In this episode of The Production Report, hosts Jackie Ryan-Krichevsky and Alysha Haran break down three industry stories:

summer 2026's record-breaking $4.76B domestic box office (led by Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey), The Odyssey crossing $1B internationally, and the first-year results of California's Film & TV Tax Credit Program 4.0 ($6.6B in projected economic impact, 41 new projects approved).

Then they sit down with Aaron Roberts (CEO/Co-Founder) and Drew Burns (CFO) of the Chula Vista Entertainment Company, where Alysha also serves as COO, to talk through CVEC's $170 million, 250,000-square-foot virtual production studio complex breaking ground in Chula Vista. The conversation covers the two-phase build, financing structure, projected economic impact on the region, and why CVEC is betting on virtual production and a data-first infrastructure approach for the future of California filmmaking.

In this inaugural episode of The Production Report, hosts Jackie Krichevsky (independent producer, PGA Physical Production Committee co-chair, co-owner of Lost Light Films) and Alysha Haran (writer/director/producer, co-owner of Lost Light Films, COO of Chula Vista Entertainment) kick things off with a quick rundown of the week's industry headlines — TIFF's 51st edition and its first-ever film market, Nathan Fielder's secretly-filmed Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything headed to A24 in October, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day's run at the all-time domestic box office record — before diving into a round of "Fund It, Reboot It, Shelve It."

Then they're joined by two guests who build the worlds you actually see on screen:

• Oana Miller — Production Designer and Art Director who got her start in Creature Effects on Roland Emmerich's Stargate, with recent credits including Twisters, The Mandalorian, The Morning Show, Mindhunter, and Lost Light's upcoming feature Ashes and Ink.
• Jared Krichevsky — Creature designer and concept artist with 15+ years in the industry and a decade teaching at Gnomon School of VFX, with credits on Godzilla x Kong, M3GAN, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Pete's Dragon.

The conversation covers how a design actually goes from brief to final approval, the relationship between concept art and production design, notes that completely changed a design, the hardest days on set, designs they're proudest of, how AI has (and hasn't) touched their day-to-day work, and a rapid-fire round on advice for breaking into the art department.

New episodes on independent film and physical production drop every Thursday.