Filmmaker Dan Hartley and ex-Prime Video UK chief Chris Bird launch visual AI tool
Dan Hartley (left) and Chris Bird
British writer, director and producer Dan Hartley and former MD of Prime Video UK Chris Bird have launched a visual development tool for filmmakers powered by AI.
CineMe is branded as a tool “to empower content creators, enabling them to build a visual world from script to screen.”
According to Hartley and Bird, CineMe will allow collaboration between producers, director, production designer, DP, locations, costume designer and VFX, simplifying the way ideas are shared and saving time and money for producers.
“CineMe will be accessible to all established filmmakers looking to simplify the production process and it’s a tool that will democratise access to a type of technology that was previously the preserve of major studios and streamers,” they said.
The pair added that the tool was born out of Hartley’s “frustration with the barriers to entry faced by independent filmmakers who were looking to develop their careers and maximise their creative potential but have not historically had access to affordable visual development tools.”
Hartley’s credits include Bafta- and Emmy-nominated feature documentary The Boy Who Lived for HBO and Sky. He has also worked with directors such as Ridley Scott and on major Hollywood productions including the Harry Potter franchise.
Bird spent 15 years at Amazon’s Prime Video in the UK and is also the founder of HawksHead AI, as well as a former board adviser to the National Film and Television School.
CineMe is currently in the Beta phase of its development, with a series of “confidential, high-profile productions on board.” According to its founders, “key advisors and industry names” from across the film, technology and investment sectors will soon be announced.
CineMe launches alongside the CineMe Future Fund, which will provide 5% of the company to a charitable trust, with the goal of providing “enterprise-grade artificial intelligence to the screen-based creative industries workforce.”
Hartley, a freelancer impacted by financial insecurity in the wake of the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, said he hopes the fund will ignite a conversation about how the industry supports “the tens of thousands of freelancers who are the most vulnerable to disruption, whilst also ensuring we harness this once-in-a-lifetime technology to make sure the UK remains at the forefront of the global film industry.”
Hartley said: “Over a 20-year career I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the leading luminaries in the British film industry and I’ve seen first-hand how important it is to align teams around a creative vision.
“I see CineMe’s role as supporting the next generation of storytellers and filmmakers, by giving them access to affordable tools that will transform how they develop, produce and distribute films. Before CineMe you used to have to wait until you’d made a film before you could see it, now you don’t.”
Bird added: “After 15 years at Amazon, seeing first-hand how new technologies can help reduce cost, improve decision-making and increase efficiency, I’m excited to bring that ethos to the UK content creation space with CineMe. We sit on the precipice of significant change in our industry, and CineMe is perfectly placed to help creators bring their vision to screen more easily than has ever been possible.”
