Virtual Production Takes Hold of Hollywood With Epic Games’ Unreal Engine
The cutting edge of production technology is getting cornered by the video game business instead of the usual Hollywood companies.North Carolina-based Epic Games, creator of the global phenomenon “Fortnite,” is making a name for itself out West by providing its Unreal Engine software to TV and film productions looking to shoot with a new set of tools loosely known as virtual production. Epic rival Unity Technologies is also active in this space, as are other companies not known from the video game world.Miles Perkins, business development for film and TV at Epic, and Connie Kennedy, the head of the company’s LA Lab, talked on the latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business” about how virtual production is catching on. TV shows like HBO’s “Westworld” and films like “John Wick: Chapter 3” have employed innovative new techniques that could revolutionize traditional production work by allowing all ...