Alton Glass Part 1: How augmented reality could allow us to experience historical events

Alton Glass is the founder of GRX Immersive studios and a visionary entrepreneur tackling contemporary issues through immersive storytelling.

Tanya visits GRX Immersive labs to sit with Alton to learn about how he got into augmented reality and how the entertainment business led to him becoming an entrepreneur.

Host IG:@itstanyatime

Guest IG: @altonglassvr

Website: GRX Immersive 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, money Movers. This is part one of our interview
with a r VR entrepreneur and the founder of g
r X Immersive Labs, Alton Glass. Hey money Movers, Welcome
back to Money Moves, the daily podcast determined to give
you the keys to the Kingdom of financial stability, wealth
and abundance. Welcome to Money Moves. I'm your host, Tanya

(00:28):
Sam and I'm so excited because we are on location
in Los Angeles and we are continuing to bring you
more epic stories from entrepreneurs, and today I have with
me a new guest, Alton Glass. Welcome to the podcast.
How are you today? So, Alton, I'm so excited to
be with you today because you've had a really incredible

(00:49):
journey that has taken place and now brought you to
the cover of Time magazines, putting your talents in creating
really epic technological advances. But I want to start at
the beginning and can you tell our audience how did
you get into technology and how did you get here?
Let's go back to little Alton. Well, that's a long story.

(01:09):
Um I would say, uh, I would say imagination just
kind of took me in that direction first, right, last
key kid no video games, watching TV, trying to come
to my own things lead me into storytelling, right and um, eventually, um,
I went down a pathway of learning film and television production. Um,

(01:30):
but you say that really easy. You went down the
path of learning film and television. But today Alton Glass
is a renowned immersive storyteller in the A, R and
DR world. How did you do it? How did you
go from this latch key kid to teaching yourself to
be able to create these epic storytelling experiences. Yeah, so
I actually wanted to be an active first. So I was.

(01:50):
I was an extra on a movie in Atlanta, Georgia,
and uh, when I got on my first set, I
started to seeing the cameras and the lights and I
was like, oh wow, what is this persondent? This persident.
They started telling me what the roles were, and I said, well, actually,
this is what I really want to do, but I
didn't really don't know how to express that. When I
was watching movies, five heartbeats shout out to Robert town
I was a great guy in that mentor. Um, it

(02:13):
was his movie that I saw and I was like,
might want to make movies? And uh, became a production
assistant Atlanta man they got named a decent did the
first music video. When I was at Georgia State University
going to school, and Um eventually he realized that it
wasn't really just about going to school, it was about
getting out there, getting on set. And I was fortunate
to meet um this all women owned production company called

(02:35):
Strange Fruit Films. Shoutout to d'angelouste near Hill and then
their partner Tracy, and they just took me under their
wing as a production assistant, and I learned a lot
from them, not only on the production side, but the entrepreneurships.
So that's what really made the lightbulb going, uh for
me as a as a as a technologist, you know,
working in the field with cameras to understand, okay, I

(02:55):
can do this as a business and one day have
a production company and eventually move into learning how to
do camera working my way up, um and uh starting
my own production coming. It's very evident to me. The
more and more entrepreneurs I talked to this idea of
starting from the bottom, you know, and everyone has a
very similar story, no matter what industry you're like. I

(03:16):
started at a p A, you know, as a p
it's not glamorous, but you're able to sort of work
your way up through the ranks learn all aspects of
the business. So once you get to the top, and
of course we're keep breaking ceilings to the next level,
next level, you understand the business. So now let's talk
today about your company g RX. You've done some really
incredible things. And I show this magazine because it's really

(03:37):
important because when when if I first looked at this,
I'd be like, Okay, this is a picture of you know,
the incredible Dr Martin Luther King, But it's not. There's
so much more to us, So tell us about how
you were involved in this project. So that's actually a
three D rendering of Dr King. UM and partnership with
Time magazine. It's called The March UH and His His

(04:00):
State and UH. The project is about the recreation of
the March on Washington Second to produced by Vala Davis
and her husband Judas Tend in their coming Juvie UM
and UH. The project came about as hard to uh
co create it with creative media trams and bring it
to life. And it's bring it to life like it's

(04:20):
hard because we're we're on camera here but when we
say bring it to life. What is so epic about
this is that is a speech that is a day
in history that so many of us know. We know
Dr King's I have a dream speech. Many people know
it off by heart in their heads. But what you
were able to do with your technology using VR, using
a R is recreated so it can be a truly

(04:42):
immersive experience for so many people. Incredible, like this change
is sort of the way we experience history. This changes
the way that we can live back through very memorable times.
How were you able to piece this together and create
this image, create this immersive experience. Talking about the technology
side and how you were able to create this. Yeah,

(05:04):
so being a you know, Time magazine is well known
for just that journalistic accuracy right and making sure everything
is you know, truthful and accurate. That was a great
process because we had to go, uh take it. They
had to have a team go down to uh the
actual location and do what they call photographatry scanning the environments,
bringing all that digital information in. We had to go

(05:26):
and get um war winning uh. Darrell Johnson who was
the wardrobe designer, and he had to go pull all
the clothes from that particular era and bring in talent
and then capture and scan all those clothes with people
in them, and then recreate every last prop piece of
war road clothing, anything that was detailed to that time period. Uh,

(05:47):
to recreate that. And then his estate came in. I
mean it was amazing to see his kids actually see
the three D rendering of Dr King current life and
have to approve it and say okay there ENVR and
you remember some of them that follow the past way
we never like, you know kids. So to be in
VR and see him delivered this speech, it really touched

(06:10):
me because they not only had to trust us and
to prove it to get into the accuracy. But that's
how it all came in life, through a combination of
artificial intelligence, you know, to get the look right, a
company called Digital Domain who does a lot of visual
effects for Hollywood movies. UM. So all these different departments
from you know, the storytellers on our end to the
technologists um and then bringing that into a virtue out

(06:33):
of experience, because you had to have two hundred thousand
people walking with you're actually walking down Constitution with two
hundred thousand people, and then you progress through each part
of the capital until you get up closing personal with
Dr King at the podium and he delivers that I
have a dream of speech, power ful to you, power
fault and to see people crying coming out of the
headset with tears like why I can't believe I got

(06:55):
a chance to see him up closed and do this speech.
And then he looks at you, what you is powerful?
And then you get Vala Davis's voice carry you through
narrating the experience, and then it's an exhibit. So not
only that VR, you know, you come into it with
this amazing audio experience listening to the you know, freedom
writers and people around that time period talking about what

(07:17):
they fought for and how we got to this point
it's sixty three, and then you can go back in
time and experience that and then come out and then
see what happened after that, how movements progressed. So it's
a full on experience, you know, beyond this incredibly pointing
experience that you were allowing us to relive in VR

(07:38):
and a are and which is essentially going to be
this metaverse type world, you're also very passionate about helping
others build businesses and see and follow sort of the
pathway that you've gone and being able to build successful businesses,
scale them and empower people of color as well to
get into technology. Tell us about you know, early Alvin

(08:00):
to today, how did you know that this was the
path that you wanted to go on and how did
you know? Like what were your thoughts on money We
talk a lot about on this podcast about money news
and how in the black community, Um, you know these
were either supported as a kid or you know sometimes
our parents just didn't know. But how did you What
is it about you that sets this pathway to being

(08:20):
able to inspire others to make these money news be
entrepreneurs um and really follow the track of what's happening
in technology is a way to create generational wealth. Oh yeah,
I love the one where where this interview Dr King says,
uh when they tell us to pull ourselves up my bootstrap, right,
But other people who came to this country had at

(08:40):
least a tool or awareness or some sort of resources.
So for me, it's about Okay, if I can just
get the awareness and then at least one tool that
allows then no make progress right because for me a
lot of different communities, I'll talk to work hard. Well,
all this I'll talk to work smart. You know what
I mean? And I think you you you you don't
understand that sometimes working hard doesn't always mean you're going

(09:02):
to progress right. So for me, it's about how do
I share my failures and my successes with people in
my community and say, look, I did this, I didn't
do this right this way. Now let's work smarter on
the next around. So as I progress. You know, we
have a philosophy that you know, this tab root philosophy.
If I can dig as deep as I can down
and build the foundation, then we can sprout this tree

(09:23):
and everybody else can keep going and eat off of
that tree. And then you share that that seemed too.
So that's the philosophy behind g RX and Mergient Labs.
So I've taken that whether I'm taking technology, I'm taking
storytelling or entrepreneurship, and I share that with everybody else.
So if you're come into the organization, you say, look,
I want to learn If we are okay, Well, what
do you want to do if you are right? How
do you want to apply that to your unique perspective?

(09:46):
All we call your DNA, what's your beating narrative analysis.
How do you bring something special to this industry? Right?
And if you take that skill set and you might
build a business out of it, or you might become
uh what we call investible versus just employable, civil versus employable.
I love it. How do I go into this organization
and think like entrepreneur? But I'm an entrepreneur in your organization.

(10:08):
So it's not just about a job. It's about bringing
a value add to go anywhere and transfer that skill.
So for me it's been important people I did it
for me, but they like, okay, el's in a little
mentorship here, and then you just try to meet other
people and you start to shape where you are and
then you share that. So technology I think is very empowering.

(10:29):
But you've got to have a narrative to we you
have to have a narrative. Got to know your narrative. Yes,
And I think that's an interesting thing because these are
some of the nuances that you know growing up people
we weren't taught. It was like you're right, do you
have a tool? Can you have a job? But understanding
the narrative and taking the time as we grow to
really understand what do you want to do with it,
because that's where I think the power is because nothing

(10:50):
can stop that. That's the fuel that keeps you going
every day. But you know what's also incredible as you've
you've had these great winds, but also talking about the
failures because everyone goes wow, I mean, look, you've had
your work on the cover of Time magazine. Tell me
about some of the failures that you've experienced that you
know will also help to fuel you keeping going. Like Man,

(11:12):
I had that that pothole, I remember it. Let's talk
a little bit about those. So sometimes I think I
feel like they get swept under the rock. I would
say one of my biggest is uh and and you
develop I've developed my core values over the years because
of these things uh that help grow the company, admission
and keep it consistent and focused. But I would say
I'm being fired you know before um and and it

(11:34):
really hurt. And may you have to really re evaluate
you know, your skill sets, your perspective. And it wasn't
because I did something wrong, because I over committed myself
and I underdelivered. Right. Sometimes you might have good intentions,
but if I say, look, can you handle this, and
you say yeah, I don't care what you have to do.
Yeah right, you said you're going to deliver it. I
don't care. You gotta take your kids here. You over

(11:55):
committed here and uh directed to this day. Jeff Bird
good friends. I was a here in Atlanta. I ain't Jeff,
and my job was to pick him up, take him
to sit. But I had I was moonlighting it my
other job when I was going to college, and I
was later picking him up first dip shooting. I put
to hit the snooze button and I woke up like

(12:17):
forty minutes later, you know, Atlanta traffic. Forty minutes later
at eight o'clock in Atlanta, thousands of dollars are being
blown because he's supposed to be a sick So he
told production strange fruit, I don't want to see a
glasses face. I don't e gonna bring him to the set.
I'm only nineteen. I'm devastated, of course, I'm devastated. Like

(12:40):
this is the only game in town. There's a lot,
like there's a lot of opportunities here in Georgia, just
the biggest production coming here. And I was just it
was the first day, first day, and I tried to
forget it's hard to forgive, but those are the instances,
and that's why I love to ask these questions. You
will never forget and not durn snooze. But I bet
you never pressed it. A goll no yea too. I

(13:00):
got to tow alarm clocks and I get there early
because of that. So years later I progressed through it.
I've created opportunity for myself. And he welcomed me into
the Director's Guild of America and he said, hey, everybody
wants to meet this he got out, remember it. He said,
I fired him and he said, he said not his
name shows up and we compete for jobs as directors together.

(13:23):
He was like, I wanted hats off to him for
his perseverance and push them to so and he called
me for opportunities now because you knows I'll show up
and I get it done now. So that helped me
get through it. Um. I would say the turning point
for my career into immersive was going back to me
crafting my narrative, which was I was direct I had

(13:44):
to get opportunity directing future films and television. But I
got to a point where you know, you started working
and then you start doing what other people want you
to do. And I started doing those jobs. But I
want people to understand the difference. He start working and
you're on a path, and you just start doing what
other people want you to do. And you know, I'm
a firm believer that when you truly are walking in

(14:06):
your own path, right, the world opens up. But something
it's it's a hard balance because sometimes you just got
to take the jobs, do whatevery, but you straight. So
this is a pivotal point for y'all. Yeah, definitely. So
I was directing like family movies, holiday movies, driving past
sometimes it was great and and I really enjoyed it.
But but my man just said, look, I know you

(14:28):
want to transist into visual effects, animation, gaming, things like that.
So we started doing our rounds with networks and studios
and taking meetings to to do other types of work
to really tap into. I felt like I have more
I could do. I couldn't get no looks. And he
was like, look, if you go do another movie with

(14:49):
a Lifetime or Hallmark, there's nothing wrong with that. But
he was like, your last two or three movies have
been you know, made for a movie for Movie of
a Week or whatever you're you're in your li's like
this is take this lean to be very intentional. He said,
you gotta be very intention So he said this is
gonna be your career and I said, ah. He said,
so I'm gonna help you. Ask what you mean? He said,
I'm not gonna rip you no more. You know you

(15:11):
don't want to do this. I don't want to do
it anymore. So he said, this thing you told me
about virtual reality, we took a meet together the VR company.
He said, I think you should really investigate this and
I said, but I said, I didn't make it. I
can't make no money doing that right now. You said, well,
it doesn't matter. He was like, I'm not gonna rap
you no more. Wow, this I feel like this is
almost your second he fire me. And I was like, damn.

(15:36):
I had to really sit with myself. And uh around
that time, I wanted to go see Tim's story. UH
talk about when he uh was was was directing the
big hundred fifty mill and all the movies like Fantastic
four and stuff like that. And he went dark for
a minute and he said, you know what, I was
doing these movies, but when it wasn't to come hunter

(15:58):
in me, and because Hollywood has a certain way that
they manufacturing pushing in this direction. He's like, I couldn't
get no more those movies. I was taking meeting after meeting,
but I wasn't getting no movies. So he took some
time off. He started making cheesecakes. He built his confidence
literally cheesecakes. He said, he started he doing this confidence.
People loved this cheesecakes, and You're like, hey, if I

(16:20):
can build cheesecakes. So he said he got that down
and took some time off just kind of get this
stuff together. He said he want to do an interview
for thing was thinking like a man. I think it was.
He's like he's like, he's like, I knew I had
arrived Reset. He's I knew that was my movie. He
went in there. His whole career change, right. So I said,

(16:43):
you know what, let me just kind of sit with
myself for a little bit. So what we're making cheesecakes
hogs U VR was that for me? I turned. I
went to a VR expo and started learning about VR,
and I didn't see no but I didn't see any
inversity into space, Like really, it's approximately this is around
and you don't. I just like the audience to understand

(17:05):
all the gems that are being dropped here. You know,
He's like, I went to a conference. I started teaching myself.
I realized that I had to push myself because oftentimes
people are like they get so stuck and like, well,
I was just waiting for someone to give it to me.
I was waiting for it to follow in my lap.
But simple things like I went to a conference. I
walked around in an auditorium floor, investigating on my own,

(17:29):
Like sometimes this is the push that you have to
give yourself. So lots of good stuff here. He left
that conference to the conference. Two things kind of struck me. One,
I was curious about the investment in the space. Looked
it up people. They were investing billions of dollars and
the immersive and actually I have a slide in my day,

(17:50):
but I teach your call follow the money. You want
to know what interest is going to Look at the
companies that Apple or Microsoft are investing in or acquiring, right,
and then that started to show me, oh wow, Apple
just bought this company, a VR company. They bought this
technology that's gonna be used for a R and this
and this, and I was like, this is going somewhere,
but I don't see no representation. So I said, I

(18:11):
don't want to have the same problem in Hollywood diversity
Inclusion initiative. So I can direct the movie or get
on the TV. Said let me see where I can
learn from this space. So I conrected my company to
R and D Lab for like two years, and all
my residuals I spent learning living off that until I
went pretty much broke my life. Was like, hey, baby,

(18:34):
you know what's up with this VR and raving for
a couple of weeks. Now she she stuck by me,
and uh eventually, um, being in the space I met
it was ironic. So when I met when I was
directed movies, they were working at the agency side and
they were like, hey, I see you doing this VR stuff,

(18:56):
And I never forget I was doing some R and
D on the VR at this uh like gaming facility
to let me use one of their back rooms and
we were doing like mixed reality and Kevin Hart his
family rented it out the whole facility for his kid's birthday.

(19:16):
So the owner was like, hey, you mind if they
come in just trying this VR and I'm like, sure,
they ain't come in. But what was funny it was
it was a whole industry of people already knew, and
so word got back that I fell off and I
was holding cables a birthday party. If I knew Fred
Spice right like, oh my god. So one of my

(19:40):
executive producers con men, I heard you. What's going on? Man?
You need some help? I said, you wrangling cable was
and doing birthday party and I was like, man, I'm
doing R and D in this space over here now
with my VR. But it was that R and D
that I was prepared for. When the gay that I knew,
named the Tabio Samuels was now ce or revoked. He
called me, and he's an agency and say, hey, man,

(20:01):
we're going to look do some VR for Toyota for
NBA All Star. I met him on a panto in
San Francisco. He's like, can you show me what you
can do that R and D I did for that
birthday party. He hired me to do that for Toyota
NBA Off Star and that was my first official, uh
corporate agency client that moved my business to say I

(20:23):
can do this, I can crush this and I started
hiring all I kind of focus. I met one kid
at best Buy. He was when I was buying computers,
and I was like, hey man, how well you work
with a computers? He's like, that's all I do. We
hired him to run all the VR computers, took him
all over the country. That's what I love. Like, this
is why I always tell people you have to leave

(20:45):
your house every day with your best foot forward because
you never know. You never know what chance interaction will
lead to a job. This like, you hired people at
the best Buy. Yeah. And what was funny because we
took him out to Lake Tahoe he was playing in
the snow. Said that what's going on? He said? My
I ain never seen snow, never touched you. I love it, Alton,

(21:09):
this is great. Well, Alton, this has been so enjoyable.
I've learned a lot and your journey is really incredible.
Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Can
you tell our audience where they can find you on
social media? My Instagram is Alton Glass VR. We also
have g R Submersive Labs on Instagram and RA Summersive

(21:29):
Lab on Twitter and at our website. Um g R
summersive dot com and like I said, here you have
what we do training and we want to bring everyone
into the metaverse to create their own piece of the
pot and make money move. I love it, well, Money Movers.
That's all the time we have for today. But if
you want to make your money move, and you want
to come into the metaverse in a really powerful way

(21:49):
and be able to contribute and create, make sure you
check out Alton on his social media and follow g
RX Labs so that you too can find the keys
to financial stability, the wealth and abundance in the metaverse.
Thank you so much for tuning in Money Moves audience.
If you want more or a recap of this episode,
please go to the Bank Greenwood dot com and check

(22:10):
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