NET Roundtables
Highlights of the HPA Tech Retreat and more!
NET (Networking Education Technology) fosters connections through accessible, expert-led education on the most current and important technology topics.
Join us for the first NET Roundtable event of the year on March 27! Network with fellow professionals and explore the future of the entertainment industry as we discuss what’s in store for 2025 and how to prepare for these changes.
Networking Education Technology: NET Roundtables
- Thursday, March 27, 2025
- 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm
This is a pre-paid event
- HPA Members – $60
- Non-Members – $90 (Not a member? Join Now!)
Schedule
4:30 pm – Check-in Opens
4:30 pm – 5:15 pm – Networking and Drinks
5:15 pm – 5:20 pm – Welcome Remarks
5:20 pm – 5:45 pm – Roundtable #1
5:45 pm – 5:50 pm – Rotate to a new roundtable
5:50 pm – 6:15 pm – Roundtable #2
6:15 pm – 6:45 pm – Networking Break, Refresh your drink while you’re up
6:45 pm – 7:10 pm – Roundtable #3
Sheraton Universal
- Starview Room
- 333 Universal Hollywood Dr, Universal City, CA 91608
Moderators
HPA NET (Networking-Education-Technology) has lined up a slew of experts to facilitate highly industry-specific conversations:
Barbara Ford Grant
Industry Consultant
Table Topic: AI and filmmaking
Barbara is a pioneering media and entertainment executive with over 25 years of experience bridging art and technology in storytelling. Currently working on AI innovations, she previously served as President of Prysm, NEP Virtual Studios, and CTO of Meow Wolf. Her career spans leadership roles at major studios including HBO, Digital Domain, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and DreamWorks Animation, where she developed breakthrough technologies for productions like Game of Thrones, Maleficent, and the Shrek franchise.
Throughout her career, Barbara has focused on transforming visual storytelling through technological innovation while maintaining an artist’s perspective. Her expertise ranges from image science to digital human animation to mixed-reality platforms, to virtual production, consistently pushing the boundaries of creative expression in entertainment. Barbara is on the Advisory Board for Sohonet, a member of both the Television and Motion Picture Academies, having chaired the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee from 2018-2023, and has been a member of the VES Technology Committee since 2019.
Sean Lee
OpenDrives
Table Topic: The Perfect Hybrid/Remote Production Work Environment
(co-moderating with Michael Wilsker)
Sean Lee is the Chief Executive Officer at OpenDrives, Inc., where he leads the company’s vision, culture, and growth with an unwavering commitment to authenticity. Guided by a service-oriented leadership philosophy, Sean believes in empowering team members and customers to support one another and themselves, fostering genuine connections. His approach is simple, but profound: OpenDrives must exemplify empathy, curiosity, and collaboration. Our focus should not be on perfection; we should be striving for the relentless pursuit of improvement instead. By doing so, only then can we live up to our company’s core values of openness, persistence, effectiveness, and nimbleness. An authentic desire to truly understand and help one another will pave the way forward, enabling OpenDrives to solve data challenges and media workflow problems with solutions that are straightforward, high-performing, flexible, and transparent. He firmly believes that the company’s success is inseparable from the success of our customers.
Sean’s leadership approach and deep technical expertise are driving OpenDrives’ transformation from Hollywood’s premier storage workflow solutions provider to a global leader in data storage, accessibility, management, and protection services. His ability to inspire genuine engagement and innovation is paving the way for continued growth and evolution.
With over 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment technology sector, Sean has held key roles in some of the industry’s most forward-thinking companies. He began his career at NBCUniversal and went on to serve as Director of Technology at Illumination Entertainment, Chief Technology Officer at Siren Studios, and Director of Technology at AV Squad before joining OpenDrives in 2015. At OpenDrives, Sean’s journey has been marked by authentic leadership and substantial contributions—starting as head of engineering, where he designed and implemented custom workflow solutions for Hollywood’s biggest studios, to becoming a visionary leader driving strategy, product, marketing, and operations.
Michael Wilsker
OpenDrives
Table Topic: The Perfect Hybrid/Remote Production Work Environment
(co-moderating with Sean Lee)
At OpenDrives, Michael leverages his passion for technology and media to tackle tomorrow’s data challenges. His journey began with a love for visual storytelling, (he even built his college’s first digital media lab), and over the past 25 years he has been designing workflow solutions for major studios and broadcasters. Michael’s vision has helped launch the company’s past innovations like OPUS, and he also co-authored the company’s first patent. He lives by the mantra “Stay curious, ask questions, and never stop growing.” When he’s not strategizing the next big idea and carving out the company’s future growth, Michael loves experimenting in the kitchen as an avid home chef and baker.
Andy Maltz
General Intelligence
Table Topic: AI Standards, Pre-Standardization, Open Source, Interop – What’s it all about?
Andy has over 4 decades of experience instigating, developing, and deploying technologies in the media and entertainment industry,, and now leads a media technology consultancy. Andy also serves as chair of ISO/TC 36 Cinematography, the motion picture industry’s international technical standards body, as a director of the Digital Object Architecture-fostering DONA Foundation, and is on several advisory boards.
Andy’s previous roles include the founding head of staff of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science and Technology Council, founding board member of the Academy Software Foundation, founder and CEO of digital cinema pioneer Avica Technology, and co-initiator of the Advanced Authoring Format, an industry-standard media authoring interchange format. Andy co-authored the award-winning The Digital Dilemma research reports on digital preservation, received two Engineering Emmy Awards, holds several patents, and is a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), where he serves on its Motion Imaging Journal Board of Editors.
Simon Lecointe
Twelve Labs
Table Topic: Advanced Video Search for Media Workflows
Simon is a forward-thinking Senior Solution Architect at Twelve Labs, leveraging his extensive M&E experience to supercharge creative teams. With a keen eye for emerging tech, he bridges artful imagination with practical innovation—streamlining workflows, empowering collaboration, and reimagining what’s possible in today’s digital landscape. Driven by curiosity and a passion for excellence, Simon continually pushes the boundaries of efficiency and creativity.
John Harris
HardingFPA
Table Topic: Photosensitive Epilepsy Testing Delivery Requirements
John Harris has worked within the Broadcast, Film and TV industry for over 40 years. Initially beginning as an analogue and digital electronics specialist and growing into Sales, Marketing and Business development roles for companies like Abekas, Ampex and Avid before co-founding root6 in London developing tools to provide file based deliverables with QC for UK TV. In 2013 John emigrated to BC, Canada and is now Media Business Development Manager for Cambridge Research providing solutions, training and support for PSE.
Brandon Heaslip
Colorfront
Table Topic: Challenges & Opportunities in Mastering & QC from the Cloud
A seasoned veteran in the film and digital workflow industry, Brandon has cultivated a rich career spanning nearly two decades with notable stints at Technicolor Creative Services and Apple-Marcom Video Productions. Currently, at Colorfront, Brandon leverages deep expertise in AWS environments and color correction tools to facilitate groundbreaking projects and tailor solutions to client needs. With a hands-on approach and a deep understanding of the industry’s technical and artistic aspects, Brandon is a reliable expert in post-production and digital workflows.
Christine Carr
Table Topic: Liquid State: Career Resilience in the Current Landscape
Presented by HPA Women in Post
Michael Cioni
Strada
Table Topic: Tradition, Standards & Practices are Holding Hollywood Back
Andre Roelofs
Eurora Labs
Table Topic: Security and Transparency in AI Start-ups
(co-moderating with Rachel Jobin)
Presented by HPA Young Entertainment Professionals
As head of engineering and machine learning at Cuebric, Roelofs played a crucial role forwinning the 2024 HPA Excellence in Engineering Award for Disguise and Cuebric: AI-Driven 2.5D Workflow.
Roelofs background spans from computer vision research, data-driven decision-making and algorithmic problem solving. Roelofs work in AI reflects a pragmatic and market-driven approach, prioritizing efficiency, and real-world impact over theoretical perfection.
Roelofs holds a degree in computer science from Avans University of Applied Sciences, (ranked first among the large universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands) and attended the graduate program in AI from Maastricht University (UM) also located in the Netherlands.
Rachel Jobin
Table Topic:Security and Transparency in AI Start-ups
(co-moderating with Andre Roelofs)
Presented by HPA Young Entertainment Professionals
Melissa Patack
Motion Picture Association
Table Topic: California Production Coalition
Melissa Patack represents the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and its member companies in state government relations across ten western states. The MPA serves as the global voice and advocate of the motion picture, television, and streaming industries. It works in every corner of the globe to advance the creative industry, protect its members’ content across all screens, defend the creative and artistic freedoms of storytellers, and support innovative distribution models that expand viewing choices for audiences around the world. The MPA’s member studios are: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Netflix Studios, LLC; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Amazon Studios LLC; Universal City Studios LLC; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Working in State Government Affairs, Melissa advocates for a favorable environment for the production and distribution of films and television programs. Her advocacy work encompasses a broad range of policy issues, including programs to incentivize film, television and streaming production and the accompanying good middle-class jobs, consumer privacy protection and artificial intelligence and state tax issues.
Melissa has been with MPA for more than twenty years and has testified numerous times before state legislative committees, City Councils, and other regulatory and administrative bodies. Prior to joining MPA, Melissa practiced labor and employment law and served as legal counsel in the U.S. Senate. She is a graduate of Cornell University and the Boston University School of Law.
Patrick Sumby
Sohonet
Table Topic: Getting a High-Quality Video Stream From ‘Cloud to Ground’ for Low-Latency, High-Fidelity Creative Workflows
This roundtable explores best practices, technological solutions, and workflow optimizations for delivering high-quality, frame-accurate video streams from cloud-based environments to on-premise creative workstations. Participants will delve into strategies to ensure low-latency, high-fidelity video streams essential for creative decision-making, highlighting real-world examples of integrating cloud and ground-based infrastructure for production and post-production workflows. The discussion will focus on overcoming technical challenges, managing latency, and preserving creative intent through the production lifecycle.
Patrick has been at Sohonet for 16+ years and oversees the Global Engineering team. His team is responsible for Sohonet’s Networks, Systems infrastructure and Security as well as working to provide compelling solutions for our customers.
