A new intermediary is emerging between generative production companies and the studios, streamers and brands that might hire them. Former UTA independent film agent Dante DeSario has launched Collage, a Los Angeles-based management firm devoted to AI-native production. The move creates a formal supplier layer for a corner of production that is attracting serious capital.
Backing and roster
Collage starts with a seed round from Black Bear and Fundamental Films. The investor and advisor group reaches across independent film and content finance, including Dennis Miller, Blue Deer Media, GOAL Ventures, AGC Studios, Roy Lee, Marty Bowen, Todd Lieberman and Todd Garner. DeSario’s packaging résumé gives the launch a traditional Hollywood anchor: his independent film group work included Club Kid, which sold to A24 for a UTA-record in the high-teens millions.
The opening roster shows the breadth of AI-native work now in play. Defect operates in real-time 3D animation. Berlin-based Lipstick and hybrid specialist Secret Level sit alongside Asteria, the studio behind software platform Continuum and festival selections Alpha Gang and Chikaboom!. Matriarch comes from former Luma Dream Lab L.A. chief Verena Puhm. Native Foreign created the OpenAI-backed franchise Critterz. Lux Meridian, the generative production arm of Territory Group, carries credits on Dune, The Martian and Guardians of the Galaxy. Obsidian, Wes Walker’s partnership with Imagine Entertainment, is also on the list.
What Collage actually does
Collage is not selling a conventional agency model. The firm’s stated job is to organise a young market: identify top suppliers, match production methods to projects, price and size the work, and manage quality, legal and delivery. The company will also invest selectively, directly or through dedicated investment vehicles managed by Collage Capital.
- Curate AI-native suppliers for studios, streamers and brands.
- Match production methods to the right project.
- Set pricing and project scope.
- Manage quality, legal and delivery risk.
- Invest selectively through Collage Capital.
“We saw extraordinary creative companies emerging around generative production, but very little infrastructure around them,” DeSario said.
That gap is the real story. After two years of high anxiety about AI reshaping production and potentially eliminating jobs, the entertainment business has settled into a more pragmatic phase. The relevant question for buyers is no longer whether AI production exists; it is how to tell a capable supplier from a convincing demo.
Why this matters for buyers
For media planners, entertainment marketers and studio executives, Collage is an early read on how AI production will be bought. A curated roster plus delivery oversight can cut search and legal costs, but it does not remove the need for standard due diligence. Buyers should still ask for the same proof they would demand from a traditional production partner: clearances, schedules and benchmarked pricing.
Collage also plans to take equity in selected companies through Collage Capital. That financial interest could influence which suppliers get recommended, so buyers may want to ask how a referral is sourced before greenlighting a project.
The launch fits a broader pattern: established producers and financiers are reaching across to Silicon Valley rather than waiting out the technology. That makes Collage less a novelty than a sign of how AI-native work is being absorbed into the normal Hollywood buying process.
Source: Deadline
