Forge Virtual Studios is officially opening the doors to its new Chicago-area virtual production facility, announcing complimentary one-to-one tours and tech demos ahead of paid bookings beginning in March. Alongside the tours, the studio has named Michael Lister as its new Virtual Production Supervisor, a key hire as Forge ramps up operations in the Midwest.
The free tours, now open for booking, are designed as hands-on, hour-long sessions that introduce visitors to both the physical studio and the practical realities of virtual production workflows. Rather than a one-size-fits-all walkthrough, Forge says each tour can be tailored to a client’s specific interests — from camera tracking with Unreal Engine to experimenting with 2D plates and AI-generated imagery inside a real production pipeline.
“We’re able to tailor a tour to anything a customer or client is interested in,” said Drew English of Forge Virtual Studios. “It’s really about demystifying the technology and showing how it actually works in practice.”
Forge is betting there’s pent-up demand in the Chicago market. According to English, access to comparable virtual production stages in the region is often limited or locked up by larger episodic productions, making it difficult for agencies, brands, and production companies to explore the tech firsthand.
“There’s a lot of production companies and agencies in the area that are just dying to see one of these studios in person and get their hands on the technology,” he said. The price for the tours? “No cost.”
At the same time, Forge is strengthening its leadership on the studio floor with the hire of Michael Lister, who joins as Virtual Production Supervisor. Lister brings a game design background, deep Unreal Engine expertise, and a track record that includes building and running the Cherokee Nation’s virtual production stage in Oklahoma, the first and largest in the state. He is also an Emmy Award-winning director and has even published a game on Steam.
English said Lister’s hybrid creative and technical skill set was a major factor in the hire. “He’s got the creative side down, but he’s also great technically,” he said. “He can translate creative ideas to the digital screen, which is huge for production companies that are curious about virtual production but maybe a little intimidated by it.”
During the interview process, Lister made clear he was looking for more than routine studio work. When asked what would make him leave a role, Lister replied that he wanted to be challenged, not just executing repetitive car shoots, but solving new creative problems.
“That’s exactly the kind of person we want running our studio,” English said. “Someone who wants mentally and physically engaging shoots and is here to build something real and enduring.”
Forge’s Chicago-area launch caps a fast-paced buildout. English noted that over the past two years, the team navigated everything from finding the right suburban partner city to redesigning blueprints based on feedback from local producers, as well as procurement hurdles and shipping delays tied to new international trade policies.
“Despite the challenges, our team and partners rose to the occasion,” he said. “From Day One of construction to completion, we built the Midwest’s most capable virtual production studio in just four months.”
Paid bookings at Forge Virtual Studios are set to begin in March, with free tours available in the meantime for Chicago-area agencies, brands, and production teams looking to get hands-on with virtual production before stepping onto the volume.
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