Technically Creative

Can technology fix Hollywood's casting and audition process? From frustrating self-tapes to missed opportunities, a new platform called Sides is rethinking how actors, casting directors, agents, and managers work together. Want to use AI safely and effectively in your creative business? Contact KoobrikLabs, the data partner for creative companies: https://koobriklabs.com/contact/ In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Douglas Clarke, co-founder and CTO of Sides, an engineer, playwright, and member of the Television Academy's Science and Technology Executive Committee. Douglas gives us an exclusive first look at Sides, a new casting and self-tape audition platform designed to simplify Hollywood casting. Through a live prototype demonstration, he reveals features including gesture-controlled recording, automatic script tracking, remote readers, intelligent role matching, and planned AI-powered audition assistance. The conversation also explores Douglas's career at THX, his work educating television professionals about artificial intelligence, and why technology should preserve artistic intent and empower human creativity. In this episode: How Sides aims to improve Hollywood casting and self-tape auditions A first look at its new audition and talent management platform AI-powered casting, actor discovery, and smarter role matching Making self-tapes easier with gesture controls, teleprompters, and remote readers Why actors, agents, and casting directors need better-connected tools The Television Academy's approach to AI education, copyright, and creative technology Why the future of entertainment technology should put artists first A conversation about Hollywood casting, AI in entertainment, acting auditions, creative technology, and building tools that genuinely serve artists. #HollywoodCasting #ActingAuditions #SelfTapes #AIinEntertainment #TechnicallyCreative

Weekly AI news for Hollywood and the creative industries. This week, Technically Creative asks a deceptively simple question: where are we going to put all this cloud? Hosted by Orlando Wood, founder of KoobrikLabs, the AI/IT partner for creative companies. To talk about using AI safely and effectively in your business, visit https://koobriklabs.com/contact/ This week’s news includes Publicis and WPP taking their rivalry to Instagram, Fox completing its $22 billion acquisition of Roku, AI-powered product placement being inserted into finished film and television, new European pressure around chatbot copyright, NBCUniversal backing the booming microdrama market, and Runway building interactive AI characters that can join your Zoom. But the bigger story is infrastructure. AI is creating extraordinary wealth, minting new billionaires and driving a historic buildout of data centers. At the same time, local communities are pushing back over electricity, water, land use and who actually pays for the infrastructure. That tension is becoming political. Voters across the US are increasingly supporting tighter restrictions on data centers, while tech companies continue pouring hundreds of billions into compute. OpenAI has now responded with a new community compact promising to cover its own energy costs and be more transparent with the communities hosting its infrastructure. The question is no longer whether AI needs enormous amounts of compute. It is whether the people living next to the machines see enough of the upside to keep saying yes. Technically Creative covers AI, technology, Hollywood, advertising, media, data, and the future of the creative industries.

Vibe coding can build an AI prototype in minutes. But what does it take to make AI work securely and reliably inside a real business? Technically Creative is brought to you by KoobrikLabs, the data partner for creative companies. 👉 https://koobriklabs.com/contact/ In this episode, Orlando Wood sits down with Max Oshman, CEO of the lab, and Sam Stroube, Head of AI at Wellcom, to explore why vibe coding isn't enough for enterprise AI and what it takes to turn AI prototypes into secure, scalable, production-ready applications. The lab, part of global creative production company Wellcom, has developed Wellcom Home, a node-based AI platform that helps businesses deploy custom AI tools with security, data governance, quality control, and brand consistency built in. In the first live product demonstration on Technically Creative, Max and Sam showcase their generative AI digital asset management (DAM) system, demonstrating how brands can transform existing product data and 3D assets into thousands of accurate, on-brand advertising images. They also explain why enterprise AI projects struggle to move beyond experimentation, how AI agents and automated workflows can transform creative production, and why technical expertise and industry knowledge are essential to successful AI implementation. In this episode: Why vibe coding gets you 80% of the way, but the final 20% is the hardest How to turn AI prototypes into secure enterprise applications Inside Wellcom Home and its node-based AI architecture Live demo: AI-powered digital asset management and content production Generating thousands of product-accurate advertising images with AI Why security, governance, and human oversight matter for AI agents How AI is changing creative workflows, automation, and advertising production A practical conversation about enterprise AI adoption, AI agents, vibe coding, and building AI tools that actually work in the real world. Technically Creative is a technology podcast for people who don't necessarily think of themselves as tech people, hosted by Orlando Wood, CEO of KoobrikLabs. Connect with Orlando: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orlando-wood/ Learn more about KoobrikLabs: https://koobriklabs.com #VibeCoding #EnterpriseAI #AIAgents #GenerativeAI #TechnicallyCreative

Weekly AI news for Hollywood and the creative industries. This week: what happens when AI gives clients the power to change creative work after the director has gone home? Hosted by Orlando Wood, founder of KoobrikLabs, the AI/IT partner for creative companies. To talk about adopting AI safely in your business, visit https://koobriklabs.com Our deep dive starts with A$AP Rocky’s Shroom Clouds music video, where AI-generated shots were reportedly added after the production company delivered its director’s cut, including disputed imagery the original filmmakers say they never created or approved. The bigger issue goes beyond AI plagiarism. Generative AI is changing what clients, commissioners and studios can do to finished creative work without going back to the people who made it. As tools like Google DeepMind’s Genie 4 move toward editable, persistent virtual worlds, directors, production companies and VFX studios may need new contractual protections around alterations, credits and additional work. Also this week: Wieden+Kennedy launches an entertainment division, Hollywood pushes back on OpenAI’s licensing arguments, Google’s AI search creates a monetization problem, Spotify explores licensed AI music remixing, Roblox has an AI-agent scraping incident, Big Tech’s AI spending overtakes cash generation, and Elon Musk’s AI Odyssey finally arrives. Technically Creative covers AI, technology, Hollywood, advertising, media and the future of the creative industries.

Can advertising agencies produce 20 times more content without increasing their budgets? And how is AI changing the way the world's biggest advertising companies operate? If you're a creative company looking to future-proof your business, book a free consultation with KoobrikLabs, the data partner for creative companies. 👉 https://koobriklabs.com/contact/ In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with James Brook Partridge, Head of Production UK at WPP Production, to explore how one of the world's largest advertising groups is transforming commercial production through artificial intelligence, centralized production, virtual production, and new creative workflows. James explains why WPP is bringing its production capabilities together under one organization, as brands face unprecedented demand for social media content, faster turnaround times, and greater efficiency. With some projections suggesting advertisers could need up to 20 times more content in the coming years, the traditional advertising production model is facing enormous pressure. The conversation explores how generative AI, LED volume stages, automated editing, audience analytics, and WPP's Open platform are changing the relationship between creative development, production, and media. James also explains why experienced producers, editors, and creative professionals may become more valuable as AI becomes embedded in professional workflows. And with independent production companies facing growing pressure, Orlando and James discuss what the shift toward in-house agency production means for directors, creative talent, and the future of commercial filmmaking. In this episode: Why WPP is restructuring its global advertising production business The challenge of producing up to 20 times more content with limited budgets How AI is transforming commercial production, editing, and creative workflows Why WPP sees AI as a way to deliver more value, rather than simply cut costs How virtual production and LED stages are expanding creative possibilities Why producers are gaining influence within advertising agencies How data-driven advertising risks creating a sea of creative sameness What WPP's production strategy means for independent production companies Why creative expertise, curiosity, and adaptability matter in the AI era A fascinating conversation about the future of advertising, the changing economics of commercial production, and how technology is reshaping the relationship between creativity, craft, and scale. Technically Creative is a technology podcast for people who don't necessarily think of themselves as tech people, hosted by Orlando Wood, CEO of KoobrikLabs. Connect with Orlando: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orlando-wood/ Learn more about KoobrikLabs: https://koobriklabs.com #WPP #AdvertisingProduction #GenerativeAI #FutureOfAdvertising #TechnicallyCreative

Black October: AI Agents in Bank Accounts, the PHP Flaw and the LiteLLM Hack | Technically Creative Week in Review This week Orlando breaks down Black October, the week AI met cybersecurity head on. Unauthorised AI agents turned up inside customer accounts at JPMorgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Citi, and some were phoning call centres on their own. A critical PHP vulnerability found with the help of AI leaked early, and the NSA told organisations that couldn’t patch straight away to take their websites offline. Microsoft revealed that a China-aligned hacking group, Storm-0940, used an AI penetration-testing tool to break into Microsoft 365 accounts. And a poisoned release of LiteLLM, the popular AI gateway, stole cloud and AI credentials. What it means for creative companies: why agencies, studios, production companies and publishers should care, and simple ways to give AI agents access without handing over the keys to the business. Also in this episode: Meta pauses its new commercial terms after publishers push back over AI crawling Coca-Cola moves its North American media account to Omnicom Canva launches Craft, its own AI image model trained on design templates Anthropic and music publishers argue fair use over song lyrics in court Elon Musk invests $1 billion in Skydance, the new owner of HBO and Warner Bros. BBC’s Blue Planet III keeps murky footage to prove it isn’t AI Technically Creative is a weekly look at technology and the creative industries: AI, film, TV, advertising, music, design, publishing and media. Hosted by Orlando Wood, founder of KoobrikLabs, the AI and IT partner for creative companies.

🎬 Behind the Scenes of Danse Macabre (Long Version): https://youtu.be/QALh6PauOCw 🎥 Danse Macabre Trailer: https://youtu.be/b1A4U37asVg Hisko’s Website - Hiskohulsing.com He spent 11 years making an animated film. Then he was booed at its premiere for using AI. In this episode, Orlando Wood sits down with Hisko Hulsing, the Dutch artist, filmmaker and animation director behind Danse Macabre, Amazon's Undone and Netflix's The Sandman, to discuss the AI controversy that erupted at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Hisko spent 11 years creating Danse Macabre, producing 75 original oil paintings and working with 80 artists and production professionals. He used generative AI for a small part of the production, transferring the style of his own paintings onto traditionally animated characters. Despite this, the film was met with boos, walkouts and accusations of AI slop. Hisko responded by giving the protesters the middle finger. In this candid conversation, Hisko explains how the film was made, the emotional toll of the backlash, and why he believes artists experimenting with new technology are being unfairly targeted. He also addresses the legitimate concerns surrounding AI copyright infringement, training data, job displacement and the ethics of generative AI, including how AI has already eliminated his own commercial storyboarding work. In this episode: Why Hisko Hulsing was booed at the Annecy Animation Festival How Danse Macabre combines oil painting, traditional animation and AI style transfer The difference between professional AI-assisted filmmaking and AI slop Copyright, AI training data and the rights of working artists Why anti-AI backlash could drive creative professionals to hide their AI use How generative AI is changing the future of animation and independent filmmaking A fascinating conversation about artistic freedom, human creativity, AI ethics and the growing divide between traditional artists and emerging technology. Technically Creative is brought to you by KoobrikLabs, the data partner for creative companies. https://koobriklabs.com/contact/ #HiskoHulsing #DanseMacabre #AIAnimation #AIFilmmaking #TechnicallyCreative

Weekly AI news for the creative industries. This week, Technically Creative asks a bigger question underneath the AI boom: everyone seems to be getting richer, but who is actually paying for all of it? Hosted by Orlando Wood, founder of KoobrikLabs, the AI/IT partner for creative companies. To get in touch about using AI in your business, visit https://koobriklabs.com/contact/ This week: Meta rewrites its commercial terms in a way publishers fear could expand its rights to use their content for AI training. Fox is now running live TV campaigns where AI systems transact with other AI systems. Google wants to own more of the shopping journey. And Elon Musk unveiled a Roadster that can, sort of, fly. But the bigger story is economic. CoreWeave is carrying enormous debt. Anthropic is heading toward a historic IPO and says it is profitable on an adjusted basis. Character.AI filed for bankruptcy despite having around 12 million active users. And Netflix is profitable while still cutting jobs. So what happens when the companies making the most money need fewer people to make it? And what happens when AI efficiency starts removing the same consumers the economy depends on? Plus, the new American Entertainment Alliance is pushing for rules that would require major streamers to spend more with independent producers. Technically Creative covers AI, technology, Hollywood, advertising and the creative industries.

Can you copyright AI-generated work? If you create a film, image, character or advertisement using generative AI, who actually owns it? If you're a creative company looking to future-proof your business, book a free consultation with KoobrikLabs, the data partner for creative companies. 👉 https://koobriklabs.com/contact/ In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Lisa Oratz, Senior Counsel at Ashurst, to explore AI copyright law, intellectual property ownership, fair use, and how filmmakers, artists, advertising agencies and creative companies can legally protect work created using generative AI. Lisa specializes in technology, entertainment and intellectual property law, advising studios, production companies, artists and technology businesses navigating the rapidly evolving legal landscape surrounding artificial intelligence. One of the biggest misconceptions about generative AI is that anything created using AI cannot be copyrighted. Lisa explains why that's not necessarily true. She discusses how her team secured copyright registration for Critters, an AI-assisted animated short film, by demonstrating meaningful human authorship through scripting, editing, modification and the selection and arrangement of AI-generated material. The conversation explores what constitutes sufficient human creative involvement, whether detailed prompts and storyboards can establish copyright protection, and why AI-generated characters and individual assets present particular legal challenges. They also examine the major AI copyright lawsuits involving Anthropic and Meta, the fair use debate surrounding AI training data, and how creators can minimize infringement risks when using generative AI tools. Finally, Orlando and Lisa discuss AI-generated actors, digital replicas, Tilly Norwood, SAG-AFTRA and how artificial intelligence could change the future of filmmaking and creative ownership. In this episode: Can AI-generated films, images and characters be copyrighted? How human authorship establishes copyright protection for AI-assisted work The story behind Critters and its successful copyright registration AI prompts, storyboards, editing and intellectual property ownership Anthropic, Meta, AI training data and the fair use debate How creators can protect their work and reduce copyright infringement risks Synthetic actors, digital replicas, Tilly Norwood and SAG-AFTRA What AI copyright law means for the future of filmmaking and advertising Technically Creative is a technology podcast for people who don't necessarily think of themselves as tech people, hosted by Orlando Wood, CEO of KoobrikLabs. This episode is sponsored by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit organization working to ensure that transformative technologies, including artificial intelligence, benefit humanity while reducing their potential risks. #AICopyright #GenerativeAI #CopyrightLaw #AIFilmmaking #TechnicallyCreative

Weekly AI news for the creative industries. This week, Technically Creative asks whether ad tech is about to become something much bigger: the system that creates, distributes, targets, measures and continuously rewrites advertising. TikTok, Meta, OpenAI, NBCUniversal, FreeWheel, Newton and Omnicom are all pushing AI deeper into advertising. Creative generation, media buying, audience targeting, campaign optimization and measurement are starting to collapse into the same technological loop. Technically Creative is brought to you by KoobrikLabs, the AI/IT partner for creative companies - www.koobriklabs.com That matters because advertising technology used to answer one question: who should see this ad? Now it is increasingly able to answer another: what ad should exist for that person in the first place? We look at how conversational AI could transform advertising intent, what happens when AI agents negotiate media and purchasing decisions with other AI agents, and why dynamic product placement inside finished films and television raises much bigger questions about authorship, creative control and whether a piece of media is ever truly finished. Elsewhere, publishers including HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette are using AI internally. Audible wants to use synthetic narration to make far more books available as audiobooks. Sony Music says it has requested the removal of more than 260,000 AI-generated tracks impersonating its artists. And local AI could become increasingly important for creative companies trying to keep unreleased scripts, rough cuts, pitches and client data secure. We also look at OpenAI’s work on AI-generated text provenance and Nikon’s decision to disqualify an AI-manipulated scientific image, which may point toward a more useful way of thinking about AI policy: different contexts require different rules. Hosted by Orlando Wood, founder of KoobrikLabs, Technically Creative covers the increasingly interdependent worlds of AI, advertising, Hollywood, media, technology and the creative industries.