Stages AI refreshed its site and residency funnel and teased an agent-driven Black Mamba variant plus a March 11 beta for selected artists. Watch the beta if you want a unified production layer for image, video, audio, and language workflows.

The redesign is not just cosmetic. Dustin tied it to two adjacent properties, NAKID.io and NAKID Pictures, and framed this week as the handoff from open submissions to a curated beta cohort. His post says residency submissions close just before March 11, when approved artists receive beta details and onboarding info beta timing.
The official STAGES page now reads like a selective intake funnel rather than a waitlist. The residency page describes The 100 as a cross-discipline residency spanning filmmaking, AI art, 3D, animation, design, music, writing, and games, with portfolio review, project intent, collaboration terms, and IP compliance built into the application.
The clearest product description still comes from Dustin’s launch materials: STAGES is pitched as a “production OS” that plans, generates, orchestrates, and ships multimodal work in one environment. The slides in platform overview describe a system for routing jobs across image, video, audio, and language models while tracking assets, continuity, and cost.
The technical framing goes further in the white paper summary, which surfaces a large internal registry of model mappings, billable services, endpoints, backend handlers, and pricing variations. Another clue is the local workflow doc shown in Blender guide, which references STAGES Connect, a Blender bridge, and OpenClaw runtime support for desktop setup and sync.
Dustin’s March 22 masterclass is being run entirely inside STAGES, with three months of access and automatic inclusion in The 100 residency offered to attendees masterclass post. That makes the class part education product, part live demo of the workflows he wants artists to use for prompt design, consistency, and review.
The more forward-looking reveal is “STAGES: BLACK MAMBA.” Dustin describes it as a sleeker, fully agent-driven version of the OS where the filmmaker, designer, or artist stays at the curation layer and delegated agents execute underneath Black Mamba tease. If the current beta is about proving the production layer, Black Mamba looks like the attempt to abstract that layer into an art-director-first interface.
Multiple posts say serialized AI fruit reality clips are matching or beating Love Island on per-episode views and follower growth. Keep an eye on recurring characters, simple drama, and fast episode cadence as a breakout AI-native format.
releaseTopview added Seedance 2.0 to Agent V2, pairing multi-scene generation with a storyboard timeline and Business Annual access billed as 365 days of unlimited generations. That moves longform video workflows toward editable sequences instead of stitched clips.
workflowCreators are moving from V8 calibration complaints to darker film-still scenes, fashion shots, and worldbuilding tests, with ECLIPTIC remakes showing stronger depth and lighting. Retest saved SREF recipes if you rely on V8 for cinematic ideation.
workflowA shared workflow converts GTA-style stills into photoreal images with Nano Banana 2, then animates them in LTX-2.3 Pro 4K using detailed material, skin, vehicle, and camera prompts. Try it for trailer-style previsualization if you want more control at lower cost.
workflowShared Nano Banana 2 workflows now cover turnaround sheets, distinctive facial traits, and photoreal rerenders that keep the framing of a reference image. Use one prompt grammar for concept art, editorial portraits, and animation prep.
I redesigned our site this weekend 🔥👾 Check it! @stages_ai is poppin’ 🙌 Next up is NAKID.io and
I’m doing a second MASTERCLASS this month! I wasn’t going to but I have all the materials together already and I recently joined a large learning platform and filming for it now, so I wanted to do this before that launches and all my education/workshop stuff goes through thereShow more
I’m working on a sleeker stealth version of @stages_ai OS that’s streamlined and completely agent driven with the artist/filmmaker/designer at the lead Art Director/Curation level, and agents all tasking below that. It’s badass so far. Calling it.. STAGES: BLACK MAMBA Coming
We have a new look 😍 When you visit pro.stages-ai.io Designed by @dustinhollywood our founder, we are taking aesthetics in Gen-AI to a new level. 🔥 Join our Artist Residency by applying on the site, down in the bottom right you will see the glowing button. Accepted Show more
What is STAGES anyway?