Technically Creative by KoobrikLabs

In this third bonus episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood continues his conversation with legendary Hollywood producer Jon Peters, the producer behind Batman, A Star Is Born, Caddyshack, Flashdance, Superman, and many of the biggest blockbuster films of the 1980s and 1990s. In Part One, we explored Jon Peters' unlikely journey from hairdresser to Hollywood producer through his partnership with Barbra Streisand and the making of A Star Is Born. In Part Two, we followed the rise of the Guber-Peters Company and Jon's partnership with Peter Guber, one of the most successful producing collaborations in Hollywood history. In this episode, the story shifts from filmmaking to something bigger. By this point, Jon Peters has already produced some of the most influential films of his era. A Star Is Born helped redefine movie marketing and soundtrack albums. Batman became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The Guber-Peters partnership was reshaping Hollywood. But success was never the destination. Every achievement simply became permission to dream bigger. This conversation explores how Jon Peters thought about blockbuster filmmaking, movie marketing, soundtrack albums, intellectual property, franchising, and the business of entertainment long before Hollywood became obsessed with cinematic universes and franchise ecosystems. We discuss how A Star Is Born created a blueprint for soundtrack-driven movie marketing, why film soundtracks became a critical revenue stream for studios, and how Jon viewed movies as much more than what audiences saw on screen. The conversation eventually leads to Sony Pictures Entertainment, where Jon Peters and Peter Guber found themselves running one of the most powerful movie studios in Hollywood. And even that wasn't enough. Because while most executives saw a studio, Jon saw a launching pad. We explore: • How A Star Is Born changed movie marketing and soundtrack strategy • The relationship between Hollywood films, soundtrack albums, and blockbuster profitability • Why Jon believed the movie wasn't the only product being sold • How Wild Wild West and its hit soundtrack became a case study in entertainment marketing • The road from Batman to running Sony Pictures Entertainment • Jon Peters' vision for "Sony Land" and expanding beyond the traditional movie studio model • Superman, intellectual property, and the future of franchise storytelling • The connection between Hollywood, the UFC, Dana White, entrepreneurship, and instinct • Why Jon Peters believes success should expand your ambitions rather than satisfy them Like the previous conversations, this episode is funny, reflective, controversial, and uniquely Jon. It's also a fascinating look at Hollywood history, blockbuster filmmaking, movie producing, studio leadership, entertainment marketing, soundtrack albums, intellectual property, and the mindset that helped shape some of the biggest films of the modern era. If you're interested in Jon Peters, Peter Guber, Batman, Sony Pictures, Superman, Hollywood producers, blockbuster movies, movie marketing, or the business of filmmaking, this chapter goes deeper still. More to come.

🎙️ 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 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 playerHis time with Barbra Streisand and the origin of their creative partnershipThe chaos and brilliance of his producing yearsHis relationships with Peter Guber and studio heads like Steve RossHis battles with addiction, his recovery, and the love that grounded himWhy 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.

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 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 industryLessons from digital cinema, volumes, and the VAD that still matter in AI pipelinesAI as a professional toolbox, not a shortcut, control, consistency, qualityClean models, provenance, and the current path to copyright for AI worksBuilding secure, on-prem or cloud zero-trust environments for training private LoRAsThe Bends case study, custom blobfish assets, LoRA training at high VRAM, 32-bit EXR deliveryOSVP to AI first, where Blender, Nuke, ShotGrid, and gen tools meetCost, compute, and why practical workflows still need real artists in the loopWhy multimodal will win, and why performance capture and synthesis are the next edgeHow to keep cinema culturally relevant for a generation that wants interactivity

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 sits down with Verena Puhm — Head of Studio at Dream Lab LA, the R&D arm of Luma AI, and a writer-producer-director turned AI pioneer. Verena shares how she went from independent filmmaking — a world constrained by gatekeepers, budgets, and slow-moving studios — to helping shape the very AI tools that will define the next era of filmmaking. At Dream Lab LA, she and her team work directly with both creators and major Hollywood studios to test, refine, and reimagine workflows for an AI-first future. With an insider’s view of how studios are cautiously adopting AI and how independent artists are rapidly experimenting with it, Verena explains why this moment is unlike any shift before — and why it represents both an incredible opportunity and a cultural responsibility. She also breaks down: Why AI gives independent creators agency and bypasses Hollywood gatekeepersHow Dream Lab LA partners with studios to design workflows, not just toolsThe real legal and ethical challenges around copyright, and how to navigate themWhy documentation, transparency, and trust are essential for creators using AIHow AI artists and traditional crew roles can collaborate in hybrid productionsWhy this era could finally democratize storytelling — making way for voices far beyond Hollywood Whether you’re an artist trying to understand how to adapt your craft, or an executive looking at the future of studio production, Verena offers a candid, inspiring look at the creative playground AI is opening up. Technically Creative by KoobrikLabs explores how technology and creativity collide to shape the future of entertainment.

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando talks with Alicia Teltz, the former LinkedIn strategist who left her corporate role, built a personal brand from scratch, and turned her audience into a business. With over 20,000 followers, a thriving WhatsApp community, and a growing list of paid clients, Alicia breaks down what actually works on LinkedIn in 2025. Alicia shares the real story behind the algorithm, explains why LinkedIn prioritizes recent content and real people, and walks us through her now-famous “20-20-20” method. From live product testing in her DMs to monetizing content with no newsletter, Alicia gives a rare look at how to build a creator-led funnel that doesn’t rely on virality. She also explains why AI-generated content is hurting your brand, what most creators are doing wrong, and how to think like a strategist instead of an influencer. This episode is a crash course in building a business on LinkedIn that actually works.