Starting Pixel Weekly Round-up: Bad news for film... good news for virtual production
- Rob Chandler
- Apr 14
- 2 min read
Cover Story: Bad news for film... good news for virtual production
What's Hot: Cyberpunk, Cannes and more...
Podcasts, Events & Training: Automation, Colour and more...
Bad news for film... good news for virtual production
Last week I was in Breda for The Virtual Production Gathering — hence the missing Round-up. But we’re back, and a write-up is on the way.
While diving down some internet rabbit holes from my hotel room, something caught my eye.
FilmLA has just released its annual report on Sound Stage Occupancy, [full report] now including 2023 data. At first glance — at least to the uninitiated like me — it shows a clear downward trend in overall productions in LA. Not great. Though, no doubt, the experts will interpret the nuance better than I can.
But that’s not the interesting part.
Buried in the comparison tables is a single line titled ‘Virtual Productions’. It’s not entirely clear how they define that, but the raw numbers tell a very clear story: while total film productions in the LA area dropped by 6.3% from 1307 in 2021 to 1225 in 2023, virtual production projects increased by 354%, rising from 13 to 59.
If you’re looking for hard data to back the growth of VP — this is it.
Onwards!
Rob & The Starting Pixel Team
PS MPTS Event is in a few weeks and Starting Pixel is having a After Party Reg is OPEN!
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WHAT'S HOT
Want to go LIVE from inside your Unreal Engine world? HERE
A New Venue in Cannes Where Technology Meets Creativity HERE
NAB 2025: Virtual Production, Gaussian Splats, Budget Friendly Gear HERE
Green Screen Camera Tracking SECRETS (and a LIE!) - HERE
Cyberpunk - Virtual Production ICVFX shoot at Santa Fe College HERE
'CARGO' A Virtual Production Test - 86-inch TV Background HERE
Virtual Production Sample HERE
My First Ever Virtual Production HERE
Making of: Time Bandits | Virtual Production HERE
Asynchrony in blueprints into Unreal Engine HERE
We shot this on Mars! ...sort of... HERE
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EVENTS & TRAINING
1st May | Colour in Virtual Production | LA, US | HERE
14th May | Starting Pixel After Party @MP&T | London | HERE
23rd May | Female Talent in VFX, VP and Animation | Berlin | HERE
2-7 June 2025 | SXSW London | Reg Live | HERE
26-28th June | Euro Cine Expo | Munchen | HERE
10-14 Aug 2025 | SIGGRAPH | Vancouver | Submit | HERE
15th Oct 2025 | SPL25! | London | Reg your interest | HERE
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