Full Sail Stories

Stray Vista Studios, a virtual production studio that has one of Texas’ largest LED volume walls, sits about 40 minutes west of Austin. It’s owned by Full Sail Film grad Nate Strayer, who has brought projects from clients like Google, Starbucks, Dell, Sega, Samsung, and Intel to the studio; artists like Breaking Benjamin and Shane Smith and the Saints have also used Stray Vista to shoot music videos. But Nate isn’t satisfied with just bringing productions to Stray Vista – he wants to bring more productions to Texas as a whole. That’s why he recently wrote, co-directed, and produced a commercial for the True to Texas campaign. Most of the commercial, which stars Texas natives like Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey, Billy Bob Thornton, and Renée Zellweger, was shot at Stray Vista.

The True to Texas campaign is raising awareness about statewide film tax incentives that are currently on the table in the Texas legislature. The incentives are designed to make Texas a more financially attractive option for filmmakers, bringing more productions to the state and developing homegrown movie and TV talent.

The True to Texas commercial was a perfect fit for the virtual production technology in Stray Vista Studios. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson reprised their roles as detectives from the first season of HBO’s True Detective, staying in character and chatting about the benefits of the Texas film incentives as they drove around with their suspect, Dennis Quaid, handcuffed in the backseat. Shooting in front of Stray Vista’s LED wall provided the illusion that the stationary car on the virtual production stage was driving past a Texas landscape. Phone calls from Billy Bob Thornton and Renée Zellweger rounded out the commercial’s narrative.

“[Working with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson] was very, very cool. They’re both super down-to-earth guys,” says Nate. “The most exciting thing is that they see what we're trying to do [with the True to Texas initiative] and instead of saying, ‘I'm going to get a paycheck either way if I do this,’ they're saying, ‘We want to set up the place that we came from for success.’

“A big thing that they both are pushing for is education and making sure that people don't have to leave their home in order to work in the industry that they love,” Nate continues. “All of the actors in the commercial were on board to push the message.”

Nate wasn’t thinking about getting involved in a film incentive initiative, or even owning a production studio, when he moved to Austin in 2021. He was writing scripts for a few different clients, and one of them was interested in turning the bay of an old fire station into a film studio. Nate didn’t wind up working on that project, but it got him thinking about opening a studio of his own. He got funding for a production studio and prepared to build a standard soundstage, but when The Mandalorian (which primarily used virtual production to create its sets) came out, Nate saw the possibilities of the new technology and pivoted.

Stray Vista opened in 2023, and Nate started booking clients for commercials and music videos right away. As the studio’s owner, he does everything from accounting and bringing in new clients to executive producing and supporting his staff during shoots. Two of those staff members are Full Sail grads: Ace Patel (Virtual Production Supervisor) maintains the studio’s LED wall and runs everything that appears on it, and Zack Stauffer (Head of Production) produces Stray Vista’s projects and builds virtual sets for the LED wall.

Nate has more narrative projects coming to Stray Vista soon, and he’s keeping an eye on the progress of the Texas film incentive legislation. He says that hard work and networking were key to his current success.

“Nobody's going to give [success] to you. You’ve got to go make opportunities yourself and utilize your network that you met at school, and find what you're good at and then surround yourself with people who fill in the blanks,” he says. “From there, just go attack every opportunity. No job is too small at the very beginning, and as your value grows, as you collect laurels, you can rest on those while you get to the next opportunity.”