LA Salon: From Studio to Storyverse
On June 5th, 2025, Artist and the Machine hosted LA Salon: From Studio to Storyverse in Venice Beach, convening a standing-room crowd of brand and studio executives, top AI founders, and cutting edge creatives for an evening at the forefront of AI, Creativity, Media & Entertainment. In the city where screen history was written, we explored how stories now stretch from studio to storyverse—and what that evolution means for craft, careers, and audiences.
Across an intimate, high-signal program—anchored by Adobe’s featured fireside, Built for Tomorrow: AI & The New Creative Era, with Hannah Elsakr (Adobe), Dave Clark (Promise Studios), and Nik Kleverov (Native Foreign)—the conversation stayed candid and practical. Creators are becoming production ecosystems; AI expands what’s possible but taste and direction still lead; imagination needs “rewilding” beyond legacy constraints; quality workflows aren’t push-button; and storytelling fundamentals remain essential and human. Responsible AI and IP stewardship surfaced as through-lines, while adoption across Hollywood is accelerating and stigma is fading.
Our curated, invite-only evening drew leaders from major studios and emerging shops alike—with perspectives from Revelations Entertainment, Native Foreign, Asteria, WBD and more—sparking collaborations, pilots, and new connections. The night wrapped with a buzzing happy hour, leaving the community energized to help shape the next chapter of creativity from studio to storyverse. Featured speakers included Hannah Elsakr (Adobe), Dave Clark (Promise Studios), Don Allen Stevenson III (Asteria), Lori McCreary (Revelations Entertainment), Nik Kleverov (Native Foreign), Adrienne Lahens (stealth AI startup; formerly TikTok), and Sander Saar (Technologist & Futurist).
September 22, 2025
Paige Piskin is an award-winning AI and XR creator, known for pushing the boundaries of digital makeup, character design, and augmented reality experiences. With AR effects generating more than 300 billion impressions, shared 2 billion times, Paige has worked with major brands like Netflix, Bratz, Warner, and Coldplay, bringing immersive storytelling to life. She has also been a guest judge for Netflix, consultant, and 2x hackathon winner, recognized for her innovative work in AI-driven AR experiences. Paige is passionate about blending generative AI with character design, expanding the possibilities of digital self-expression and interactive storytelling.
Claire Silver is an anonymous AI-Collaborative artist that works with oil, acrylic, collage, photography, and different digital mediums to create her work. She often blends the classical style and mythos into her art, collaboratively producing work that feels at once familiar and strange. Her work explores themes of innocence, trauma, the hero’s journey, and how our view of them will change in an increasingly transhumanist future. Claire’s art can be found in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, has been at Sotheby’s London and Christie’s New York and in galleries, museums, and festivals all over the world. Featured in the New York Times, WIRED, Fortune, NPR, and countless podcasts, Claire takes every opportunity to explore her unending fascination with AI, fight for visibility for this budding art movement, and wonder at the magnitude of this moment in history. She often feels like a caveman painting fire. Claire is vocal in her belief that with the rise of AI, for the first time, the barrier of skill is swept away and that in this evolving era, taste is the new skill.