HPA Tech Retreat announces program details for 2024 event

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) is set to embark on an extraordinary journey as it reveals the dynamic and expansive program for its much-anticipated 2024 Tech Retreat.

Now in its 29th year, the HPA Tech Retreat is known for its in-depth and inventive approach to covering the critical topics facing the media creation industry over 4-plus days of sessions, roundtable discussions, and technology demonstrations.

The 2024 HPA Tech Retreat will be held from February 18 to 22, 2024, at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. Registration is open now and is expected to reach capacity quickly. Attendance is strictly capped to foster an atmosphere that promotes discussion, debate, and connection.

The HPA Tech Retreat is composed of carefully curated days: TR-X (Monday) which will focus on “Extreme Production”, the Supersession (Tuesday) which will be announced at a later date, and the main conference program (Wednesday and Thursday).

Mark Schubin, who has guided the main conference program for over 20 years commented: “Each year we get many more outstanding submissions than time allows in the program but this year was unprecedented. There wasn’t a dud in the bunch; it was really hard to choose the most important ones  We’ve ended up with presentations that run the gamut from a graduate student to a major C-level executive to top creatives in the field.”

Sessions for this year’s Main Program include the following:

WEDNESDAY – February 21, 2024

What CES 2024 Means for the Media Industry— Mark Harrison, DPP

Quantum Dots and Color Imaging— Charles Poynton

The Death of Analog: Why Right Now Is the Time to Digitise Your Archive
Moderated by Carin Forman, Amazon; with Heidi Shakespeare, Memnon; Andrea Kalas, Paramount

New Developments in Open Source Software for the Motion Picture Industry— David Morin, Academy Software Foundation

Revolutionising Media Production: AI’s Role from Conceptualisation to Final Cut

Setting the Stage for AI

• AI & Frontier Technologies in the Age of Disruption: A Foundation in Embracing Change for Progress — Daniel Doll-Steinberg, EdenBase
• AI for Media: What does good look like? — Mark Harrison, DPP
• The Computable Studio: A Vision for 2025 and Beyond — Yves Bergquist, Entertainment Technology Center, University of Southern California
• Setting the Stage for AI Discussion and Q&A

AI and Creativity

• AI and the Future of Cinematic Storytelling — Barbara Ford Grant
• Studio Perspective: AI and Content Creation — Tony Guarino, Paramount
• Using GenAI as a Screenwriting Partner and Preproduction Assistant — Christian Cantrell, Concept.art
• OK, We Have AI Tools and AI Content. What About the Business? Bringing It All Together for Successful Future State — Caleb Ward, Curious Refuge
• AI and Creativity Discussion and Q&A

AI in the Workflows

• Enhancing Creative Decisions with AI Generated Content Recommendations — David Colantuoni, Avid
• Multi-Language Generation of Movie Content — Siegfried Fößel, Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
• Demystifying AI in the Supply Chain — Pinar Seyhan Demirdag, Cuebric
• AI in the Workflows discussion and Q&A

THURSDAY – February 22, 2024

MovieLabs 2030 Update

The State of the Vision

• Where Are We on the Path to 2030? — Mark Turner, MovieLabs
• Bringing the “Studio in the Cloud” to Fruition — Mark Turner, MovieLabs; Richard Duke, Avid
• Implementing the MovieLabs Ontology for Media Creation-How & Why — Mark Turner, MovieLabs; Guillaume Rachez, Perfect Memory
• Workflows Based on 2030 Vision — Mark Turner, MovieLabs; Aki Seino, Imagica Entertainment Media Services

Metadata Mania: Can We Create a Common Source of Truth?

• Introduction: The Challenges of Metadata — Jim Helman, MovieLabs
• Our Flag Means Death Season 2 – Utilizing MovieLabs OMC for Metadata — Mike Urban, The Rebel Fleet
• OpenMetadataIO, an Open Standards Initiative — Jim Helman, MovieLabs; Toby Scales, Google; Dalia Spingarn, Paramount Global

Interoperability: A Key to the Creative Benefits of the 2030 Vision

• Interoperability 101 — Jim Helman, MovieLabs
• Interoperability panel — Moderator: Jim Helman, MovieLabs; Panelists to be added

2030 Vision Q&A

• Stepping Up to Color Managed On-set HDR/SDR Workflows — Moderator: Michael Chambliss, International Cinematographers Guild; Greg Smokler, Small HD
• Responsible Innovation in the Age of Generative AI — Ely Greenfield, Adobe
• Color Appearance Models and the future of Color Management: How the industry Working Group for the new Developer Release of ACES 2.0 investigated, debated and ultimately embraced CAMs for its new output transform — Alex Forsythe, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
• NeRFs for Nerds: Another Future for Creativity — Erik Weaver, Entertainment Technology Center at USC; Eric Pohl, Singularity Imaging; Alex Porter, Mod Tech Labs; Addy Ghani, disguise
• Building the Studio of Tomorrow, Today! — Mary Palmer, Amazon
• Let’s Have an Honest Conversation about Sound — Nuno Fonseca, Sound Particles
• Untwisting the Rope of Character Identification — Holly Beavon, Fielding Graduate University

Extreme Production – TR-X 

As previously announced, the Tech Retreat will get an extreme kick-off this year with a program built to showcase various forms of “Extreme Production.” From IMAX at Its Limits to Extreme Sports to the Perils of On-Site Reporting, this year’s TR-X offers a taste of some of the most challenging angles of production and the innovation that’s making it possible.

BREAKFAST ROUNDTABLES

Tuesday through Thursday mornings at HPA Tech Retreat begins with the popular Breakfast Roundtables (over 75 and more being added) led by industry thought leaders who shepherd discussions on a broad variety of topics of interest. For a list of roundtables, visit HPATechRetreat.com.

INNOVATION ZONE

Attendees can explore the latest technologies in The Innovation Zone, the remarkable HPA Tech Retreat demo room, with 60 curated technology companies who demonstrate and discuss the most groundbreaking tech available today. For companies interested in exhibiting their tech, limited space remains; contact jcataldo@hpaonline.com for details.

NETWORKING

The HPA Tech Retreat is known for world-class networking during lunches, dinners, and cocktail events. This year, the Retreat kicks off on Sunday, February 18 with a golf tournament, pickleball, and other activities.

Registration is now open for the 2024 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place thanks to the generosity of diamond title sponsor Adobe; platinum sponsors Bolt Graphics; connectivity sponsor Sohonet; gold sponsor AWS; silver sponsors Hammerspace, Wasabi and Xytech; event sponsors Dell Technologies, Like Minded Labs, and Signiant; and star sponsors Avid and Cradlepoint. For information on sponsoring the 2023 HPA Tech Retreat, please contact Joyce Cataldo at jcataldo@hpaonline.com. For more information about the HPA Tech Retreat, visit www.hpaonline.com.