

Also on Weds. Feb. 21, the program includes "Revolutionizing Media Production: AI's Role from Conceptualization to Final Cut." This programming includes: 

• Setting the Stage for AI. (AI & Frontier Technologies in the Age of Disruption: A Foundation in Embracing Change for Progress—Daniel Doll-Steinberg, EdenBase; AI for Media: What does good look like?—Mark Harrison, DPP; The Computable Studio: A Vision for 2025 and Beyond—Yves Bergquist, Entertainment Technology Center, University of Southern California; and Setting the Stage for AI Discussion and Q&A.
• AI and Creativity. (AI and the Future of Cinematic Storytelling—Barbara Ford Grant; Studio Perspective: AI and Content Creation—Tony Guarino, Paramount; Using GenAI as a Screenwriting Partner and Preproduction Assistant—Christian Cantrell, Concept.art; OK, We Have AI Tools and AI Content. What About the Business? Bringing It All Together for Successful Future State—Caleb Ward, Curious Refuge; AI and Creativity Discussion and Q&A). 
• AI in the Workflows. (Enhancing Creative Decisions with AI Generated Content. Recommendations—David Colantuoni, Avid; Multi-Language Generation of Movie Content — Siegfried Fößel, Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS; Demystifying AI in the Supply Chain — Pinar Seyhan Demirdag, Cuebric; AI in the Workflows discussion and Q&A). 

Programming for Thursday Feb. 22 includes:  

• MovieLabs 2030 Update
• The State of the Vision (Where Are We on the Path to 2030?—Mark Turner, MovieLabs; Bringing the “Studio in the Cloud” to Fruition—Mark Turner, MovieLabs; Richard Duke, Avid; Implementing the MovieLabs Ontology for Media Creation-How & Why—Mark Turner, MovieLabs; Guillaume Rachez, Perfect Memory; Workflows Based on 2030 Vision—Mark Turner, MovieLabs; Aki Seino, Imagica Entertainment Media Services.)
• Metadata Mania: Can We Create a Common Source of Truth? (Introduction: The Challenges of Metadata—Jim Helman, MovieLabs; Our Flag Means Death Season 2—Utilizing MovieLabs OMC for Metadata—Mike Urban, The Rebel Fleet; OpenMetadataIO, an Open Standards Initiative — Jim Helman, MovieLabs; Toby Scales, Google; Dalia Spingarn, Paramount Global). Interoperability: A Key to the Creative Benefits of the 2030 Vision. (Interoperability 101—Jim Helman, MovieLabs; Interoperability panel—Moderator: Jim Helman, MovieLabs; Panelists to be added).
• 2030 Vision Q&A (Stepping Up to Color Managed On-set HDR/SDR Workflows—Moderator: Michael Chambliss, International Cinematographers Guild; Greg Smokler, Small HD; Responsible Innovation in the Age of Generative AI—Ely Greenfield, Adobe; Color Appearance Models and the future of Color Management: How the industry Working Group for the new Developer Release of ACES 2.0 investigated, debated and ultimately embraced CAMs for its new output transform—Alex Forsythe, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; NeRFs for Nerds: Another Future for Creativity—Erik Weaver, Entertainment Technology Center at USC; Eric Pohl, Singularity Imaging; Alex Porter, Mod Tech Labs; Addy Ghani, disguise; Building the Studio of Tomorrow, Today!—Mary Palmer, Amazon; Let’s Have an Honest Conversation about Sound—Nuno Fonseca, Sound Particles; Untwisting the Rope of Character Identification—Holly Beavon, Fielding Graduate University)

Registration for the retreat is available online.

LOS ANGELES—The HPA Awards on November 28 turned the spotlight on the exemplary contributions of the post production industry tonight, honoring work in color grading, sound, editing, restoration, and visual effects for theatrical features, commercials, and episodics. 

Held at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre, additional honors included the HPA Judges’ Award for Creativity and Innovation presented to Sphere, the Las Vegas venue being heralded as the future of entertainment. In addition, the previously announced winners of the coveted Engineering Excellence awards were honored.

To acknowledge the heart, spirit and difficulties of the past year the evening included an HPA-produced short film, “Tribute to Post;” a salute to the resilient members of the post production community. 

Directed by Clyde Bessey of Origin Point, the short featured commentary from industry luminaries Wendy Aylsworth; Jill Bogdanowicz; Mike Brodersen; Larry Chernoff; Michael Cioni; Carolyn Giardina; Seth Hallen; Nikki Jee; Rob Legato, ASC; Loren Nielsen; Sabrina Plisco, ACE; Leon Silverman and Mandy Walker, ASC-ACS.

The winners of the 2023 HPA Awards Creative Categories are:

Outstanding Color Grading – Live Action Theatrical Feature

- “Barbie” // Yvan Lucas // Company 3

- “The Fabelmans” // Michael Hatzer // Picture Shop

- “Asteroid City”// Gareth Spensley // Company 3

- “Oppenheimer” // Kostas Theodosiou, Kristen Zimmerman // FotoKem (WINNER)

- “Tár” // Tim Masick // Company 3

Outstanding Color Grading – Animated Theatrical Feature

- “Elemental” // Susan Brunig // Pixar Animation Studios

- “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” // Jason Hanel // Company 3

- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” // Natasha Leonnet // Picture Shop (WINNER)

- “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”// Mitch Paulson // Company 3

Outstanding Color Grading – Live Action Episode Or Non-Theatrical Feature

- “Swarm – Stung”// Alastor Pan Arnold // Keep Me Posted

- “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty – One Ring Don't Make a Dynasty” // Walter Volpatto // Company 3 (WINNER)

- “American Gigolo – Pilot”// Shane Harris // Picture Shop

- “Great Expectations – Episode 2”// Toby Tomkins // Harbor

- “Wednesday – Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe”// Siggy Ferstl// Company 3

Outstanding Color Grading – Documentary

- “Descendant” // Sam Daley // Light Iron

- “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman”//Taylor Black // Apache

- “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”// Stefan Sonnenfeld, Adam Nazarenko // Company 3

- “Chimp Empire – Paradise” // Blair Wallace // Evolutions Post Production (WINNER)

- “Shaq – From Shaquille to Shaq” // Taylor Black // Apache

Outstanding Color Grading – Commercial

- Zara – “Man SS23 Studio Collection” // Tim Masick // Company 3

- Levi’s – “One Fair Exchange in the Greatest Story Ever Worn” // Sofie Borup // Company 3

- Expedia – “Wisdom & Obi” // Mark Gethin // Trafik (WINNER)

- Duracell x Williams Racing – “Scream” // Tyler Roth // Company 3

- Belvedere – “Daniel Craig” // Matthieu Toullet // Company 3

Outstanding Editing – Theatrical Feature -Sponsored By Blackmagic Design

- “Barbie” // Nick Houy, ACE

- “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” // Eddie Hamilton, ACE

- “Oppenheimer” // Jennifer Lame, ACE (WINNER)

- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” // Michael Andrews, ACE

- “Tár” // Monika Willi

Outstanding Editing – Episode Or Non-Theatrical Feature (30 Minutes And Under) Sponsored By Blackmagic Design

- “The Righteous Gemstones – Burn for Burn, Wound for Wound, Stripe for Stripe” // Justin Bourret, ACE

- “Barry – it takes a psycho” // Franky Guttman, ACE

- “What We Do in the Shadows – Local News” // A.J. Dickerson, ACE, Thomas Calderón

- “Barry – a nice meal” // Ali Greer, ACE (WINNER)

- “How To With John Wilson – How To Watch Birds” // Cori Wapnowska

Outstanding Editing – Episode Or Non-Theatrical Feature (Over 30 Minutes) 

Sponsored by Blackmagic Design

- “The Last of Us – Endure and Survive”// Timothy A. Good, ACE, Emily Mendez

- “White House Plumbers – The Beverly Hills Burglary” // Erick Fefferman, Roger Nygard

- “Succession – With Open Eyes” // Ken Eluto, ACE

- “The White Lotus – Arrivederci” // John M. Valerio, ACE (WINNER)

- “White House Plumbers – True Believers” // Grady Cooper, Jon Merchen

Outstanding Editing – Documentary Sponsored By Blackmagic Design

- “100 Foot Wave –Lost at Sea” // Alex Keipper, Alex Bayer

- “A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting” // Eric Schuman

- “Being Mary Tyler Moore” // Mariah Rehmet

- “Branson – Episode 2, Atlantic” // Paul Trewartha

- “Moonage Daydream” // Brett Morgen (WINNER)

Outstanding Sound – Theatrical Feature

- “Barbie” // Ai-Ling Lee, Kevin O'Connell, Dan Kenyon // Warner Bros. Post Production Services

- “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” // Scott Gershin, Chris Richardson, Masanobu 'Tomi' Tomita, Andrew Vernon, Dan Gamache // Sound Lab a Keywords Studio

- “Creed III” // Aaron Glascock, Tom Ozanich, Walter Spencer, Curt Schulkey // Warner Bros. Post Production Services

- “John Wick: Chapter 4” // Mark Stoeckinger, Andy Koyama, Casey Genton, Alan Rankin, Manfred Banach // Formosa Group (WINNER)

- “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” // Jason W. Jennings, Julian Slater, Greg P. Russell, Paul Pirola, Ken McGill, Mia Stewart // Warner Bros. Post Production Services

Outstanding Sound – Episode Or Non-Theatrical Feature

- “Star Trek: Picard – The Last Generation” // Matthew E. Taylor, Michael Schapiro, Todd Grace, Ed Carr III, Ian Shedd // Warner Bros. Post Production Services

- “The Last of Us – Infected” // Michael Benavente, Marc Fishman, Kevin Roache, Chris Terhune, Chris Battaglia // Formosa Group (WINNER)

- “Barry – it takes a psycho” // Sean Heissinger, Matthew E. Taylor, John Creed, Rickley Dumm: Warner Bros. Post Production Services // Elmo Ponsdomenech, Teddy Salas: Sony Pictures Entertainment

- “Wednesday – A Murder of Woes” // Mike Baskerville, Jamie Sulek, John Loranger, Alastair Gray, Dan Sexton // Company 3

- “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Hegemony” // Matthew E. Taylor, Michael Schapiro, Todd Grace, Ed Carr III, Sean Heissinger // Warner Bros. Post Production Services

Outstanding Sound – Documentary

- “32 Sounds” // Mark Mangini, Robert Kellough, Eliza Paley, Joanna Fang, Blake Collins // Formosa Group

- “A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting” // Daniel Timmons // Harbor Sound

- “Good Night Oppy” // Mark Mangini, Dave Whitehead, Tim Walston, Dave Bach, Angela Claverie // Formosa Group

- “If These Walls Could Sing” // George Foulgham, Philip Moroz, Alex Gibson, Tom Verstappen, Miles Sullivan // George Foulgham Soundscapes Ltd. (WINNER)

- “Moonage Daydream”// Nina Hartstone, David Giammarco, John Warhurst, Paul Massey // Public Road Productions

Outstanding Visual Effects – Live Action Feature

- “Avatar: The Way of Water” // Christopher Egden, Nick Epstein, Wayne Stables, Pavani Rao Boddapati, Sergei Nevshupov // Wētā FX (WINNER)

- “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” // Aaron Weintraub, Jeffrey Schaper, Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey, Warren Lawtey // MPC

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”// Guy Williams, Daniel Macarin, Mike Cozens, Mark Smith, Marvyn Young // Wētā FX

- “Avatar: The Way of Water” // David Vickery, Lee Briggs, Jan Maroske, Steve Ellis, Miguel Perez-Senent // Industrial Light & Magic

-“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” // Matt Aitken, Mike Perry, Aaron Cowan, Kevin Estey, Jong Jin Choi // Wētā FX

Outstanding Visual Effects – Live Action Episode Or Series Season

- “Andor – Season One” // Mohen Leo, Scott Pritchard: Industrial Light & Magic// TJ Falls: Lucasfilm // Joseph Kasparian: Hybride // Jelmer Boskma: Scanline 

- “House of the Dragon – The Heirs of the Dragon” // Angus Bickerton, Nikeah Forde, Mike Bell: MPC // Sven Martin, Mark Spindler: Pixomondo (WINNER)

- “The Last of Us – Season One” // Simon Jung, Aaron Cowan, David Hampton, Dennis Yoo, Ben Roberts // Wētā FX

- “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Season One” Ron Ames, Jason Smith, Jesse Kobayashi, Ryan Tudhope, Sam Scott // Amazon Studios

- “The Mandalorian – Season Three” Grady Cofer, Abbigail Keller, Paul Kavanagh, Delio Tramontozzi: Industrial Light & Magic // Bobo Skipper: Important Looking Pirates

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects – Episode Or Series Season

- “Barry – Season Four” Justin Ball, Laura Hill, Andrew Kalicki, David Lopez, Manuel Guizar // Crafty Apes

- “Citadel – Secrets in Night Need Early Rains” // Aladino Debert, Greg Teegarden, James Reid, Mathew Rotman, Viv Jim // Digital Domain (WINNER)

- “Interview with the Vampire – Is My Very Nature That of a Devil” // Ted Rae, Tavis Larkham, Matthew Harris, Hugo Leveille, J.V. Pike // FuseFX

- “The Night Agent – Season One” // Grant Miller, Hallana Barbosa, Pierceon Bellemare, Mariia Osanova, Ben Stommes  // Ingenuity Studios

- “The Righteous Gemstones – Season Three” // Bruce Branit, Valeri Pfahning: Rough House // Fred Ruff: Refuge VFX //        Ed Bruce: Screen Scene Studios // David Lebensfeld: Ingenuity Studios

Outstanding Achievement In Restoration

- “Casablanca” (1942) // Warner Bros.

- “Cinderella” (1950) // Disney

- “Cimarron” (1931) // Warner Bros

.“The Godfather” (1972) // Paramount Pictures (WINNER)

- “Winds of Chance” (1925) // First National Pictures and Christopher Gray Post Production 

As previously announced, winners of the coveted Engineering Excellence Award include Adobe for Adobe Premiere Pro Text-Based Editing, Flanders Scientific for  XMP550, and Kino Flo for Mimik 120, with StypeLandXR receiving an Honorable Mention.

The HPA Awards are made possible through the generous support of diamond title sponsor Blackmagic Design; dessert sponsors Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services Worldwide; Xytech, event sponsors Deluxe, FotoKem, and Pixelogic; supporting sponsors Adobe, AVID, Colorist Society, Sohonet and The Sound Lab a Keywords Studio.

LOS ANGELES—The HPA Awards committee has announced that Sphere, the Las Vegas entertainment venue, has been awarded its Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation.

The honor will be presented to the Sphere Entertainment Co. team during the HPA Awards gala on Nov. 28 at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theater in Los Angeles.

Sphere marks a revolutionary leap in the realm of entertainment, seamlessly integrating technology to create extraordinary experiences that take storytelling to a new level and transport audiences to new places, HPA said.

The venue offers multi-sensory immersive experiences across film, concerts and marquee events. To create these experiences, in-house immersive content studio Sphere Studio develops and uses proprietary and cutting-edge technology and tools, it said.

As the world's largest spherical structure, Sphere stands 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide. It seats 17,600 people and enables audiences to share immersive experiences at a never-before-seen scale. Sphere is powered by custom technologies, it said.

They include its interior LED display, which at 16K x 16K resolution is the world’s highest resolution LED screen. The screen wraps up, over and around the audience to create a fully immersive visual environment, it said.

To capture the stunning images and video required for this unique canvas, the team at Sphere Studios developed Big Sky, a groundbreaking ultra-high-resolution camera system and custom content creation tool, capable of capturing incredibly detailed, large-format images. In addition, the venue’s immersive sound system, Sphere Immersive Sound powered by HOLOPLOT, is an advanced concert-grade audio system, ensuring crystal-clear, individualized sound within its unique curved design, it said.

Sphere’s technological marvels also extend to its exterior, the Exosphere, which features 580,000 square feet of fully programmable LED panels capable of displaying a myriad of visuals, from an eye to the surface of Mars. The exterior has made Sphere a new landmark on the Las Vegas skyline.

The journey of Sphere commenced with the residency of U2, featuring U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, a spectacular showcase blending the band’s live performance with captivating visual elements. The first film ever created for Sphere, Darren Aronofsky’s "Postcard from Earth," debuted as part of The Sphere Experience, a two-part multisensory journey that marks an inventive approach to content creation and storytelling.

The Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation stands as a tribute to companies and individuals who exhibit outstanding contributions in the realm of creative storytelling and technical innovation. It's a distinction not awarded annually but is rather bestowed upon groundbreaking work, at the discretion of the jury. This year’s jury, co-chaired by Carolyn Giardina and Joachim Zell, also included Paul Debevec, Jay Holben, Joanne Kim and Karen Raz.

"The Jury selected the pioneers behind Sphere—the venue and its related production technologies and workflow—which introduced an exhilarating new type of immersive entertainment and shared audience experience,” the jury said in a statement released last week. 

“Now the world’s largest spherical structure, the ambitious new venue includes a 580,000 square foot Exosphere, a 16K wraparound interior LED display spanning 160,000 square feet and a cutting-edge beamforming sound system. As such, new technology and bespoke workflows had to be developed in order to create and display Sphere content. Its debut U2 concert and The Sphere Experience featuring Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Postcard from Earth’ –both of which are venue-specific— demonstrate its creative potential."

Tickets for the Nov. 28 gala event are available online.

LOS ANGELES—The HPA Awards Committee has announced that a trio of recipients will receive the 2023 HPA Award for Engineering Excellence at this year’s HPA Awards gala on November 9 at the Hollywood Legion in Hollywood. 

“In the midst of a revolutionary time in media and entertainment, it was exciting to see the caliber and number of entries to the Engineering Excellence awards this year,” said HPA Awards Engineering Committee chair Joachim Zell. “Our esteemed judges remarked on the true innovation and advancement in our industry depicted in the presentations. Sincere congratulations to the winners, and we acknowledge the remarkable achievements represented by every submission.” 

The HPA Awards for Engineering Excellence are a coveted and competitive honor, denoting outstanding technical and creative ingenuity in media, content production, finishing, distribution, and archive, HPA said. A distinguished panel of industry judges review materials and video presentations before gathering to hear presentations from submitters and then vote on the top technologies.

The winners of the 2023 HPA Award for Engineering Excellence are:

• Adobe for Adobe Premiere Pro Text-Based Editing. Premiere Pro is the only professional editing software to incorporate text-based editing, revolutionizing the way filmmakers approach their craft by making dialogue editing as simple as cutting and pasting text. Powered by Adobe Sensei, Text-Based Editing analyzes video clips and provides transcriptions that identify individual speakers. Using an in-app text editor, post-production teams can search for words or phrases, cut sentences, and rearrange dialogue to automatically shape rough cuts directly in their timeline. The feature is designed to help post-production professionals create a rough cut faster, increasing efficiency and eliminating traditional bottlenecks in locating, trimming, and moving specific clips.
• Flanders Scientific for XMP550. The XMP550 is a 55" UHD resolution HDR and SDR reference mastering monitor built around a groundbreaking new QD-OLED panel featuring 2,000 nits peak luminance, 4,000,000:1 contrast, and FSI's widest color gamut to date. The XMP550 qualifies as a Dolby Vision mastering monitor, bringing an end to the days of compromising between smaller reference-grade HDR displays and larger non-reference client displays. The XMP550 delivers the best of both worlds with truly reference-grade performance and professional connectivity in a form factor large enough for both the colorist and clients to view. The XMP550 is OLED without compromise.
• Kino Flo for Mimik 120. The MIMIK 120 is a full spectrum image-based lighting fixture that can synchronize to a XR volume to provide foreground lighting. It can be assembled as a wall or ceiling or be used as individual fixtures. It’s a 7200 pixel, 10 pitch lighting tile that converts a 3 color RGB video pixel into a 5 color pixel consisting of RGB, 2700K & 6500K phosphor white LEDs. The 5-color pixel ensures better tonal and color reproduction of foreground elements. It also operates at a high frequency enabling camera speeds of up to 960 fps.

HPA also bestowed an "Honorable Mention" on StypeLandXR. 

HPA said that StypeLandXR is an innovative Unreal Engine 5 plugin, revolutionizing virtual production. This trailblazing tool, used for the award-winning FOX Sports Live MULTICAM XR Set, which won the Sports Emmy - The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award, uniquely corrects color shifts on LED walls and resolves inherent delays between LED walls and set extensions. It enables the creation of extensive virtual spaces, offering accurate color matching, seamless transitions, and precision calibration. By enhancing visual impact and immersion, StypeLandXR opens new frontiers of creative potential.

The Engineering Excellence Award will be presented at the HPA Awards gala on November 9, 2023. Nominations honoring creative artistry in 19 categories will be announced in early autumn.

The HPA Awards are made possible through the generous sponsorship of diamond title sponsor Blackmagic Design and supporting sponsor Colorist Society. More information about the HPA Awards and the Hollywood Professional Association can be found at www.hpaonline.com.

LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced that Vicky Colf, Alison Hoffman, and Kim Snyder will receive HPA League Honors.

The League Honors were created to recognize diverse members of the media and entertainment community who shine as examples of accomplishment, innovation and leadership.   

“These outstanding individuals operate at the vanguard of change," said HPA president Seth Hallen. "They are the people that up-and-coming leaders can aspire to emulate, while leading organizations and illuminating a path to the future.  We are delighted to honor their accomplishments.”

Vicky Colf, former CTO at Warner Bros., will receive the Excelsior Honor, which recognizes a leader who runs a business or finance team in the M&E industry (either manufacturer, service provider, or end-user) and who shows impressive business acumen and outstanding leadership while achieving remarkable business growth as well as a commitment to service in our community.  

Alison Hoffman, president of STARZ Domestic Networks, will receive the Rainmaker Honor, recognizing a leader who deployed intelligent tactics & ensured their company or organization achieved its sales and marketing goals and revenue targets. The award honors excellence in creative marketing, financial performance and business growth, as well as commitment to serving the community.  

Kim Snyder, CEO of Panavision, will be recognized as the Alchemist. This honor recognizes a leader who spearheads the innovation of noteworthy technology, bringing tangible benefits to the industry in production, post or workflow, as well as a commitment to serving the community. 

Previous recipients of the League Honors include Annie Chang, Vice President, Creative Technologies, Universal Pictures (The Catalyst); Tammy Garnes, Vice President of Education & Understanding, ARRAY (The Excelsior); Patricia Keighley, Chief Quality Guru, IMAX Corp. (The Rainmaker); Charles D. King, Founder & CEO, MACRO (The Star); and Iris Wu, Founder, Ambidio (The Alchemist).

Recipients of the HPA League Honors are determined by a jury of industry leaders, with the enthusiastic support of the HPA Board of Directors. For more information about HPA and the HPA League Honors, visit hpaonline.com.

LOS ANGELES—The 2023 Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards has opened its call for entries in the creative categories and announced that submissions will be accepted until July 28, 2023.  

Changes in this year’s awards include additional recognition for Outstanding Restoration, as well as refinement in honors for animation in VFX and color grading for feature films and episodic non-theatrical work.  

“As the HPA Awards have matured, we have seen the need to differentiate documentary work from scripted,” explained Seth Hallen, HPA president and a founding member of the HPA Awards Committee. “These new categories are in direct response to an industry trend, but also to our audience of creatives, who have submitted and promoted this category over the years. At the same time, we see such tremendous work being done in the field of restoration and preservation, and the value of that work to our industry is undeniable. It’s thrilling to announce these additional awards as I open the call for entries for creative categories for the 2023 HPA Awards. I look forward to gathering again in November to honor, connect, and enjoy what I’m sure will be yet another spectacular event.”  

The HPA Awards encompass the breadth of talent behind the beauty and spectacle of media and entertainment in a single event. Judged by experts and artists at the top of their careers, submissions for the HPA Awards include the most compelling and beautifully executed work from around the world, the group said. 

Submissions are being accepted in the following competitive categories:

• Outstanding Color Grading – Live Action Theatrical Feature
• Outstanding Color Grading – Animated Theatrical Feature
• Outstanding Color Grading – Live Action Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
• Outstanding Color Grading – Animated Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
• Outstanding Color Grading – Documentary
• Outstanding Color Grading – Commercial
• Outstanding Editing – Theatrical Feature
• Outstanding Editing – Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (30 Minutes and Under)
• Outstanding Editing – Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature (Over 30 minutes)
• Outstanding Editing – Documentary
• Outstanding Sound (Design, Editing, Mixing) – Theatrical Feature
• Outstanding Sound (Design, Editing, Mixing) – Episode or Non-Theatrical Feature
• Outstanding Sound (Design, Editing, Mixing) – Documentary
• Outstanding Visual Effects – Live Action Feature
• Outstanding Visual Effects – Animated Feature
• Outstanding Visual Effects – Live Action Episode or Series Season
• Outstanding Visual Effects – Animated Episode or Series Season
• Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects – Episode or Series Season
• Outstanding Achievement in Restoration

The Restoration category launched during the 2022 Awards cycle as a juried (non-submittable) award. In consideration of this award’s status change, entries that were publicly released during the 2022 period of eligibility will be eligible for Awards consideration during the 2023 call for entries. Entries that were publicly released between September 8, 2021 and September 4, 2023 may be submitted. 

For all other creative categories, to be considered eligible, work must have debuted domestically and/or internationally between September 7, 2022 and September 4, 2023. Membership in the Hollywood Professional Association is not required for submission, and work from outside of the United States is encouraged.

The call for entries for the HPA Engineering Excellence Award, honoring products and processes representing outstanding technical and creative ingenuity in media, content production, finishing, distribution, and archive, opened last month and submissions will be accepted until June 16, 2023.  

The HPA Awards gala will return to the Hollywood Legion Theatre on November 9. 

The HPA Awards are made possible through the generous sponsorship of diamond title sponsor Blackmagic Design as well as foundation members Avid, Dolby and Sohonet. 

For sponsorship or program advertising opportunities, contact Joyce Cataldo at jcataldo@hpaonline.com. Complete rules, guidelines and entry information for the creative categories and all of the HPA Awards, as well as a list of previous winners, are available at hpaonline.com.

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the HPA Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP) class of 2023. 

The program, which has accelerated the careers of over 100 graduates to date, is designed to be a robust networking, mentoring, and education resource for young professionals working in the industry.

YEP class members, selected by HPA committee, are encouraged to take advantage of the full spectrum of HPA activities, including the HPA Tech Retreat and HPA Awards. They are paired with advanced career mentors who often become long-term supports as they continue to advance.

“Of all the HPA initiatives that bring value to our industry and community, the YEP program is one of the most important,” explained HPA president Seth Hallen. “Connecting the brilliant and talented next generation with mentors is critical, and it has been incredibly rewarding to watch the YEPs create their own networks that shape our community. Once again, the members of the 2023 YEP class have impressive accomplishments and important perspectives. I can’t wait to see what they can achieve as they move forward and contribute to the advancement of our industry.”

The 2023 YEP Class: 

• Victor Amigo, Eluvio
• Lauren Balladares, Freelance
• Luke Birch, Netflix
• Ekaterina Buchneva, Sensor Tower
• Allison Eilhart, ROE Visual
• Jamie Foley, 495 Productions
• Jazmin Freire, Black Cake
• Allyson Geiger, Marvel Studios
• Maddie Hong, Netflix
• Colin Hughes, Light Iron
• Vivian Ip, Independent Filmmaker
• Rachel Jobin, 6P Color
• Haley Kreofsky, Freelance
• Jennifer Losch, Work Editorial
• Erik Mahoney, Paramount Pictures
• Kara Prichard, A+E Networks
• Cassandra Rodriguez, Pixar
• Erick Silvera, Freelance
• Sarah Xu, Fox Entertainment 
• Simon Yahn, Technicolor Creative Studios
• Jimmy Zhu, Scanline VFX

The YEP program is sponsored in part by AVID. For further information, visit hpaonline.com.

LOS ANGELES—Speakers from Netflix, Vitrina Aim, Warner Bros, and Discovery are among the industry experts scheduled to present during Monday’s TR-X at the HPA Tech Retreat, Feb. 20-23, in Rancho Mirage, Calif, HPA said today.

Mark Chiolis, director of business development at Mobile TV Group, and Craig German, CEO of Crafty Apes, are chairing Monday’s TR-X at the HPA Retreat. Other speakers from ESPN, Amazon and several academic institutions and industry organizations are due to present. Jeff Rosica, CEO of Avid, will deliver a keynote.

The day will open with six HPA Young Entertainment Professions onstage to participate in a discussion of the challenges they face as well as the opportunities and thought they have about the future.

Other scheduled presentations include:

• Designing and Implementing AI and Immersive Experiences (AR/MxR/VR) Successfully into Media & Entertainment, Dr. Khizer Khaderi.
• The Future of Production, from the Creative Perspective, Mitch Dubin, SOC; Mark Lanza, MPSE; Paul Debevec, Netflix; Shannon Baker Davis, ACE. The session will be moderated by Mark Chiolis.
• People and AI/ML – How Machines Will Help Connect Us Together, Atul Phadnis, Vitrina AI.
• The Talent Deficit in Today’s Market, Melinda Wright, MTVG; Todd Bowen, BYU; Angeline Buenaventura. Kari Grubin, HPA board member, will moderate.
• The People vs. AI and ML – Positioning Yourself to Succeed, Yves Bergquist, USC-ETC.
• The Future Role of Institutional Organizations – Maintaining Relevance for Your Members, Joyce Cataldo, HPA; Michael Crimp, IBC; Jason Dachman, Sports Video Group; David Grindle, SMPTE; Stan Moote, IABM; Kristin Petrovich, Creatasphere and SOC; Eric Trabb, NAB. Renard Jenkins, Warner Bros., Discovery and SMPTE will moderate.
• The Future of Live Sports, from the Technical, Creative and Executive Viewpoint, Eddie Okuna, ESPN; J.P. Palmer, Amazon. Jason Dachman, Sports Video Group, will moderate. 

More information is available online. 

NEW YORK—The Post New York Alliance (PNYA), the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA), and Fuse Technical Group are hosting an event on January 26th to showcase virtual production technology for New York filmmakers in Fuse 42, a full LED Volume in Times Square. 

The presentation, led by Virtual Production Line Producers MESH, will focus on how virtual production assets and projects are built in Unreal Engine and how filmmakers can incorporate this technology into their projects.

The event will showcase the benefits of virtual production for projects of all budgets and will demonstrate different workflows and levels of asset creation.

It will feature the virtual production project "FATHEAD," produced by the ETC@USC, with presentations by executive producer Ben Baker (MESH), director c Craig Patterson, and Narwhal CEO Felix Jorge. 

There will also be a Q&A session where attendees can ask questions and learn more about this production technology, the organizers said. 

In addition, representatives from Epic Games will be in attendance. They will present information on their education initiatives and provide some next steps for filmmakers interested in this growing field.

This event is open to the New York filmmaking community. The event will be held at Fuse 42, located at New 42 Studios, 229 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036, with two presentation times at 3 pm and 6 pm.

More information about the agenda and attending is available here.   

The Hollywood Professional Association has opened registration for the HPA Tech Retreat, Feb. 20-23, 2023, at the Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spas in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

HPA has issued a call for proposals for presentations and panels to be held during the tech retreat. Topics may include anything related to the field. No formal proposal is required, simply a sentence or two from the presenter. “Anything from scene to seen and gear to ear is fair game,” HPA says.

The retreat will once again feature breakfast roundtables in addition to the main program. The hour-long roundtables will be held on Feb. 21, 22 and 23.

The HPA Awards program is sold out, but the organization has a waiting list for those wishing to see if space becomes available.

The registration fee for the entire event is $1,995 for HPA members and $2,395 for non-members. One-day registration is $995 for HPA members and $1,175 for non-members. Fees do not include hotel accommodations.

Exhibition space in the Innovation Zone is available.

More information is available online.

BURBANK, Calif.—For its restoration work on the film “Invaders from Mars,” Ignite Films will receive the inaugural Jury Award for Restoration and Preservation from The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA).

The sci-fi classic was originally released in 1953, and Ignite Films is celebrating the film’s upcoming 70th anniversary with a release on Blu-ray and 4K UHD.

The HPA Awards Committee’s Jury Award for Restoration was launched this year in recognition of the exceptional work being done in restoration and preservation. The award is given at the discretion of the jury, HPA said.

Chaired by Anthony Magliocco, owner-founder of EMTM Inc., the jury included senior colorist Lynette Duensing; Bob Heiber, president of the Board of Directors of the Rick Chace Foundation; director and producer Jay Holben; archivist and historian Chris Horak, Ph. D; Richard May, former vice president of Film Restoration; and Janice Simpson, Library Archivist for the Walt Disney Company.

The story of David MacLean, a young boy who witnesses an alien invasion, “Invaders from Mars” quickly became a modern classic. It reflected Cold War tensions, the Red Scare and paranoid anxiety typical of many films of its era. 

The restoration effort was complicated by the discovery that the color negative confirmed for printing in SUPERcineCOLOR lacked many shots and needed to be sourced from 70-year-old prints. Preservationist Scott MacQueen, formerly head of preservation at UCLA Film & Television Archive, spearheaded the project. 

The restoration process involved piecing the project together from five separate sources, including elements necessary to fill gaps in the original camera negative stored at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Additional elements came from the George Eastman Museum and National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.

“It’s a great honor to receive this award from HPA,” said Ignite Films Director Jan Willem Bosman Jansen. “We have taken tremendous care to ensure that the work we have done is an homage to the genius of William Cameron Menzies, and this recognition means the world.”

HPA Awards recognize excellence in craft categories including color grading, editing, sound and visual effects. They will be presented Nov. 17 during a gala celebration.

Lifetime Award Winner Kim Waugh and the HPA Engineering Excellence Award recipients, Amazon Web Services, ARRI Inc., LG Electronics, and Mo-Sys Engineering also will be recognized at the gala.

Tickets for the gala are available online. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has issued a call for applications for its 2023 Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP) program.

The program offers career support for those between 21 and 32 years old who are creative talent, project managers and administrative professionals through mentorship, community building and education, the HPA said.

Applications for the 2023 class are due Nov. 1. Those applying will be notified of their status in early December. The class commences January 2023, it said.

The YEP program, formed in 2015, has seen more than 150 young professionals graduate and take industry roles. Each class has built a community of peers and a diverse professional network for alumni of the program and the entering class, it said.

The program is broken into two phases. The first, which runs January through June, immerses participants in HPA activities as well as the media and entertainment industry.  New YEP participants attend an orientation program and a variety of in-person and virtual events throughout the year, including the HPA Tech Retreat in Palm Springs, Calif., Feb. 20-23, 2023. Participants are invited to all HPA events and are expected to attend a minimum of four during the year.

The second phase, which begins in June, sees an evaluation of each YEP participant by the mentoring committee for pairing with an industry leader from July to December. At the end of the mentorship, participants are again evaluated by the committee to determine eligibility for a Certificate of Completion, it said.

“With each YEP class, our industry becomes stronger, and we have more brilliant and inspiring people to work with as we push the limits of what is possible,” said HPA president Seth Hallen. “I encourage every young person to consider applying: to build a diverse community, to connect with seasoned mentors, to access all kinds of career-changing events, and to learn an incredible amount of valuable information to power your thinking.” 

Those wishing to apply must complete an online application and supply one letter of recommendation. 

More information is available on the HPA website.

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards Committee has announced the winners of the 2022 HPA Award for Engineering Excellence. The awards will be bestowed at this year’s HPA Awards gala on November 17 at the Hollywood Legion in Hollywood, Calif.

“The pace of innovation in our industry continues unchecked! This year, we received more submissions for Engineering Excellence consideration than ever before,” the HPA Awards Engineering Committee chair Joachim Zell said. “It’s gratifying to see this record number of submissions, driven by a deep understanding of the true needs and desires of our industry, laying the groundwork for future progress even as they launch us ahead in the moment. Congratulations to the winners, and our deep respect for all of the entrants, who have contributed to the continued evolution of our industry.”

The HPA Awards recognize creative artistry and innovation in the professional media content industry. A coveted and highly competitive honor, the Engineering Excellence Award rewards outstanding technical and creative ingenuity in media, content production, finishing, distribution, and archive. Submissions for the Engineering Excellence Award include a video presentation, followed by interviews with a distinguished panel of industry judges.

The winners of the 2022 HPA Award for Engineering Excellence are:

• Amazon Web Services: Color in the Cloud. Leveraging JPEG-XS, signals are compressed to be suitably transmitted over AWS Direct Connect, AWS VPN or the open internet while maintaining lossless or uncompromised image quality, resulting in a viable and scalable solution for high fidelity, visually lossless color from a cloud provider. 
• Arri: REVEAL Color Science. The ALEXA 35 REVEAL Color Science reveals improved dynamic range, color gamut, and superior rendering of skin tones and subtle colors. It separates looks from display transforms, to support dual monitoring of HDR and SDR on set, enabling more efficient grading for multiple deliverables in post production.
• LG Electronics: LG UltraFine Pro OLED Monitor. The UltraFine OLED Pro EP950 reference grade HDR monitor meets color critical needs for content creation in cost-effective small-formats (32in & 27in). The RGB additive OLED UHD panel delivers close to 100% AdobeRGB and P3 coverage with peak luminance of up to 700 nits at 25% APL (HDR mode) and 250 nits full-field white. In-monitor 1D LUTs, 3D LUTs and 3x3 matrices allow accurate user calibration with Calman or LG software.
• Mo-Sys Engineering: LED Key. LED Key makes VP filming affordable by allowing wide shot capture on small LED walls. Virtual Production LED wall based filming is great for mid and close up shots, but wide shots required set builders to build floor and wall extensions or huge LED walls, which increases cost and time. LED Key allows filming with much smaller walls or even projectors, enabling greater location flexibility for filmmakers.

Four technologies followed closely, earning honorable mention: Carl Zeiss SBE, LLC (ZEISS CinCraft Mapper), Frame.io (Camera to Cloud), Glassbox Technologies (DragonFly virtual camera) and LucidLink (Filespaces).

The Engineering Excellence Award will be presented at the HPA Awards gala on November 17th. 

Other special awards include the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation, and The Jury Award for Restoration and Preservation. 

Kim Waugh, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Post Production Creative Services, will receive HPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Creative artistry will be recognized in fifteen categories, which includes new honors for nonfiction post production.

HPA Awards tickets are currently available to HPA members only at hpaonline.com. Tickets sales will open to the general public in the coming weeks.

More information about the HPA Awards and the Hollywood Professional Association can be found at www.hpaonline.com.

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards Committee has announced that studio post–production executive Kim Waugh, executive vice president of worldwide post production creative services, Warner Bros. Studio Operations (WBSO) at Warner Bros. Discovery, will receive the HPA Lifetime Achievement Award on November 17 at the HPA Awards gala celebration.

“The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who make our industry a better place to work on every level, fostering innovation and collegiality as well as accomplishment,” said Seth Hallen, HPA President. “Kim is special because he possesses that rare combination of talent and personality that earns both respect and affection within his team, his organization and in the wider industry. One of the best aspects of the HPA Awards is having an opportunity to recognize remarkable people accomplishing amazing things. That’s especially true this year. Kim is respected, accomplished, and well-loved, and it is our sincere honor to present this award to him.”

In his current role at WBSO, Waugh oversees creative teams, facilities, and operations in Burbank, New York, and London, including the company’s Mastering, Localization, Archive, and Preservation business units. He is currently supervising the build out of the company’s new flagship post-production facility in Soho, London, to further support the growth and workflow from Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden.

Waugh immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1980s, leaving behind a position within the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand working alongside key aeronautical engineers to begin his post production career in Los Angeles. 

His introduction to the post production business began at the legendary sound editorial company, Soundelux, headed by industry veterans Lon Bender and Wylie Stateman. Waugh started out as a sound recordist before moving through the creative ranks into facility management, eventually taking on a partnership role at Soundelux.  His field recording landed him credits on iconic films including “Glory”, “Braveheart”, “JFK”, and “Home Alone”.  

Waugh (along with Bender and Stateman) received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1994 for work on the development of the ADE (Advanced Data Encoding) System, or “Kiwi 9000.” The system creates an encoded timecode track and database during the initial transfer of the production sound dailies, allowing for a bridge between linear and non-linear editorial.

In 1995, Waugh oversaw the acquisition and rebuild of Motown Hitsville-Hollywood (Signet Sound Hollywood) and Soundelux Vine St. (Ryder Sound), managing and directing both facilities. After Soundelux Entertainment Group was sold to Liberty Media/Ascent Media in 2001, Ascent Media elevated Waugh to senior vice president of operations and business development, creative group.

Waugh joined WBSO in 2004 as vice president of post production services (PPS), where he focused on building creative relationships, overseeing facility infrastructure, and managing talent recruitment. 

In 2007, he became the senior vice president of PPS, during which time he initiated and oversaw the asset purchase of De Lane Lea Post Facilities in the Soho neighborhood of London in 2012. 

Waugh then successfully rolled Warner Bros. Tech Ops’Motion Picture Imaging group into PPS in 2015. A year later, he oversaw the purchase of Digital Cinema NY, known as WB Sound NY since 2016.  

The HPA Awards honor technical and creative brilliance in content creation.

The HPA Awards will accept entries for outstanding achievement in color grading, editing, sound, and visual effects until July 29. 

The Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation, a juried award, will be announced in advance of the gala. 

All awards, including a new award for Outstanding Achievement in Restoration, will be bestowed during the HPA Awards gala.

The HPA Awards are made possible through the generous sponsorship of Awards Diamond Title Sponsor Blackmagic Design; category sponsors DTS and Picture Shop; event sponsors Fuse FX, Warner Bros. and ZEISS; and supporting sponsors Avid and Sohonet.

Complete rules, guidelines, and entry information for the creative categories and the HPA Awards, as well as a list of previous winners, are available at hpaonline.com. 

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced that executives Phil Kubel and Alicia Rock have taken on expanded roles for the industry trade organization. James Blevins has joined the HPA board of directors, and new chairs have been announced for HPA committees.

Kubel has been elevated to Executive Director of HPA from Director, the post he assumed in 2019. Alicia Rock, formerly Manager of Events, has been named Director, Operations & Events. Rock joined HPA in 2007.  Director of Business Development and Corporate Member Relations Joyce Cataldo rounds out the executive team.

HPA President Seth Hallen noted, “It is an incredibly exciting time at HPA, full of growth, challenge and opportunity. The vibrance we are seeing is a credit to the hard work and vision of the people who have contributed so much to the organization: our staff, our board, and our volunteers. During Phil’s tenure, which saw the pandemic and its impact, we’ve seen enormous growth while preserving the close sense of community that is so important to HPA’s members.  Through Joyce’s careful cultivation, as well as remarkable participation in our events we’ve seen our most significant increase in membership and event sponsorships. Phil is an indefatigable team leader for HPA.” Of Rock, he continued, “Alicia has long been HPA’s backbone, providing an informed, critical viewpoint and flawless execution that bring our big ideas into the world. Her work and talent are outstanding, and her new role well earned. I look forward to seeing what she has planned for HPA!”

Industry veteran James Blevins has been named to the HPA Board of Directors. An active member of the HPA community, he serves as co-chair of the NET committee and was co-chair of this year’s Innovation Zone at the HPA Tech Retreat. Hallen said, “The HPA Board demands a level of commitment and care that is well beyond significant, and only the most intrepid and engaged are invited. James is so passionate about our industry and community and has surpassed that commitment again and again. He generously shares his time, knowledge and talents. We’re so fortunate that he has agreed to join the board, bringing his unique blend of enthusiasm and expertise to our endeavors.”

Blevins (Valid Essence) joins current board members Hallen (LightIron), President; Chuck Parker (Sohonet), Vice President; Bill Roberts (Panavision), Treasurer; Leon Silverman (Strategic Perspective Consulting), Past President; Wendy Aylsworth (Walden Pond), Secretary; Paul Chapman (Picture Shop); Mark Chiolis (Mobile TV Group); Craig German (Amazon Studios); senior industry executive Kari Grubin; Renard Jenkins (WarnerMedia); Loren Nielsen (Xperi); Phil Squyres (Sony Pictures Television); and Joachim Zell (Barco).

New and returning HPA committee chairs for 2022 are as follows:

• ALL: Kari Grubin, Renard Jenkins, and Loren Nielsen
• NET (Networking Education Technology): James Blevins and Lina Sanchez
• Women in Post: Payton List and Belinda Merritt
• YEP (Young Entertainment Professionals): Nikki Jee, Tahirah Foy, and Lina Sanchez
• HPA Awards: Christine Purse

Hallen closed, “In keeping with HPA’s focus on recognition, I’m thrilled to recognize the contributions Phil and Alicia have made to our success and honor the great work of our volunteers. These individuals guide our future and light our way.”

BURBANK, Calif.—HPA has issued a reminder that the period for submitting entries to the HPA Engineering Excellence Award is open until June 24th. 

As previously reported, HPA opened the submission period on April 13. 

Long a treasured distinction for companies in the media and entertainment industry, the HPA Engineering Excellence Award shines a light on breakthrough technologies in media, content production, finishing, distribution, and archive.

The timeline for this year’s awards begins with the submission period from April 13 to June 24, followed by judging (virtual) in July. The winners will be announced in September and the awards will be presented at the HPA Awards gala: November 17, Hollywood Legion. 

More information is available here. 

BURBANK, Calif.—HPA has announced that the call for entries is now open for the HPA Engineering Excellence Award, which recognizes the companies and individuals who have created breakthrough technologies in media, content production, finishing, distribution, and archive. 

The 2022 submission period runs from April 13 to June 24. Judging will again take place online, in July.  

2021 HPA Engineering Excellence Award recipients were ArchPlatform by ArchPlatform Technologies, OpenColorIO v2 by AutoDesk, Nuke by Foundry, and NearTime by Mo-Sys Engineering.

“I look forward to the opening of the call for entries every year because that’s when we hear what our community has been working on,” said Joachim Zell, chair of the HPA Engineering Excellence Award Committee and HPA Board member. “The ingenuity of the brilliant people in our industry is endless, and every year there is an exciting balance between submissions from familiar faces and faces that are new on the scene. I can’t wait to hear from the people working at the vanguard.” 

As in previous years, entrants will engage in a two-step process: submission of written elements and a brief pre-recorded presentation, followed by a live, virtual Q&A with a blue-ribbon panel of judges. 

Seth Hallen, president of HPA, added that “it is exhilarating to witness the prodigious talent at work in our industry, taking us ever closer to the perfect realization of creative vision. I can’t wait to applaud the Engineering Excellence award winners and, as always, reflect on the new possibilities opened up by their work. It’s here we learn about and explore the future.” 

Annual HPA Awards Gala will return to the Hollywood Legion on November 17, after a sold-out in-person celebration in 2021. The recipients of the Engineering Excellence Award will be announced in advance, and the awards will be presented during the live gala. Detailed information about the creative categories, which will be opening soon, is forthcoming.

The HPA Awards take place thanks to the generosity of sponsors, including Diamond Title Sponsor Blackmagic Design. 

For information about sponsoring the HPA Awards, please contact Joyce Cataldo at jcataldo@hpaonline.com.

For more information about the HPA Awards, including the latest and most complete rules and procedures, fees, guidelines and entry information, please visit www.hpaawards.com. 

LONDON—Mo-Sys Engineering will work together with Moxion, QTAKE and OVIDE at the HPA Tech Retreat, Feb. 21-24, in Rancho Mirage, Calif., to show a collaborative virtual production workflow in the event’s Innovation Zone.

At the companies’ combined stand, they will show a Sony Crystal LED wall and a Sony Venice camera on a curved rail. The camera will be equipped with a Mo-Sys StarTracker camera tracking system. The company’s VP Pro XR LED content server will drive the LED wall.

Takes will be captured with QTAKE’s on-set capture tool while the VP Pro XR, which will capture the camera and lens-tracking data, will drive the LED wall. Mo-Sys’ new NearTime service will solve the growing problem of increasing real-time Unreal image quality while maintaining real-time frame rates, Mo-Sys said.

NearTime uses cloud processing from AWS to address the issue. Once processed in the cloud, higher-quality re-rendered images will automatically be delivered to a Moxion Immediates solution for review and signoff, it said.

Using NearTime in an LED volume with a Mo-Sys enabled halo green frustum for separating talent from the LED content, the background Unreal scenes can be re-rendered automatically with higher quality or resolution using captured camera and lens tracking data. They can then be used to replace the original lower-quality background Unreal scenes, the company said. 

This process avoids the need for large quantities of on-set rendering nodes, minimizes post-production costs and completely eliminates moiré effects. This unique approach enables far more efficient workflows than those that exist today, the company said.  

“We believe there is a better way to bring virtual productions to life cost-effectively and without compromising on image quality,” said Mo-Sys CEO Michael Geissler. “We are excited to meet with customers face-to-face once more at the HPA Tech Retreat and to show them workflows that can take their virtual productions to the next level while allowing them to work with other tools that they are already familiar with.”  

The retreat has scheduled the “Immerse Yourself in Virtual Production” Supersession for Feb. 22. Attendees will walk through virtual production from concept to delivery. Emphasis will be placed on planning and preparation. Three LED walls—one each from AOTO, Planar and Sony—will be featured. Two will use the Mo-Sys StarTracker camera and lens tracking system. One will be driven by Mo-Sys’ VP Pro XR LED content server, showcasing Cinematic XR Focus feature.

More information on the retreat is available on the event’s website.

More information about the Mo-Sys VR solutions are available on its website.

LOS ANGELES—HPA has outlined its current health and safety COOVID-19 protocols to potential attendees of its upcoming 2022 HPA Tech Retreat, noting that “so much has happened in the past year to make [an in-person event] possible: vaccines, boosters, accessible testing, and greater knowledge about how to gather safely.”

“Our first priority for planning the Tech Retreat is safety,” the organization said. “[W]e have been planning carefully and leaning on expert advice to ensure the event is safe and comfortable for everyone. California currently has some of the most stringent COVID policies in the U.S. in place and the greater Palm Springs vaccination rate has been consistently among the top in the state, with Rancho Mirage reporting 94% of residents vaccinated as of the end of 2021.”

More specific plans to keep the event safe include:  

• Requiring proof of full vaccination for all participants.
• All Tech Retreat events will take place in a designated “Safe Zone” for the exclusive use of Tech Retreat attendees - no outside guests permitted.
• Separate outdoor hotel check-in and registration for Tech Retreat attendees only.
• Masks required indoors when not eating or drinking.
• Outdoor sessions, meals, and breaks when possible.
• State of the art HVAC with MERV 13 filtration.
• Continuous fresh air circulated into all event and conference space.
• COVID Compliance Officers on site.
• Electrostatic sanitizing of entire conference and event spaces, nightly.
• Complimentary COVID testing available to attendees if needed.
• Hand sanitizing stations throughout venue.

More information on the HPA Tech Retreat, which will be held between February 21 to 24, and the latest Tech Retreat Health and Safety measures is available here.  

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the members of the 2022 class of HPA Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP). 

The YEP program is designed to nurture the growth of the industry and elevate talented early-career professionals working in the media content industry, HPA said. It has provided support, education, and encouragement to over one hundred young professionals to date and has helped foster a diverse next generation of industry professionals.

Overseen by the YEP steering committee, the program was conceived by HPA’s Women In Post Committee, led by Kari Grubin and Loren Nielsen. 

“We are delighted to open another year of engagement for this truly talented group,” Grubin said. “Every year the relationships that form between our YEPs, mentors, and the HPA community inspire growth on all fronts.” 

The YEPs of past classes have voiced that while mentorship is significant in the program, the building of peer groups is invaluable. 

Nielsen noted that “YEPs have built a tremendously supportive professional and peer community. To have a network to which you turn for information and camaraderie is profoundly meaningful. YEP has done that.”

Determined by application and endorsement, YEP class members are invited to engage in the full spectrum of HPA activities, including the legendary HPA Tech Retreat and HPA Awards, as well as being paired with advanced career mentors in the second half of the year. YEPs network and learn from peers and mentors, beginning with an exclusive YEP event in January.

The 2022 YEP Class is: 

• Barbara Banda, Netflix
• Eduardo Becerril, Entravision Communications
• Benjamin Cantle, Monster Lighting
• George Diaz, BuzzFeed
• Matthew Klein, Company 3
• Alexa Lowndes, Company 3
• Kathryn Lynyak, Netflix
• Jaxson McLennan, Freelance
• Alexandra Pann, 3BMG Productions
• Alexis Pfeffer, Freelance
• Beatriz Rodriguez, Amazon’s Hunters S2
• Nan Su, Youth Beat

The YEP program is supported by AVID. For further information, visit hpaonline.com.

BURBANK, Calif.—HPA has announced that the 2022 HPA Tech Retreat Supersession, a daylong immersive experience, will focus on virtual production. 

Helmed by post executive Kari Grubin and ETC’s Erik Weaver, the event will offer participants a hands-on experience and explore the promises and challenges of virtual production, from conception through post. 

During the Supersession, attendees will have direct access to the latest virtual production environments, including multiple LED walls, cameras and game engines. 

They will also be able to study different pitches, cameras and sensors and their impacts, and examine the engines that power virtual production. 

The Supersession is set for Tuesday, February 22, the second day of the 2022 HPA Tech Retreat (February 21-24). The entire Tech Retreat will take place exclusively in person at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage. Attendees are required to be fully vaccinated and current COVID safety protocols will be enforced. 

“It’s critical to embrace the full picture of virtual production and how it affects every stage of production from conception through post,” Grubin said. “The Supersession we are developing will present an opportunity to experience firsthand the virtual production workflow and allows attendees to experiment with different technologies they may encounter in the field. We are excited to be working with the thought and technology leaders at work in virtual production, and they will be with us at the Tech Retreat to guide the conversation.”

More specifically, HPA said the Supersession discussion topics will include:

• Understanding the full scope of virtual production: more than the wall
• Conception to execution: how to get to stage 1 in the process
• Storyboards, animatics, previs, techvis, remote scouting, and more
• Introduction to the Virtual Art Department (VAD) and final pixel
• The cinematographer and practical considerations
• Optimizing dvLED performance for virtual production
• On set and the virtual production techs
• Practical considerations in virtual production lighting
• Post production of virtual production projects from dailies, VFX and sound
• The role of trade organizations in supporting virtual production development

The 2022 HPA Tech Retreat will begin on Monday, February 21 with TR-X, which this year will be a deep dive into the increasing use of cine cameras in sports, event, corporate, and other live productions. 

Following the Supersession, attendees will enjoy the main program presentations, curated by HPA Tech Retreat Maestro Mark Schubin. 

In addition to the conference, roundtable discussions guided by industry experts are scheduled, as well as a reimagined Innovation Zone offering first looks at cutting edge technologies. Networking, always integral to the Tech Retreat experience, will be abundant during the four-day event. The schedule for the entire event is available online and will be updated regularly.

For more information about the HPA Tech Retreat, visit www.hpatechretreat.com. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards Committee has announced that veteran media technology executive Darcy Antonellis will receive the organization’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award during a gala celebration at the Hollywood Legion on November 18, 2021. 

The Lifetime Achievement Award, given only at the discretion of the HPA Board and Awards Committee, honors the recipient’s dedication to the advancement of the industry.

Widely respected as both a technologist and executive, Antonellis is being formally recognized for the impact of her innovations and leadership in the media and entertainment technology space during a long career with such companies as CBS, Warner Bros. and Vubiquity. 

Seth Hallen, president of HPA, explained that “it is a great honor for us to name Darcy Antonellis as the 2021 HPA Award Lifetime Achievement winner. The impact that Darcy has had is irrefutable. Her efforts to build an anti-piracy framework for our industry, her leadership across the important companies she has steered, and her brilliant and innovative perspective is well known. Her patents, stellar record, her Emmys and other honors, all stand as evidence of the significant contributions she has made to our industry.”

During her early career at CBS, she led operations and engineering for the CBS News Bureau in Washington, D.C.  Moving to New York, her responsibilities extended to CBS Network’s technical operations and ultimately as head of technical and olympic operations for CBS’ coverage of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. In addition to these highlights at CBS, Antonellis held a variety of leadership positions covering a variety of global events cutting across News and Sports, including the Albertville and Lillehammer Winter Olympics Games for Sports, and as director of operations in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the Gulf War. 

After her career at CBS, she was recruited to Warner Bros. as senior vice president, then executive vice-president distribution technologies & operations. In 2004, as the filmed entertainment industry was taking lessons from the impact of piracy on the music industry, she was named Warner Bros. corporate senior vice-president for worldwide anti-piracy operations where she oversaw the creation of Hollywood’s first anti-piracy operation and developed a multi-tiered strategy focused on technology, business development, enforcement and legislation, to enable compelling, competitive options to piracy. 

In 2008, Antonellis was named president of technical operations and chief technology officer at Warner Bros., where she was instrumental in the studio’s transition to digital technologies and automation for distribution across theatrical, home entertainment and television, and oversaw the studio’s supply chain.

In 2014, Antonellis was named CEO of Vubiquity, a global media and entertainment distribution technologies and services provider and oversaw the company’s growth and global footprint expansion. In 2018, the company was acquired by Amdocs Inc., a provider of software and services to communications and media companies around the globe, where she most recently served as division president of Amdocs Media bringing together content experiences linked to subscription and identity management, before taking up her current position as Senior Advisor.

Antonellis serves on the boards of Cinemark Holdings and Xperi Corporation. She holds patents in the areas of digital distribution, imaging and audio processing and is a member of the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a SMPTE Fellow. Antonellis served on the advisory boards of Temple University’s College of Engineering and the Global Advisory Council for the professional Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). 

As a supporter of a number of socially conscious initiatives throughout her professional and private life, Antonellis has been involved in a variety of charitable causes. Those include working with the American Cancer Society fighting breast cancer, and on behalf of the American Heart Association ideating its STEM Goes RED program for SoCal. She has also served on the board of Kidsave, a non-profit focused on finding adoptive families for children ages 6 to 16.

Antonellis earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Temple University and an MBA from Fordham University with a concentration in Finance. 

Over the years, she has received a number of honors for her work. 

She is a three-time Emmy recipient in the areas of Technical Production and Engineering (Lillehammer and Nagano Olympics and for Warner Bros’ development of the first studio digital supply chain platform). 

Other acknowledgements include Broadcasting and Cable’s Technology Leadership award, India’s NASSCOM award, Hollywood Reporter’s Digital 50 and Multichannel’s Class of 2018 Wonder Women. 

“I’m humbled by this acknowledgement” by HPA, Anontellis said. “Most importantly, I am and always will be grateful for the talented and dedicated people who I’ve had and have the honor to work alongside.”    

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has issued the call for proposals for the 2022 HPA Tech Retreat. 

The 2022 HPA Tech Retreat will take place February 21-24 at the Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, CA.

The proposals selected in this process make up the main program, a series of short panels and presentations that set the agenda for the year ahead in creative technology. Past presenters’ affiliations have included government agencies, academic institutions, and companies large and small. Proposals will be accepted through October 29.  

This year’s HPA Tech Retreat will return to its in-person format which launches with TR-X (Tech Retreat Extra) and continues with the Supersession and main conference program hosted by Mark Schubin.  As in the past, breakfast roundtables, networking events and the Innovation Zone will complement the daily session.  

Call for Proposals: Main Program

Main program presentations are strictly reserved for marketing-free content. The HPA Tech Retreat’s Mark Schubin notes that main program sessions can include a wide range of topics: “Anything involving motion imaging or associated technologies (such as sound) is fair game. Got a new way of solving a problem? Found fault with an old way? Thought of something no one has considered before? We’re interested, and you’ll get feedback from the best.”

Proposals are informal in nature and can be as short as a few words in length (typically a few sentences) and must be submitted directly by the would-be presenter. Submitters will be contacted if the topic is of interest. Presentations in the main program are typically of half-hour duration (though other time slots will be considered, and shorter ones are preferred), including set-up and Q&A. Time limits are enforced. The deadline to submit main program proposals is end of day, October 29. Submissions should be sent to tvmark@earthlink.net.  All submissions are acknowledged soon after receipt. 

Schubin also noted that "We are always interested in hearing from those new to the event, particularly members of underrepresented groups; we greatly value their perspectives."  

Call for Proposals: Breakfast Roundtables

Breakfast roundtables are set for Tuesday, February 22, Wednesday, February 23 and Thursday, February 24. Unlike the main program presentations, breakfast roundtable moderators are permitted to include marketing information. 

Breakfast roundtables always fill quickly and are available on a first-come, first-served basis, with no vetting process. Proposals must be submitted in the same way, directly by their proposed table moderators. Once the maximum number of tables is reached, no more will be accepted. All breakfast roundtable moderators must be registered for the Retreat and there is no Retreat registration discount conveyed by moderating a breakfast roundtable. 

Seth Hallen, president of HPA explained that “It’s no secret that our industry has changed dramatically. The accompanying leaps in technology that have come to fruition since we last met in the desert have been nothing short of extraordinary. The HPA Tech Retreat – which will return to its deeply engaged, conversational, exploration-oriented roots – remains the place where problems and developments are put forth, explored and understood. Vital and important at its core, the Tech Retreat continues to evolve to speak to a changing industry of many different disciplines. We eagerly await the proposals for this year’s program, which promise to demand an even higher level of attention from our attendees. I sincerely hope for first time presenters and submissions from a broad spectrum of thought, with the goal of new approaches and paradigms being presented by speakers representative of our entire diverse community. With Mark’s program, and the plans we are putting in place for the supersession and TRX, the content will, as ever, be out of this world.” 

The HPA Tech Retreat perennially sells out, the organizers said. As the event returns to the in-person format, which may require some limitations to develop a safe and healthy event, it is anticipated that the attendance and presentation slots for 2022 will fill particularly quickly. Early registration and proposal submission are highly encouraged. Tech Retreat registration will open in October. 

For more information about the 2022 HPA Tech Retreat, visit www.hpaonline.com. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association has issued its calls for submissions for the 2021 HPA Engineering Excellence Award. The submission deadline has been set for June 18.

The Engineering Excellence Award honors products and processes that help transform artists’ ability to realize their creative vision, per HPA. The HPA has recognized breakthroughs in media, content production, finishing, distribution and archive with past Engineering Excellence Awards.

HPA has announced that it will continue with virtual judging of all Engineering Excellence Award submissions in 2021 after what it says was a successful 2020 process. Joachim Zell, chair of the HPA Engineering Excellence Award Committee and HPA board member, said virtual judging expanded the organization’s ability to judge technologies and products from around the world.

There is a two-step process for entry: First, submission of written elements and a brief pre-recorded presentation; then a live, virtual Q&A with a panel of judges.

Information on the creative categories will be announced in the coming weeks.

Other updated rules, procedures and entry processes and available on HPA’s website.

“Shining a spotlight on the incredible talent and persistence of our industry is at HPA’s core,” said Seth Hallen, president of HPA. “Especially given the extraordinary advances of technology through the events of the past year, we are excited to celebrate the engineering and technology communities that have been absolutely crucial in the ability for us to continue working. We look forward to cheering the companies and the individuals who will be participating in the Engineering Excellence award.”

The recipients of the Engineering Excellence Award, as well as the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation, will be announced in advance of the awards gala, which will take place in person and online in mid-November.

For more information, visit www.hpaawards.com.  

BURBANK, Calif.—HPA has announced the creation of HPA ALL, a new program that will serve as the driving force for HPA-led initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the industry.

HPA ALL intends to highlight career pathways and create opportunities for contributions by and visibility for underrepresented groups to strengthen the media and entertainment community, according to HPA’s announcement.

HPA board members Kari Grubin and Renard Jenkins will lead the program as co-chairs.

One of the first initiatives of HPA ALL will be the ALL IN event that HPA has announced will take place from May 24-27. ALL IN will be a week of education, connection and honors, per HPA, offering live sessions, social and networking events and more. The week will culminate with the HPA League Honors, which will recognize diverse members of the HPA community who “serve as examples of innovation and leadership.”

Registration for ALL IN is free. More information is available on the HPA website. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association has announced its Young Entertainment Professionals Class of 2021, the fifth year of the program, which will officially get underway in January.

Here are the young professionals making up the 2021 class:

• Bibi Arbab, The Walt Disney Company 
• Veronica Badell, Academy Gold 
• Fernanda Bueno, NBCUniversal 
• Cathy Bui, Room306 Media LLC 
• Yasmine Cheikh-Eljeilat, The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures 
• Huan Cheng, Center for Asian American Media 
• Sara Duque, Cala Producciones S.A.S. 
• Tahirah Foy, HBO 
• Melissa Guiterrez, Narrative Ads 
• Liv Gwynn, National Geographic Channel 
• Desmond Jackson, PMF Media 
• Nikki Jee, Paramount Pictures 
• Simon Lecointe, Dalet 
• Barbara Losseau, GBH 
• Catheryn Mallari, Premier Digital 
• Natalie Mangione, Walt Disney Studios 
• Twi McCallum 
• Whitney McElveen, Netflix 
• Bowen Moreno, Xperi 
• Benjamin Noble, 3 Ball Entertainment 
• Nicoletta Nomicou 
• Evan Okada, Sim International 
• Maria Quiroga, Mariangela Quiroga Photography 
• Leah Robinson, Big Brother 
• Karla Rodriguez, Sony Pictures Entertainment 
• Drew Roublick 
• Megan Schneider, Marvel Studios 
• Nicole Thrakulchavee, Company 3 
• Stephanie To, Tremendous Entertainment 
• Mackenzie Webster, Nordstrom 
• Adam Wohlers, Disney Creative Services 
• Ting Yu, IATSE Local 700/ACE 

The YEP program was established in 2017 and designed to provide support, education and encouragement to young professionals. HPA says that more than 100 have taken part in the program thus far.

“Each year we are thoroughly impressed by the accomplishments of YEP program applicants,” said Kari Grubin, YEP steering committee co-chair. “It’s thrilling to bring such a bright and talented group of individuals together for the program’s fifth year and connect them with the resources and people that will help them set and achieve bold goals for both their careers and our industry.”

The 2021 YEP program will begin with an exclusive event in January.

For more information, visit www.hpaonline.com.  

Taking inspiration from a Mother Teresa quote, SMPTE and HPA, in response to the racial and social justice efforts taking root across the world, are working to “cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples” when it comes to improving industry diversity and inclusion efforts.

To do so, the two organizations are working to inspire the next generation of industry leaders, placing a particular emphasis on broadening the inclusion of disproportionately under-represented communities at all levels. Planning and setting a goal to achieve this was the focus of the SMPTE2020 opening day session “SMPTE/HPA Joint Initiative: Inclusion, Equity and Acceptance.” Renard Jenkins, vice president, Content Transmission at WarnerMedia and Eastern Region Governor for SMPTE, and Kari Grubin, HPA board member and senior media entertainment executive for HPA, led the presentation.

SMPTE and HPA’s joint effort has the stated vision to “be a lighthouse and leader for the global media and entertainment industry to create a safe, diverse and inclusive place for all to succeed.” While efforts have been made in the past through such programs like the Women in Technology Luncheon and the Young Entertainment Professional Orientation, SMPTE and HPA have outlined a series of goals for this year to begin to push these efforts to a higher level.

First looking internally, SMPTE and HPA will work to align their policies and goals for increasing membership inclusivity and corporate representation, because as Grubin stated, “we have strength by working together.”

There will also be a concerted effort to increase the percentage of diversity on SMPTE and HPA’s boards and committees. According to Grubin, the organizations will work to ensure 100% transparency on how members can join a board or committee by sharing the appropriate details and opportunities in an unbiased way.

Building partnerships with diversity groups will also be a key initial goal, including already established industry-related diversity groups, as well as Historically Black Colleges and community colleges. As Grubin said, the ultimate goal is to find the groups who had previously not had access to the organizations’ information and then bring that information to them “so that we can inspire an inclusive and equal representation across all groups.”

Increasing the diversity of event programming and awards rounded out the list of goals for the year. While people are encouraged to be as inclusive as possible when making submissions, SMPTE and HPA plan to review each event and the guidelines and rules associated with them to ensure that inclusive language is present as well as to consider adding requirements on presentation formats so as to give as many people a voice as possible. Building off the hope for expanded partnerships, Grubin says that they would also encourage these groups’s members to submit for presentations and awards.

“Hopefully, in not too long of a time, we will have a really easy pathway for people to participate,” said Grubin.

While these are the broad goals, Jenkins detailed actions that are already underway to help achieve them. One such effort is the review of standards to remove racially loaded terms—like “master-slave” or “whitellist-blacklist”—and replaced with more neutral terms like “primary/secondary” and “approved/non-approved.” Jenkins spoke on how he has avoided the use of the term “master-slave” because of how it makes him feel uncomfortable and excluded. This is an example of the organizations’ efforts to make sure everything is done with an inclusive brush, he said.

Again, Jenkins spoke of the effort to work with colleges and universities, including HBCUs, to help enlarge and diversify the industry’s talent pool by including them in all of SMPTE and HPA’s educational and outreach efforts. Similarly, they are attempting to cast a wider net with job boards for internships, apprenticeships and employment opportunities to ensure a larger source of applicants.

These efforts, while primarily focused on the United States at the moment, will be expanded to SMPTE Sections worldwide, Jenkins explained. But perhaps the most important effort, he added, is working with local levels, where he thinks can have the biggest impact on  racial and gender inclusion. 

Collegiate-level student chapters, which are themselves becoming increasingly diverse, are another important way to connect with interested students. SMPTE and HPA are also considering working with, or creating groups that work with high school and middle school students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and providing more information on the opportunities available to them.

Additional efforts are expected to include reaching out to Sections for ideas on how to raise funds to support these efforts and reinstituting the SMPTE Student Film Festival.

Jenkins says he has never gone to a SMPTE or HPA conference where he hasn’t found individuals who wanted to help advance these goals.

“We want to actually cast that energy out into the world, where we’re actually helping people to see that our industry is inclusive, but also to see that you can have a career in this industry no matter what gender you are, no matter what you look like, no matter what your age is and no matter what your particular abilities are, whether they are physical or mental,” Jenkins said. “We want to make sure that if you are a person with diversabilities that you’re welcome too.”

To register for SMPTE2020, visit 2020.smpte.org/

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association’s annual February gathering is adapting to the global pandemic, announcing that the HPA Tech Retreat will be a virtual event in 2021.

The move, like nearly all other major conferences since March, is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. HPA Tech Retreat plans to take on the subject directly, saying that a key component of the virtual event will be tackling the impact of the global pandemic on the media landscape.

HPA has also announced the opening of its Call for Proposals that will make up its main program and breakfast roundtables.

Main program proposals can cover a variety of topics, but HPA’s program lead Mark Schubin is stressing a focus on how technology has helped the industry overcome the impact of COVID-19 and the role it will play in adapting to new industry challenges and opportunities. Schubin also notes new rules to the presentations, including any presentation or panel lasting a maximum of 20 minutes (bigger topics could be split into multiple presentations) and that any selected presentation is to be prerecorded and delivered before the event. Main program presentations must be marketing-free content.

Breakfast roundtables, meanwhile, can be on just about anything, including marketing content. There is no vetting process for breakfast roundtables, per HPA, and will be available until the maximum number of tables is reached.

HPA is accepting proposals from now until 5 p.m. PT on Nov. 20. Proposal submissions should be sent to media.mark.schubin@gmail.com.

“Despite the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic, we are going to make sure that this HPA Tech Retreat continues to engage, inform and connect in its usual jaw dropping way,” said Seth Hallen, president of HPA. “This year, more than ever, the discussion and deep knowledge is exactly what our community needs and seeks. Your input is what has always made the HPA Tech Retreat program unlike any other event, and I encourage you to submit for this year’s program—the industry needs to hear from you.”

For more information on HPA Tech Retreat 2021, visit www.hpaonline.com. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards Committee announced EIZO, Eluvio, Moxion and Carl Zeiss SBE are the winners of the 2020 HPA Awards for Engineering Excellence.  

The HPA Engineering Excellence Award honors outstanding technical and creative ingenuity in media, content production, finishing, distribution and archive.

EIZO is being recognized for its Prominence CG3146 31.1-inch HDR monitor with built-in calibration sensor. New technologies were invented to include advanced brightness and color uniformity correction that allows calibration to occur at the top of the monitor and a stable XYZ glass type sensor that resists temperature. 

New algorithms were needed for one sensor in both low brightness areas with higher noise and high bright areas with more light saturation. Machine learning display stabilization and custom ASIC technologies were implemented to improve image stability and increase the available colors of the LCD panel by more than 22%.

Eluvio is being honored for its pioneering work on a novel video distribution platform to service content providers around the globe. The Eluvio Content Fabric provides an efficient, secure and cost-effective means to deliver ultra-low latency video globally just-in-time without CDNs, cloud transcoding or databases. 

As a single backend for distribution, the platform links media, metadata and programmable code and serves high quality streaming video to the viewer without intermediaries, separate file copies or static versions. Content is personalized dynamically and rights-controlled via software blockchain contracts. 

Moxion is being recognized for its Immediates, the result of multiple innovations enabling post and production to share and review each other’s footage securely within minutes of creation.

Immediates footage, complete with camera, action and VFX wranglers’ metadata, flows from the QTAKE video assist into the Moxion cloud, where it can be reviewed and logged before flowing into editorial or VFX workflows. Conversely, footage created in post can be sent via the Moxion Cloud back to the set, security, the video assist for playback on on-set monitors or to any on-set iOS device.

Carl Zeiss SBE is being honored for its eXtended Data lens metadata technology that amplifies and increases the accuracy of the image capture and processing workflow. Zeiss eXtended Data unifies two data sets: key lens data based on the Cooke and i-Technology and the ZEISS distortion and shading lens data.

After recording on set together with the video files, the data can be applied in post-production for more accurate compositing and editing by using the suite of Zeiss-developed lens plugins.

Frame.io and Sohonet received honorable mention for their Camera-to-Cloud and ClearView Flex technologies, respectively.

This year’s judging was adapted to adhere to restrictions imposed on the industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, HPA said.

Now in their 15th year, the HPA Awards, including the HPA Award for Engineering Excellence, will be bestowed Nov. 19 during a virtual gala.

More information is available on the HPA website. 

BURBANK, Calif.—HPA is once again offering an avenue for young entertainment professionals to advance their careers through its Young Entertainment Professionals program. Applications for the 2021 program are now being accepted.

Since its founding in 2015, YEP has sought to connect young professionals between the ages of 21 and 32 with mentors and provide educational offerings that can help accelerate their professional development into industry leadership positions.

As part of the program, YEP participants receive free or reduced fee access to YEP and HPA events, like the HPA Tech Retreat, YEP Roundtable Mentor Event, HPA’s virtual event series and more. They also receive an annual membership in HPA and SMPTE.

There are two phases of the year-long YEP program. Phase 1 takes place from January through May and requires that participant to attend the YEP orientation day as well as one other major event and at least four virtual events or casual meet-ups throughout the year. Phase 2 begins in May and will pair participants with an industry leader as a mentor. At the end of Phase 2, participants are evaluated on their eligibility to receive a certificate of completion.

“HPA is a place where those who participate make connections that last a lifetime,” said Kari Grubin, who co-created the YEP program. “Becoming a YEP puts you in a great position to do just that, and if you are able to invest in your YEP experience, it will be an invaluable asset as you build your career.”

Applications are being accepted until Oct. 12, which entails an online application and one letter of recommendation. Applicants will be notified of their status in mid-November, with classes starting in January 2021.

For more information, visit www.hpaonline.com.  

WASHINGTON—As television and film production begins to open up after four months of being shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, producers and crews have learned a simple lesson that has applied to how so many other enterprises have encountered when trying to resume operations. 

No one size fits all. 

That was one of the many takeaways from webcasts held last week from the two most prominent industry associations for the film and TV industries. The bicoastal webcasts were sponsored by Hollywood Professional Association—which presented the view from Hollywood—and the SMPTE NY chapter, which discussed the challenges of restarting production in the Big Apple.

PROTECTING THE PEOPLE

The HPA has created an Industry Recovery Task Force headed up by industry veteran Leon Silverman who spoke about how production has changed since March. 

“Before the pandemic our industry was exploding with production and post-production fueled by the amazing creative talent for tools and the services you provide,” he said. “As we focus on getting production back and post-production back we absolutely know that we're at the beginning and what we're getting back to will necessarily be different in the work that we had been doing before.”

TV and film production is not just limited to the coasts, though. And as we’ve learned over the past several months, certain areas of the country have been dealing with the effects of the lockdown in different ways and at different times, according to Dr. Daniel Z. Uslan, co-chief infection prevention officer for UCLA Health.

“If you had asked me three months ago that New York would be relatively safe to shoot in and Atlanta would not, people would look at you like you're crazy,” Uslan said. “It's completely changed since then, where New York is safe now and Atlanta and Georgia in general is experiencing a surge.”

Industry associations, including SAG/AFTRA, Director’s Guild of America, IATSE and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have developed guidelines that address the unique issues to on-set production, taking into account the challenges of social distancing among performers and crew members. 

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“The recommended guidelines state that there's regular testing for everyone who's going to be on set, the actors and crew,” Uslan said. “But there's also been a lot of attention on availability of testing.”

STAYING IN ZONE

The importance of testing cannot be overstated. Among the guidelines is the recommendation of setting up “zones” that would define the amount and risk of contact to avoid spreading the virus and establish the amount of testing involved. Crew members, including hair stylists, makeup artists, audio techs and actors, would comprise members of “Zone A.” Because of the close interpersonal interaction, these people would need to be tested most often. 

“Zone A is not just a physical space but a state of being,” said Joseph Reidy, with the DGA, during the SMPTE presentation.

Those in Zone B include other crew members on the set that are more able to practice social distancing, such as camera and lighting employees for example, who could be tested less often. Zone C comprises the “rest of the world” and represents perhaps the biggest risk of all.

“Zone C is the outside world that's your own home or the hotel where you might be staying at or the restaurant you stop at on the way,” said Reidy. “It's anywhere other than the environment of the production, a set and its footprint. It’s important to know because you are going to be mingling in Zone C every day and that's where you will end up getting infected.”

“Keeping people in zones ensures that if in the unlikely event that there is a case of COVID-19, you've limited the number of people in contact with that case and so it makes contact tracing easier and it makes decisions about who needs to quarantine easier as well,” Uslan said.

Another recommendation is to designate a COVID Safety Officer on-set who would be responsible for ensuring safety guidelines are being followed. 

“It could be somebody from the medical field, who has advanced training in Infection Control and Prevention,” said Uslan. “Most importantly, you want someone who is well trained and understands some of the challenges and be responsible for overseeing everything from testing to enhanced cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing, the use of personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves and how to use those safely.”

ADVANCING THE TECHNOLOGY

With much of post-production already having been moved to cloud-based workflows over the past decade, the “new normal” of social distancing has only validated this technology move even further.

According to a recent survey taken American Cinema Editors, 95% of editors are working from home now, according to association president Steve Rivkin.  

“I think editors are in a unique position to continue working from home,” Rivkin said, “I think some of the big challenges are working out the logistics, technically, obviously perfecting the way we work from home.”

Rivkin added that security concerns surrounding working on high-impact projects have been lessened in recent years. 

“In our instance, editors are remotely logging into assets that are housed securely at our studio and media as well so there is no media stored at home,” he said. “Which is I think a great relief to the studios and producers.”

Improvements in communicating among production crews has also improved as more people get used to Zooming instead of meeting in person. 

“Communication among other crew members has improved already in the sense that you don't have to go take a meeting with someone to be able to talk to them,” said Rivkin. “We use programs like Slack, Microsoft Teams, we use Evercast to review sequences together and recently we started actually remoting into each other’s projects.”

There are still some elements that are harder to do via remote, including HDR, but progress is even being made in that area as well, according to Katie Fellion, head of Business Development and Workflow Strategy, Light Iron.

“For HDR, we're right on the cusp in terms of being able to do live HDR outside of a facility setting,” she said. “And a lot of that relates to both bandwidth in a client's home, as well as the devices that they're using. I think in the next couple of weeks we'll probably see some manufacturers coming out with different options.” 

The general consensus among all of the panelists on both coasts was that the changes imposed by the pandemic over the past four months have permanently altered the production landscape forever. 

“In our industry, change happens slowly, unless it is forced upon us,” Rivkin said. “And I think one of the silver linings of this horrible dark cloud, was that technology that was kind of on the sidelines—and perhaps may have taken years to adopt—all of a sudden we're finding that it's incredibly essential in this ‘work from home’ environment.”

Michael Cioni, global senior vice president of innovation at Frame.io, said he has received numerous texts from directors and producers saying, in essence, that “we’re never going back.”

“COVID allowed them to discover an entirely new process of working,” Cioni said. “A former head of Paramount Studio told me ‘How did we not have this before? Why were we missing this, this is how we're going to do it forever.’” 

BURBANK, Calif.—Acknowledging a number of requests to do so and in an effort to be fair to all interested parties, the Hollywood Professional Association is extending the deadline to submit an entry for the HPA Engineering Excellence Award until Aug. 10.

The original deadline was going to be July 31, but now interested parties will have until 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 10 to get their nominations to HPA.

The HPA Engineering Excellence Award recognizes significant technological achievements that HPA says help lead to growth and stability in the industry.

HPA will present the Engineering Excellence Award at the 15th Anniversary HPA Awards, taking place virtually on Nov. 19.

For more information, or to submit a nomination, visit HPA’s website. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Industry Recovery Task Force, formed in May by the Hollywood Professional Association, will host the first of a series of virtual global town hall events that will explore viable plans to return to work on July 29, HPA has announced.

The IRTF was formed to understand how content creation can be enabled in a world impacted by a pandemic. Among its key objectives is to serve as a forum of collaboration, communication and thought leadership on how to resume global production and post-production; to understand the influence of evolving technical requirements like remote production; and to provide up-to-date information and access to emerging health and safety guidelines from various industry and government officials.

The town hall on July 29 will be an interactive event with a panel of experts who will provide insight on the latest scientific, technical and creative best practices to encourage global dialogue. The panel will include Carolyn Giardina, tech editor, Hollywood Reporter, as the moderator; Michael Cioni, global senior vice president of innovation at Frame.io; Doug Kent, president, Westwind Media; Steve Rivkin, ACE, president at American Cinema Editors; Dr. Daniel Z. Uslan, co-chief infection prevention officer for UCLA Health; and Zev Yaroslavsky, director, Los Angeles Initiative, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Leon Silverman, who is serving as the IRTF chair, and HPA Board member Craig German are chairing the town hall. Also, HPA President Seth Hallen will introduce the event.

“By bringing together a multi-disciplinary group of experts, the town hall will explore the intricacies of building a bridge for the industry to safely return to work,” said Silverman. “We will address, in a fact-based, expert led discussion, how to stabilize our return and the steps that are required for individuals and companies in our business to safely work and sustain themselves in the process.”

The IRTF Virtual Global Town Hall will take place on July 29 at 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PT. For more information, including how to register, visit www.hpaonline.com.  

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association is now accepting entries for the creative categories of the 2020 HPA Awards, which is now in its 15th year.

The HPA Awards honor the work of the HPA community, specifically color grading, editing, sound and visual effects. 

Individual awards will be handed out for outstanding color grading  and outstanding sound (design, editing, mixing) for theatrical features, episode or non-theatrical features and commercials. There will also be awards for outstanding editing and outstanding visual effects for theatrical feature, episode or non-theatrical feature (30 minutes and under) and episode or non-theatrical feature (over 30 minutes).

For works to be eligible, they must have debuted domestically and/or internationally between Sept. 4, 2019, and Sept. 9, 2020. Entrants do not need to be members of HPA or working in the U.S. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, HPA has also instituted temporary modifications to its eligibility rules and entry procedures, including reduced entry fees.

Submissions can be made from now until Aug. 21. Winners will be recognized during an online virtual gala on Nov. 19.

The 2020 HPA Awards virtual gala will also feature the HPA Engineering Excellence Award, which is also currently open for entries.

For more information, visit www.hpaonline.com.  

BURBANK, Calif.—One of the founders and former president of the Hollywood Professional Association Leon Silverman has been selected by the HPA to lead its Industry Recovery Task Force, the organization has announced.

The IRTF is working on the sustainable resumption of the production and post-production industry service sector amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. This will include a series of virtual town hall events that share the latest health and safety, technical and creative best practices and encourage global community dialogue, per HPA.

Silverman, who continues to serve on the board of the HPA, has had a career that included leadership roles at Netflix, The Walt Disney Studios, Kodak and LaserPacific.

“We are at a pivotal moment at an important and challenging time in our industry,” Silverman said. “While the pandemic forces us to evolve the way we work to effectively create and deliver content, we also have a real opportunity to not just get back to work, but to move our industry forward. This task force will mobilize experts, artists and technological visionaries from a range of disciplines to thoughtfully collaborate on industry evolution and innovation.”

The first virtual town hall will take place in July, with Hollywood Reporter Tech Editor Carolyn Giardina serving as the moderator. A panel of medical experts, scientists, political leaders, post-production artists and members of guilds will take part in the town hall. Also, video case studies will offer a behind-the-scenes look at how facilities and companies are adjusting to the challenges of the pandemic. The specific schedule and list of speakers will be announced soon.

Subsequent town halls will be held over the following months and deal with subjects as the pandemic evolves.

For more information, visit www.hpaonline.com. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association today issued a call for entries for its 2020 Engineering Excellence Award and announced it will produce its 15th Anniversary HPA Awards presentation Nov. 19 as an online show that is open to all at no cost rather than as an in-person gala.

The association is working to make the 2020 HPA Awards accessible to more members while supporting its mission of honoring individuals and companies that serve the industry in indispensable ways, it said. 

HPA is making the submission process easier, extending the entry period and lowering entry fees, it added.

The HPA Engineering Excellence Award call for entries will close July 31. Entries for the award may include products or processes and must represent a significant step forward for the industry. A remote judging process will take place through August, HPA said.

“This year as always, we encourage the submission of your significant technological achievements. What we see at the HPA Engineering Excellence Award judging sessions are important ideas that lead the growth and stability of the industry. Critical, game changing products have been presented here. The atmosphere is competitive, collegial and passionate,” said Joachim Zell, chair of the HPA Engineering Excellence Award Committee and HPA Board member. “I expect that this year’s entries will be as compelling as in the past, if not even more so, given our circumstances. I am looking forward to seeing what our industry has to present.” 

This year’s application and presentation process for the engineering honors will take place in two parts. The first step is submission of written and video elements. The second is a live, virtual Q&A with judges on the blue ribbon panel.

The recipients of the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation and the Engineering Excellence Award will both be announced in advance of the awards and presented during the online show.

Last year’s winners of the HPA Engineering Excellence Award were Adobe, Epic Games, Pixelworks, Portrait Displays and LG Electronics.

More information is available on the HPA website. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the formation of the HPA Industry Recovery Task Force to focus on sustainable resumption of the production and post-production industry and understanding how to progress with content creation as the world responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our focus is to understand how to get our industry back to work and how to do it in a way that provides an ability to not only safely create global content, but to also understand the long-term impact to workflows, technology as well as to the people and our business community as we navigate through these unprecedented times,” said HPA President Seth Hallen.

The HPA has outlined several objectives for the task force, including:

• To serve as a forum on how to resume production and post-production around the world in a sustainable fashion; 
• To understand and shape evolving technical requirements for remote collaboration and working from home; 
• To provide current information on health and safety guidelines issued by various government entities, unions, guilds and industry organizations; and  
• To provide support and guidance to those affected by the pandemic. 

“In these challenging times, we have both an obligation and an opportunity to help navigate, educate and lead our industry. But we will not be doing this alone,” said Hallen. “Our goal is to partner with other key professional associations and organizations to be able to speak with the knowledge of both our HPA community and the larger industry to find the best plans, ideas and path forward so as we (sic) emerge from the crisis of today.”

HPA expects details on several initiatives to emerge, as well as the names of industry participants, over the next few weeks, the group said.

More information is available by emailing the HPA.  

BURBANK, Calif.—The Hollywood Professional Association has announced that Paul Chapman, Kari Grubin and Joachim Zell have joined the HPA Board of Directors, while Michael DeValue will join the Board as the SMPTE representative.

Chapman, Grubin and Zell’s will serve three-year terms on the board that officially began on Jan. 1, 2020. All three have worked previously with HPA. Grubin chaired Women in post and helped launch the Young Entertainment Professionals program. Chapman was previously the liaison to SMPTE. Zell is an active member of the HPA Awards committee.

DeValue, who is taking over as the SMPTE rep from Chapman, will serve a one-year term.

“There are many exciting developments that will be announced in the coming months, and it is more important than ever that a talented Board is in place,” said Seth Hallen, HPA president. “Now with the additions of Paul, Kari, JZ and Michael, we are ready to continue our  forward motion.”

All of the additions were announced at the recent HPA Tech Retreat.

For more information,visit www.hpaonline.com.