Jessica Brillhart, Immersive Director, on VR and AR

TL;DR

Jessica Brillhart, formerly principal filmmaker for VR at Google and now founder of Vrai Pictures, argues that VR and AR are converging with machine learning and that creators should abandon traditional "storytelling" in favor of "potential story" – crafting worlds whose core truth is decodable regardless of user interaction.

Key insights

• The parallels between VR and machine learning are strong: both had hype cycles, then "it doesn't work," then a breakthrough from an unexpected direction (e.g., cell phone tech for VR, abandoning rigid
• Traditional "storytelling" (kinetic story) is a means to an end; in VR, the goal is "potential story" – building a world that transmits a core truth no matter how the user explores it, akin to an Aeso
• Comedy in VR shouldn't rely on literal comedians or slapstick; it's about the human condition and what is inherently funny about spaces and experiences (e.g., the Weather Channel project as an example