Megan Geuss

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—On a hot day in April, I drove to a divey-looking sound stage in North Hollywood. It was camouflaged in an unnoticeable compound of warehouses off a busy boulevard.

What I found inside was a dimly lit maze of structures, accented by the circus glow of neon LEDs. The people who were leading me through the maze were professional Hollywood-types, people making a TV show that would compete for kids’ and families’ attention in a modern cacophony of media stimulus. They were betting on the appeal of an indoor micro-drone race.