Originally born in Sofia, Bulgaria over 25 years ago, Chaos has grown into one of the world’s largest global 3D visualization companies, boasting more than 700 employees and offices worldwide. Its VFX software has been instrumental in the creation of blockbuster movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Batman, Ironman 3, as well as popular TV series such as Game of Thrones and Stranger Things.
Today, Chaos aims to leverage its accumulated resources and expertise to support the next generation of young creators in transforming their ideas into reality, potentially leading to internationally successful businesses.
Getting young creators and their ideas out into the world
Chaos has partnered with THU, one of the world’s largest communities in the digital entertainment industry, for the 4th edition of Talent League. This free program helps young creators develop entrepreneurial skills, gather business knowledge, industry connections, and potentially secure funding. Eligible participants, aged 18 to 35, can submit their ideas individually or as a team until August 15, 2024.
The program welcomes ideas related to digital entertainment, including film, animation, gaming, virtual reality, interactive experiences, music, graphic design, or pretty much any type of software for the industry.
“We want to help talented young creators from the community develop their entrepreneurial and pitching skills, making it easier for them to go to market, present their ideas to studios, and get these ideas off the ground,” says Cláudio Meireles, Head of Communities, Influencer, and Affiliate Marketing at Chaos.
Talent League is actually just one of the ten active community programs Chaos has in place across the globe to support, inspire and nurture the creative community.
It’s interesting to see what kind of projects will come out of Central and Eastern Europe given the region’s strong traditions in the digital entertainment industry. Besides Chaos, CEE has been home to notable companies like Nordeus, the Serbian games developer behind Top Eleven, and CD Projekt, the Polish game developer known for The Witcher series.
From Creativity to Business Planning
Participants will be selected based on a comprehensive set of criteria: originality, creativity, and forward-thinking (20%); the quality of the idea, entertainment relevancy, and storytelling (20%); impact (20%); feasibility (20%); and the participants’ skills, qualifications, and readiness for mentorship (20%). In the following phases, there will also be an evaluation of the project’s progress, pitch, and impact on the team’s home location.
This year, the project timeline is longer, allowing teams to refine their projects with the help of mentors through two phases: Proof of Concept and Business Plan. In the Proof of Concept phase, mentors help elevate the project’s creative concept and innovation. In the Business Plan phase, mentors train teams to present their projects to investors.
With the goal of fostering both global innovation in the entertainment industry and the development of local communities, regional finals will be hosted in cities worldwide. The jury will select five teams from each region, with a total of 50 teams gaining access to eight weeks of mentorship sessions to prepare their ideas for the regional finals. These one-day events, free for the local population, will feature invited mentors and local artists as speakers.
During these events, teams will pitch their ideas, and one final team from each region will receive an additional four weeks of mentorship.
Confirmed program mentors include Oscar-nominated producer and animation industry consultant Jinko Gotoh; VFX and animation veteran and digital artist Dylan Sisson; Akili Interactive co-founder and CCO Matt Omernick; former LucasArts/Lucasfilm executive art director and independent creative consultant Rafi Nizam; and writer, director, and creative producer Saraswathi Vani Balgam.
Success Stories from Previous Years
Previous winners include Togather, a platform enabling the creation and sharing of custom digital brushes through Natural Intelligence, and Djossi Heroes, a 15-minute short film documentary mixing live-action, VFX, 2D, and 3D animation to honor the brave people of the Ivory Coast. Other participants have started their own indie studios, citing benefits like improved communication skills and embracing entrepreneurial traits such as stepping out of their comfort zones and overcoming fears.
