AGBO Launches Innovation Department To Expand Physical & Virtual Production Capabilities; Exec Team Stocked With Vets From Epic Games, ‘Avatar’ And VisualCreatures

Dade Hayes
·3 min read
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AGBO, the Russo Brothers’ media company, has launched an innovation department, expanding its physical and virtual production capabilities under the guidance of a seasoned executive team.

Under the new setup, AGBO’s technology experts will build proprietary creative tools, with the aim of fostering production innovation and cost efficiencies. The idea is for AGBO and its creative partners to be able to access the company’s emerging set of tools at every stage of development, production, and post-production.

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Innovation will have three verticals: production technology, immersive technology and creative. It will be led by Jake Aust, who was recently promoted to AGBO’s Chief Innovation Officer. Over a 20-year career, Aust has been a producer on The Office and Russo-affiliated titles like TV’s Community and feature film Cherry. He was also an executive producer on The Gray Man and most recently served as AGBO’s President of Physical Production.

The creation of an Innovation department follows a number of key hires, including two new partners: Donald Mustard, the director and “loremaster” of Fortnite; and business strategist Chris Brearton, who played a key role in shepherding MGM’s $8.45 billion sale to Amazon. Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot will help oversee the efforts within Innovation along with her other responsibilities.

A number of notable industry veterans will now report to Aust, among them Glenn Derry, President of Production Technology; Josh Andersen, President of Immersive Technology; and Ryan McNeely and John Cranston, Creative Directors.

Derry has played a central technology role in cutting-edge productions like Avatar, The Jungle Book, Real Steel and Minority Report. He is credited with introducing the concept of “virtual production” to the film and gaming industries. In his AGBO post, Derry will further develop and expand the company’s virtual production pipeline to enhance artists’ storytelling capabilities and optimize production economics.

Andersen joins AGBO from Epic Games, where he served as lead programmer and a major figure in game development. Over more than a decade at Epic, he helped develop video game franchises such as Fortnite, Shadow Complex and Infinity Blade and was instrumental in metagame design and the creation of mobile games. Andersen’s Immersive Technology team will be fully integrated within AGBO and work across media sectors.

McNeely and Cranston co-founded virtual production studio VisualCreatures, which AGBO acquired in 2023. They have worked with a roster of major companies, including Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Allstate, Apple, and Epic Games.

“Through years of close collaboration with Ryan, John, and Josh at Epic Games, I’ve witnessed firsthand the dedication and ingenuity they bring to every project. With Jake at the helm, this team will fulfill AGBO’s long-term ambition of developing wholly original IP from scratch in-house,” Mustard said. “Together, we’re forging a dynamic, silo-less pipeline designed to seamlessly share assets among expressions that exist in different media and different narratives – a pivotal juncture in our evolution as a modern studio.”

“Jake, Glenn, Josh, and the entire Innovation team will lead a strategic evolution of our brand. They bring expertise from the forefront of bold filmmaking, television, and video game production where they leveraged decades of cutting-edge technologies,” Russo-Otstot said. “Their collective mastery of production innovation, immersive technology, and emerging tools supports a central pillar of AGBO’s transformational approach to fuel creative breakthroughs and unlock practical efficiencies in universe-building and storytelling.”

“At AGBO, we pride ourselves on defying industry norms and pushing the boundaries of traditional production to deliver exceptional entertainment across media platforms,” Aust said. “Now armed with the sharpest minds in the business, our Innovation team will usher AGBO into an exciting new era of large-scale universe storytelling that maximizes the most sophisticated technological tools available to empower artists to reach new creative heights and provide even more meaningful opportunities for fans to explore, play, and live through our worldbuilding.”

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