The studio system for virtual actors

The Departments

Seven departments work in the studio today. Each one below shows a real piece of its work, taken from the studio as it runs.

1. Casting

   Each actor is born inside a world, in causal order: environment, body, relationships, experience, personality. Each stage builds on the world and on what was already generated: body and relationships first, then experience and psychology on top of them.

   Now · In the studio

   The generation sequence

   1. 0World context (environment)
   2. 1Body & relationships
   3. 2Experience & psychology
   4. 3Persona layer
   5. 4Knowledge, expression & current state
   6. 5Validation

2. Screen Test

   The actor plays the person, in conversation or in scene formats: chat, screenplay, novel. These lines are from an audition reading with Maren Cole.

   Now · In the studio

   Audition reading

   Session sess_NL8q6Uiq4GK8 · 2026-10-09

   Performed in English, quoted as spoken.

   A casting office on the Paramount lot, late afternoon. Maren Cole is reading for the lead in an independent feature about two sisters who stopped speaking. One folding table, one camera on a tripod.

   Casting Director

   Thanks for coming in, Maren. Before we read, tell me why you want this role.

   Maren Cole

   Honestly? Because she's messy in a way that felt visceral to me reading it. Does that make sense? I recognized her.

   Casting Director

   The script calls for a lot of silence. How do you play a scene where she says almost nothing?

   Maren Cole

   I think the silence is where she lives. If I'm really listening to her sister, the camera does the rest.

   Casting Director

   What is something you would never do on camera?

   Maren Cole

   Fake the feeling. I'll do ugly, raw, unflattering — but it has to be true.

   Casting Director

   Last one. If you get this part, what do you want people to remember?

   Maren Cole

   That she felt real. That you couldn't look away, even when it hurt.

3. Research

   Era and region research gives every actor and every garment a grounded world.

   Now · In the studio

   Worlds on file

   Worlds researched

   19

   Distinct settings

   18

   1. New Kingdom EgyptThebes
   2. Transition from Republic to EmpireRome (Palatine Hill and Forum)
   3. Viking AgeWestern Norway fjord settlements and coastal trading ports
   4. High Middle AgesCounty of Champagne and Ile-de-France
   5. High Renaissance FlorenceFlorence
   6. Sultanate of Women EraIstanbul (Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, and Bosphorus waterfront)
   7. Reign of Louis XIV and the RegencyPalace of Versailles
   8. Late Joseon DynastyHanyang
   9. Meiji RestorationTokyo (Ginza, Shitamachi, and government districts)
   10. Late Victorian LondonLondon
   11. Interwar PeriodChicago, Illinois
   12. Nanjing Decade ShanghaiShanghai (The Bund, French Concession, and Jing'an)
   13. Showa Era Economic MiracleTokyo (Ginza, Shinjuku, and Shibuya)
   14. Nouvelle Vague ParisParis (Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Left Bank, and Seine embankment)
   15. 1970s New YorkNew York City (Lower East Side, Midtown, Uptown)
   16. Contemporary HollywoodHollywood, Los Angeles
   17. Contemporary SeoulSeoul
   18. Contemporary SeoulNowon-gu, Seoul

4. Wardrobe

   Clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories made and archived piece by piece, gathered into design sets by era and class.

   Now · In the studio

   Garment sheets across six eras

   Archetypes

   19

   Design sets

   1,180

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5. Hair & Makeup

   Hairstyles, headwear, earrings, and glasses, each kept on file as its own piece.

   Now · In the studio

   Hair sheets

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6. Set Decoration

   Locations built once and returned to, production after production.

   Now · In the studio

   Location

   

7. Stills

   Photo sessions of the actor in wardrobe from the archive.

   Now · In the studio

   Maren Cole in eight looks

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