Academy Award-winning technologist Glenn Derby is the new executive Vice President of MSG Ventures, Sphere Entertainment Co. announced Feb. 4.
In this role, Derry will oversee a wide range of technology initiatives across MSG Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sphere Entertainment focused on developing advanced technologies for live entertainment. MSG Ventures also supports Sphere Studios — the Burbank, California, studio which develops content for Sphere — and the Sphere platform overall, including future Sphere venues.
Derry will work across the organization to deploy both new and existing technologies that enhance Sphere’s live entertainment and experiential content and he will be based at Sphere Studios in Burbank, and report to Jim Dolan, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sphere Entertainment.
“Our vision for Sphere was to combine cutting-edge technologies with storytelling – bringing audiences together to share in experiences they cannot experience anywhere else,” Dolan said. “Glenn is a creative technologist whose work has had a significant impact on the entertainment industry. His expertise will be an asset to Sphere as we continue to build on this next generation entertainment medium and reinforce our position at the forefront of immersive experiences.”
Derry is credited with introducing the concept of “virtual production.” He joins Sphere Entertainment from AGBO, an Academy Award-winning independent film, television and gaming studio, where he served as President of Production Technology. Prior to joining AGBO, Derry served as Vice President of Visual Effects at 20th Century Fox Studios following the acquisition of Technoprops, an R&D firm specializing in motion capture and emerging visual production technology.
Derry was the founder and CEO of Technoprops. Among Technoprops’ achievements was developing a state-of-the-art head-mounted camera system widely adopted for capturing an actor’s facial movements. Derry and his team received an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Technical Achievement Award for the groundbreaking design and engineering of this system. Over the course of his tenure at Technoprops, Derry was involved in films including “Avatar,” “Star Wars: Rogue One,” “Avengers – Age of Ultron,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Jungle Book” and “Minority Report,” and video games including “Halo 4.”
“Throughout my career I have focused on developing technologies in service of creative visions that expand the possibilities of entertainment, and there is no better opportunity to continue that work than at Sphere,” Derry said. “Sphere sets a new standard for immersive experiences, and together with my colleagues across the organization we look forward to creating new tools and experiences that push creative boundaries and drive innovation across the industry.”