ELECTRIC DREAM FACTORY

ELECTRIC DREAM FACTORY

- XR CINEMATIC STORYTELLING -

Electric Dream Factory is a content studio that creates film, TV, virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality experiences. We are story explorers who work with diverse creatives to impact audiences by whatever means necessary.

- XR CINEMATIC STORYTELLING -

Electric Dream Factory is a content studio that creates film, TV, virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality experiences. We are story explorers who work with diverse creatives to impact audiences by whatever means necessary.

NEWS

SADIE to premiere at SXSW
EDF's new feature film SADIE will have its World Premiere at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival! Written and directed by Megan Griffiths, the film stars Sophia Mitri Schloss (Lane 1974), Melanie Lynskey (, John Gallagher, Jr. (The Miseducation of Cameron Post), Keith Williams (The Last Man on Earth), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), and Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development). Check out the SXSW film festival announcement and lineup here.
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Feature on Co-founder and VR Content Creation
Lacey Leavitt was The Stranger's "Person of Interest" and spoke about the distance between VR and traditional filmmaking, and is Seattle can be an epicenter for XR. Read more here.
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WORK

Format: VR

ARCADIA FLATS

Arcadia Flats is a short VR horror experience written and directed by Joe Jacobs. Starring Jessica Martin, Evan Mosher, and Marc Kenison. Coming soon to a headset near you.

Director: JOE JACOBS
Writers: JOE JACOBS & LACEY LEAVITT
Producers: MARA AUSTER, MISCHA JAKUPCAK, LACEY LEAVITT
Cinematographer: CHRIS MOSSON
Cast: JESSICA MARTIN, EVAN MOSHER, MARC KENISON

Format: MINI SERIES

AUTOMATA

Automata is a science fiction noir series based on the Penny Arcade comic of the same name. Written and directed by Van Alan, the series stars Basil Harris (Rocketmen) as Sam Regal, Doug Jones (The Shape of Water) as Carl, and Jen Taylor (Cortana) as Verna.

Director: VAN ALAN
Writers: VAN ALAN, based on the comic by JERRY HOLKINS & MIKE KRAHULIK
Producers: JONATHAN CASO, LACEY LEAVITT
Cinematographer: NACIME KHEMIS
Cast: BASIL HARRIS, DOUG JONES, JEN TAYLOR, DYLAN SMITH, TED ROONEY

Format: VR

CH'AAK' S'AAGI (EAGLE BONE)

Ch'aak' S'aagi (Eagle Bone) is a VR documentary experience directed by Tracy Rector. The film is an poetic, unapologetic meditation on the modern Indigenous experience, featuring Nahaan, Ken Workman (great-great-great grandson of Chief Sealth), and the Naakw Dancers. Selected as one of the first five VR films to play at the Toronto International Film Festival, the award-winning piece has played in festivals across the world.

Director: TRACY RECTOR
Producer: MARA AUSTER, MISCHA JAKUPCAK, LACEY LEAVITT
Cinematographer: CHRIS MOSSON
Editor: MARA AUSTER
Post Production Supervisor: JOE JACOBS
Cast: NAHAAN, KEN WORKMAN and THE NAAKW DANCERS

Format: VR

DOM: A STORY OF REBELLION

Dom is a VR documentary experience directed by Netsanet Tjirongo. An exploration of black female sexuality, power dynamics, and the politico-social state of both in America today. A work-in-progress.

Director: NETSANET TJIRONGO
Producers: JONATHAN CASO, MISCHA JAKUPCAK, LACEY LEAVITT
Cinematographer: JUNE ZANDONA
Post Production Supervisor: JOE JACOBS
Cast: EVANA

Format: VR

EXPERIENCE PRIDE

Experience Pride is a documentary experience directed by Dacia Saenz. An exploration of the importance of connection and support in the LGBTQ community, centering on a story by activist Karen Schwartz. A work-in-progress

Director: DACIA SAENZ
Producers: MISCHA JAKUPCAK, LACEY LEAVITT
Cinematographers: SARA MCASLIN, CHRIS MOSSON
Post Production Supervisor: JOE JACOBS
Cast: KARYN SCHWARTZ

Format: VR

POTATO DREAMS

Potato Dreams is a VR documentary written and directed by Wes Hurley. An autobiographical journey into his struggle growing up gay in the Soviet Union, his mother’s struggle to create a better life for them, and their eventual escape to America.

Director: WES HURLEY
Producers: MARA AUSTER, JONATHAN CASO, MEL ESLYN, MISCHA JAKUPCAK, LACEY LEAVITT
Cinematographer: CHRIS MOSSON
Editor: JOE JACOBS
Cast: MARYA SEA KAMINSKI, BEN JAKUPCAK, NOAH DUFFY, KALEB KERR, CIAN FITZGERALD, BETTY MARSHALL

Format: VR

POWER

A VR experience created by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Shelton. Part improvised narrative, part performance art, POWER delves into themes of economic disparity, authority, vulnerability, drag queens, and more. A work-in-progress.

Director: LYNN SHELTON
Producers: MARA AUSTER, JONATHAN CASO, MISCHA JAKUPCAK, LACEY LEAVITT
Cinematographer: CHRIS MOSSON
Editor: JOE JACOBS
Cast: JODY KUEHNER, MATT SMITH, CHERDONNA

Format: FEATURE FILM

SADIE

The new feature film written and directed by Megan Griffiths. While her father is away serving in the military, Sadie battles to preserve his place on the home front when her mother takes an interest in the newest resident at the Shady Plains Trailer Park. Starring Sophia Mitri-Schloss (Lane 1974), Melanie Lynskey (HBO's Togetherness), John Gallagher, Jr. (10 Cloverfield Lane), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), and Tony Hale (Veep). In post-production.

Director: MEGAN GRIFFITHS
Writer: MEGAN GRIFFITHS
Producers: LACEY LEAVITT, JENNESSA WEST
Cinematographer: TJ WILLIAMS, JR.
Editor: CELIA BEASLEY
Cast: SOPHIA MITRI-SCHLOSS, MELANIE LYNSKEY, JOHN GALLAGHER, JR., DANIELLE BROOKS, TEE DENNARD, TONY HALE, KEITH L. WILLIAMS

Format: SHORT SERIES

STRANGE BUT TRUE: FLAMENCO CATNAPPER

Olivia has never been a very nice cat, but Dacia loves and sacrifices for her furry family member anyway. One day Olivia goes missing, and a mysterious voicemail from the Northwest's leading flamenco dancer confirms Dacia's worst fear: Olivia has been catnapped! A true crime caper work-in-progress.

Director: JOE JACOBS & LACEY LEAVITT
Producers: JONATHAN CASO
Editor: DAVID ROBBINS
Cast: DACIA SAENZ, OLIVIA SAENZ, FLAMENCO DeVILLE

TEAM

LACEY LEAVITT

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Lacey Leavitt is one of the most successful filmmakers from the Pacific NW, and the winner of the 2017 Seattle Mayor's Award for Achievement in Film. She was a Sheila C. Johnson Sundance Creative Producing Lab fellow at the highly competitive and prestigious Sundance Institute. Her specialty is working with new and independent cinematic voices and her film and television producing credits include Lynn Shelton's Outside In (Toronto Int'l Film Festival), Touchy Feely (Sundance), and Laggies (Sundance), Megan Griffiths' The Off Hours (Sundance), Lucky Them (TIFF), and the upcoming Sadie, Todd Rohal's The Catechism Cataclysm (Sundance) and M.O.P.Z. (adult swim), and Colin Trevorrow's (director of Jurassic World) first feature Safety Not Guaranteed (Sundance). Lacey has been working in the cinematic XR space for the last two years, producing the VR docs Eagle Bone (dir. Tracy Rector, TIFF) and Potato Dreams (dir. Wes Hurley, AFI Fest), and the upcoming VR films Arcadia Flats (dir. Joe Jacobs) and Power (Lynn Shelton). She was also a producer of the Potato Dreams' "flat" companion Little Potato, which won the Best Short Documentary Award at SXSW '17. Lacey graduated with distinction from the University of Washington with a degree in Cinema Studies, was a board member of the innovative Seattle food/theater company Cafe Nordo during their capital campaign.

JOE JACOBS

CREATIVE TECHNICAL OFFICER

Joe Jacobs is both a technologist and a creative, bringing the best of both worlds to XR content creation and EDF. Joe wrote and directed the upcoming VR thriller Arcadia Flats, and oversaw post-production on the VR documentaries Eagle Bone (dir. Tracy Rector, TIFF) and Potato Dreams (dir. Wes Hurley), as well as Lynn Shelton's VR film Power. Prior to diving into XR work, Joe received the 2010 IFP/Seattle Spotlight Award for his short film Forced Entry. He also spent nine years heading up a boutique studio’s post team, as well as managing creative development requests for clients including Nike, UGG, Stride-Rite, Asics, and New Balance. His early years in production were spent at Pinnacle Studios, a VFX house that enabled him to work on big budget SFX (practical special effects), VFX (computer visual effects), and the unique Cyclops motion control camera. Joe has worn many hats behind the camera in both the film and commercial world: director, director of photography, post production supervisor, VFX artist, JavaScript developer, and has contracted for everything from independent films to Amazon and Nordstrom. Joe has a degree in Multimedia from the Art Institute of Seattle.

JONATHAN CASO

HEAD OF PRODUCTION

Jonathan Caso has produced various features, series, short films, and commercials. He is the producer of the episodic series Automata from writer/director Van Alan, based on characters from the Penny Arcade web-comic of the same name. He's also the co-producer of Sadie, the newest feature film from director Megan Griffiths (Lucky Them, The Night Stalker), starring Melanie Lynskey & John Gallagher, Jr, and Outside In from director Lynn Shelton (Your Sisters Sister, Laggies, episodes of Fresh Off the Boat, GLOW, New Girl), starring Edie Falco, Jay Duplass & Kaitlyn Dever, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Jonathan recently line produced the Seattle unit of an upcoming Jeff Goldlbum film, which is still filming.

XR DIVERSITY GRANT

XR will be a major part of how we tell and consume stories in the future. We at Electric Dream Factory find great meaning in being story pioneers at the very beginning of XR for mass audiences. We have an opportunity to shape what the medium will become, much like the filmmakers at the beginning of the 20th century.

According to the 2017 Hollywood Diversity Report conducted by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, of Hollywood films released theatrically in 2015:

- 92.3% were directed by men, 7.7% were directed by women

- 89.9% of directors were white, 10.1% were people of color

In addition to the directors being overwhelmingly white and male, the stories reflected those demographics as well. The lead characters in these films were:

- 71% male, 29% female

- 86.4% white, 13.6% people of color

Representation behind and in front of the camera matters. There is a long overdue, and welcome, conversation about the need for more diverse stories in Hollywood today.

We at Electric Dream Factory are committed to making the XR medium a more equitable and just industry from the beginning. To help manifest this reality, we’re establishing a Diversity in XR program that will focus on empowering diverse storytellers and stories by providing:

- Access to Equipment

- Mentorship and Training

- Project Funding

Official program and application details will be in announced early 2018. We are in the process of lining up grant sponsors and partners so if you would like to get involved, please let us know. You can also make a tax-deductible donation to the Diversity in XR fund at the link below. Part of your donation will go to our fiscal sponsor, the NW Film Forum.

Let’s make some diverse XR experiences, together!

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