Courtesy of Girraphic
Specialized support for broadcast and live event productions
October 14, 2022
As more and more studios all around the globe are turning to Unreal Engine to create increasingly impressive and innovative real-time projects, it’s vital that they have the technical support they need. The Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program is designed to provide that support, giving Unreal Engine adopters the specialized tools and help they need to make their work really shine.
Unreal Authorized Service Partners are organizations and individuals who are able to provide the highest level of technical support, along with implementation and co-development services, to users of Unreal Engine.
Currently featuring more than 60 Partners around the world covering multiple industries, the program includes a select number of trusted studios and agencies in the broadcast and live events space. Here are some of the Service Partners currently supporting forward-thinking players in this sector with their Unreal Engine-powered workflows:
The studio’s recent projects include developing the "Team-moji” avatars for CBS’s coverage of the annual March Madness college basketball tournament. “This real-time, broadcast augmented reality project was a prime demonstration of Unreal’s capabilities,” says Dan Pack, Managing Director and Partner at Silver Spoon.
Unreal Authorized Service Partners are organizations and individuals who are able to provide the highest level of technical support, along with implementation and co-development services, to users of Unreal Engine.
What does it take to become an Unreal Authorized Service Partner?
During the first phase of the program, only those businesses and individuals that meet certain criteria are invited to join. Not only must participants be experts in their industry, they must also be creative problem solvers and excellent tool builders. What’s more, Unreal Authorized Service Partners’ portfolios must include Unreal Engine-based work of consistently high quality. Once invited to join, potential Partners then complete a detailed application, skills assessment, and technical interviews before acceptance into the program is possible.Currently featuring more than 60 Partners around the world covering multiple industries, the program includes a select number of trusted studios and agencies in the broadcast and live events space. Here are some of the Service Partners currently supporting forward-thinking players in this sector with their Unreal Engine-powered workflows:
Silver Spoon
Silver Spoon is an industry-leading real-time animation and virtual production studio serving the broadcast TV, entertainment, and live event industries. The company works with clients and partners who share its innovative spirit and strive to push the boundaries of today’s technology.The studio’s recent projects include developing the "Team-moji” avatars for CBS’s coverage of the annual March Madness college basketball tournament. “This real-time, broadcast augmented reality project was a prime demonstration of Unreal’s capabilities,” says Dan Pack, Managing Director and Partner at Silver Spoon.
2022 CBS Sports ‘March Madness’ ©2022 CBS/Viacom
“Our deliverable was a library of real-time, triggerable “Team-mojis” characters that performed a variety of skits, dances, and playful antics throughout CBS’s March Madness tournament. Utilizing Unreal Engine allowed us to design these AR avatars to be highly customizable with nearly 100 animations, dozens of special FX options, and full runtime controls of team, color, studio placement, and scale. Unreal Engine gave us an unprecedented amount of flexibility and runtime creative control.”
Explaining the decision to participate in the Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program, Dan said: “Unreal Engine is the foundation of nearly every project in our pipeline, so it was a natural step for us to pursue this partnership. We also have a continued commitment to exploring and deepening our knowledge of this powerful tool so that we can best serve our clients and partners.”
Past projects include the Kaskade x Rocket League concert inside Fortnite, Season 15 of America's Got Talent, Coldplay and BTS’s performance on The Voice season finale, and Salesforce Dreamforce. Another recent project is the AR experience for the Coachella music festival livestream. “Unreal Engine was the beating heart of the Coachella project, and was used from pre-production through to the final broadcast,” says Danny Firpo, Co-founder at AOIN. “The collaboration between multiple artists and agencies was vital to the tight production timeline, and simply could not have been produced with any other platform.”
Explaining the decision to participate in the Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program, Dan said: “Unreal Engine is the foundation of nearly every project in our pipeline, so it was a natural step for us to pursue this partnership. We also have a continued commitment to exploring and deepening our knowledge of this powerful tool so that we can best serve our clients and partners.”
All of it Now (AOIN)
An LA-based creative agency, All of it Now (AOIN) offers digital content and immersive experiential installations for brands, agencies, entertainers, and events. With its roots in motion design, film and television production, and IT, AOIN supports a broad Unreal Engine pipeline from environment design, previs, and virtual location scouting to AR and XR consultation, custom utility creation, and capturing real-time camera tracking data for post-production workflows. The AOIN team has also recently expanded into volumetric capture and DMX integrations.Past projects include the Kaskade x Rocket League concert inside Fortnite, Season 15 of America's Got Talent, Coldplay and BTS’s performance on The Voice season finale, and Salesforce Dreamforce. Another recent project is the AR experience for the Coachella music festival livestream. “Unreal Engine was the beating heart of the Coachella project, and was used from pre-production through to the final broadcast,” says Danny Firpo, Co-founder at AOIN. “The collaboration between multiple artists and agencies was vital to the tight production timeline, and simply could not have been produced with any other platform.”
Courtesy of All OF IT NOW, LLC
AOIN chose to pursue the Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program thanks to the insight and guidance provided by Epic Games’ team of expert advisors. “As a partner, we also receive project referrals directly from the Epic team, which takes some of the load off of business development efforts, because the work comes to us, so we spend less time chasing down leads, and more time doing project-based work and R&D,” says Danny.
“The Service Partner Program access also means that we are able to have conversations about requesting features and reporting bugs. The opportunity to provide feedback and then see that feedback realized in subsequent releases is a way for us to help play a small role in making Unreal Engine better for ourselves, and for the Unreal community as a whole, and we’re deeply honored to be part of that community.”
Girraphic
Girraphic is a multifaceted broadcast and advertising-centric design and branding agency specializing in virtual production and augmented graphical integrations. The company also offers hardware rentals, consultancy, and end-to-end production services. With offices in eight countries and a team from more than 30 nations around the world, Girraphic is able to operate on a 24-hour schedule. 
Courtesy of Girraphic
Girraphic recently developed several virtual production environments for the 2022 launch of Fox Sports’ NFL Sunday Show. This was coupled with AR, LED screens, and the virtual production of the cold open for the season launch. As with many other projects in the broadcast world, the production workflows needed to integrate the necessary technology. With so many products available that act as a bridge between Unreal Engine and the broadcast environment, combined with clients’ own pipelines, the situation can be complex. For example, Fox Sports utilized Stypeland, Erizos, and Megapixel VR for this project.
Nate Marsh, CEO and Emily Stone, US Director of Operations at Girraphic
“That's really where our company comes into the picture,” says Nate Marsh, CEO, Girraphic Group. “We approach the conversation agnostically and aim to have a handle on all potential solutions in order to attempt to help our clients in any way we can. We are often handed a collection of software and hardware considerations to work with and our aim is to do the very best for our clients attempting to put their chosen puzzle together. The agnostic approach allows us to advise based on the best and worst experiences with each product and its coupling with other solutions in a particular workflow.”
Having worked with Unreal Engine for some time, joining the Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program was a logical step for Girraphic. “It's all about community,” says Nate. “As a Service Partner, we are working with the team at Epic to make sure we are offering the very best service to our clients. Our efforts in this endeavor are to establish a partnership where we can be a bridge between the amazing team at Epic and our clients. We are very excited to be working alongside Epic's continuing internal efforts to build a broadcast platform and tools to better serve the community.”
The studio has worked on a number of live projects for Guns N’ Roses, including the highly anticipated We’re F’N’ Back! Tour 2021. Dan Potter, Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director at Creative Works, explains why Unreal Engine was so pivotal to this particular project, saying: “Unreal Engine allowed Creative Works to leverage the combination of its integration with the disguise Media Server and RenderStream Plugin, the immediacy of real-time rendering, the power of nonlinear editing tools in Sequencer, and the built-in centralized source control tools, combined with Perforce, to bring our ideas together in the demanding timeframes tour show content production timelines are renowned for.”
Having worked with Unreal Engine for some time, joining the Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program was a logical step for Girraphic. “It's all about community,” says Nate. “As a Service Partner, we are working with the team at Epic to make sure we are offering the very best service to our clients. Our efforts in this endeavor are to establish a partnership where we can be a bridge between the amazing team at Epic and our clients. We are very excited to be working alongside Epic's continuing internal efforts to build a broadcast platform and tools to better serve the community.”
Creative Works
Creative Works is an Emmy-nominated, London-based creative studio specializing in brand-centric narrative-driven content, motion packages, supergraphics, and show openers along with short-form animation, real-time game assets, virtual sets, and XR. Bridging the gap between creativity and technology, the studio makes immersive content in the broadcast and live events space.The studio has worked on a number of live projects for Guns N’ Roses, including the highly anticipated We’re F’N’ Back! Tour 2021. Dan Potter, Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director at Creative Works, explains why Unreal Engine was so pivotal to this particular project, saying: “Unreal Engine allowed Creative Works to leverage the combination of its integration with the disguise Media Server and RenderStream Plugin, the immediacy of real-time rendering, the power of nonlinear editing tools in Sequencer, and the built-in centralized source control tools, combined with Perforce, to bring our ideas together in the demanding timeframes tour show content production timelines are renowned for.”
Courtesy of Creative Works London
After completing a wide range of work using Unreal Engine’s real-time capabilities, Jeremy Leeor, Co-Founder and Managing Director, notes that it was the perfect time to join the Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program, adding: “Epic is a trailblazing, innovative company building the next generation of tools for content creators, and Creative Works has built up a great deal of experience in the burgeoning field of real-time content production for live events. Being able to combine forces and share these insights and knowledge can only help the progression of the community using Unreal Engine in live event environments.”
Want to get involved?
Find out more about the Unreal Authorized Service Partner Program.
With more studios adopting Unreal Engine every day, our partners are helping to provide the vital technical support they need to take their real-time projects to the next level.
With more studios adopting Unreal Engine every day, our partners are helping to provide the vital technical support they need to take their real-time projects to the next level.