When a Former Disney Head of Production Says "This Is One to Watch"
- Idan Hana
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
Jason Fisher has seen virtual production from both sides. As former head of production at Disney, Paramount, and AMC — and now as founder of Stage Runner, one of the industry's most trusted independent voices — his assessments carry weight. So when he dedicated a full video to Voia, we listened carefully.
His core thesis is simple: the gap between high-end LED volume stages and what most productions can realistically afford has become one of the most important problems in the industry. And in his view, Voia is one of the first companies building a real answer to it.
"This is exactly the kind of tech that could finally bring virtual production to the middle of the market. That's a big opportunity."
The Numbers That Matter
Traditional LED volume stages can cost upwards of $30,000 a day. Voia comes in at around $3,000 a month for the entire system — a difference that opens virtual production to a completely different tier of the market.
What He Saw
The Voia system Jason reviewed connects to any camera via SDI, integrates an iPhone for tracking, an iPad for control, and a hardware unit — the Box — that processes everything in real time. The setup is deliberately minimal: no specialized stage, no expensive infrastructure, no locked-in ecosystem.
But what impressed Jason most wasn't the hardware. It was the workflow implications. Right now, production is fragmented by design: pre-vis teams build environments that VFX teams rebuild, that post teams rebuild again. Every handoff loses fidelity and gains cost. Voia's approach is to collapse those handoffs — production designers build environments that carry into pre-vis, directors block shots that carry to set, and the shoot captures not just video but camera tracking data, depth maps, surface normals, and mattes that push post production upstream into the moment of filming.
In practice, that means near-final composites visible on set, in real time — data that's actually production-ready on the back end.
Why It Matters Now
The virtual production market has spent years concentrating investment at the very top end. Massive LED volumes, dedicated technical directors, six-figure daily rates. The result is a technology that's genuinely transformative — and genuinely inaccessible to the vast middle of the commercial production market: agencies, brand teams, mid-sized studios, independent directors.
Jason's observation — that Voia is positioned to serve that middle market — reflects something we've been building toward since day one. The tools that exist today require crews to change how they work. Voia is built to fit into how crews already work, starting with the camera they already have.
Hearing that framing validated by someone with Jason's production background, on a platform trusted by thousands of working professionals, means a great deal to our team. We're early. But we're building something real — and it's encouraging to see people with decades in the industry recognize that.
"This isn't about replacing traditional production. It's about making virtual production more accessible and more efficient."
Watch the Full Review
Jason walks through the complete system — hardware, workflow, and where he sees the opportunity — in his own words on the Stage Runner channel.
