Tuesday, April 28th, 2015

6:30 PM – 9:00 PM, Marina Vista Room

The Virtual & Augmented Reality Evening Summit

Session II:

Hollywood & Virtual Reality: Opportunities at the Intersection of Content and Technology

Ted Schilowitz, Futurist and VR explorer at 20th Century FOX

Peter Levin, President Lionsgate Interactive Ventures & Games

Brad Herman, ‎Head of DreamLab, DreamWorks Animation

Morris May, founder/CTO, Specular Theory

Moderator - Robert Nashak, COO, Survios

PETER Y. LEVIN, PRESIDENT INTERACTIVE VENTURES & GAMES, LIONSGATE:  Prior to his current position, Levin served as CEO and Co-Founder of Nerdist Industries, a multi-platform creator of genre and popular-culture content. He also served as Co-President of Legendary Entertainment Digital after Legendary Entertainment acquired Nerdist Industries in July of 2012.  Prior to Nerdist Industries, Levin served as President and Co-Founder of Intel Capital, Dentsu, Softbank and DoCoMo-backed Bellrock Media Inc., a mobile and broadband entertainment company creating and distributing premium content for mobile and broadband platforms throughout North America and Japan.  Levin serves as executive advisor to Japanese media juggernaut Yoshimoto Kogyo as well as the Board of Directors of Helsinki-based Next Games. He recently served as advisor to graphic novel platform comiXology (sold to Amazon 8/14), Rovio Entertainment (Angry Birds) and Burstly (sold to Apple 2/14).  Levin began his career at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), working in the Corporate Advisory Group. In 1995 Levin joined the Walt Disney Company and worked with the Corporate and Strategic Planning groups and later joined Disney Online as a senior producer. Leaving Disney in 1998, Levin became managing director of Lynx Technologies, a venture capital vehicle focused on early stage companies. Lynx’s investments included Applied Semantics (sold to Google 4/03), Gamespy Industries (sold to IGN 12/03), Ask.com (sold to IAC 3/05) and Atom Entertainment (sold to Viacom 8/06).  He serves on the steering committee of the East/West Sports Council, the Center for International Sport Business Advisory Board at the Western New England College and the Board of Directors of CoachArt, a Los Angeles and San Francisco-based charity dedicated to enriching the lives of children with chronic and life threatening illnesses.   Previously, Levin was founder and co-owner of the 2006 World Champion Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League and remains a non-managing partner in Palisades Baseball, which owns and operates the West Virginia Power, the class A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was also a minority partner in and strategic advisor to Strikeforce, a mixed martial arts promotional entity that sold to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2011. In June 2009 Levin served as the exclusive representative of Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com in its sale to PMC.

Brad Herman serves as the Head of DreamLab, an innovation center at DreamWorks Animation where they focus on leveraging new technologies to create mobile, immersive and interactive experiences. DreamLab combines cutting edge technology with the studio’s storytelling expertise to create unique, interactive branded experiences. Brad’s recent work includes DreamWorksVR, a virtual reality platform that lets users interact with DreamWorks Animation’s characters. His team also developed the technology behind DreamWorks DreamPlace, an interactive holiday adventure that starts with Shrek and ends with Santa, delivering a next generation holiday experience in select retail locations across the US.   Brad previously served as Crowds Supervisor on a number of DreamWorks Animation productions, including Turbo, Kung Fu Panda 2, Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special and Monsters vs. Aliens. He brings 16 years of experience in animation, visual effects and gaming, and has held various positions at Digital Domain prior to joining DreamWorks Animation.

Morris May, Specular Theory, CEO and Founder. Specular Theory is a VR content creation studio and technology lab based in Venice Beach, CA. His VR film, "Perspective; Chapter 1: The Party" (by Morris May and Rose Troche) recently premiered at Sundance and was one of the most talked about virtual reality experiences of the festival. BuzzFeed said "The Party" was "One of the most inventive projects at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival..." WIRED said it's "The most thought-provoking piece at New Frontier..." Morris has been a Hollywood visual effects expert for more than 25 years, working on 30+ films including two Academy Award winners: Spiderman II and Happy Feet. @speculartheory