Digital Hollywood Spring, 2016

Thursday, October 22nd, 2015

Special Production in VR and AR

11:00 AM – Noon,  Marina Vista

VR and AR – In Gaming and Beyond

Patrick Walker, Vice President of Insights & Analytics, EEDAR

Matthew Cook, Managing Partner and Director of Business Development, Greenlight Insights (GLI)

Burnes Hollyman, Founder, Board Member and Development Director, Ghost Machine Studios

Russell Naftal, Co-Managing Partner, Beast Media

Emmanuel Marquez, CTO, Starbreeze Studios

Jason Wonacott, CEO, Wonacott Communications LLC, Moderator

analysis, research design, and behavioral psychology. Mr. Walker has a B.A. in Psychology from Vanderbilt University and a Masters in Quantitative Methods from the University of California San Diego.

Matthew Cook, Managing Partner and Director of Business Development at Greenlight Insights (GLI) an augmented reality and virtual reality market intelligence and consulting company based in San Francisco. GLI lives at the epicenter of media, marketing, advertising, entertainment, technology, and finance.  We identify key challenges, provide practical strategies, and then help implement the solutions. Matthew started his career in Hollywood working in television, film and music videos, and helped launch the Cable Music Channel for Turner Broadcasting, later sold to MTV.  Matthew has worked on several films and TV shows while in Los Angeles. He started his career in Silicon Valley working for the next generation video game company Crystal Dynamics, later sold to Eidos.  Then worked as a Consultant at Sega Sports.  Matthew was previously Director of Studio and Business Development at Dreamtime Multimedia a partnership with NASA, and then Instant Media. Recently, he was the COO of Koodos Games and an Angle Investor.

Burnes Hollyman co-founded Ghost Machine Studios, (www.ghostmachinevr.com) which develops high-end virtual reality games and immersive experiences for Oculus Rift, Vive, and Sony Morpheus. Burnes has over 25 years of new media, interactive design, film, video and game-making experience.  He was the CEO and President of The Digital Entertainment Alliance and managed Planet Texas Interactive, which developed animation, special effects and mobile and immersive worlds. In 2010, he started Gamerista, a video game R & D company specializing in virtual and augmented reality, and co-founded Ghost Machine Studios with Neal Nellans in 2013.  Mr. Hollyman has designed and built hundreds digital entertainment experiences ranging from augmented and virtual reality experiences to immersive virtual worlds on a variety of different platforms  for companies like Sony, Microsoft, Disney Interactive, Playfirst, Dreamworks, WB Games, Nintendo, McDonalds, and many others. He graduated in film from N.Y.U. and received his M.A. in Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas, Austin. He is based in Austin, Texas and headquartered on the back lot at Austin Film Studios.

Russell Naftal, Co-Managing Partner, Beast Media: Award winning producer and executive Russell Naftal, has over 18 years experience in the Digital, Television and New Media Businesses and is the Co-Managing Partner of Beast Media Group, a multi-platform content distribution, finance and production company focused on innovation in cross-platform content targeted at a global audience.    Mr. Naftal co-manages several verticals including Film, Television, Digital and Branded Entertainment.   Additionally, Russell co-manages Beast Media Group subsidiary VRWERX, a company focused on creating gaming and other innovative content in the explosive Virtual Reality space.  Most recently, Mr. Naftal served as co-founding Partner of Texo Entertainment, Inc. a leading multimedia entertainment studio with a full range of vertically integrated services including content development, production, digital distribution and branded entertainment. At Texo Russell produced content for all platforms and most recently created and produced a reality competition series with NASCAR for The World Fishing Network. Prior to Texo Russell has worked for some of the largest production companies and distributors in the world. Including, head of Digital development and Distribution at Endemol USA, where he co-created the award winning branded series for Major League Baseball MLB Fan Cave as well Kobe Bryant’s Dream Makers, James Hyde Steals the Show and the XARM Event series” for online gamer network Machinima. He also crafted a $25 million film fund for developing original content for multiplatform distribution. Russell’s other successes include him serving as SVP of Development and Programming at RipeDigital a leading innovator in digital distribution where he produced and programmed over 30 hours a month of original digital content for distribution on Cable VOD, Broadband and mobile.  Russell was strategic in programming RipeDigital on YouTube making RipeDigital one of the very first MCN’s on YouTube. At Mandalay Entertainment, Russell managed his own division where he created and produced the award winning game show for ABC Family “GoForIt TV”, the feature documentary “Joe Kid on a Stingray”, Warner Brothers award winning “WCW” wrestling video series and Peter Guber’s “Shoot Out Online” for Yahoo! In 1998 Simultaneously to producing, Russell founded a digital distribution company FuelNetworks, which was a pioneer in the unique implementation of video on demand, and had supporting partners such as Sun Micro Systems, Oracle, Exodus and Excite at Home. Russell currently sits on the board of XARM (a new fighting sport created by UFC founder Art Davie) In addition, Russell has ties the youth oriented motorsport of Drifting where his team Lateral G Racing is documented as the first USA champion. Russell has ownership in PollPals a patented social media platform connecting users via polls.

Emmanuel Marquez, CTO, Starbreeze Studios: A 20-year veteran of the game industry, Emmanuel Marquez is Starbreeze Studios’ worldwide CTO. Starbreeze is an independent creator, publisher and distributor of high quality entertainment products with offices in Stockholm, Paris and Los Angeles. Starbreeze games include PAYDAY 2, the adrenaline fuelled bank robbing co-op game (with the largest community on Steam), and OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead, an upcoming survival co-op based on the hit comic series. At Starbreeze, Marquez is pioneering virtual reality experiences with the launch Starbreeze’s own head-mounted display, the StarVR. Having built up the company’s engineering team, Marquez is the driving force behind virtual reality hardware/software integration, top-notch content, and forthcoming strategic partnerships. Prior to joining Starbreeze, Marquez held senior positions at AMD, Fluendo, GRiN Studios, and Aegia Technologies.

Jason Wonacott / CEO, Wonacott Communications LLC: Jason created Wonacott Communications in 2007 following several years heading up PR and communications initiatives, both in-house and on the agency side, for industry leading online entertainment companies. He had one goal: Provide the results of a major agency while being affordable, adaptable and approachable – all with a modern perspective on the constantly evolving communications mediums. Adhering to this mantra, Wonacott Communications quickly established itself as a PR partner for a number of start-up and established interactive entertainment, convergence, consumer technology, consumer products/lifestyle and technology companies. Jason began his career in PR way back in the dot-com boom with the emerging crossroads of consumer technology and digital entertainment, working with digital media, MP3 players, DVRs and set-top boxes, in addition to some of the world’s leading video game companies and organizations. Good times! Before cross ing over to the dark side, he was a TV reporter with an impressive 8-inch part in his hair, and he also served four years in the U.S. Navy (he doesn’t have any of his uniforms, so don’t ask). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Communication from the University of Oregon (Win the day!) and is member of the Public Relations Society of America. Though proud of his Oregon roots, Jason has called Los Angeles home for the better part of 15 years. When not in the office he can be found surfing in El Porto, or perusing the local wine store for a good Cabernet deal. Oh, and he is also an Expert certified instructor of Krav Maga, Israeli hand-to-hand combat and self defense, so don’t mess with him.