Immersive Film Production Moves Beyond Headsets

Light Sail VR co-founder Matthew Celia to speak at NAB Show 2026 on scaling immersive content pipelines for real-world experiences.

Apr. 15, 2026 at 6:13pm

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A highly detailed 3D illustration of a glowing, futuristic control panel or data visualization dashboard, featuring illuminated neon cyan and magenta lights, sleek metallic surfaces, and complex digital interfaces, conceptually representing the technological advancements enabling the scaling of immersive content production.Immersive content production is evolving beyond headsets, requiring new workflows and infrastructure to support a range of real-world experiences.Los Angeles Today

Light Sail VR, a 2025 Emmy-winning immersive cinema studio, announced that co-founder and Chief Creative Director Matthew Celia will speak at NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas on how immersive film production is moving beyond headset-driven distribution and into production models that can scale across real-world workflows. Studios, entertainment companies, and experience operators are expanding into location-based formats, including shared, ticketed experiences built for in-person audiences.

Why it matters

As the immersive content industry matures, production teams are rethinking how projects are built from the start to align with new distribution formats beyond just headsets. This shift is driving the need for more scalable and efficient production pipelines that can support a range of real-world immersive experiences.

The details

Celia will discuss how Light Sail VR is solving the practical challenges of scaling immersive production, including aligning workflows from pre-production through post, leveraging automation and AI to reduce costs, and defining new roles on set to move beyond experimentation toward repeatable production models. The session will use examples from Light Sail VR's work on projects like The Faceless Lady, Red Rocks: Live in VR, and the SNL 50th Anniversary Special.

  • Light Sail VR was founded in 2016.
  • The company earned a 2025 Emmy for its work on the SNL 50th Anniversary Special in VR.
  • Celia's NAB Show 2026 session will take place on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 from 10:45-11:45 a.m. PT.

The players

Matthew Celia

Co-founder and Chief Creative Director of Light Sail VR, an immersive cinema studio based in Los Angeles.

Robert Watts

Co-founder of Light Sail VR.

Light Sail VR

An immersive cinema company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2016, that has delivered more than 200 projects across narrative, live performance, and emerging media formats.

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What they’re saying

“As studios and brands continue to explore immersive formats, the industry is confronting a practical challenge. Early excitement did not translate into reliable revenue. Now, production teams are rethinking how projects are built from the start to line up with how they will actually be distributed and monetized.”

— Matthew Celia, Co-founder and Chief Creative Director, Light Sail VR

“If you want to take IP and extend it across platforms, you have to think about that from the beginning. You can't retrofit it later.”

— Matthew Celia, Co-founder and Chief Creative Director, Light Sail VR

What’s next

Celia's NAB Show 2026 session will provide insights and lessons learned from Light Sail VR's immersive production work, offering a roadmap for other studios and content creators looking to scale their own immersive content pipelines.

The takeaway

As the immersive content industry matures, production teams are moving beyond headset-driven distribution models and exploring new real-world formats like location-based experiences. This shift is driving the need for more scalable and efficient production pipelines that can support a range of immersive experiences.