With filmmakers and other virtual-reality enthusiasts having descended on Sundance’s New Frontier program, Twentieth Century Fox is among the companies on the hunt for new talent. “They are indie filmmakers working in VR and some for which VR is their principal medium, meaning there’s a new generation that’s becoming experts in the medium," says David Greenbaum, executive vp production at Fox Searchlight Pictures and one of the directors of the Fox Innovation Lab, which is looking to grow the studio's VR offering.
“We feel like we are going to find the next Coen brothers or Quentin Tarantino — and we’re looking to find them and sign them up to do a project," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "We’ve already met with a few international filmmakers who we would love to bring back to the Lab and find ways to collaborate.”
VR content is a big part of this year's New Frontier program, including narratives such as 13-part series Defrost, directed by Randal Kleiser (Grease). Shot with one of the first models of Nokia's new OZO 360-degree VR camera, Defrost is a futuristic sci-fi adventure that puts viewers in the seat of a woman who wakes up after having been frozen for nearly 30 years. The cast includes Carl Weathers, Bruce Davison and Tanna Frederick, who also produced.