Pathway launches £2m virtual production innovation incubator

Virtual production studio Pathway has launched a $2.5 million (£2.06m) incubator, Pathway Indie, for new ideas in the virtual production space. 

It will invest resources over the next five years, with applicants receiving in-kind access to develop their ideas or in-kind studio time and art department services to offset their virtual production costs. Pathway recently opened a 6,000 sq ft virtual production facility in Manchester, which you can read more about here.

Pathway Indie aims to develop new entertainment and media products using real-time software and in-camera visual effects, working with a cohort of filmmaking creative engineers, innovators and storytellers to hone their ideas to present to an invite-only audience of industry professionals and investors in media.

Pathway co-founder Nathan Newman explained: “Our fundamental belief is that audiences are craving new depths in their entertainment. Now, due to LED wall virtual production and the software development benefits of video game engines, savvy technologists and filmmakers are starting to realise that the industry conditions are right for a creative rebellion.”

Peter Woodbridge, VP producer at Pathway, added: “Right now is a defining moment for VP technology to shape and transform the creative possibilities for content creation. We’re looking for cross-discipline creative rebels who see the opportunity to disrupt and experiment with real-time production for film and the visual arts. The byproduct of this will be an aesthetic marker of the decade.”

The first call for applicants will be early in 2023. More information will be available via Pathway’s website in the New Year and interested applicants can now join the waiting list.

Pathway partners with HP, with which it has created the incubator. Richard McGuinness, advanced compute and solutions lead for workstations and thin clients from HP UK, said: “HP’s workstations are always at the forefront of innovation, so we are really proud that Pathway decided to partner with us and have our range of products at the heart of their new incubator program. At HP we are constantly trying to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with our hardware and believe that Pathway Indie perfectly encapsulates this.”