Out of the Box LA unveils full 2026 lineup
Newly announced sessions include a Heads of Production AMA featuring W+K Portland, WPP, Squarespace and Amazon; Warner Chappell Music and Bleue.tv on the importance of audio; Tool speaking on Miro’s AI-powered campaign revival, and the team behind Skittles’ outlandish Super Bowl stunt.
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The full programme for shots Out of the Box LA has now been unveiled, with a fresh slate of speakers and discussions set to take over Bike Shed Moto Co on Wednesday 22 April.
Returning for its third year in Los Angeles and taking place the day before shots Awards The Americas, the event gathers leading figures from agencies, production companies and brands for a day dedicated to the ideas, challenges and creative shifts shaping the industry.
Across the programme, sessions will explore everything from developing a distinctive creative voice and translating sporting moments into universal stories, to the psychology behind misinformation and the path from commercial directing to feature filmmaking.
Above [clockwise from top left]: Speakers Jody Hill; Allison Hironaka; Keith Schofield; Michael Sagol; Amy Kean; Ari Abramovici & Bruno Acanfora, and Lauren Greenfield.
Previously announced sessions include Deconstructing the Matrix, in which photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield examines how creatives build and maintain an artistic voice over time, and The Art of the Counterattack: Turning Cultural Moments into Creative Advantage, where GUT LA CCOs Ari Abramovici and Bruno Acanfora unpack how brands can transform global sporting events into culturally resonant storytelling.
Amy Kean, CEO and Creative Director of Good Shout, also joins the line-up with Airheads, a session examining why misinformation spreads so easily in the age of deepfakes, while Michael Sagol, Allison Hironaka, Jody Hill and Keith Schofield discuss the leap from commercials to long-form filmmaking in From spots to features: How commercial vision can evolve into cinematic scope.
Newly announced sessions expand the programme further, with discussions covering sonic branding, the real-world use of AI in commercial production, the craft behind pulling off a live Super Bowl stunt, and a candid open forum with senior production figures about the changing realities of the industry.
Designing brand DNA: The strategic power of Sound
While brands meticulously craft their visual identities, sound often remains an afterthought, despite being one of the most powerful drivers of emotional memory and brand recall.
In this session, Jessica Entner, VP at Warner Chappell Music, and Aurélien Rubod, Partner at Bleue.tv, argue that sonic identity deserves a seat at the strategy table, drawing on neuroscience, measurable brand impact and iconic examples from modern marketing.
How Miro used AI to resuscitate a brand campaign from the cutting room floor
What happens when a campaign gets shelved before it ever sees the light of day? For Miro and creative production studio Tool, it became an opportunity to experiment with AI-powered production.
This session reveals how a discarded brand campaign was rebuilt using emerging AI workflows, translating traditional filmmaking thinking into a new creative process and exploring what happens when AI moves from buzzword to working production tool.
Skittles and Super Bowl: How to stuntvertise with style
Executing a live idea during the Super Bowl requires a particular blend of bravery, preparation and creative nerve.
In this session, the agency and production company behind Skittles’ high-wire live spot break down how the idea came together, what it takes to deliver a stunt on the world’s biggest advertising stage, and what brands can learn from Skittles’ long-standing appetite for the unexpected.
Heads of Production AMA
Production figures from across agencies and brands come together for a candid look at how the role of production is evolving in a rapidly shifting creative landscape.
Orlee Tatarka, Head of Production at W+K Portland; Dave Rolfe, Global Head of Production at WPP; Erica Kung, Head of Creative Production & Operations at Squarespace; and David Connell, Worldwide Head of Content, Creative Production & Talent at Amazon, will discuss changing workflows, emerging technologies and the realities of getting ambitious ideas made today with our panel moderator, journalist Terry Stanley.
A substantial portion of the session will be dedicated to audience questions, giving attendees the chance to put their biggest production queries directly to the people navigating the industry’s transformation.
