# Is the Capital of AI Media Culver City? By Mike Gioia · September 24, 2026 · Status: spotlight Tags: Culver City, AI Media, Culver Cluster > Where does the AI media industry gather? Is there a geographic center to this emerging space of filmmakers using AI in their work? ![The Culver Theater](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfvc9d2x/production/e5b8360883547365657ca7f3eb9c78cd696f4ceb-1280x720.jpg) # Why AI Filmmaking Companies Are Moving Culver City Los Angeles Where does the AI media industry gather? Is there a geographic center to this emerging space of filmmakers using AI in their work? The investment capital funding the industry flows from venture capital firms in Northern California. The video models powering the tools come out of China and San Francisco (and recently more China than San Francisco). The companies productizing and aggregating thoe video models into creative tools are, for the most part, spread around the world. The artists and studios creating work with the technology are scattered as well, but the critical mass of talent is based is settling around Los Angeles as a hub. This comes as no surprise as Los Angeles is already the center of traditional media. All the major studios are located in Los Angeles and plurality of the top directors, actors, producers, and talent live in the city. Ambitious filmmakers move to Los Angeles to pursue careers in directing, screenwriting, and filmmaking. Insofar as the same mindset and skillset translates over into AI filmmaking, Los Angeles also has the biggest concentration of creative filmmaking talent interested in AI. As a consequence, a lot of the AI media industry buzzes around Los Angeles. And more specifically it seems like AI media is centering around Culver City. # Companies Are Clustering Around Culver City In the last six months, multiple AI companies have been moving to Culver City and opening large offices. This summer a cohort of companies representing over $2 billion in venture capital have set up shop in Culver City. This influx of companies includes both labs creating products and studios creating films and shows. Promise , a venture-backed AI studio, opened an office right across the street from Sony Studios on Motor avenue. Not so far away, Luma Labs opened its creator space the Dream Lab in Culver City where they do research and development into hybrid AI filmmaking. In the Hayden tract, an industrial area of Culver City with tons of small studios and production companies, Sean Parker's AI media company Cantina Labs is opening a large Los Angeles office. ![The Culver Studios (now operated as Amazon MGM Studios).](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfvc9d2x/production/b145fd428e39ddb441daea421ea03431c1d5d3e0-1024x576.jpg?w=1600&auto=format) _The Culver Studios (now operated as Amazon MGM Studios)._ TrueShort, a microdrama studio and mobile streaming app with over $12-million in venture backing from the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg and Khosla ventures, opened its headquarters in Culver City in September. Nik Kleverov's Native Foreign, the AI-forward studio that was producing OpenAI's $20 million AI feature Critterz, opened its office only a mile away as well. Those are just to name a few. Several more companies are in the process of opening offices or actively searching for them. The traditional movie studios are bolstering the movement too. Amazon MGM Studios is one the most forward-thinking studios in Hollywood. Through their new AI studios initiative, they're actively doing deals with AI filmmakers and hiring specialists to build out workflows. # Why AI Media is Choosing Culver City So it's worth asking, why are so many startups and studios in the AI film/media space coming to Culver City? There's a few reasons. There's already an impressive hub of movie studios and Big Tech within a very small area in Culver City. Three large movie studios are within blocks of each other: Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Studios, and Apple TV all have huge studio lot footprints in Culver City. Big Tech is there too. Amazon, Amazon Web Services, Apple, have large offices attached to their entertainment outfits. ByteDance is just down the road too. You could take a meeting at all every company listed all in the same day. ![Sony Pictures Studios Lot](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfvc9d2x/production/f53838c10038aad3c76cdd8191c3d13ba2d4f017-1488x977.jpg?w=1600&auto=format) _Sony Pictures Studios Lot_ Culver City also has a rich history of supporting cinema. Culver City is its own city inside Los Angeles and has the official nickname "The Heart of Screenland". The city has a tradition of supporting the economic development within the realm of entertainment and media. In that vein, the city has been a wonderful partner to us (AI on the Lot) in putting on our annual conference "AI on the Lot" every year. The City Council officially sponsored our AI film & media conference in 2025 and again in 2026. Culver City is also conveniently located geographically, which is never to be underestimated in Los Angeles. Culver City is about 25-minutes from Santa Monica, 25-minutes from Downtown and 25-minutes from West Hollywood. It's one of the few places that's convenient whether you live on the West Side, the East Side or in Central LA. # An Annual Pilgrimage In addition to all the above, AI on the Lot makes Culver City our venue every May for our annual conference, which is the largest AI media conference in the world. The result is a pilgrimage of thousands of filmmakers, startups, and investors interested in the AI film & media space coming to Culver City for two days to meet each other. The resulting flood of people spawns dozens of satellite events and side activities in Culver City planned independently of the conference. During last year's conference, the Culver City chamber of commerce even offered tours of available office space to recently capitalized startups looking for offices. Since the conference, many companies signed leases and moved to Culver City. ![Filmmakers lining up for AI on the Lot 2026 on the Culver Plaza](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/hfvc9d2x/production/c714b497a315f75778449cae07df6daeb5c9c3ec-1488x930.jpg?w=1600&auto=format) _Filmmakers lining up for AI on the Lot 2026 on the Culver Plaza_ As attendees start to associate AI on the Lot as "South by Southwest for Culver City", we've realized that college students graduating into the job marketplace are seeing Culver City as synonymous with "the AI media industry". Young people starting their careers are entering a field where the map is still being drawn, so anyplace where they see people congregating can quickly be perceived as the 'center' where they imagine building a career. Since the 2026 conference, we've received multiple reports of college graduates moving to Culver City upon graduation to pursue work in AI filmmaking. # Keep an Eye on Culver City It's difficult to call any one place the 'center' of an industry. In the case of software, Silicon Valley is clearly the center. And in the case of media, Los Angeles has been the center of film & television since the industry's beginning. The landscape of AI media is still forming, so it's too early to make any definitive claims. But as the industry develops, don't ignore what's happening in Culver City. --- Source: https://aionthelot.com/news/is-the-capital-of-ai-media-culver-city Publisher: AI on the Lot (https://aionthelot.com)