07/21/2026
Big news: our panel, "Unlocking Virtual Production for Indie Filmmakers," is officially locked in for Comic-Con 2026. 🎬
Virtual production is no longer the exclusive domain of tentpole budgets — and this is the panel that proves it. Game engines, motion capture, and real-time pipelines have put cinematic visuals within reach of independent creators. In one hour, we're breaking down exactly how: virtual art departments, previs workflows, and the new crew roles emerging around these tools.
I'll also be bringing my latest work to the conversation: a hybrid Carbon Black VP pipeline I just published — replacing the green/grey box with a Carbon Black projection screen so one genlocked camera captures the ICVFX beauty AND a frame-matched grey clean plate in the same take. The director lights and blocks to the real environment on the day; post still gets a perfect clean plate to relight in Nuke. Full spec, look-book, storyboard, and relight workflow here: https://carbonblack-vp-pipeline.netlify.app/
And the lineup is stacked — artists and VFX leaders whose credits span film, television, and games:
C. Craig — Fathead, ChikaBOOM!
Matt Galuppo — Avengers: Age of Ultron, TMNT
Marc Morisseau — Call of Duty, Avatar
David Christopher Loya — Esperanza, G.O.D. OS
Irfan Merchant (me) — Army of the Dead, Fortnite Super Bowl
Jeffrey Okun — Percy Jackson, Alien: Earth
Austina Wang — The Mandalorian, The Last Airbender
Moderated by Kumari Bakhru (Guide to Postproduction).
📅 Saturday, July 25 | 4:00–5:00 PM | San Diego Comic-Con (room TBA)
If you're at SDCC and serious about making big-screen visuals on an indie budget, this is the hour to be in the room. VP producers, DPs, VFX supes — come pressure-test the pipeline with me in person.
Panel details: https://sched.co/2Qc0S
Irfan Merchant — Realtime VP Producer / Tech Producer [email protected] · 818-720-3250
View more about this event at Comic-Con 2026
