What Does a Gen AI Content Studio Actually Look Like?

In November, a new type of content studio, Promise, was launched. Backed by high-profile investors, including producer Peter Chernin, Promise announced at its outset that it aimed to produce film and TV series by incorporating generative artificial intelligence tools into its production workflow, partly by utilizing its proprietary software MUSE.

The company has promoted itself as being creator-led, looking to put filmmakers at the center of its projects rather than replacing them, with part of its strategy being to streamline the future collaborations between traditional Hollywood creators and top Gen AI artists.

That sounds good — or, to AI-skeptics, like a less scary version of a Gen AI future — but like all things surrounding a new technology that we are told will completely disrupt how films and TV are made, it’s hard to envision what a future-facing content studio like Promise would look like or even how it would operate.

Now, Promise co-founders — CEO George Strompolos, President/COO Jamie Byrne, and CCO Dave Clark — have given us a glimpse, as they announce the company’s first set of hires and development deals.

Part one of the announcement is what Promise is calling its “In-House Resident Artists and Technologists,” who will be full-time employees, bringing the company’s total to 15. The group includes filmmakers with experience as artisans on big movies, music videos, and viral videos, most notably its new Head of Creative Technology Rob Nederhorst, the Netherlands Antilles-based visual effects supervisor of “John Wick 3.”

Joining Nederhorst are VFX artist William McCormick who, as the founder of Hard Visuals, became “known for kinetic camera moves, dynamic 2D/3D blends, and ambitious compositing effects,” plus Creative Technologist Jordon Pengraph, who was the creative force behind “The Matrump.”

Possibly the most intriguing and telling of the new full-time hires is MetaPuppet, who will serve as Promise’s new Head of Genre/Gen AI Director, a perch from which the New York-based AI filmmaker will lead the company’s genre IP development initiatives. MetaPuppet — whose YouTube page features some of the most cutting-edge Gen AI work, including the short “Mnemonade,” which has the subheading “The AI Film That Made Hollywood Cry” — is not, by any means, the traditional development executive, something Byrne, drawing on his experience as a former exec at the early days of YouTube, told IndieWire was a conscious choice.

“We really do want to be a company that is creator-led and feels creator-led, and has a free, open energy of creativity,” said Byrne. “It’s very possible that we hire a more traditional development executive at some point, we think there could be a lot of value there in helping us shape ideas, build relationships with distributors, help us work on the right attachments for our different projects, and things of that nature, but I think at this early stage of the company we’re excited to have the creators drive the energy, and collaborate on ideas together.”

Founders of Gen AI studio Promise, from left, Jamie Byrne, George Strompolos, and Dave ClarkJeff Lorch

According to Byrne and Clark, these full-time hires are collaborating on developing the workflows, processes, and tools that will be at the heart of Promise, but the co-founders made clear in an interview with IndieWire that the company will not become a vendor or production company-for-hire to studios looking to incorporate Gen AI into their established productions. Promise is focused on developing its own IP in-house or partnering with traditional Hollywood creators in the development phase and come on as co-producers.

Which leads to the second part of the company’s announcement, which it is calling its first round of “Gen AI Directors with Development Deals”: China-based Junie Lau, Canada-based Dale Williams (The Reel Robot), France-based Guillaume Hurbault (Guillaume H.), and the England-based Ryan James Phillips (Uncanny Harry).

While the four global artists-in-residence with Promise development deals have been in and around the Hollywood eco-system, their most striking qualification is what Clark called producing “the most innovative and boundary-pushing” work in Gen AI, with each bringing a wide variety of professional experience away from tradition film and TV. For example, Lau, along with Phillips, was part of the “Our Terminator 2 Remake” team, but has also been a production designer for Lancome Paris and Dior. You can read more about these artists’ backgrounds and Gen AI work, along with the four full-time hires, at the Promise blog post announcing their development deals.

Byrne told IndieWire each of the artists will be developing their own ideas, but are also a key component to the company’s strategy of partnering with traditional IP creators looking to explore Gen AI.

“The way to think about it is there’s two sets of ideas that they’ll be working on in any given period of time. One is an original that they’re generating on their own, and the other is what we’re calling an assignment,” said Byrne. “That assignment can be an IP partner that we’ve established a relationship with that’s looking to develop ideas in this space. We could say, ‘We’ve licensed or optioned this particular book series, can you share some concepts on how you would bring that to life?’ Another way, we could partner with an established Hollywood, creator, director, or writer, and they have existing IP ideas they want explore with Gen AI. We could pair them up with one of the artists in residence.”

You can watch Promise co-founder Dave Clark at IndieWire’s Sundance panel exploring if there is an ethical and artistic path for independent filmmakers with AI.