FC/LA: A Meeting Of The Most Creative Minds

Join Fast Company editors and writers live from our creativity counter-conference in Los Angeles on May 6th & 7th!

With FC/LA: A Meeting of the Most Creative Minds, Fast Company presents our first-ever gathering in Los Angeles to cast a lens on the impact and importance of creativity in business, technology, design, and of course, entertainment.

During the event we’ll also be celebrating the 2015 inductees to our Most Creative People in Business community, who will be announced in the June issue of the magazine.

With leading thinkers from companies like Funny or Die, Hulu, DAQRI, The Honest Company, TOMS, SoulPancake, and more, FC/LA will bring the best of Fast Company’s magazine and websites to life.

Check out the full event agenda here.

3rd & 7 37yd

Nicole LaPorte to OWN co-CEOs: OWN was losing money not too long ago. How has the turnaround happened?

Sheri Salata says "We didn't believe what people were writing." She says if most of her team had done even 10% better than the day before, they had the right recipe: momentum.

by Sarah Lawson edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 5:26:47 PM
ICYMI: Oprah showed up to Fast Company's offsite session at OWN yesterday. Sheri says that was the magic that the company is used to creating. And you can feel it in the staff culture.

by Sarah Lawson 5/7/2015 5:31:14 PM
One of Jessica Alba's hiring requirements: pass the "airport test." If you are stranded with someone for six hours, would you a) not want to kill them and b) want to have a beer with them and chitchat?

by Erin Schulte 5/7/2015 6:08:17 PM
The party has moved outside! LA mayor Eric Garcetti talking with Fast Company editor Bob Safian.

by Lori Hoffman 5/7/2015 6:30:07 PM
Just Fast Company Editor Bob Safian, Jessica Alba and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti hanging out backstage at #FCLA15

by Michelle Markowitz 5/7/2015 6:40:26 PM
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti on LA traffic: right now, there's an average of only 1.1 people in every car. If every car had an average of 1.6 people (roughly every other car was carpooling), "L.A. wouldn't have traffic."

by Sarah Lawson 5/7/2015 6:47:05 PM
Fast Company contributor Baratunde Thurston talking Soul Pancake with Rainn Wilson and Shabnam Mogharabi

by Lori Hoffman 5/7/2015 7:07:19 PM
Rainn Wilson and Shabnam Mogharabi of Soul Pancake are up next, talking about how the uplifting web video company got its start.

Eight years ago when they were thinking about how to start a web content business, "the worst of humanity" was on the Internet. They wanted to change that.

So with Mogharabi, they decided to make uplifting video content that had an edge - nothing smarmy, sappy, or Oprah-esque (oh, snap!!)

by Sarah Lawson 5/7/2015 7:10:56 PM
(Wilson's words not mine)...

by Sarah Lawson 5/7/2015 7:11:41 PM
"We're not afraid to go right for the human heart." - Rainn Wilson on Soul Pancake's mission #FCLA15

by Michelle Markowitz 5/7/2015 7:14:26 PM
Do you measure the success of your company based on the number of gallons of tears? (They often pull pranks that turn out to be very emotional for the participants.)

by Noah Robischon 5/7/2015 7:15:48 PM
Rainn Wilson on what Soul Pancake is--taking universal human experiences and exploring them visually: death, joy, gratitude.

by Lori Hoffman edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 7:17:57 PM
Getting heavy (and funny) with Rainn Wilson talking about death and joy on SoulPancake #FCLA15

by Erin Schulte 5/7/2015 7:19:02 PM
"Like attracts like. Our storytellers believe in what we do and are excited to be part of something that brings people joy and tears." - Soul Pancake on their mission

by Michelle Markowitz 5/7/2015 7:21:46 PM
"We get to pay our employees a lot lot less because we have a mission," jokes Rainn. Note: His timing was perfect and cannot be translated into liveblogese. They did think about making Soul Pancake a non-profit at one point.

by Noah Robischon edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 7:22:27 PM
Fun fact: SoulPancake was almost named Metaphysical Milkshake #FCLA15

by Erin Schulte 5/7/2015 7:22:54 PM
Soul Pancake is so uplifting, their YouTube channel doesn't have troll-y comments. You read that right. Mogharabi says that when someone posts as a troll on one of their videos, the positive Soul Pancake fans self police the channel and drown them out!

by Sarah Lawson 5/7/2015 7:32:55 PM
Number one social recommendation from Soul Pancake: choose one call to action for your audience and stick to it.

by Noah Robischon 5/7/2015 7:34:34 PM
What does success look like to you? Rainn: we want to make stuff that matters.

by Noah Robischon 5/7/2015 7:36:58 PM
Vosges chocolate workshop, wow you've never tasted so many flavors in chocolate. This is the founder Katrina Markoff.

by Noah Robischon 5/7/2015 8:27:05 PM
Katrina Markoff of Vosges, leading a chocolate meditation here at lunchtime

by Lori Hoffman 5/7/2015 8:27:15 PM
Just had an amazing "chocolate meditation" tasting with the talented Katrina Markoff of Vosges. I'll leave you with these photos, because there are no words for chocolate that uses olive oil, mushrooms and matcha green tea.

by Sarah Lawson 5/7/2015 8:48:41 PM
Happy chocolate testers.

by Noah Robischon 5/7/2015 9:11:23 PM
by smallsjk via twitter 5/7/2015 9:13:36 PM
72andSunny's amazing space is actually Howard Hughes' old airplane hangar. Renowned game designer Will Wright leads a workshop on the psychology behind championing our own ideas. #FCLA15

by Michelle Markowitz edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 9:59:39 PM
Noun Project workshop underway. Attendees are using icon stamps and screen printing to represent water conservation.

by Lori Hoffman edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 10:10:15 PM
by Robert Safian via twitter 5/7/2015 11:35:25 PM
by kimlast via twitter 5/7/2015 11:35:36 PM
by Sklawson via twitter 5/7/2015 11:36:03 PM
FYI, LeVar Burton just lip synced the intro to Reading Rainbow from the #FCLA15 stage.

by Sarah Lawson 5/7/2015 11:37:14 PM
Years after Reading Rainbow was canceled from PBS, LeVar Burton has jumpstarted the program again through Kickstarter and via a new app. His mission is still the same as it was back then: "Meet children where they are, and take them where you want them to go." TV is just one of many screens that kids use to interact with the world now, he says. So now kids can learn to read and explore the world through literature using the tech they're comfortable with.

by Sarah Lawson edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 11:40:05 PM
"I believe very firmly in meeting kids where they are then taking them where you want to go." - Levar Burton on Reading Rainbow's longevity #FCLA15

by Michelle Markowitz edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 11:41:19 PM
LeVar Burton on working inside a brand close to people's hearts:

Reading Rainbow: It's dangerous - now the program has been part of the childhoods of so many people who are adults now. "There's nothing in the world that's easier to do than disappoint people," he says. So its next iteration had to strike a chord in the sweet spot of nostalgia that is childhood. The 200 or so former children in the audience agree!

by Sarah Lawson edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 11:48:39 PM
"You're not at your creative potential if you don't have a relationship with the written word." -LeVar Burton on creavity

by Sarah Lawson edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/7/2015 11:50:45 PM
by kimlast via twitter 5/8/2015 12:10:59 AM
"Don't be afraid to fail. You will learn so much more from your failures than your successes. I know I have." - @levarburton #FCLA15

by michmarkowitz via twitter 5/8/2015 12:11:20 AM
The final content session of the day has just begun. Fast Company editor Bob Safian brings together a panel of the Most Creative People in Business, including D'Wayne Edwards, Scott Borchetta, Franklin Leonard, and Julie Smolyansky.

by Lori Hoffman edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/8/2015 12:20:57 AM
Pretty insane lineup for the final #FCLA15 session of the day: Scott Borchetta (American Idol + Big Machine), Franklin Leonard (Blacklist), D'Wayne Edwards (Pensole), and Julie Smolyansky (Lifeway Foods) being interviewed by Fast Company editor in chief Bob Safian. They are all discussing how crazy they are in their creativity. Borchetta says the Big Machine mantra is "start crazy and work backwards." Leonard says it's crazy NOT to be creating. Natural selection selects FOR creativity. Modern conventional society selects it OUT. Fight that urge, he says.

by Sarah Lawson edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/8/2015 12:22:04 AM
Franklin Leonard of the Blacklist: "Human beings are innately creatively. It's not crazy to be creative. It's crazy to resist your creativity." #fcla

by Lori Hoffman 5/8/2015 12:22:41 AM
Our editor is channeling his inner Ricki Lake right now, running the mic to all of our Most Creative People in the audience to get their thoughts on creativity.

by Sarah Lawson 5/8/2015 12:31:12 AM
Veronica Juarez of Lyft has a surprising fun fact about competitor Uber: Given the policy issues that ride sharing services face, they actually work together on 99% of public policy issues.

by Sarah Lawson edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/8/2015 12:37:28 AM
We just finished an amazing day #2 and are having fun eating and getting ready for the Funny or Die show.

(Note: Some of us aren't ready to leave California yet.)

by Michelle Markowitz edited by Cayleigh Parrish 5/8/2015 1:38:10 AM
Catching up with a few more highlights from Day 1 of the event:

At Wild Card, founder Nick Temple and his wife Alison Temple— who is the managing director of 3AM, Wild Card's movie marketing joint venture with RSA Films— shed some light on what for many of us is the best part of going to the movies: the trailers. Joined by Wild Card's music supervisor, Marcy Bulkeley, the team walked us through how trailers get made and the art of fitting big stories into small, yet powerful, packages. Fun fact: the team made the entire trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes using only early footage of actor Andy Serkis on a green screen. Talk about creative constraints! You can watch the final result here:
Theatrical Teaser | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Campaigns | Wild Card
Wild CardIn the creation of theatrical motion picture campaigns, on-air promos, interactive game advertising and entertainment-related marketing materials, Wild Card delivers its clients a commitment to excellence.

by Alexa Jaccarino 5/12/2015 3:46:52 PM

FC/LA: A Meeting Of The Most Creative Minds

Join Fast Company editors and writers live from our creativity counter-conference in Los Angeles on May 6th & 7th!

Theatrical Teaser | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Campaigns | Wild Card

Video

Impact

Air pollution might be why you’re going bald

The next XPrize wants to catalog the riches of the rainforest before it’s too late

The beef industry wants you to think that it has a ‘minimal’ environmental impact (it does not)

Creativity

Netflix’s potential ‘Chinatown’ prequel series is five kinds of wrong

Jake Tapper uses Mr. Rogers to echo Ellen DeGeneres’s hollow call for civility

Lizzo is being sued again—this time for being a nightmare Postmates customer

Co.Design

Spend a day inside the design studios you wish you worked for

Warby Parker is launching a new brand, Scout, to sell contact lenses

See the states where designers make the most money for their work

Work Life

These are the biggest personal branding mistakes women make

What your private Slack channels say about your company’s culture

Practical advice if you’ve ever been called a ‘diversity hire’