
The highly-anticipated 2025 Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Tech Retreat will celebrate three decades of influence this year, with an extensive schedule of activities and an exceptional round-up of experts and presentations. Registration is open for the Retreat which takes place February 16 to 20, 2025, at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. For three decades, the HPA Tech Retreat has been known for its in-depth and inventive approach to covering the critical topics facing the media creation industry. The Retreat is an uncommon gathering of thought leaders, technology trendsetters and creatives who gather in a non-marketing setting to discuss and explore the most important topics that face the industry during 4-plus days of sessions, roundtable discussions, conversation and technology demonstrations.
The HPA Tech Retreat consistently sells out well in advance of the event and registration is expected to reach capacity quickly; securing a spot is highly recommended. Attendance is strictly capped to foster an atmosphere that promotes discussion, debate, and connection.
Over the carefully curated days, Retreat programming takes on areas of crucial interest to the industry: TR-X (Monday) will focus on Affordable Production, Supersession (Tuesday) for which details will be announced shortly, and Wednesday and Thursday's program, detailed here. The complete schedule is available here.
Mark Schubin has been a guiding vision of HPA Tech Retreat programming for more than 20 years. As ever, he brought his knowledge and unique perspective to the program, commenting, There are topics that make us pace the floor. As they always do, things in our industry are changing, and there's concern and interest in that change. We got more submissions than ever this year and the committee was impressed with not just the number, but the sheer quality of those submissions. Of course, AI is a consistent thread, but there is so much more, voices from the music industry and live events, sports, pure explorations of storytelling, business cases and cloud workflows all showed up. There was an abundance of riches. Reading these proposals is an honest behind-the-curtain view of what is happening in our industry and from those, we've come up with what I think is a bang-up program.
HPA Tech Retreat programming opens on the morning of Monday, February 17th, as the doors open for the Innovation Zone and the Welcome Brunch. TR-X follows in the afternoon. Details for the HPA Supersession, set for Tuesday, February 18, will be announced shortly.
Sessions for Wednesday and Thursday's program include the following:
Wednesday, February 19
What CES 2025 Means for the Media Industry
Mark Harrison, DPP
What do CTOs really think? Key findings from the DPP Media CTO Survey
Mark Harrison and Rowan de Pomerai, DPP
Deploying an UltraHD Broadcast Experience Through HDR and SDR Infrastructures
Moderator: Michael Zink, LG Electronics and the Ultra HD Forum, Bill Baggelaar, UHD Alliance, Annie Chang, Universal Pictures
Joshua Pines Opines
Josh Pines, Picture Shop
Is the industry sitting on an AI goldmine or a ticking time bomb?
Rich Welsh, Deluxe
How entrepreneurs can successfully launch, fund, and grow a start-up tech company in the M&E sector utilizing advanced technologies including AI
Moderator: Ethan Jacks, MediaBridge Capital Advisors
Behind the Screens: Pushing The Boundaries of Live Entertainment at Sphere
Moderator: Jonathan Martin, WEKA
Live Event Tech: Tours, Festivals & Residencies - IMAG to Streaming
Moderator: Mark Chiolis, Mobile TV Group
Jim Toten
Jeff Carman
Olympics Open and Coverage 2024: Advancing Live Production Technology
Renard Jenkins, I2A2 Technologies, Studios & Labs
AI in Live Sports Production: IBM and Wimbledon's Sustainable Tech Revolution
Barbara Lange, Kibo121
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment's Journey in Adopting Video Foundation Models for Content Creation
Ryan Khurana,MLSE, & Travis Couture, Twelve Labs
Harnessing Gen AI to Elevate Accessibility, Inclusivity, and Compliance in Media, Entertainment and Sports
Carin Forman, AWS
Re-Thinking Fast Turnaround Workflows for the Cloud
Chris Swan, AWS UK
Transforming Archives into Active Content Libraries: Unlocking the Potential of Legacy Media
Moderator: Soyoung Lee, Twelve Labs, Heidi Shakespeare, Memnon Archive Services
Thursday, February 20
Navigating the New Normal: Production Trends and Industry Shifts in TV and Film
Alex LoVerde, ProdPro
AI Was Not the Great Disrupter
Moderator: John Footen, Deloitte Consulting, Jason Williamson, Deloitte Consulting, Seth Hallen
Love Hurts - But It Doesn't Have to in the Cloud!
Moderator: Annie Chang, Universal Pictures
Harmonizing Virtual Production and Visual Effects
Mathieu Mazerolle, Foundry
Understanding the Threat Landscape of AI workflows in Localization, Digital Film, and Dubbing
Mathew Gilliat-Smith, Convergent DS , Ben Stanbury, The Walt Disney Studios, Keith Ritlop, ConvergentDS (formerly Disney, NBCU, Fox)
Standards, SMPTE, and ISO
Sally-Ann D'Amato , SMPTE, Thomas Bause Mason, SMPTE, Renard Jenkins, I2A2 Technologies, Studios & Labs, Andy Maltz, General Intelligence
From Stone Age to Screen Age: The Epic Tale of Visual Storytelling
Seth Hallen and Alan Lasky
AI Applications in Media Workflows
Moderator: Thomas True, NVIDIA
Bridging the Uncanny Valley: Artificial Individual Intelligence (Aii)
Dave Ginsberg and Jerry Rees, Artificial Individual Intelligence
Shaping Stories with Media Intelligence: From Search to Storytelling
Morgan Prygrocki, Adobe
How do I deal with all these live streams?
Chris Lennon, Ross Video
Media Cyber Security and Trust
Hans Hoffmann, European Broadcasting Union
Vid2Vec: the First AI-Driven Narrative Gra
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
19/03/2026
Live sports production increases complexity, with dynamic audio levels and an overall philosophy that encourages transient volume spikes
Fourteen years ago, Am...
19/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced the appointment of Peter Thordarson to the newly cr...
19/03/2026
For this senior from the Bay Area, the speed and pressure of live sports production play right into her strengths
In the live-sports-video industry, the future...
19/03/2026
Grass Valley has expanded its long-term partnership with University of Pittsburg...
19/03/2026
Audio-Technica has released the ATV-SG1 and ATV-SG1LE On-Camera Shotgun Microphones, designed for use with DSLR, mirrorless SLR, and other cameras.
The ATV-SG1...
19/03/2026
Harmonic (booth W2831) announces updates to its XOS Advanced Media Processor aim...
19/03/2026
DAZN and Top Rank have announced a multi-year partnership that will bring Top Ra...
19/03/2026
IHSE, a provider of KVM systems, has announced a partnership with Cyviz AS, a provider of technology solutions for collaboration and mission-critical operations...
19/03/2026
Net Insight has appointed Larissa G rner-Meeus as Chief Product Officer. She joins the company's executive management team.
G rner-Meeus holds a Dipl-Ing. ...
19/03/2026
Leader Electronics of Europe has appointed Rob Stanley as Regional Sales Manager for the UK and Northern Europe. In the role, he will manage key accounts and ha...
19/03/2026
FIFA has announced that YouTube will be a Preferred Platform for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Under the agreement, FIFA's Media Partners will be able to publis...
19/03/2026
New features across mobile, connected devices, and automotive platforms undersco...
19/03/2026
PSSI Global Services has appointed Ben Bradshaw as Director of Product and Netwo...
19/03/2026
Cobalt Digital has announced its NAB 2026 product lineup, which includes additio...
19/03/2026
Sportradar has released a new report, Innovation in Sports Media: The Next Era of Sports Viewing, examining how the sports viewing experience in the U.S. is evo...
19/03/2026
Matrox Video has been awarded a three-year framework agreement to supply its Con...
19/03/2026
CBS Sports' Jason Cohen and TNT Sports' Chris Brown lead the charge on n...
19/03/2026
A1 Dave Grundtvig and his team deploy plenty of mics to capture the sounds and energy from the stands as well the court
March Madness is a tournament in which ...
19/03/2026
In 2021, we launched EQUAL, a program designed to address an industry reality that persists: Women artists, songwriters, and producers too often face fewer oppo...
19/03/2026
Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives
Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...
19/03/2026
New generative AI plug-in due in May 2026
Roland have announced the upcoming launch of a new generative AI tool created in collaboration with Sony Computer ...
19/03/2026
Nick Williams updates users on insolvency process
Nick Williams, the CEO of Native Instruments, has released the following official statement regarding thei...
19/03/2026
Iconic Swedish mic manufacturer back in action
Legendary Swedish microphone manufacturer Milab have announced that production is now fully underway, and mic...
19/03/2026
Acclaimed saturation unit goes virtual
Freqport's Freqtube FT1 (reviewed here in SOS February 2023) offers a convenient way to integrate real valve-base...
19/03/2026
The discontinuation of loss-making business activities as part of the restructur...
19/03/2026
Silicon Valley satire The Audacity premieres 15 April on SBS and SBS On Demand
19 March, 2026
Media releases
From one of the writer/producers of Succession...
19/03/2026
SBS brings communities together at Bondi Pavilion for Harmony Week multilingual ...
19/03/2026
Clarification from SBS regarding Western Sydney expansion
19 March, 2026
Media releases
From an SBS spokesperson:
SBS wishes to clarify some media coverag...
19/03/2026
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, is pleased to announce the appointment of Rob Stanley as Regional Sales Manager - UK & Northern Euro...
19/03/2026
The recently announced joint venture between Accedo One and Magine Pro has been officially launched as Leyra. The new company will combine the two complementary...
19/03/2026
Budapest, Hungary, March 2026 - Demand for traditional matrix switching remains strong across live events, rental and staging markets. With a reputation for rel...
19/03/2026
DPA Microphones adds to its CORE microphone selection with the 4097 CORE Micro Shotgun, which delivers a new level of clarity, headroom and sonic transparency...
19/03/2026
Starfish Technologies will present the latest releases of its TS Splicer (Win) and TS Splicer (K8) at NAB Show 2026, together with a new Monitoring Dashboard de...
19/03/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, has announced that TrueVisions NOW, a leading streaming platform in Thailand, and part of the TrueVis...
19/03/2026
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced significant enhancements to its XOS Advanced Media Processor that lower the cost of broadcast distribution while enablin...
19/03/2026
Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiative has announ...
19/03/2026
Magewell a developer of innovative, high-performance video I/O and IP workflow solutions will be at the 2026 NAB Show on booth C6113. In addition to several...
19/03/2026
Triveni Digital, a trusted leader in ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 service delivery, data broadcasting and quality assurance solutions, today announced it will showcase...
19/03/2026
2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Preview
April 19 22
Las Vegas
Booth N.1328
Summary:
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Imagine Communications will showcase the lat...
19/03/2026
Broadcast playout leader highlights innovation and industry collaboration
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist...
19/03/2026
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking technologies, is highlighting remarkable advances in performance at NAB Show (booth N1...
19/03/2026
Intinor will showcase several new developments to the Direkt platform at NAB 2026, including enhanced SRT monitoring, expanded HDR transport capabilities and su...
19/03/2026
Broadcasters are rebuilding live operations workflows around IP delivery as satellite and dedicated fibre distribution decline, according to new research from C...
19/03/2026
Berklee Popular Music Institute's 24th Showcase Channels '80s Prom Nosta...
19/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...