The Digital Content Powerhouse and Best-in-Class VR Producer Will Partner to Provide Students with Creative Guidance, Distribution and Sales Expertise
NEW YORK – May 2, 2017
Condé Nast Entertainment (CNÉ), a next generation studio developing and producing projects across film, television, social and premium digital video and virtual reality, today announced a new extension of their ongoing relationship with Jaunt, the leading cinematic virtual reality company. The extended partnership will bring additional resources and opportunities to the Jaunt Cinematic Virtual Reality Lab at the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Cinematic Arts.
As the lab enters its second year, Jaunt and CNÉ’s experts will mentor students, assisting them with the production, distribution and marketing of the most exciting and cutting-edge projects to come out of the lab. Furthermore, by leveraging CNÉ’s network of partners and affiliates, select projects will have the potential for much wider distribution and public recognition. “In just four years, CNÉ has achieved the scale of television with the relevance of digital, so investing in content on emerging platforms, like VR, while supporting young, diverse creators is in our DNA,” said Dawn Ostroff, President of CNÉ. “We are pleased to be expanding our successful partnership with Jaunt and its VR lab. The students at USC are talented and driven, and we look forward to working with them as they develop into next gen filmmakers.”
CNÉ and Jaunt have a history of successful collaboration, as the partnership follows the blockbuster 360° virtual reality hit, Invisible, a scripted supernatural drama distributed across Samsung, Jaunt, and Condé Nast platforms. Invisible was directed by Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) and presented by Lexus.
The Jaunt Cinematic Virtual Reality Lab is the first VR incubator of its kind. The three-year program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts provides students with Jaunt’s professional end- to-end solution for VR production and playback, including access to award-winning Jaunt ONE VR cameras, in addition to research, development projects and internships at Jaunt.
About Condé Nast Entertainment:
Condé Nast Entertainment (CNÉ) is an award-winning next generation studio developing and producing projects across film, television, social and premium digital video, and virtual reality. CNÉ produces more than 5,000 pieces of original digital content per year, spanning all genres – documentaries, animation, comedy, celebrity and how-to, and is distributed across over 50 platforms including web, mobile and OTT. CNÉ content delivered more than 4.3 billion video views in the past year, won its first Emmy Award in 2015, and received multiple Academy Award nominations for its short-form film digital content.
In addition to its growing digital video network, CNÉ also has six unscripted television series in production or on-air including the critically acclaimed “Last Chance U,” “The New Yorker Presents” and “Vanity Fair Confidential,” and multiple scripted television pilots sold to several networks. The company recently wrapped production on the feature film “Granite Mountain,” starring Josh Brolin and Miles Teller, and is starting production on “The Old Man and the Gun,” starring Casey Affleck and Robert Redford.
Additionally, CNÉ operates The Scene, the first platform dedicated to premium digital video, as a mobile-first, video social platform with a mobile app available in the iTunes App store.
About Jaunt VR:
Founded in 2013, Jaunt is the leading provider of cinematic virtual reality, developing hardware, software, tools, and applications to put the power of virtual reality in the hands of today’s best content creators. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, the company also maintains a presence in Los Angeles, CA through its studio arm, Jaunt Studios; its European business center in London; and in 2016 Jaunt established Shanghai-based Jaunt China, a VR company formed in partnership with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and China Media Capital (CMC).
Jaunt’s investors include The Walt Disney Company, Evolution Media Partners, China Media Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Axel Springer, ProSiebenSat.1 SE, The Madison Square Garden Company, Peter Gotcher, The Blake Krikorian Estate, and Sky (corporate.sky.com). Experience more at www.jauntvr.com.
About USC School of Cinematic Arts:
The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts is one of the leading media schools in the world. Founded in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over 87 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The School offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, cinema and media studies, animation and digital arts, production, interactive media and games, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each field. Its more than 13,000 alumni are among the world’s most distinguished animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, sound experts, video game designers and industry executives. Since 1973 not a year has passed without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an Academy Award or an Emmy. https://cinema.usc.edu/