Less than a week until Out of the Box LA

One week out, and the shots Out of the Box LA programme is fully loaded. 

Taking place on Wednesday 22 April at the Bike Shed Moto Co. in Downtown Los Angeles, the day runs the gamut from deepfakes and sonic branding to Super Bowl stunts and the eternal question of whether your favourite commercial director has a feature in them. 

It also runs the day before shots Awards The Americas, which is both very convenient and a very good reason to pace yourself at the end-of-session bar.

Here is everything on the agenda:

shots co-editors Danny Edwards and Jamie Madge open proceedings at 9:45am, before handing over to Amy Kean, CEO and Creative Director of Good Shout, for the first session of the day. Airheads: When did everybody become so stupid? looks at the spread of deepfakes, staged social content and AI-generated voices, examining why misinformation is so readily believed and what that means for creativity.

At 10:20am, Caviar EP and Managing Director Michael Sagol and Head of Film and TV Allison Hironaka are joined by directors Jody Hill and Keith Schofield for From spots to features: How commercial vision can evolve into cinematic scope. The panel covers the creative, strategic and business realities of moving from commercial work to long-form filmmaking, moderated by Danny Edwards.

Warner Chappell Music VP Jessica Entner and Aurélien Rubod, Partner at BLEUE, follow at 11:00am with Designing brand DNA: The strategic power of sound, making the case for sonic identity as a core part of brand strategy, backed by neuroscience and examples from modern marketing.

After a coffee break, GUT LA CCOs Ari Abramovici and Bruno Acanfora take the stage at 11:45am for The ad of God: Turning cultural moments into creative advantage. Drawing on experience across three previous World Cups, and with LA set to host the tournament later this year, the session looks at how brands can use major sporting moments as a platform for storytelling.

The morning closes with the Heads of Production AMA at 12:10pm, bringing together Orlee Tatarka, Head of Production at W+K Portland; Dave Rolfe, Global Head of Production at WPP; Erica Kung, Head of Creative Production and Operations at Squarespace; and David Connell, Worldwide Head of Content, Creative Production and Talent at Amazon. Moderated by journalist Terry Stanley, a significant portion of the session is dedicated to audience questions.

After lunch, Tool President Dustin Callif presents How Miro used AI to resuscitate a brand campaign from the cutting room floor at 2:10pm, detailing how a shelved campaign was rebuilt using AI-driven production workflows and what that process revealed about AI as a practical creative tool.

At 2:30pm, the team behind Skittles' live Super Bowl spot -  Katie Bero and Brian Culp from TBWA\Chiat\Day Chicago, alongside Amanda Azoroh, Senior Producer at Omnicom Productions - discuss the craft and logistics of executing a live idea in real time during the Big Game, in How to stuntvertise with style, a session moderated by Jamie Madge.

Closing the programme at 3:10pm, photographer, filmmaker and documentarian Lauren Greenfield, Founder of Institute Pictures, delivers Deconstructing the matrix. The session traces her career from early anthropological work through to projects including the #LikeAGirl Super Bowl commercial, examining how a sustained artistic voice is built and maintained across decades.

The bar opens at 3:50pm, with drinks courtesy of XR Pay. 

Network, fawn, imbibe, sit quietly and contemplate - the rest of the day is yours.

The room is filling, but tickets are still available at ootb.shots.net. You can also pick up tickets to shots Awards The Americas, taking place the following day, here.