A virtual production studio that doubles as an AI workflow shop is pitching brands on the idea that a shoot should leave behind a reusable digital asset, not a torn-down set. We sat down with Door G Creative Director Justin Poirier and Virtual Production Technical Director Joe Ross at NAB 2026 to talk through the studio's AI workflows, custom Unreal Engine pipelines for clients like CVS, and why healthcare brands are landing on the LED volume.
Key takeaways:
AI runs through pre and post, not on the wall. Door G uses generative tools for image previz, transcript analysis, and footage tagging while keeping final volume content out of the generative pipeline.
A two-day on-location shoot collapsed into six hours when Door G reused pre-built environments on the volume.
Custom Unreal blueprints built with Claude Code let the studio rebuild and re-dress client sets like CVS without starting from scratch.
Healthcare is a growing vertical because virtual production sidesteps HIPAA, hospital access, and competitor IP exposure.
Where AI Fits, and Where It Doesn't: Door G keeps generative tools off the LED wall and runs them through the pipeline instead.
Poirier described Door G as a virtual production studio trying to build what he calls the "studio operating system of the future" by applying AI upstream and downstream while keeping the human element intact. In pre-production, the team runs creative briefs and client transcripts through AI to surface what a client actually said and generate image options that visualize a concept. In post, the same approach pulls quotes, finds themes, and analyzes footage. What they're not doing is using generative AI for final on-wall content.
"From what we've seen so far, it just isn't there yet," Poirier said, while leaving open the possibility for still backgrounds down the line.
Poirier said pulling a still from the Unreal Marketplace and using AI to animate it gives clients a fast read on how a video game engine asset will look in motion, which gives brands new to the format confidence it will work. We previously covered Door G's VP playbook for brands, including how the studio combines LED volumes, 2D plates, and still photography.
Why Brands Are Booking the Volume: Sustainability, scheduling, and a CVS store that doesn't get built and torn down.
Door G's pitch to brands often comes down to logistics. Poirier said one shoot that would have taken two days on location collapsed into six hours on the wall because the environments were already built in Unreal Engine. Sustainability is another driver: moving a crew between locations gets replaced by uploading a new environment.
The CVS work is the clearest example. Door G built a custom CVS store as a virtual asset after seeing brands repeatedly build physical sets for one-off shoots.
"They were going up to Canada and building CVS stores where there are no CVS stores," Poirier said.
Retail clients commonly travel to Europe to build American-style environments for tax reasons, then tear them down. A reusable digital store flips that math by turning the build into an owned asset.
Building Tools at the Speed of Production: Ross is using Claude Code to turn one-off Unreal builds into repeatable pipelines.
Ross handles the technical end at Door G and uses Claude Code to write custom Unreal blueprints that fit a specific client's needs, which expedites set construction on repeat engagements. The CVS build is the case study: the first version was a major undertaking, and since then Door G has built blueprints that let the team construct shelves, stock them with assets, swap products, and "messy them up a little bit" so the shelves don't look too perfect.
Poirier wants to extend the approach to his shot lists. He builds detailed shot lists for every shoot so production can continue if he disappears, and he's interested in using Claude Code to automate the repetitive parameters across a single video, with the caveat that too much automation costs him the visualization step.
"Striking that balance of automating it enough so that I can do it quickly, but keeping the human element in there enough so that I can still see everything," Poirier said.
Show Floor and What's Next: Avid's Gemini integration, consumer cameras edging into broadcast, and healthcare as a quietly growing vertical.
Ross flagged Avid's integration of Google's Gemini as an agentic tool for metadata tagging and generative frames; the studio has years of archived footage that's been hard to search. Poirier added that consumer-grade gear keeps edging into broadcast quality, pointing to Insta360, small Blackmagic cameras around $1,000, and GoPro adding a Micro Four Thirds mount.
Poirier expects more brand adoption because the format produces more content per shoot day; swapping backgrounds lets clients walk away with multiple looks from one session. Ross added that once a brand has a digital twin of its store or product, the asset travels across stages and campaigns.
Healthcare is the growth area Poirier called out. Door G has produced virtual production work for Samsung, Baxter, and Aetna. The case is compliance-driven: HIPAA restrictions, limited hospital room access, and the need to keep new products from competitors all push healthcare brands toward controlled, virtual environments rather than working on-site.
