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Articles by Max Ma
Remembering Gerald "Jerry" Pierce, Architect of Modern Digital Cinema | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in Redwood City, California. He was 73. Over a four-decade career, Pierce was instrumental in developing and standardizing DVD, Digital Cinema, HDMI/HDCP copy protection, and the Interoperable Master Format.
CREE8 Wins NAB Product of the Year for the Second Year Running, Taking Home Two Awards in 2026 | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
CREE8, the operating layer for modern production, has won two 2026 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. One for its Studio in a Box platform. One for its Unsegmented Growing File technology. The wins follow CREE8’s 2025 NAB Product of the Year for Remote Production, making CREE8 a back to back winner in one of broadcast’s most competitive categories. CREE8 demonstrated the technology live from the show floor.
YEP Spotlight: Julissa Padilla | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Some people stumble into their passion. Julissa Padilla walked straight into a film vault. For her, entertainment was never just about the movies themselves. It was about the history held inside them. “Film is the perfect form of communication towards the masses,” she says. “It creates stories that can connect anyone together.” For Julissa, loving film naturally extends into preserving it and helping others discover why movies matter.
YEP September 2025 Newsletter (2) | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The September 19, 2025 YEP Newsletter highlights a group visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where participants explored exhibits showcasing the art, history, and technology of filmmaking, offering an immersive, behind-the-scenes look at cinematic storytelling. Experiences like these reflect YEP’s focus on hands-on industry engagement and inspiration drawn from real-world environments.
YEP November 2025 Newsletter | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The November 2025 YEP Newsletter highlights a recent YEP Coffee Chat, offering members the chance to connect with industry professionals in an informal setting and gain insight into career paths and emerging technologies—part of the program’s broader focus on mentorship and networking opportunities. (HPA – Hollywood Professional Association) This issue also features a Spotlight on Ben Abergel, sharing his background, role in the industry, and experiences within the YEP program.
YEP December 2025 Newsletter | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The December 2025 YEP Newsletter includes a Spotlight on Emily Vail, showcasing her career journey and work in the industry, alongside Mentorship Reflections by Kiera Williams, offering personal insights on growth and guidance through the YEP program. The issue also recaps recent program activities and highlights from the year, while sharing upcoming opportunities, events, and ways for members to stay engaged.
Welcome Young Entertainment Professionals Class of 2026 | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
By Kiera Williams Every year, a new group of emerging media and entertainment professionals steps into the HPA community — curious, talented, and ready to grow. This year is no different. Meet the YEP Class of 2026. But before we get into introductions, let’s talk about where they started. First Look: YEP 2026 at the HPA Tech Retreat The HPA Tech Retreat is unlike most industry events.
Why YEP Changed My Career (And Why It Might Change Yours) | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
By Matt Klein Hello to everyone reading this — whether you’re a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I’m Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of the YEP program, and I’m here to kick off our new blog. I want to give you a bit of background about myself and explain why I hold the YEP program so close to my heart. I’m now in my fifth year involved with the program, and I can say confidently that nothing else has had a greater impact on my career than YEP.
Hollywood Professional Association Concludes the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat with 800+ Industry Leaders and a Week Focused on the Future of Media Technology | HPA - Hollywood Professional Association
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) concluded the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, convening more than 800 industry leaders, technologists, creatives and executives for five days of forward-looking dialogue at the intersection of media, technology and storytelling. Held Feb.
Hollywood Professional Association Unveils 2026 HPA Awards Innovation & Technology Nominees | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today announced the nominees for the 2026 HPA Awards Innovation & Technology, marking an expanded evolution of the organization’s prestigious Engineering Excellence Award. The awards celebrate exceptional contributions to entertainment technology. For nearly two decades, the HPA Engineering Excellence Award has recognized groundbreaking engineering achievements.
Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Announces Updates to Board of Directors | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today announced several updates to its Board of Directors. As part of HPA’s annual governance cycle, new leadership terms begin on January 1 and include the election of new officers, the appointment of new board members and the election of a new board President. The Board has elected Renard T. Jenkins as President.
Strategic Allocations in an Uncertain World: Insights from Aleksey Mironenko
Asset allocators face a highly divided global investment landscape in late 2025. Aleksey Mironenko, Global Head of Investment Solutions at Leo Wealth, shared a contrarian view on how Artificial Intelligence (AI), labour dynamics, and alternatives are changing portfolio strategy.
Tokenising the Future: SBI Digital Markets’ Thomas Patin on Building Infrastructure for the Next Era of Structured Products
As traditional wealth management intersects with digital asset innovation, the question is no longer whether tokenisation will reshape capital markets, but how soon. Speaking during the “In the Hubbis Hot Seat” session at the Hubbis Investment Forum in Hong Kong, Thomas Patin, Head of Structured Products at SBI Digital Markets (SBIDM), offered a concise but ambitious roadmap for that future.
Data-Driven China: How AI and Alternative Signals Are Reframing Market Intelligence
At the 2025 Hubbis Investment Forum - Hong Kong, Max Ma, Senior Analyst at Aurora Mobile’s MoonFox Data unit, delivered a presentation that sought to reframe how institutional investors understand China’s evolving market dynamics.
Precision over Promises: How Leo Wealth Is Scaling Global Mandates with Consistency
As Asia’s private wealth industry adapts to heightened client expectations, rising regulatory complexity, and ongoing volatility across global markets, the discourse is shifting away from transactional advice towards scalable, mandate-led portfolio delivery.
Navigating 2026: How Selective Alternatives Can Redefine Resilience and Return
At the Hubbis Investment Forum - Hong Kong 2025, Allen Sing, Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager at Sun Hung Kai Capital Partners, gave a presentation which addressed recent developments in private credit, following notable bankruptcies. He also discussed the increasing role of alternative investments in portfolio construction. Sing emphasized that alternatives vary significantly and, with proper discipline, can offer superior risk-adjusted performance, even during volatile periods.
2026 HPA Tech Retreat Brings Together Visionaries to Navigate Media's Next Chapter | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today announced additional programming highlights for the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, taking place Feb. 15–19 at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa. At a time when technology and creativity are converging faster than ever, the HPA Tech Retreat offers an essential forum for candid conversations and bold ideas that will shape the future of media and entertainment, providing clarity and direction amid overwhelming change.
NAB New York 2025 Recap: AI, Cloud, and Hybrid Take Center Stage | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
From live broadcast innovation to post-production intelligence, NAB New York 2025 showcased how rapidly media workflows are evolving toward AI-driven, hybrid, and software-defined environments.
2026 HPA Tech Retreat to Deliver Insight, Innovation, and Industry Dialogue | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today unveiled key highlights of the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, scheduled for Feb. 15–19 at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa. The event will feature five days of programming designed to explore the evolving landscape of media and entertainment through candid dialogue, creative inspiration, and hands-on engagement. “The HPA Tech Retreat is about more than just individual sessions.
Recognizing the Innovations Re-shaping Film & TV Right Now | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
By Chuck Parker, CEO of Sohonet If you work in film and television, you can feel it: anxiety is high. Budgets are tight, schedules are tighter, and “AI” is a conversation starter, a disruptor, and a lightning rod—often in the same meeting. The thing I keep trying to remind my team and our investors: on the other side of the “disruption” coin is an innovation inflection point — the moment when a new method, tool, or workflow doesn’t just look clever in a demo, it starts moving the industry forward.
HPA Awards Opens Call for Submissions for Innovation & Technology Awards | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) is now accepting submissions for the HPA Awards Innovation & Technology, which marks an expanded evolution of the prestigious HPA Engineering Excellence Award. This reimagined program reflects the transformative role that innovation and disruptive technologies play in today’s rapidly evolving media content industry and the broader M&E technology space.
The HPA Reimagines Recognition | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
In response to an industry in transformation and in alignment with our focus on recognition, forward momentum and evolution, we are announcing a modified format and time frame for the HPA Awards. A re-imagined HPA Engineering Excellence Awards presentation will take place during the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat. Entry window, submission and presentations, and announcement details to be announced soon. Submissions and judging will fall between August and November.
15th edition of NFB’s Hothouse program now online. Discover bold new animation from across Canada at nfb.ca
August 28, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB) Beginning today, six eclectic animated shorts from the 15th edition of the National Film Board of Canada’s Hothouse program for emerging animators are available worldwide on NFB platforms.
Building Hollywood’s Village: HPA President Kari Grubin on Community, Innovation, and Change | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
By Daron James. Originally published, August 13, 2025 on motionpictures.org. Since 2002, the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has been committed to supporting and advancing the media and entertainment industry.
HPA Opens Call for Proposals and Innovation Zone Applications for 2026 HPA Tech Retreat | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has opened the call for proposals for conference sessions and Roundtables at the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, along with applications for the highly anticipated Innovation Zone. The event will take place February 15–19, 2026, at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. As in past years, the venue will be exclusive to registered attendees for the duration of the event.
TPN to Launch Enhanced Shield Tier System to Strengthen Global Content Security | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The Trusted Partner Network (TPN), the Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) global content security initiative, today announced the upcoming launch of its next-generation Shield tier system, scheduled for early September 2025. The new system is designed to increase transparency, elevate security standards, and drive continuous improvement for content security across the media and entertainment supply chain.
Made to Create, Built to Grow — Wacom Introduces the New Wacom Cintiq Line & the Wacom MovinkPad 11 | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Wacom just launched the next generation of display tablets, the Cintiq pen & touch (touch on select models) and the MovinkPad 11. The new Cintiq displays combine the natural feel of traditional drawing with the cutting-edge digital precision that today’s creators have come to expect from Wacom. Wacom displays are the industry standard in the media and entertainment space for animators, VFX artists and editors.
Key Code Education Launches New Hands-On Training Programs for Ross Video, Vizrt, EditShare, and SNS | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Key Code Education, a leader in instructor-led post production training for over a decade, is expanding its course offerings to address the growing needs of today’s production industry. The new programs include beginner and intermediate training for industry-leading tools: Ross Video Carbonite and XPression, Vizrt TriCaster, EditShare EFS, and SNS EVO.
Key Code Education Launches New Adobe Premiere Pro Engineer Certification | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Key Code Education, the professional training division of Key Code Media, proudly announces a major update to its Adobe Premiere Pro Engineering and Advanced Operations Certification Course (PR400). The updated course includes a brand-new Adobe-approved curriculum and certification book tailored for engineers and technical operators focused on deploying, maintaining, and optimizing Adobe Premiere Pro workflows in collaborative environments.
Global Reach, Vertical Depth: MediaBridge Keeps the Wheels of Business Turning | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Think of any major merger or acquisition in the media tech industry over the last 15 years and the odds are pretty good that MediaBridge Capital Advisors will have played a leading role.
Scott Gershin Takes the Audience on a Sonic Journey | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Scott Gershin is an award-winning sound supervisor, sound designer, and mixer who has been a pioneer and leader in the film and gaming community for over three decades. After studying mixing and music at Berklee College of Music, Gershin was one of the first to use computers to edit and design sound against picture (using an Atari computer to design Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, 1987).
Don’t Sell Out the Power of Sound | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Don’t Sell Out the Power of Sound George Lucas famously said that sound and music are 50 percent of the entertainment in a movie and while the exact figure might be disputed, there’s little doubt about the power of sound to tell a story. That belief has guided the decades-long career of Peter Kurland, a four-time Oscar-nominated sound mixer whose work has shaped some of modern cinema’s most memorable films. His journey into sound wasn’t a straight line—but once he found it, he never looked back.
Moments Lab and LucidLink Expand AI-Powered Workflow Integration for Cannes Film Festival 2025 | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Moments Lab, a leader in AI video discovery, and LucidLink, the pioneer in real-time cloud collaboration, are proud to announce the integration of Moments Lab’s latest multimodal AI engine, MXT-2, with LucidLink’s newly enhanced product. This powerful combination will be deployed by global media brand Brut during the 78th Cannes Film Festival, taking place from 13 May – 24 May 2025, building on the record-breaking success of their collaboration at last year’s event.
We’re Listening! | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The media and entertainment landscape is changing rapidly. Emerging technologies like AI and cloud workflows are transforming post production, while economic shifts and evolving workplace models are reshaping how our industry operates. As HPA looks to the future, we want to hear directly from the people at the heart of it—you. That’s why we’re asking all members and subscribers to take a few minutes to complete the HPA Audience Survey.
Why Now is the Perfect Time to Join HPA | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
By Joyce “JC” Cataldo The media and entertainment industry is evolving faster than ever. Technology is shifting the way we create, distribute, and experience content—and at the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA), we’re proud to be at the center of that transformation. I have the privilege of seeing firsthand how our community brings together the brightest minds and boldest innovators.
In Conversation: Barbara Ford Grant | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Today’s tentpole VFX pipelines are labor-intensive, time-consuming and expensive, while AI promises to produce the same but much cheaper and quicker with a smaller team. Barbara Ford Grant, Media Advisor, Consultant, and pioneering VFX and creative technology executive set out to prove the merits and weakness in this argument.
From High-Order Nonlinear Data to Deep Manifold — LessWrong
We believe that AI training data is inherently high-order nonlinear—characterized by recursion, long-range dependencies, symbolic discontinuities, and deeply compositional structures. While high dimensionality is widely acknowledged, it is the high-order nonlinearity that defines the true complexity of modern datasets.
Help Grow the California Production Coalition | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
The California Production Coalition (CPC) is bringing together businesses and organizations from across the entertainment industry to protect and strengthen film, television, and streaming production in the state. With more than 40 members already on board, CPC is focused on advocating for policies that ensure California remains the center of the entertainment world and sends a clear message to state lawmakers that Hollywood belongs in California.
HPA Award Winner: Damian McDonnell finishing colourist on Time Bandits | HPA – Hollywood Professional Association
Creating not just a whole new fantasy adventure world but one fantasy adventure world per episode was the herculean task set by Taika Waititi, Iain Morris and Jemaine Clement for AppleTV+ series Time Bandits and not least for colorist Damian McDonnell who graded all ten episodes. His standout work on the pilot won the HPA award for Outstanding Color Grading [Live Action Episode or Non Theatrical Feature] at the 2024 HPA Awards in November.
Transformer Attention’s High School Math Mistake — LessWrong
Each data point (input data, weights & bias) of a neural network has coordinates. Data alone, without coordinates, is almost meaningless. When attention mechanisms (Q, K, and V) undergo a linear transformation, they are projected into a different space with new coordinates. The attention score is then computed based on the distance between Q and K after transformation. However, this transformed distance does not necessarily reflect the true, original distance between the data points.
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