Television City, Orbital Open Virtual Production Stage in L.A
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- Television City and Orbital Studios partnered to bring a new LED virtual production volume to 7800 Beverly Boulevard in L.A.'s Fairfax District, with the system built to what the release calls the highest standard in the industry.
- Orbital Studios founder and CEO A.J. Wedding framed the move as honoring the lot's legacy while bringing "the latest in virtual production technology and the most talented virtual art and AI artists" to the historic stages.
- The partnership runs counter to a trend of productions relocating to other states and countries, aiming to keep crew jobs and production spending in Los Angeles by enabling global locations to be captured without leaving the city.
- Orbital's recent credits include the Netflix series "Nemesis," for which the team rebuilt portions of downtown Los Angeles from digital scans, plus "Justified: City Primeval," "History's Greatest Heists," and the 20-part docuseries "World War II with Tom Hanks."
- Orbital is currently in production on the FX series "The Drop: A Snowfall Saga."
- Anthony Mazziotti, Television City's executive director of stage operations and marketing, said Orbital's work "puts this lot among the most advanced production environments anywhere" while honoring the lot's heritage.
Why it matters: This is a direct counter to L.A.'s production exodus — by enabling virtual capture of global locations locally, Television City and Orbital are betting that LED-stage technology can retain crew jobs and production spending in Los Angeles even as tax-incentive-heavy competitors in other states and countries lure shoots away.
