Broadcast Beat Magazine 2017 NAB Show NY/SMPTE Special Edition | Page 55

GEARS OF WAR:
BEHIND THE SCENES
WITH CHAD WILLETT
By BRETT INESEN
film for sometime and came across an inspiring
true story about the beginnings of Greenpeace
and it’s co-founder Jim Bohlen. In order to retain
the rights and start developing this bio-pic, I
needed to form a company, thus StoryLab was
born.
We caught up with the talented Gears of War
producer and actor, Chad Willet, to hear about
his journey from acting to producing and into the
world of mo-cap through his company StoryLab
Productions. Discover Chad’s full journey below.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about your background?
A: I have been working as a professional actor
throughout North America and Europe for mo re
than 20 years. I’ve been fascinated with all ele-
ments of the industry and found that my years
of experience offered me a natural transition into
producing. I have always focused on how to tell
the best story possible and discovered that it
doesn’t matter what medium I am working in –
if the story isn’t there, then the project doesn’t
have legs. This was how StoryLab Productions
was born.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about how Storylab pro-
ductions began?
A: I had been developing ideas for both TV and
During the initial story meetings, development of
a full draft and search for international partners to
help produce the picture, another more boutique
project came to my attention called, Becoming
Redwood. Knowing the size and scope of Jim
Bohlen’s story might take many years to come
about, getting a locally based film into produc-
tion helped StoryLab grow its relationships and
collect more full production experience. StoryLab
took Redwood through all aspects of produc-
tion, film festivals and then ultimately selling and
distributing the film throughout Canada, with the
support of Michael Kennedy at Cineplex.
Q: How did you first get involved with Microsoft?
A: I received a call from the Director of Production
of the newly formed Black Tusk Studios, which
was Microsoft’s production arm in Vancouver.
They were looking for help with the physical side
of production and asked if I could come in for a
meeting. At the time Black Tusk was developing
a brand new IP and needed help with the per-
formance capture and motion capture shoots.
With StoryLab’s priority of telling great stories
and Black Tusk’s venture into a strong narrative
based IP, the partnership was a natural fit. After
almost two years of work on the new production,
the Black Tusk team was honoured to get the
nod from Microsoft head office, to take the helm
of their new ‘Gears of War’ franchise acquisition.
The original IP was put on hold, ‘The Coalition’
studio was formed and we all got to work on mak-
ing sure that the next installment of the ‘Gears
Broadcast Beat Magazine • www.broadcastbeat.com • 55