Today it is being announced that three veteran media professionals from such celebrated organizations as Disney, Pixar, and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), are banding together to form CryWorks – a new content studio that will focus primarily on virtual reality content.
CryWorks’ three co-founders all have extensive experience in advanced visual effects and bleeding-edge content creation.
The company’s primary founder, and current CEO, is Euan Macdonald. Macdonald has over 25 years of VFX and CGI experience for major industry players such as: Lucasfilm, ILM, Pixar, and Disney. He has been credited on such blockbuster films as Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and the Harry Potter series.
Joining Macdonald at CryWorks is co-founder, Hans Uhlig. Uhlig brings significant credentials to the fledgeling company with a decades-long career in technical filmmaking. In addition to ILM and Lucasfilm, Uhlig has also worked for Electronic Arts and Polygon. Uhlig is also a trained mechanical engineer and will oversee the development of industry-first capture and production technology and determine how best to apply it to the VR landscape.
The company’s final co-founder is Kymber Lim. Lim has experience overseeing development for visual effects companies, Psyop, Digital Domain, and Method Studios. She will serve as CryWorks’ CCO (Chief Content Officer) to leverage her significant Hollywood rolodex in favor of the startup’s efforts.
This news broke today via a CryWorks release announcing the studio’s founding as well as its successful completion of a seed venture capital fundraising round that features Micahel Bay’s 451 media group as its lead investor. The overall amount of funds raised by CryWorks in this initial round has not been disclosed by the company. However, Bay’s involvement is yet another arrow in this new organization’s already notable quiver of talent.
According to this release, CryWorks will focus primarily on “immersive formats” for its content which will also tap into the “exploding VR market” to create “new forms of entertainment and media…franchises and brands that transcend VR.”
Exactly what these transcendent projects are remains unclear, but the founding team at CryWorks certainly seems to possess enough talent to drive this emerging industry forward.
