Tuesday, October 18th, 2016

6:15 PM – 8:30 PM, The Welcome Dinner - Additional Ticket, Ahmanson Hall

The Hollywood VR-AR State of the Union - Studios - Networks - Tech Companies - A Vision into the Future

Bill Fay, Production Executive, “The Dark Knight,” “300,” “The Hangover,” “Clash of the Titans” "Independence Day," former President of Production Legendary Pictures

Chris Defaria, President, Animation and Technical Innovation, Warner Bros., Executive Producer, 'Gravity', 'Mad Max: Fury Road' , 'Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix' and the upcoming 'The Lego Movie Sequel'

Paul Hook, Partner/Head, Motion Picture Production, ICM Partners

Jim Mainard, EVP, Digital Strategy & New Business Development, DreamWorks Animation

Brendan Handler, SVP, New Media, 20th Century Fox

Moderator - Steve Schklair, founding principal and CEO, 3ality & 3mersiv

Bill FAY has been a successful producer and film production executive for over 25 years. He was most recently President of Production at Legendary Entertainment, a private equity backed entertainment company which was recently sold to Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group in a deal valued at $3.5 billion. A co-founder of Legendary, Fay was Executive Producer on a number of films including the box office hits “300,” “The Town,” “Clash of the

Titans,” “Superman Returns,” and Todd Phillips’ smash comedy “The Hangover,” which earned $469 million worldwide and quickly became the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. Legendary also joined with Warner Bros. to co-produce and co-finance over 20 films including “The Dark Knight,” which grossed over $1 billion at the box office, and “Inception,” which earned over $800 million; they were nominated for eight Academy Awards® each, winning six between them. Currently he is in post-production on the science fiction thriller “Replicate.” Prior to his work at Legendary, Fay was President of Centropolis Entertainment, one of the most successful production companies in Hollywood. During his tenure, Fay was Executive Producer on films that totaled nearly $1.5 billion in worldwide box office, including “The Patriot,” starring Mel Gibson, and the blockbuster “Independence Day,” which at the time of its release was the second highest-grossing motion picture of all time, taking in more than $800 million worldwide. Under his leadership, the company also successfully developed digital entertainment ventures such as Centropolis Effects, a top-tier visual effects house sold to Das Werk, and mothership.com, a leading sci-fi online vertical sold to USA Networks in June 2000. After attending Stanford University, Fay was an award-winning student filmmaker at UCLA Film School. He serves on the boards of a number of companies related to the entertainment world including the Advisory Board for Magic Leap, and is a member of both the Producers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America.

Christopher deFaria serves as President, Animation and Technical Innovation, Warner Bros. Pictures.  In this role, deFaria oversees the Studio’s film animation activities and the development and deployment of creative technologies in the production of the studio’s feature films. DeFaria is charged with spearheading the Studio’s expanding efforts in innovative animation and hybrid filmmaking.  He leads the management team overseeing Warner Animation Group, founded in January 2013, to expand Warner Bros.’ feature animation productions, which include the 2014 blockbuster “The LEGO Movie” as well as the upcoming “Storks” (September 2016), “The LEGO Batman Movie” (February 2017), “Ninjago” (September 2017), “Small Foot” (February 2018), “The LEGO Movie Sequel” (May 2018) and “S.C.O.O.B.” (September 2018) Most recently, deFaria served as an executive producer for George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” and Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity.”  Other notable projects in which deFaria played a key role include “Man of Steel,”  “The Great Gatsby,” “The Dark Knight” trilogy, the “Harry Potter” films, “Sherlock Holmes” and its sequel, “Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows,” “300,” “Happy Feet Two,” “Suckerpunch,” “Clash Of The Titans,” “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole,” “Where The Wild Things Are,” “Watchmen,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Corpse Bride,” “The Matrix” trilogy, “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” and “Cats and Dogs.”  A 20-year veteran of the company, deFaria joined Warner Bros. Pictures as Vice President of Physical Production in 1996. When the Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Production departments merged in 2006, he was named Executive Vice President, Digital Production and Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures, where he managed animation projects and visual effects-intensive scripts, explored co-production opportunities with outside animation studios and oversaw visual effects for all features and direct-to-DVD projects. Prior to joining the Studio, deFaria produced television documentaries, movies and primetime specials in San Francisco, where he won three regional Emmys and two NAPTE Iris Awards. A member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Writers Guild of America, deFaria serves on the board of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and was a founding board member of FilmAid International, a non-profit organization that screens educational and informational films in refugee camps around the world. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jim Mainard, Head of Digital Strategy & New Business Development, DreamWorks Animation: Jim Mainard currently serves as Head of Digital Strategy and New Business Development for DreamWorks Animation. His responsibilities include setting the digital strategy for, and fostering and developing new businesses in, the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Prior to this, Mainard was the executive responsible for the transition of the Studio to 3D (stereoscopic) film making as Head of Production Development and responsible for creation of all production software as Head of Research and Development. Jim joined the Entertainment Industry after 13 years in Aerospace and is a graduate of the University of Southern California.

Steve Schklair is a producer, cinematographer, CEO of 3ality Technica, and founder of 3MERSIV. Recognized as an international 3D expert, Schklair has expanded into virtual reality, dedicated to advancing VR from both a creative and technology perspective through the 2015 launch of 3MERSIV—a company entirely focused on VR production and developing integrated solutions for capturing VR. Utilizing the same vision and technological skill that elevated 3ality to a new standard in native 3D systems and technology for movies including Transformers, X-Men, The Martian, The Hobbit, and television broadcasts for the NFL and BSkyB, Schklair is already making an impact on virtual reality’s potential to capture news, sports, and other programming that could benefit from a 360-degree viewer experience. Diving into the VR world is a natural transition for Schklair where he is noted for contributing to the Nokia-designed OZO launch by directing and producing the “Marriage Equality” test production. He recently served as Executive Producer on the Randal Kleiser directed episodic VR series Defrost.  Schklair served as a Producer and the 3D and Digital Image Producer on the groundbreaking U23D movie released in 2007. He served as Executive Producer on films such as Britney Spears Live, and on live concert films for Kenny Chesney, The Black Eyed Peas, and Katy Perry. He also served as a producer for the Russian epic, Stalingrad, directed by Fedor Bondarchuk. Schklair contributed to Bernard Mendiburu’s 2011 book, ‘3D TV and 3D Cinema’ and has spoken at dozens of conferences including NAB, events for the PGA, and has been a keynote speaker at MIPCOM 2012 in Cannes, 3D Masters in London, Dimension-3 in Paris, and the IBC in Amsterdam. Prior to 3MERSIV, Schklair was a senior executive at Digital Domain during the production of such films as Apollo 13, The Fifth Element, Titanic, and Terminator 2:3D. He was also creative director for R/Greenberg Associates, and Executive Producer of The Columbus Project for computer graphics and interactive media pioneer Robert Abel. In 2014, the International 3D and Advanced Imaging Society recognized Schklair and 3ality with the prestigious Century Award, which is presented to those individuals and companies who have indelibly left their mark on 3D’s first century.  Schklair is an associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), a member of the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA), and is an award winning member of the VES.