Cliff Plumer – who has 30 year’s experience in entertainment technology, having previously been the CTO of both ILM and Lucasfilm, and had recently been heading up Prysm Collective – has been hired to lead NEP’s new VP wing. Jeff Ruggels will act as SVP of Finance and Operations, Phil Galler and Zach Alexander as co-Presidents of the Lux Machina NEP Business Unit, and Daniel Gregoire and Chris Ferriter as Executive Creative Director and President, respectively, of the Halon NEP Business Unit.
Virtual production – the use of digital tools to mimic and replace live-action production paradigms – has been a growing concern for several decades but has seen an explosion in popularity during the pandemic.
“The vision for NEP Virtual Studios is the same as we have for our Broadcast Services and Live Events businesses: to be the world leader in helping clients and creators bring their content to life,” said Brian Sullivan, CEO, NEP Group. “When we first started talking to Prysm Collective we were amazed at how closely they were aligned with one of NEP’s newest strategic objectives of building out the leading global virtual production business.
“I was looking for a partner to help scale the vision for Prysm Collective, and could not have found a more ideal match than NEP. One of the biggest hurdles to accelerating growth in the virtual production sector is that demand, both for stages and the hardware required to build them, is far exceeding supply, and joining forces with NEP gives us immediate access to a massive footprint and one of the strongest global production teams and set of resources in the industry,” added Plumer.