LOS ANGELES—The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today said futurist Robert Tercek, creative technologist Jessie Hughes from Leonardo.AI and Emmy-winning creator Bernie Su are among the influential voices who will offer their insights during the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, Feb. 15-19, at the Westin Rancho Mirage (Calif.) Golf Resort & Spa.
This year also marks a milestone for the event as Mark Schubin, the prolific industry veteran who has served as program maestro for nearly three decades, curates his final event. Schubin's legacy of shaping the retreat will be celebrated throughout the week, HPA said.
During the four-day program, the retreat will explore how AI is transforming storytelling, how creator-driven platforms are redefining content strategies and how cloud-based workflows continue to reshape the media supply chain. In addition to Terek, Hughes and Su, leaders from OpenAI and CrunchLabs will be on hand.
The retreat will also shed light on Washington policy developments and conversations that look well beyond the present, it said.
“Our industry is at a critical crossroads, impacted by the challenges and opportunities that technology itself represents,” Leon Silverman, HPA Tech Retreat Planning Committee chair, said.
“For our 2026 Tech Retreat, we are convening an important and timely industry conversation and program filled with some of our industry's most informed voices who are navigating at the edge of this dynamic change and generously sharing their knowledge,” Silverman said. “And since the retreat’s inception, this collection of tech conversation leaders has been pioneered and curated by Mark Schubin, whose name is synonymous with the HPA Tech Retreat. His enduring contributions to this amazing industry innovation conversation, while also serving as the Tech Retreat’s face, brain, chronicler and timekeeper since its earliest days, will be a legacy long celebrated.”
The event’s Tuesday Supersession will look at the forces transforming media creation under the theme “WTF Is Going On in the Media Industry?” The program, curated by Silverman, will dive into AI filmmaking, creator-led economies and next-generation workflows.
Highlights include Ed Ulbrich on the artistry and ethics of generative tools, Hughes of Leonardo.AI exploring the intersection of algorithms and creativity and Su, alongside Chad Nelson of OpenAI and Pojo Riegert of CrunchLabs, unpacking the creator economy.
The day will also tackle the business of the business, as Seth Hallen moderates a conversation with Ethan Jacks, Vince Pizzica and Joe Harkins on how business leaders can navigate—and capitalize on—the massive disruption redefining today’s media supply chain. Other sessions will explore what these shifts mean for traditional film and television workflows, the rise of cloud-based production and how AI is reshaping vendor strategies as a new supply chain emerges, it said.
Monday sets the stage with the TR-X program themed “Imagine No Limits.” A call to rethink workflows and creative possibilities in an era of rapid transformation, the day will feature conversations on future-facing strategies, including a panel on what the next decade holds for media and entertainment and a CG Pro workshop focused on reskilling talent for evolving studio pipelines. Monday concludes with a keynote from futurist Tercek, who will share a provocative perspective on creativity and technology in a boundary-free future.
Other programming includes midweek roundtables and sessions on AI-assisted editing, cloud-era media pipelines, CES 2026 trends and a technology year in review. New features include gHack, a Google Hackathon on Sunday, designed to educate and foster collaboration. Other Sunday activities include the annual HPA Golf Tournament and informal networking, providing a relaxed start to an intensive week of ideas and discovery, it said.
The event schedule is available online.
