Ex-UTA Agent Dante DeSario Launches Collage to Link AI Studios and Hollywood
Former UTA film agent Dante DeSario has launched Collage, a Los Angeles management company for production firms built around artificial intelligence, as reported by Deadline. The firm works with what the industry calls AI-native companies. That means teams that use generative tools from the start, not as an add-on.
A management company guides clients, finds work and helps shape deals. Collage says its job is to connect those AI-native teams with Hollywood studios, streamers, film-makers and brands. On the studio side, DeSario told Variety he wants to point executives toward human-led teams and steer them away from others. It is matchmaking with a filter.
Money is already in place. Collage has closed a seed funding round, an early raise to get a new business running, with Black Bear and Fundamental Films investing, according to Deadline. Black Bear also acts as an adviser, Variety reported. Other backers and senior advisers include Dennis Miller, Blue Deer Media, GOAL Ventures, AGC Studios, Roy Lee, Marty Bowen, Todd Lieberman, Todd Garner, Barry Porter, George Huber, Max Michael and director Ric Roman Waugh.
Eight clients sign on at launch, Deadline reported. They are Asteria, Defect, Lipstick, Matriarch, Native Foreign, Obsidian, Secret Level and Lux Meridian. Asteria is behind the software platform Continuum and the festival selections Alpha Gang and Chikaboom!. Matriarch is an AI-native and hybrid production company from Verena Puhm, former chief of Luma Dream Lab L.A. Native Foreign made the OpenAI-backed franchise Critterz. Obsidian is producer Wes Walker’s studio partnership with Imagine Entertainment. Lux Meridian is the generative production arm of Territory Group.
Collage also plans to put money into companies itself. It will invest selectively, directly or through dedicated vehicles run by Collage Capital. Those vehicles are separate funds set up to back young firms.
DeSario knows the independent film market. At UTA he worked in the independent film group, packaging projects and arranging finance for titles including Club Kid, Hokum, Tenzing and 4 x 4. Collage was founded in July, according to Variety.
What makes this stand out is the timing. Studios are still working out how to use generative video without losing crews, actors and audience trust. For viewers, the effect will be quiet at first. More credits may note AI-assisted work, and more festival titles may come from small teams with big toolkits.
