This week on the show — we’re taking a quick trip through the 2022 NoPro Gift Guide with No Pro East Coast Editor at large Blake Weil. Blake and I have pulled seven items from the Gift Guide to talk about including video games, boxed experiences, and live events you should definitely treat you and yours to.

Show Notes

• The 2022 NoPro Gift Guide

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First up, Scarlett Kim, Associate Artistic Director of Innovation and Strategy, of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival joins us to talk about the QUILLS FEST — where immersive tech and live performance come out to play — which is running now until the end of the month. We dive into why one of the United States' best known theatre companies is commissioning XR performance works. (5:45)

Then Greg Lombardo, Vice President and Head of Experiences at the one and only NETFLIX, stops by to talk about just why it is that Netflix has gotten into the immersive experience business and what Lombardo thinks is so special about the form. (34:40) Netflix, along with its partner Fever, is opening the Los Angeles tour stop of the Stranger Things Experience this weekend, and I have some quick thoughts on the show after the interview. (48:30)

SHOW NOTES

Quills Fest

Stranger Things Experience: Los Angeles

Stranger Things Experience: Atlanta

Stranger Things Experience: London

Stranger Things Review (Leah Davis for NoPro)

40 Watts From Nowhere Patreon Discount

Rumble in the Jungle Patreon Discount

The NoPro Discord

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This week on the show — Felix Barrett, the Artistic Director of Punchdrunk is here to talk about The Burnt City — currently playing in London — but that’s not all. We get into the state of the London immersive scene, LARPS, Punchdrunk’s own experiments with immersive gaming, that time they created a DOCTOR WHO event for school kids, video games, and the origins of Punchdrunk itself.

I tell you straight - I was nervous as heck going into this and I shouldn’t have been. Not only is this the biggest interview of the year for us, it’s also one of our best in ages.

Show Notes

• Punchdrunk
• The Burnt City
• Inscryption
• Immortality
• Quills Fest
• Rematch: Rumble in the Jungle
• NoPro Patreon

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Jeb Terry, the CEO of Cosm – a new company with surprisingly deep roots – joins host Noah Nelson to talk about their plans for bringing large scale immersive experiences, powered by dome projection tech, first to their flagship location being built in LA's Hollywood Park and then beyond. Thing is, the company has the tech stack to back it up, being the technology providers for some of the biggest planetariums in the world. And then there's the sports angle: with the company planning to leverage live sporting events as part of their programming. Something Terry knows more than a little about: he played in the NFL before going into business and leading initiatives at FOX Sports amongst others.

In other words: we're going long on the business of immersive this week.

SHOW NOTES

Cosm

Andrew Hoepfner's "How To Make Immersive Theater Your Full Time Job"

Bottom of the Ocean

Particle Ink: Speed of Dark

40 Watts From Nowhere Backer Discount

Immersive Experience Institute

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40 Watts From Nowhere, an experiential documentary from Mister & Mischief (Escape From Godot, The Builder & The Dove) was the absolute highlight of this year's Without Walls festival in San Diego for the NoPro team. Now creators Andy & Jeff Crocker are bringing the show, which puts audience members into the shoes of Sue Carpenter the real-life proprietor of pirate radio station KBLT in the Silver Lake neighborhood of LA, to the place where the story actually took place.

Strap yourselves in for a fun ride with Jeff, Andy, and host Noah Nelson as they cover the show, Andy's work on Tricks and Treats for Cedar Fair's theme parks, and how the lessons they learn on their home grown creative projects carry over to the work they do in themed entertainment.

SHOW NOTES

40 Watts From Nowhere

Mister & Mischief

Patreon Backer Discount Code

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This week on the show — we’ve gathered together a journalists roundtable to talk about this week’s Meta Connect event — and specifically the keynote address that introduced the Quest Pro headset. Joining are Scott Stein of CNET — who had some serious hands on time with the new device — Todd Martens of the LA Times, who covers games and themed entertainment for LA’s daily newspaper, and the one and only Kent Bye of the Voices of VR Podcast — making this episode a crossover pod!

Show Notes

Scott Stein at CNET

Scott's Quest Pro hands-on, and Reality Labs video

Todd Martens at the LA Times

Kent's Voices of VR Podcast

The Denver Immersive Gathering

What Are Immersive Experiences? (Immersive Experience Institute)

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This week on the show — it’s a two-hander as Los Angeles Reviews Editor and Review Crew captain Kevin Gossett and host Noah Nelson trade notes on LA’s Spooky Season so far — covering Universal Halloween Horror Nights, Knott’s Scary Farm, the Haunted Hayride and a few asides along with shop talk about what makes these things click for both aficionados and the more causal spooky season goers.

SHOW NOTES

Disney signs deal with Lighthouse Immersive (Toronto Star)

Denver Immersive Gathering

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This week on the show — we chat with members of the creative team of Nightfall at Old Tucson — Erik Blair and Michael Thomas-Visgar – about how they’re transforming the classic haunted amusement park attraction into an immersive playground this year.

Then Justin Fix of JFI Productions swings by to talk The Willows, which is returning to LA with its first Spooky Season edition, and we do what Justin and I always do: start talking the business of immersive.  

Show Notes

NYC Immersive Meetup RSVP

Denver Immersive Gathering

Everything Immersive

CASTING

Boston Bar Bloodsuckers

The NoPro Discord Forums

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This week on the show — Yannick Trapman-O’Brien, creator of the beloved TELELIBRARY is here to talk about the TWO shows he has in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival — Fair Trade, a collaboration with Jessica Creane, and Undersigned — which is also making its way to New York City soon. [8:25]

Then David Thomas will be here to help us take a deep dive into The DIG — The Denver Immersive Gathering — as we announce the full schedule for this next great gathering of the immersive creative community that’s coming up on Nov 4–6th. [45:14]

Plus Noah’s riff on this week’s big immersive business news. [1:23:00]

• Fair Trade
• Undersigned
• The DIG
• NYC Immersive Meetup
• BOTO Fundraiser for NoPro
• Today Tix Acquires Secret Cinema for 100 million plus | Variety

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This week on the show — choreographer and creator Koryn Wicks is here to talk about the upcoming run of her show CASTING, a surreal, satirical take on the casting process that is having its first public run this month at Thymele Arts in Los Angeles after emerging as the winner of the 2019 LA Immersive Invitational, and in classic NoPro form we get into some theory while we’re at it. [5:00]

Then Walter Magnuson, General Manager of Winchester Mystery House is here to tell us all about UNHINGED: NIGHTSHADE’S CURSE, the haunt experience that will take over 13 nights at the Bay Area landmark starting later this month. [28:10]

SHOW NOTES

• CASTING
• Unhinged: Nightshades’s Curse
• Backer Exclusive: BOTO & NYC Meetup Early Access
• Denver Immersive Gathering

Associate Producer: Parker Sela

Music: Chris Porter

Producer and Host: Noah Nelson

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