From March 15-24, in live and recorded content, accessible to a world-wide audience, the 2021 HPA Tech Retreat promises to be more than a Zoom conference,  one of those can’t miss events.

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) announced its program and schedule updates for annual tech retreat, a gathering of the top industry engineering, technical, and creative talent, as well as strategic business leaders, focused on technology, from all aspects of digital cinema, post production, film, television, video, broadcast and related technology areas, for the exchange of information.  This year, though, the event, which boasts over 25 years of industry-changing thought leadership, will be different from what’s usual.

HPA Tech Retreat 2021 is building an event that will launch its HPA ENGAGE content portal and host the HPA Tech Retreat. From March 15-24, in live and recorded content, accessible to a world-wide audience, HPA will present panels, events, and demonstrations that will help our industry share, teach and connect at this most critical time.

The event organizers say that “As pandemic struck our world and industry, our creative and technical community responded with incredible resourcefulness, innovation and ingenuity. We have adapted by changing the ways we work, increasingly calling on technology to enable and enhance the creation of content globally. This year’s Tech Retreat will focus on the learnings of this past year, and the thoughtful, considered vision of some of our industry’s most important technical minds, providing those who attend a compass to navigate our future.”

Breaking boundaries, rules and perspectives

“This is not a Zoom Conference,” said Seth Hallen, HPA President.  “We began from the ground up to design an experience that is different from the many back-to-back video conferences that are now a routine part of our workdays.  HPA ENGAGE is designed to be an elegant access point to all of the events and content from the Retreat, and will continue after the event to be a vibrant, content rich, educational hub of information for our members. I want to personally thank HPA Director Phil Kubel and HPA Digital Projects Coordinator Max Ma, who are developing the technological and creative platform which will differentiate this event and HPA in the long term.”

Hallen continues, “The effort behind the scenes of the HPA Tech Retreat is a mind boggling and exciting. Mark Schubin, long referred to as the Tech Retreat maestro, has put another weighty conference program together which assembles the industry’s leading technologists to share and explore important topics.  The Supersession will be breaking boundaries, rules and perspectives. JZ (Joachim Zell) has thoroughly outdone himself, spending his time during the pandemic helping 7 global filmmakers re-define filmmaking in the era of Covid. Leon Silverman is programming the second day of the Supersession, with HPA partnering with MovieLabs for what promises to be one of the industry’s most talked about technology demonstrations ever. We are saying it over and over, but this year’s Tech Retreat is one of those can’t miss events, and will be talked about for years to come.”

Schedule highlights

The preliminary schedule has been unveiled and is being added to daily. Here are the schedule highlights:

Thought Leadership Content Drops

Daily on March 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24

Long time Tech Retreat host Mark Schubin will offer an exploration of the panels and presentations being released each day on HPA Engage, the new content platform.

Welcome from HPA President Seth Hallen (HPA Tech Retreat Live)

March 15

A look at the year behind us and what’s ahead for HPA.

The Technology Year in Review – Mark Schubin (HPA Tech Retreat Live)

March 15

One of the most anticipated presentations every year, HPA Tech Retreat host Mark Schubin takes the audience through a critical and informative look at both the most important and the most overrated technology developments of the previous year.

HPA Produced Documentaries

March 15

New to the Tech Retreat this year will be a series of “explainers” and mini documentaries from film producers Origin Point, who have created additional content that both documents the journey of our Supersession filmmakers and helps to fill in both the human and technology story of filmmaking during the pandemic.

Critical Conversations (HPA Tech Retreat Live)

March 16

Critical Conversations: Virtual Production – moderated by Carolyn Giardina, Tech Editor, The Hollywood Reporter

10:00 AM PST – 11:00 AM PST

Critical Conversations: Opera in the Pandemic – hosted by Mark Schubin

11:00 AM PST – 12:00 PM PST

Mark Schubin in conversation with guests including Kamala Sankaram of Experiments in Opera (first VR opera, first data-mining opera, the first Zoom opera and the first sci-fi serial opera), librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs of White Snake Projects (“Alice in the Pandemic” featuring live motion capture and computer animation and live performance), and director Eric Einhorn of On Site Opera (the first use of Google Glass for titles and creator of the first smartphone app for programs and titles and of one-on-one opera via phone).

Schubin, whose credits include Live From Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Opera Presents, and many more, is a literate spokesperson for the incredible and invaluable contributions that opera has inspired as well as the daunting complexity of opera production and the very real challenges that theatre and opera face within and after the pandemic.

Breakfast Roundtables (HPA Tech Retreat Live)

March 16, 23, and 24

Freed from the limitations of a physical event, the HPA Roundtables are expanding to accommodate a global audience. 30 tables are available for each of the five sessions below, with a limit of 10 active participants (and more “silent” observer seats). The current list of roundtables is here and more are being added daily. More information about hosting a roundtable is available at hpaonline.com.

March 16         Breakfast Roundtables           9:00 AM PST – 10:00 AM PST

March 16         Lunch Roundtables                 12:00 PM PST – 1:00 PM PST

March 23         Breakfast Roundtables           9:00 AM PST – 10:00 AM PST

March 23         Lunch Roundtables                 1:00 PM PST – 2:00 PM PST

March 24         Breakfast Roundtables           9:00 AM PST – 10:00 AM PST

HPA Tech Retreat Main Program

March 15-19

An outstanding lineup of industry thought leaders and experts will explore the critical trends and technologies facing the industry today. With dozens of speakers and important themes, the HPA Tech Retreat conference program puts deep knowledge and perspective in front of an audience of industry thought leaders and experts, opening a floodgate of important education and information.

Tech Retreat Innovation Zone (HPA Tech Retreat Live)

March 16,17, 23, 24

The Tech Retreat Innovation Zone is where the tools and technologies that are fueling a technological renaissance are available for both private or scheduled public demonstrations.  Current participating companies are listed here.

HPA Tech Retreat Supersession (HPA Tech Retreat Live)

March 23-24

Following the success of the 2020 HPA Tech Retreat Supersession, an even more ambitious event is planned for March 23 and 24, 2021, pushing to the very edge of what is possible today and beyond.

Supersession Day 1

March 23, 2021

10:00 AM PST – 1:00 PM PST

7 movies, 6 cities, 5 audio mixes, 4 color spaces, 3 clouds, 2 live transmitters, 1 game

Joachim “JZ” Zell will host an incredible look at seven filmmakers working through the pandemic in London, Dubai, Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Mexico City, Brisbane and Hollywood. These productions tested health and safety protocols and redefined creative, connected, remote, collaborative, cloud-based workflows. Explore the tools, technology, workflows and filmmakers that will bring us a true look at next gen filmmaking, today.

Supersession Day 2

March 24, 2021

10:00 AM PST – 1:00 PM PST

“Live From the Cloud – Without a Net”

HPA and MovieLabs present “Live from the Cloud – Without a Net,” a never before seen or attempted real-time demonstration of production through editorial, VFX, conform, color, sound and delivery using 5G, and public and private hybrid cloud tools, infrastructure and workflows. All with an eye to where we are on our path to MovieLabs “2030 Vision.”   This promises to be a pivotal, historic day.

The Quiz (HPA Engage)

March 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 23

A HPA Tech Retreat favorite, Mark Schubin’s HPA Tech Retreat Quiz will be featured daily during the HPA Tech Retreat.

Living and inventing the future in real time

Leon Silverman, past President of HPA and member of the HPA Programming Committee has noted “We have spent so many past Retreats talking about the future – this year we are living it and inventing it in real time. We are at this amazing critical juncture where we can see the promise of how all of these technologies and workflows can literally come together. And what will help us realize this promise is us coming together as an industry. See you at the 2021 Tech Retreat.”

In the coming days, more details for the HPA Tech Retreat will be announced. Registration for the HPA Tech Retreat is open, and is priced at $299 for non-members, which includes individual HPA membership. Registration for HPA members is $199. The HPA Tech Retreat takes place thanks to the generosity of diamond title sponsor Adobe; registration sponsor Sohonet; gold sponsors Frame.io, GB Labs, NetApp, Ownzones, Signiant, and Vcinity; event sponsor Keycode Media; and silver sponsors Avid, Dalet, Dell Technologies, Unreal Engine, Blackmagic Design, and Zeiss. For more information, please visit www.hpaonline.com.