Cannabis and bitcoins are not the only industries revolutionizing the world and California (10th largest in the world) economies in the foreseeable future. Investors are literally looking at whole other realities of imminent fortunes. With recent analysis forecasting virtual reality as a $150B industry, the immersive film experience has been all the rage at the Tribeca Film Festivals and Cannes Film Festivals. Hollywood, multi-trillion dollar capital of the world’s entertainment industry is also grafting a map in this metaverse.

Want to step into the hull of the Starship Enterprise with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock at your side? Or sit in the leather bound seat of power and control as Michael Corleone or Gordon Gekko machinate their criminal enterprises? Or, how about hanging out in Mecca as Malcolm X is transformed into El Hajj Malik El Shabazz? Imagine stepping real time into those virtual realities of Spike Lee, Gene Roddenberry, Oliver Stone and George Lucas visions. That is reality, right?

Still believe $150B is hubris? Look at the bottom lines of this virtual universe. Facebook made a $150B acquisition of Oculus (hardware VR goggles) in 2014. Disney, Hollywood’s most successful filmmaker, recently lead investors in a $65M series C round for JauntVR.

Photo by Michael Chang, Creative Director for Blacclites, USC Jaunt VR film on USA tribalism

With those sort of numbers, Joe Entrepreneur might be feel daunted. But California entrepreneurs and filmmakers are planting tall virtual poles in the AR/VR universe too. This month, USC standout film student and Sony auteur Aaron Ashby, officially broke unto the Hollywood scene with Blacclites, a meditative metaverse film experience which has an acute take on racial or tribal wars coloring American life. Blacclites producer Kevin Ramlal said the film cost just about $9K to make funded by USC grant in conjunction with JauntVR. Mr. Ashby’s also reached out to his own friends and family network in North Carolina and California, giving producing credits on the avant garde’ technology and relevant message to raise an additional $5K. To date, he has secured nearly $20K in grant funding for 3 independent projects.


Blacclites film production video on Youtube


Filmmaker Aaron Ashby at the Blacclites premiere at USC this month. Photo by Claire Kay

Another source of Blacclite’s funding has been their partnering with Making360’s Fabien Soudiere who has made partnering for income generating parties an art form in and of itself. Mr. Soudiere, a financial and business creative, has said the cost of creating VR/AR film can run the gamut from $2-6K/ minute. The AR/VR small production company created about $250K in revenues in its second year in 2016 and is on schedule to exceed those numbers in 2017.


Filmmaker Aaron Ashby at the Blacclites premiere at USC this month. Photo by Clair
e Kay

Mr. Ashby has leveraged his standout undergraduate experience into a junior AR/VR internship at Sony Pictures in Santa Monica. That position was recently replaced with a rotational executive internship at the boutique Bad Robot Production company in Santa Monica – stepping onto the hull of the Enterprise is now closer to reality… or at least meta-reality.

Guy Griffithe, President and Executive Producer of Bridgegate Pictures said in an interview with Entrepreneur.com, “We will continue to create more VR content in all aspects to allow this medium to develop to its full potential. Film makers will soon realize this is going to be a leading product. It will drive revenue to a whole new vertical. This is the future of entertainment.”

Photo courtesy of IMDB

Bridgegate Pictures has produced four films including sole production of VR/AR film Recall Abduction starring Wesley Snipes and Humanity Bureau with Nicholas Cage. Current and future projects work with A-Listers as John Cusack and John Travolta. Projects as these range from $250 to $500K, and forecast a 4X $1.5M return for investors.


Premier in Toronto of The Recall in Escape Format (Bridgegate Pictures CEO Guy Griffithe is on the far right); photo courtesy of IMDB.

This metaverse is only beginning to take hold in our universe. Auteur Aaron Ashby says, “I will continue to develop branded VR content with pre-existing IP, as well as brand partnerships with clients that sponsor virtual reality experiences. I’m currently in post-production for a VR experience for an art opening sponsored by Hennessy. Many other brands such as Red Bull and HP have expanded their businesses by sponsoring large location based entertainment (concerts, festivals, immersive exhibits), so I plan to finance my project with these partnerships in addition to individual entrepreneurs who have partnered with me in the past.”