Sleigh Your Bay Area Creator Economy Networking & Why Gen-AI Won't Steal Your Lunch

Discover the latest Bay Area Creator Economy news! From AI demo nights & panel discussions to creator meetups, stay informed about events, stories, and job opportunities.

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Bay Area Creator Economy
November 05, 2024

Hello, Bay Area Creator Economy! Welcome to the third issue of our new biweekly newsletter, your go-to destination for the latest events and developments you should know taking place in the San Francisco Bay Area’s creator economy.

If you’ve received this newsletter, then you are either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If the latter – and you want to subscribe, get it HERE and follow us on LinkedIn.

🗳️ Election Day today in the United States likely has many of you distracted so we hope you will find this issue to be a nice reprieve from the non-stop coverage.

🎉 We are excited to announce that we have locked in our first annual community holiday party: Thursday, December 19th, at Dovetail’s San Francisco office. Please RSVP by Sunday, December 8th, to attend.

📛 The busy events season continues inside and beyond the Bay Area:

SAN FRANCISCO

  • 10/28-10/30:  Our co-founder Monica Khan joined a panel discussion at TechCrunch Disrupt organized by Nick Borenstein, GM of The Webby Awards, to discuss chronically online culture with fellow Bay Area residents David Mogensen, VP of Global Marketing at Uber, and Margaret Johnson, Chief Creative Officer at Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

    From left, Nick Borenstein, Margaret Johnson, David Mogensen, and Monica Khan at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, CA.

  • 10/28: Our co-founder Rachel Masters attended an AI demo night on October 28th organized by Bay Area resident Priscilla Lau of Kiswe. You can read all about her experience attending and what she learned in this issue’s main story.

LOS ANGELES

Cassandra Bankson at the inaugural Forbes Creator Upfronts In Partnership With Walmart Creator in Los Angeles, CA.

💡 Finally, we highlight upcoming events inside and beyond the Bay Area, select news stories relevant to our community, and hot Bay Area-based jobs.

Let’s dive in!

– The Bay Area Creator Economy Community Team 

From Demos to Dreams: The Future of AI Video Is Ours to Create 

Rachel Masters, Contributor

From left, Will Selviz, Manuel Sansily, and Priscilla Lau in San Francisco, CA.

Demo nights are a great Bay Area tradition, giving us a chance to learn while gaining a glimpse into the future. Thanks to Priscilla Lau of Kiswe, we gained a better sense of what's possible with gen-AI at her AI Demo Night with Runway. Many of us fear AI will "eat our lunch," but this event hosted at Mux in SF offered clarity.

I left thinking that “the future of video is going to be beyond exciting!" However, we're still a few years away from mainstream creators fully embracing gen-AI video platforms like Runway, Luma, and Pika. Simon Sturmer, a San Mateo-based engineer, demonstrated his attempt to create a gen-AI video from a bedtime story, highlighting current challenges:

  • Most gen-AI platforms only produce short 5–10 second clips

  • Maintaining consistent characters or images across clips is difficult without advanced "training" skills akin to coding

  • User experience needs significant improvement to match the "text prompt to video" promise

Will Selviz and Manuel Sainsily screened their short film Protopica, which they created using OpenAI's Sora, showcasing the potential of AI in filmmaking. The short film explores themes of cultural preservation, belonging, and empathy and has become an interactive digital art installation.

So what does this mean for those of us working in the Creator Economy? Gen-AI video is in its early stages, and we still have the power to shape how these new platforms are developed and used. We look forward to exploring this opportunity with you as a community in 2025!

Upcoming events

Inside the Bay Area

NOVEMBER

November 1st - 8th
#DateWeek SF, a series of events hosted by your favorite bars, restaurants, athletic clubs, social clubs and more. Shout-out to Paloma founder and Bay Area resident Luba Yudasina and her team for curating all of this!

November 9th - 10th
Hack for Social Impact, 9:30am - 6:30pm, San Francisco

November 13th
Gen Battle SF: Make A Short Film with AI Tools, 5:30-9:30pm, San Francisco 

November 20th
Social Media Creators & Influencer Meetup San Francisco #2, 6:30-8:30pm, San Francisco

DECEMBER

HOSTED BY THE BAY AREA CREATOR ECONOMY
1st Annual Community Holiday Party
Get ready to jingle and mingle at our first annual holiday bash! 🎅🏽🕎

Date: Thursday, December 19th
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Location: Dovetail’s office, 660 Market Street, San Francisco, CA

Whether you're a solopreneur or part of a large company, everyone deserves a "fun corporate holiday party" so come celebrate with your friends in the Bay Area Creator Economy community.

Expect festive vibes, creative connections and holiday cheer! Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

​We are looking for sponsors so we can add some fun flair to our event – please email [email protected] if you are interested ✨✨

RSVP by Sunday, December 5th, to attend.

Beyond the Bay Area

NOVEMBER

November 9th - 10th
Consumer AI Hackathon, London

November 11th-14th
WebSummit, Lisbon. This conference includes a New Media Track featuring digital platforms, originality, and ownership. Our co-founder Jim Louderback is hosting the stage and will hold an Inside the Creator Economy meetup at Catch Me Lisboa on Thursday, November 14th, from 7:30pm until 9:30pm for drinks and a beautiful view over the bridges and harbor. RSVP here!

DECEMBER

December 13th - 14th
Creator Conf, virtual event

Have an event you’d like us to include here? If so, please send the event URL to [email protected].

Community News

Jobs

Have a job you’d like us to include here? Send the job posting URL to [email protected].

Are you interested in contributing to the community or sponsoring an event? 

Email us at [email protected]