Technically Creative by KoobrikLabs

In this episode of Technically Creative, we sit down with Jagger Waters — AI filmmaker, creator, and educator — to talk about what authorship looks like in the age of AI.

While much of the conversation around AI filmmaking centers on hype or fear, Jagger is focused on something far more practical: craft. From producing nearly solo short films to blending AI with live action and traditional editing workflows, she represents a new kind of creative — one who understands cinematic language and uses AI as leverage, not replacement.

As the lines blur between filmmaker and creator, Jagger is navigating both worlds. She’s building work independently, experimenting publicly, and actively helping higher education institutions understand the realities of the creator economy.

Jagger shares lessons from producing AI-driven narrative work, the discipline required to move from “prompting” to directing, and why removing the pressure to monetize every idea might be the key to protecting creative voice.

Orlando and Jagger explore:

Why AI doesn’t replace craft — it exposes it

The difference between generating and directing

How filmmakers are being pushed into the creator economy

What creators can learn from cinematic storytelling

Why building publicly accelerates growth

How to balance financial survival with creative independence

It’s a grounded, forward-looking conversation about control, identity, and the future of storytelling — in a world where anyone can generate, but not everyone can direct.

In this episode of Technically Creative, we sit down with Ross Richie, founder of BOOM! Studios, to talk about why comics remain one of the most powerful IP engines in modern entertainment.

Long before Hollywood fully embraced the franchise era, Ross was building story worlds from the ground up — proving that independent comics could become global film and television properties. Under his leadership, BOOM! Studios became a launchpad for creator-led storytelling and was ultimately acquired by Penguin Random House, marking a major moment for independent publishing.

Ross shares lessons from building a creator-first company in a system obsessed with scale, the discipline required to nurture long-term intellectual property, and why comics function as one of the most efficient R&D labs in the entertainment industry.

Orlando and Ross explore:

Why comics are Hollywood’s most efficient IP incubator

How creator ownership changes the quality of story worlds

The economics behind adapting comics into film and television

What studios look for in adaptable properties

How technology is reshaping publishing and IP development

Why story always comes before franchise

It’s a sharp, strategic conversation about ownership, adaptation, and the future of storytelling in an era where IP is everything — and where the smartest companies know it starts on the page.

Get tickets to the next Artist and the Machine event in NYC on May 14th, you can access Early Bird applications on their site: https://artistandthemachine.com/

2025 Grimes Keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4LZfOaPifQ

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Dani Van De Sande, founder of Artist and the Machine — one of the most important gatherings anywhere in the world for artists, technologists, and creative leaders working with AI.

Artist and the Machine is the leading Summit at the forefront of AI & Creativity. The bi-yearly gathering in LA & NY is known for its elevated, strong curation that fosters inspiration and partnerships across brand innovation leaders, creators, and founders pioneering the future of Human-Machine collaboration. The AI & Creativity Summit returns to NYC on May 14, 2026 to gather 400 handpicked leaders in the space, featuring a Main Stage, bespoke breakout sessions & workshops, and interactive demos. If you’re exploring how AI is transforming creative work - you’ll want to be in this room.

Dani has built a rare kind of event: a place where engineers, filmmakers, researchers, and creative directors share a stage and show what they’re actually making right now. Not predictions. Not hype. Real tools, real experiments, and real creative breakthroughs.

In this conversation, Dani and Orlando explore the rise of the creative technologist, why artists and engineers need to be in the same room, and how the most interesting work today often couldn’t have existed even a year ago.

It’s a thoughtful, optimistic conversation about the people building the future of creativity — and the communities forming around them.

🔍 Highlights include:

Why the creative technologist is the defining role of the AI era
How Artist and the Machine brings artists and engineers together
The difference between AI hype and real creative practice
Why the most interesting work today is happening at the edges of disciplines

🎙️ Meet the People Designing the Biggest Moment in Advertising

In this special post–Super Bowl episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Mark Gross, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Creative Officer of Highdive, and Chris Bellinger, Chief Creative Officer of PepsiCo Foods USA - two of the creative leaders behind some of the most talked-about Super Bowl advertising of the last decade.

The Super Bowl has long been the most concentrated moment of attention in media. But what it means to advertise there has fundamentally changed. What was once a single 30-second TV event has become a multi-week, multi-screen cultural launch shaped as much by social feeds, memes, and war rooms as by what airs during the game itself.

Mark and Chris unpack how Super Bowl advertising has evolved in the second-screen era, from the rise of 60-second storytelling to the limits of celebrity-driven ideas, and the strategic decisions brands now face around timing, secrecy, and amplification. They go deep on the creative risks of emotion on the loudest stage in advertising, and how Lay’s “Little Farmer” became an unexpected, last-minute pivot that reshaped the brand’s tone and expectations moving forward.

The conversation also pulls back the curtain on game-day realities: war rooms, real-time decision-making, competitor overlap, and the uncomfortable truth that even the biggest ads can’t be fully controlled once culture takes over.

What emerges is a rare, honest look at how modern Super Bowl advertising is actually made not as a single moment, but as a system of craft, strategy, intuition, and risk.

🎧 Highlights include:

● How Super Bowl advertising shifted from a one-night event to a multi-screen cultural launch

● Why 60-second spots now outperform 30s on the biggest stage

● The celebrity arms race and when “no celebrity” becomes the real surprise

● The creative risk of emotion in the middle of a football game

● How Lay’s “Little Farmer” came together through late pivots and leadership conviction

● Why sequels are harder than originals in advertising

● What really happens inside Super Bowl war rooms

● Measuring success beyond views: shares, comments, and cultural impact

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

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

📍 Chapters:

[00:00] Meet Mark Gross and Chris Bellinger

[01:13] How Super Bowl advertising has changed over the last 20 years

[02:56] Is the Super Bowl still the most valuable media buy?

[04:48] Teasers, timing, and pre-game release strategy

[06:40] Celebrity saturation and creative risk

[10:07] Making emotion work on the biggest stage

[12:07] Inside the making of “Little Farmer”

[15:15] Media buying and late-stage creative decisions

[19:09] Does Super Bowl pressure change the work?

[22:26] When an idea only works on game day

[24:01] TV winners vs internet winners

[25:29] Designing for memes and long-tail culture

[26:45] Where agency and brand priorities collide

[30:45] Sequels, expectations, and creative pressure

[33:37] Holding spots vs releasing early

[35:32] Extending campaigns beyond the game

[38:50] War rooms and real-time decision-making

[42:49] Defining success after the final whistle

[44:18] Competitor overlap and creative collisions

[48:40] Final reflections and what comes next

#TechnicallyCreative #SuperBowlAdvertising #MarkGross #ChrisBellinger #Highdive #PepsiCo #CreativeStrategy #BrandStorytelling #Advertising #CulturalMarketing #KoobrikLabs #OrlandoWood

🎙️ How Brands Win Advertising’s Biggest Day

With Mark Gross (Highdive) and Chris Bellinger (PepsiCo Foods U.S.)

In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Mark Gross, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Creative Officer of Highdive, and Chris Bellinger, Chief Creative Officer of PepsiCo Foods U.S. — two of the most experienced creators in modern Super Bowl advertising.

Together, they were behind last year’s breakout Lay’s spot The Little Farmer, and this year’s follow-up, The Last Harvest — a beautiful, generational story about a father passing his potato farm down to his daughter. In a sea of celebrity spectacle, their work stands out for its sincerity and emotional craft.

But the Super Bowl has changed. What used to be a single broadcast launch is now a multi-week cultural campaign. Spots are teased to press, released on social feeds days before kickoff, and supported by full-scale war rooms tracking the game in real time. With ads now costing around $8 million for 30 seconds, the stakes have never been higher.

In this conversation, Mark and Chris break down how Super Bowl advertising really works today — from emotional storytelling and celebrity strategy to PR runways, social media scorecards, and what success actually looks like the morning after the game.