Last week, the 2018 Hollywood Entertainment Technology Festival (HETFest) took place at the Arclight Cinemas Hollywood, the first time held at the iconic venue. Approximately 500 attendees arrived throughout the day to participate in the days activities consisting of insightful panels with industry experts, focused chat discussions, an expo area with AR/VR companies showcasing their newest content, networking, and the XingShi Cup Industrial Design Los Angeles Regional Competition.
To kick off the festival, Hanhai Studio Chairman Hanguang Wang welcomed the crowd to the events of the day, and reminded the audience for the purpose of the event: to foster new collaborative opportunities while gaining valuable insight from industry visionaries.
One such visionary was the featured speaker, Robert Stromberg, two-time Academy Award winner for production design (Avatar and Alice in Wonderland) and director of the Disney film, Maleficent. Robert is the epitome of HETFest, perfectly blending entertainment and tech, as he is also the co-founder and chief creative officer of The Virtual Reality Company, a company which creates immersive content using the latest in VR technology. At HETFest, Robert discussed his methodology for creating immersive stories using technology, and how that translates globally.
Also during the day, there were industry heavy hitters on panels and chat discussions surrounding the most-relevant industry topics including location-based entertainment, augmented reality, esports, big data, blockchain in entertainment, artificial intelligence, and more. One panel, in particular, captured the zeitgeist of Asian representation in Hollywood by having panelists who are extremely involved with the topic, both on screen and off. John Penotti, one of the producers of the box office hit, Crazy Rich Asians, talked about the challenges of getting the film made, while Kourtney Kang, writer and exec producer of ABC’s hit comedy, Fresh Off the Boat, shared her experiences of writing Asian characters on-screen. Actress Kelly Hu, who has been in the business for a couple of decades on many film and tv projects, also described how opportunities for Asians have been relatively missing from an actors perspective. As audiences show that well-written and well-developed projects matter for inclusion in Hollywood, more opportunities will allow for actual representation on and off screen.
As the 2018 HEFest concluded, attendees showed an enthusiasm for the event and opportunities it provided, whether it was a chance to learn from industry insiders or to network with like-minded entrepreneurs. Suffice to say, there is only more in store for next year!