Scenario, the award-winning design and fabrication firm, is undergoing a renaissance as it continues to expand its reach and capabilities within the themed entertainment and resort development industries. Previously known as Cockram Scenario, the change will see the company renamed as simply Scenario, signalling the importance of its own globally recognised brand.
Scenario is a themed scenic, rockwork, and speciality fabrication company serving multiple markets including the themed entertainment industry. It delivers comprehensive contracting and construction management services, including owner’s rep and turnkey solutions, for guest experience-focused market segments. This includes theme parks, location-based entertainment, branded environments, zoos and aquariums, and cultural experiences.
It is majority owned by Kajima Corporation, a leader in construction founded in 1840 with revenues of over $17B annually.
Blooloop speaks to Dan Moalli, vice president of Scenario USA, and Greg Senner, director of project development, to learn more about what makes Scenario and its capabilities unique in the industry, and what the future growth will mean for the company and its clients across the globe.
The growth of Scenario
Moalli, who joined the team in 2019, is an industry veteran. He has a long history of leading successful projects across the fields of themed entertainment, immersive environments, museums, and public spaces. Reflecting on how Scenario has developed over the past few years, he says:
“We’ve seen the company grow and grow. Scenario was geared up here in the US after being awarded several large theme park projects for Disney and Universal. We’ve leaned into our abilities as a global general contractor and scenic element fabricator to grow into new sectors and new projects.
“It’s been incredible. I tell people I found my dream job at 59, overseeing incredible talents at all levels of our company. I get to work with teams in Los Angeles and Orlando, but also in Thailand, China, and Manila. My boss is in Melbourne, Australia. So, it’s entertaining and exciting and challenging.”
Scenario has cemented its position as one of the premier providers of large-scale themed attractions.
“But as the industry changes, we’re now developing our abilities to take projects on a turnkey basis and lean into our abilities as part of a global enterprise, one that’s well-financed, a great partner,” he adds. “We’re developing a whole new business around that. We are starting to focus on projects that are a bit more programmatic. For instance, when someone wants to do a rollout for retail and wants to do 100 locations at once, they need a fabricator of a certain size and scale to do that.”
Scenario, a Kajima Company
Senner began working for Scenario in 2021 and has worked in themed entertainment since 1996, beginning at Universal in Orlando. Talking about where the company is now, he says:
“Currently, we’re Cockram Scenario. Cockram is a fantastic construction company and has been instrumental in the global growth of the business. Still, the idea is to pivot towards the recognition of Scenario as a globally recognised brand in its own right. It is a company that is known and respected for delivering world-class products and services.”
“Kajima, our parent company, sees immense value in what Scenario brings to the speciality construction sector. They understand the importance of experiential and location-based entertainment, and have fully embraced our growth strategy.”
In terms of what sets Scenario apart in the industry, he says:
“We’re known for being the rockwork company. And we certainly are the leaders in the world when it comes to that discipline. But our offering is much broader. What’s interesting and unique about Scenario is that we are much more than just a general contractor.
“It’s not just rockwork, it’s not just scenery. It is the ability to see and understand the project in its entirety and have the skills and resources to follow the process at every stage, providing true complete turnkey services. Our tagline is: We Build Worlds That Storytellers Imagine.”
Moalli adds: “The size, scale and diversity of services and product offerings is unique to Scenario. And having a corporate backer the size and scale of Kajima gives us leverage that other companies in our sector don’t have. It means we focus on markets that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to, around the world.
“With over two decades of experience, working on some of the most prestigious projects in the industry, “Scenario” has a lot of brand equity built into it. So, there was a conscious decision to lean into that. It’s a subtle rebranding. However, it does speak to the power of our brand, and our reputation as a trusted provider in that world in terms of reputation and integrity.”
Award-winning projects
While much of its work is under NDA, Scenario has contributed to several award-winning attractions. For instance, Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which received the 2020 Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement – New Park Land.
“We were very heavily involved in that, and are very proud of it,” says Moalli. “We worked on both parks in America at the same time, which certainly speaks to our scale.”
Other Thea Award-winning projects in its portfolio include Disney’s Rise of the Resistance attraction and Universal Japan’s Super Nintendo World. It also worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland.
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure is what really got us started working on a global scale. We did all the show set that you see inside that attraction, all the surrounding signage, and some of the large and iconic figures like Buzz Lightyear that are in the hotel district.
“Another project that we’re also super proud of is Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. We worked very closely with Thinkwell Group and the rest of the team in Abu Dhabi on that project.”
New facilities in Orlando & studio in LA
As the company continues to grow, Scenario USA has decided to move all its manufacturing facilities to Orlando. It has also opened a new studio in LA. Speaking about how this will allow the team to serve its clients better, Senner explains:
“The migration of our manufacturing facilities to Orlando was a business decision. We looked at the efficiency of manufacturing in one location in the US. The savings by doing that far outweigh any associated costs like shipping. That allows us to efficiently maintain the significant labour resources that are required to deliver theme park projects.
Moalli adds:
“Being able to manage that work out of a single location is much more efficient. We can ship our product anywhere in the world. We also thought it was important to maintain a presence in LA because so many of our clients and customers are there.”
“The creation of the LA studio speaks to who we are in regard to being part of a creative community in LA,” continues Senner. “It’s really well-placed. The LA studio is important to the development of our culture moving forward, because of the way we approach our projects.”
“With our studio, situated in the creative capital of the world, we localise some of our most experienced design leads, project managers and BIM specialists. From here, we can take on the most technically challenging projects in the industry.
“While adhering to our proven design process we continue to push boundaries by introducing things like VR/AR, artificial intelligence, and parametric manufacturing into our workflow. By continuously challenging the status quo, we find ways to enter new markets and help strengthen the interaction and relationship with our clients, while making the design and build process more efficient and highly integrated.
“The real strength of Scenario’s digital design capabilities and capacity comes from tying the global resources to the local design teams. These resources start with the design group that our global director of design, Steven Rambousek, has helped build over the years.”
Scenario: a local and global approach
This combination of a global and local approach means the firm is flexible and responsive, he adds:
“The uniqueness of our operation on the design side is that in Manila, we have an office that currently hosts around 85 designers, engineers, and software developers. These design resources just keep growing as this model continues to increase in scale.
“Our localised design team interacts with the client on day-to-day design development and reviews. At night our team in Manila can do the meat and potatoes of the design project very efficiently. Because of our different locations around the world, the Scenario design team is operating 18 – 20 hours a day.
“It becomes very important as we grow this model for us to be able to maximise the project efficiency while maintaining the daily connection to the client and project team.”
Moalli says:
“The design work that we’re doing is what’s referred to as design assist. This means that we embed a design team with the lead creative. They’re doing all the blue sky and concept. Once it gets into the early schematics, when the design intent is clear, that’s when we create these large drawing packages. They can be built and managed, by Scenario or without, depending on the project. We’re doing more of that work in support of some of the big design firms and major studios.”
“We include estimating services in that design development as well, which helps the development of projects stay on track,” says Senner. “We have this level of experience and resources, not just in show set estimating but in construction estimating as well, which is so useful when you are trying to design in a finite amount of time while creating the best design for the budget.”
New web presence
The next stage of the rebranding project is to launch a new website.
“Initially, we’re going to be changing the URL to Scenario-Global.com. This will match the message we are moving forward with. Then there will be incremental changes to the website over the following months,” says Senner.
“We’ll be unifying our branding so that the look and feel of the website matches our printed media and other assets. We’re going to incorporate a password-protected portfolio into the website, where prospective clients can request access. That allows us to start a relationship with them right away, providing a personalised “tour” and introduction to Scenario and our work.
“In our world, a website is not a commerce portal at all. It is an online portfolio. As a company that works in the world of heavy NDA and protected IP, that becomes more and more of a challenge! So, the new website is going to be an attempt to address some of those issues and to talk about the strengths of the company.”
Global reach
The rebrand will allow the company to continue working on projects around the globe. It has two divisions within the company. Scenario USA represents all of the Americas, Europe, and Australia, and Scenario Asia represents Asia and the Middle East.
“As a company, we see a lot of opportunities in the Middle East. We’re expecting that’s going to grow as those markets are expanding incredibly quickly,” says Senner.
“But we also recognise the importance of Europe. For instance, Disney has made a lot of announcements about its growth in the future, including Disneyland Paris. So, we want to be able to service that segment of the industry.”
“Although Disneyland Paris is the largest park in Europe, there are so many amazing smaller parks that are doing things that are uniquely European, and we feel that our global capabilities can be the right partners for them as well. We’re excited to have the opportunity to be able to position ourselves to work with those parks.
“We see that Europe is starting to gain strides in experiential entertainment. As well as the big theme parks, there are lots of smaller experiential engagements; there’s a huge market for that. With what we’re doing as a turnkey solution provider, we feel that we are uniquely set up to help those experiential entertainment offerings transfer to the United States and be a good long-term partner for those developers as well.”
Moalli adds:
“As we expand past an ecosystem that was comprised primarily of just two major clients, there’s really a demand for our products and services in other parts of the world and we believe very much that we have clients needing our services in Europe.”
New projects
Right now, Scenario has several interesting projects on the go:
“We’re working very closely with a foundation, recreating the space shuttle Pathfinder for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama,” says Moalli.
“It’s a mixture of 3D printing, and scenic technology and engineering, as well as on-site installation skill and expertise. For this project, we’ve taken advantage of our ability to reproduce IP. It is one of the most iconic pieces of IP in NASA’s collection, a beloved icon. We’re working with a company that is 3D printing the shell of these materials. Then we’re integrating them into our scenic work.
“We’re also working with a Hollywood studio on their next “big thing” in location-based entertainment, which will be announced shortly. It’s a major motion picture studio that has a tremendous IP portfolio and is now leveraging that into a very specific and purposeful location-based entertainment concept.
“We also have European clients who are interested in bringing their IP to the United States. For instance, we’ve been working very collaboratively with Puy du Fou, which is an exciting project. They’re a tremendous, fun group to work with and they have an incredible vision.”
The team is also engaged in a big theme park project, on the doorstep of its factory in Orlando.
What’s next for Scenario?
Looking to the future, Senner says:
“I see Scenario as growing into a complete solutions opportunity for any vertical within entertainment. We have the ability and the resources. The leadership of our company has been specifically curated to give us the expertise to go way beyond just scenery. And so, our future I think is about evolving those strengths into the ability to help clients produce anything and solve all those problems. It’s not just about building; it’s about having the opportunity to create from the ground up.”
“We’re engaged in a very purposeful development path, which is to focus on where projects take us,” says Moalli. “We are evolving into a company that can supply products and services to that growing market, no matter where in the world it is.”
“Anybody that’s involved in this business is trying to understand how the world is going to change and evolve. Technology is becoming a bigger part of that world. So, it’s important to have people as part of your team that understand the integration of that, rather than having it be very siloed.
“We have a holistic understanding of how all these things go together, which comes from the DNA of employees of Scenario who have been on park teams or have worked as producers, creatives, technicians or engineers. Understanding how all of this comes together into one big experience, which is typically now becoming more and more immersive, is a big part of our plan going forward as we become a bigger part of that ecosystem.”
