Technically Creative by KoobrikLabs

🎙️ Meet the Woman Helping Film Culture Make Sense of Itself

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Cara Cusumano, Festival Director of the Tribeca Film Festival — one of the three major American film festivals alongside Sundance and SXSW, and still one of the most important gateways to legitimacy for filmmakers worldwide.

Film festivals remain the first real hurdle for a film or filmmaker to be taken seriously. The place where work moves from being made to being seen, debated, championed, and absorbed into the cultural bloodstream. And in a moment when more creators than ever are making more content than ever — with near–studio-level tools available from their couch — that curatorial role has never mattered more.

Cara oversees one of the most complex and influential selection processes in global filmmaking, sifting through more than 13,000 submissions a year to find what’s audacious rather than merely loud. As the filmmaking system is pressured on all sides — economically, culturally, and technologically — this conversation makes the case that festivals, and the humans who curate them, are more essential than ever.

Under Cara’s leadership, Tribeca has also been notably forward-thinking about new tools, including AI. Rather than sidelining creators who experiment, the festival has created intentional frameworks that ask the same timeless questions: Is there a point of view? Is there a voice? Is there something human at the center of the work?

What makes this episode especially resonant is Cara herself. When asked whether she actually watches everything, she laughs and admits she lives in fear of missing something great. That moves beyond love and into dedication — a reminder that taste-making isn’t algorithmic. It’s human.

🎧 Highlights include:

● Why film festivals remain the path to legitimacy for filmmakers

● How Tribeca filters signal from noise in an era of infinite content

● The evolving role of curation as the film industry fractures

● Tribeca’s approach to AI, tools, and creative experimentation

● Why taste, restraint, and vision still matter more than polish

● How festivals balance indie discovery with major cultural moments

● “I live in fear of missing something” — dedication as a curator

🔗 Learn more about the Tribeca Film Festival: https://tribecafilm.com

🔗 Visit KoobrikLabs: https://www.koobriklabs.com

🔗 Connect with Orlando: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orlando-wood

📍 Chapters:

[00:00] Introducing Cara Cusumano and Tribeca

[04:00] Film festivals as the path to legitimacy

[09:00] Signal vs noise in the age of infinite content

[15:00] AI, tools, and Tribeca’s forward-thinking stance

[23:00] Discovery, innovation, and community

[31:00] Programming across film, TV, games, and podcasts

[41:00] Shorts, new voices, and emerging formats

[52:00] “I live in fear of missing something”

[57:00] Why festivals — and curators — matter more than ever

#TechnicallyCreative #CaraCusumano #TribecaFilmFestival #FilmFestivals #Curation #Filmmaking #AIinFilm #Storytelling #CreativeTechnology #IndependentFilm #KoobrikLabs #OrlandoWood

In this second bonus episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood continues his conversation with one of the most talked-about — and least understood — figures in modern Hollywood: Jon Peters.

In Part One, we explored Jon’s unlikely path from beauty school to Barbra Streisand and A Star Is Born. In this episode, we move into the next chapter of his career — the years when Jon steps out as an independent producer, helps bring Caddyshack to life, and forms one of the most influential creative-business partnerships in film history with Peter Guber.

This conversation is still loose, funny, messy, reflective — and very “Jon.” We get deeper into how instinct, relationships, gamble-taking, and timing shaped a run of films that defined an era.

We explore:

• How Caddyshack became Jon’s first big independent producing moment

• Why Jon believes producing is really about spotting — and backing — raw creative talent

• The origin story of the Guber-Peters partnership

• How two unlikely partners built a string of hits together

• The road from producing movies to running Sony Pictures

• Loyalty, ambition, ego, conflict — and what happens when the stakes get massive

• How Jon looks back on all of it now

This is Part Two in a multi-episode series examining the real story behind the headlines — the ambition, the chaos, the successes, the fractures, and the emotional truth behind one of the most unusual careers in Hollywood.

If you’re interested in how big films really get made — and the personalities it takes to make them — this chapter goes even deeper.

More to come.

In this special bonus episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with one of the most mythologized and misunderstood figures in modern Hollywood: Jon Peters.

Jon’s life story reads like a Hollywood screenplay — from being pulled out of a troubled childhood and thrust into beauty school, to running a chain of iconic LA salons in the 1970s, to meeting Barbra Streisand and producing A Star Is Born, to orchestrating the Sony Pictures takeover, to holding the rights to Superman for nearly 25 years. His fingerprints are on Batman, Rain Man, Flashdance, The Color Purple, American Werewolf in London and more.

This first conversation is wide-ranging, messy, intimate, and completely Jon. We explore:

• His unlikely path from hairdresser to Hollywood power player
• His time with Barbra Streisand and the origin of their creative partnership
• The chaos and brilliance of his producing years
• His relationships with Peter Guber and studio heads like Steve Ross
• His battles with addiction, his recovery, and the love that grounded him
• Why his confidence — and instinct — became his superpowers

This is part one of a multi-episode series diving into the real story behind the legend, pulling apart what’s myth, what’s true, and what only Jon could possibly describe.

If you’re fascinated by Hollywood history, improbable careers, or the personalities behind the films that shaped generations, this is the beginning of a remarkable ride.

Stay tuned — the next chapters go even deeper.

🎙️ Meet the Man Shaping Hollywood's Future

In this season finale of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Yves Bergquist — Director of the AI & Media Project at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center (where every major studio, from Warner Bros. to Netflix to Sony, collaborates on the future of storytelling), and CEO of Corto AI, a company decoding the narrative DNA of films, ads, and media.

Yves is one of Hollywood’s leading voices in AI — helping the industry understand how technology, data, and culture intersect. But this conversation isn’t just about algorithms or analytics. It’s about stories: the ones that shape audiences, and the ones we tell ourselves.

In a remarkably candid exchange, Yves shares how his work mapping creative data has paralleled his own journey of reinvention — from public failure to personal growth. It’s a rare, human look at how the next wave of creativity will be built on both intelligence and empathy.

🎧 Highlights include:

● How USC’s Entertainment Technology Center is redefining AI for Hollywood

● The “Content Fingerprinting Initiative” — using math to protect IP in generative media

● Corto AI and the narrative DNA of storytelling

● Why Gen Z wants a John Hughes-style revival of “people misbehaving” movies

● What Yellowstone and House of Guinness teach us about storytelling as marketing

● Yves’ personal story of failure, forgiveness, and self-discovery

● Why the next Golden Age of creativity will be the most human yet

🔗 Learn more about USC’s Entertainment Technology Center: https://www.etcenter.org

🔗 Explore Corto AI: https://www.corto.ai

🔗 Visit KoobrikLabs: https://www.koobriklabs.com

🔗 Connect with Orlando: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orlando-wood

📍 Chapters:

[00:00] Introducing Yves Bergquist — data, culture, and storytelling

[04:00] Inside USC’s AI & Media Project

[07:00] The “Content Fingerprinting Initiative” and copyright in the AI era

[12:00] Decoding the narrative DNA of stories

[17:00] Global storytelling trends and the Gen Z renaissance

[25:00] Corto AI and the future of brand storytelling

[34:00] How data and emotion drive creativity

[44:00] Yves’ candid story of failure and redemption

[57:00] Why the future of creativity is deeply human

#TechnicallyCreative #YvesBergquist #USC #EntertainmentTechnologyCenter #CortoAI #AIinHollywood #Storytelling #DataScience #CreativeTechnology #Innovation #FilmIndustry #KoobrikLabs #OrlandoWood

Every few years, advertising reinvents itself. This time, it’s happening from the inside out.

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Martin Pagh Ludvigsen, Director of AI and Creative Technology at Goodby Silverstein, one of the most iconic agencies in the world. Martin leads The Labs, a department that lives inside the creative floor (not the IT wing) and prototypes the impossible. His team bridges imagination and production, helping GSP’s creatives turn wild ideas into tangible reality.

From the “Ask Dalí” project; where museum visitors could literally talk to Salvador Dalí, to the BMW “Real for Real” campaign that tackled AI Slop head-on, Martin explains how creativity and technology can coexist when AI becomes the subject of the idea, not just the software behind it.

Together, Orlando and Martin explore how The Labs operates inside a 40-year-old agency that still acts like a startup, and what happens when creative technologists are trusted as artists, not just engineers. This is a conversation about curiosity, craft, and culture in an age where “trust is the new oil.”

Orlando and Martin explore:

● How Goodby Silverstein built a creative R&D department inside its creative floor

● Why “Ask Dalí” became one of the most talked-about AI art experiences in the world

● The making of BMW’s “Real for Real” and the cultural backlash against AI Slop

● Why great creative technology starts with why, not how

● How AI can elevate creativity when it’s part of the idea, not just production

● Why “trust” and “authenticity” will define the next era of advertising

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Kati Haberstock, Head of Production at Erich & Kallman and Ad Age’s 2024 Small Agency Producer of the Year, for a refreshingly real conversation about what it means to be a modern producer.

Kati’s career reads like a masterclass in production: from Smuggler, The Directors Bureau, and Buck to Framestore and now agency-side leadership at Erich & Kallman. She’s seen every angle of the process—live action, post, animation, and business affairs—and she brings that experience to bear on every project.

Together, Orlando and Kati explore how producers are evolving from project managers to creative problem-solvers, why curiosity is the secret weapon of good production, and how AI-driven bidding tools are changing workflows. Kati also reveals her “unsiloed” approach to running a lean, high-output agency where everyone moves faster, smarter, and with more freedom.

It’s a celebration of production fundamentals that never change—hard work, diligence, creativity—and how they’re being reimagined for 2025.

What Orlando and Kati Cover:

• Why great producers never stop learning (and never say no)
• The evolution of the producer’s role from last call to first collaborator
• How Erich & Kallman punches above its weight on every project
• Why efficiency and creativity can coexist
• The rise of AI-assisted bidding and data-driven operations
• Building a modern, unsiloed production culture
• How to train the next generation of producers for speed and independence
• Why client trust still matters more than any tool or tech

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando sits down with Erik Weaver, Head of Virtual and Adaptive Production at the Entertainment Technology Center at USC, a studio-funded R&D group founded at the request of George Lucas. Erik explains how ETC bridges Hollywood and Silicon Valley, from drafting the first pass at digital cinema standards to today’s work on studio-grade AI pipelines. The goal is simple, make new tech practical, controllable, and copyrightable for professional storytellers.

Erik shares how the team moved from on-set virtual production to AI-first workflows, why control, consistency, and quality matter more than novelty, and how their short The Bends used custom LoRAs, zero-trust cloud, and 32-bit EXR outputs to hit professional finishing standards. He breaks down provenance tracking for copyright, clean model tiers, and why performance will be the next frontier for AI in production. The conversation stays focused on story, culture, and the people on set, technology is a toolbox, not the point.

Orlando and Erik explore

• What ETC at USC is, who funds it, and why it exists for the industry
• Lessons from digital cinema, volumes, and the VAD that still matter in AI pipelines
• AI as a professional toolbox, not a shortcut, control, consistency, quality
• Clean models, provenance, and the current path to copyright for AI works
• Building secure, on-prem or cloud zero-trust environments for training private LoRAs
• The Bends case study, custom blobfish assets, LoRA training at high VRAM, 32-bit EXR delivery
• OSVP to AI first, where Blender, Nuke, ShotGrid, and gen tools meet
• Cost, compute, and why practical workflows still need real artists in the loop
• Why multimodal will win, and why performance capture and synthesis are the next edge
• How to keep cinema culturally relevant for a generation that wants interactivity

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Darren O’Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Untold Studios, to explore how one of the most forward-thinking creative companies in the world is reshaping the future of entertainment, VFX, and storytelling.

After 15 years leading The Mill, Darren left to build something radically different—a studio built entirely in the cloud, powered by artistry, and born out of independence. From creature design in Mission Impossible and The Crown to developing music shows with Billie Eilish and Imagine Dragons, Untold has quickly become a creative force across film, television, advertising, and music.

Darren shares the story behind Untold’s creation, how the fall of Technicolor reshaped the industry, and what it took to onboard 550 VFX shots from Alien Earth within 10 days—all thanks to their cloud-native infrastructure. He also dives into how Untold uses AI not as a replacement for creativity, but as a tool for precision control—from de-aging models to relighting live-action scenes without breaking cinematic integrity.

But at its core, this episode is about something deeper:

Why human connection, story, and emotion will always outlast any technology.

Orlando and Darren explore:

• How Untold became the world’s first fully cloud-native studio
• What the fall of Technicolor revealed about legacy models in VFX
• The role of adversity and adaptability in building new creative cultures
• Why “precision control” is non-negotiable for high-end storytelling
• Untold’s approach to AI—solving real problems, not hype-driven ones
• The power of blending music, production, and technology under one creative roof

Why art and commerce aren’t enemies—and why culture is Untold’s secret weapon.

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando sits down with Benji Rogers, Founder of Lark 42 and Co-President of Surreal AI, for a candid conversation about music, media, and the looming AI revolution.

Benji, a “recovering musician” turned entrepreneur, has spent his career helping technology companies understand music — and music companies understand technology. Now, through Surreal AI, he’s building an attribution framework designed to ensure artists are paid fairly when their work trains or inspires AI systems.

Together, Orlando and Benji unpack:

• Why AI could spark a crisis in music rights as seismic as the Napster wars.
• How attribution chains can safeguard creators — and unlock new business models.
• The parallels between addiction, algorithms, and daily active users.
• What the entertainment industry risks if it licenses away its value — again.
• Why the future may split between infinite AI “slop” and authentic, human work.

This is more than a conversation about music tech. It’s a call to rethink how we protect creativity itself in the age of generative AI.

If you’re a creative company looking to future-proof your business, book a free consultation call at https://koobriklabs.com/contact/

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood speaks with Max Fleming, founder of Motive LA, who represents standout athletes and creators—exploring how NIL deals, TikTok, and entertainment-first sports are reshaping the trajectory of modern athletic careers.

From repping the iconic Savannah Bananas players as they sell out Fenway Park to shaping the brand of creators like the Pointer Brothers, Max is at the crossroads of sports, entertainment, and the creator economy. His mantra (community, consistency, relatability) guides a new model of management built for athletes and creators who are as viral online as they are talented on the field.

We dig into how Motive LA helps athletes fight burnout, build long-term careers, and turn fleeting viral moments into sustainable opportunities. Max explains why today’s athletes can’t afford to ignore social media, how NIL is changing the game for college stars, and why entertainment-first teams like the Savannah Bananas may hold the blueprint for the future of sports.

Max also shares:

• How the Savannah Bananas reinvented baseball for the TikTok era
• Why NIL deals make social presence essential for college athletes
• The strategy behind building “internet homies” like the Pointer Brothers
• How to fight imposter syndrome and burnout in the creator economy
• Why brand partnerships must serve the person, not just the algorithm
• The difference between being a manager and being a teammate
• Why community, consistency, and relatability are the keys to a 30-year career