Lightborne
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 1985
- Employees
- 11-50
- Offices
- 1
About Lightborne
Lightborne is a creative studio combining motion design, 2D and 3D animation, live-action production, and experiential media. Based in Cincinnati, its work spans concert touring, commercial campaigns, architectural projection mapping, and immersive installations. The studio brings creative development and technical production together across three main areas: tour and event visuals, commercial and branded content, and installation and immersive experiences.
For live entertainment, Lightborne develops visual worlds that extend across stage screens and physical performance environments. Its services include concept development, storyboarding, setlist pacing, animation, synchronized visual packages, and show-system integration. Its portfolio includes concert visuals for Kenny Chesney at Sphere, Missy Elliott, Imagine Dragons, Panic! At The Disco, and Zac Brown Band, alongside broadcast performance work for Cardi B on Saturday Night Live.
Production across screens and spaces
The studio’s installation work adapts animation and visual storytelling to architecture, exhibitions, and public environments. Projects include “The Elision” at Cincinnati Music Hall for BLINK, Boston 365 at View Boston, and environmental installations for Newfields’ Harvest Nights and Art in Bloom. These projects draw on spatial design, projection calibration, multi-projector mapping, and interactive visual programming to connect digital imagery with physical settings.
Lightborne also produces commercial and branded films, from treatments and scripts through filming, editorial, compositing, color finishing, and sound mixing. Its commercial portfolio includes work for Gillette, Secret, Paychex, Procter & Gamble, GE Additive, iRobot, and Paycor. The combination of animation, cinematography, and post-production supports campaigns across broadcast and digital formats.
Founded in July 1985 by photographer Tom Schiff and producer Scott Durban, Lightborne began as a long-form video and commercial production house. Its subsequent development expanded the business into live entertainment and spatial experiences while retaining its production and finishing capabilities. A management buyout in March 2025 transferred ownership to senior executives, continuing the studio’s operation as an independent, privately held creative business.
More about Lightborne
Leadership
- Angie Fischer is CEO and holds 51% equity; Ryan McAllister is Chief Creative Officer and holds 49%.
- Co-founder Scott Durban remains Executive Producer. Co-founder Tom Schiff is identified as the former CEO.
- Fischer’s majority ownership positions the studio to pursue Women’s Business Enterprise certification; the report does not establish completed certification.
Technology and collaboration
- Real-time production workflows include Unreal Engine, Notch and Disguise. For Crossroads Church, Lightborne developed content and Unreal Engine environments for a 3,500-seat LED stage in collaboration with Disguise and Diversified.
- A technical collaboration launched in 2020 with Skyway Studios and NEP Live Events uses Unreal Engine for creative content on Skyway’s Nashville LED Smart Stage.
- For Mercantile Immersive, Lightborne partnered with DelightMore on media architecture and motion visuals spanning 14,400 LED panels and more than 256 million pixels.
Recognition
Boston 365, created with FrankNDesign and JRA, is identified as a MUSE Creative Award-winning exhibition experience. The recognition concerns the project rather than a standalone studio award.
Notable credits
25 creditsOffices
Where Lightborne is based
- 212 East 14th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Cincinnati Headquarters & Production Studios
HeadquartersAbout this office
Overall headquarters and primary creative studio in Over-the-Rhine, incorporating contiguous facilities at 210–212 East 14th Street. Houses leadership, animation, editorial, sound mixing and technical production teams.
Open roles
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