Digital Domain, whose backers include Michael Bay, is opening a Florida branch

Digital Domain, the Venice-based visual effects house partly owned by director Michael Bay, is expanding -- outside of Southern California.

The company best known for creating digital effects for movies including "Transformers" and "Titanic" announced today that it would develop a digital production studio in Florida dedicated to producing animated movies and video games.

Digital Domain has long sought to transform itself from being a work-for-hire movie and commercial effects house into a full-blown production studio. The Academy Award-winning company had planned a initial public stock offering last year to help finance that conversion, but later scrapped the IPO after a tepid response from investors.

The Florida studio is being financed with a $50-million investment by Wyndcrest Holdings, a Florida-based technology investor whose principals acquired Digital Domain in 2006. The project also is supported by a grant from the state of Florida's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development and various incentives administered by the city of Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie County.

"Developing original content has always been a key part of our strategy, and a natural extension of the artistic and creative talent that the company has developed over the last fifteen years,'' Digital Domain Chief Executive Cliff Plumer said in a statement.

The company also recently announced that it was opening a new visual effects studio in Vancouver, Canada, which offers film tax breaks to production companies.

-- Richard Verrier

Photo: Michael Bay on the set of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Credit: Paramount Pictures

The 'Games' afoot: HBO's 'Game of Thrones' gears up

HBO says the official start date of production on the pilot of "Game of Thrones," one of the network's most hotly anticipated projects, is Oct. 24.

Principal photography begins in earnest the following week in Northern Ireland. Other filming locations reportedly include Scotland and Morocco (HBO has not confirmed those locations, but George R.R. Martin, the author of the book series on which "Thrones" is based, has said he plans to go to Morocco for the filming of part of the pilot). 

The network also confirmed that Isaac Hempstead-Wright has been cast in the key role of Bran Stark, the son of Edward Stark, a powerful lord. Bran is a child as the epic "Thrones" book series begins, but his role becomes increasingly important to the story as it progresses.

HBO's "Thrones" pilot, which has not yet been picked up as a series, is based on the first book of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of novels.

I reported in September that Lena Headey has been cast as Cersei Lannister, a member of a powerful family in the "Thrones" saga. Other cast members include Peter Dinklage as Cersei's brother Tyrion, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau asCersei's twin, Jaime, Sean Bean as the aristocrat Ned Stark, Jennifer Ehleas his wife Catelyn Stark and Mark Addy as King Robert. 

An HBO representative said that the role of Khal Drogo, another key role in the book series, has not yet been cast.

The Twitter page of actor Jamie Campbell Bower ("Twilight New Moon," AMC's "The Prisoner") says that he's headed to Belfast, and fan speculation has him cast as "Thrones'" Waymar Royce, but that has not yet been officially confirmed by HBO (if I get confirmation, I'll update this post).

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