Filmmaker Dan Hartley and former Prime Video UK Managing Director Chris Bird have officially launched CineMe, an AI-powered visual development tool designed to help creators build their cinematic worlds from script to screen.
This innovative venture aims to break down the budgetary barriers often faced by independent filmmakers while simultaneously supporting the industry’s workforce through a dedicated fund. Functioning as a collaborative bridge, CineMe allows producers, directors, cinematographers, and production designers to align on a shared visual vision more rapidly and cost-effectively than traditional methods.
A key mission for Hartley and Bird is the democratization of technology; by launching CineMe, they are providing independent creators with access to the kind of high-level visual tools that were previously exclusive to major studios and global streamers. Beyond the technology itself, the duo has introduced the CineMe Future Fund, committing 5% of the company to a charitable trust aimed at providing enterprise-grade AI support to freelancers and vulnerable creative workers.
Combining Hartley’s extensive creative background on major franchises like Harry Potter with Bird’s fifteen years of operational expertise at Amazon, the platform is currently in its beta phase and is already being utilized by several high-profile, confidential productions.
“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,” said Hartley and Bird.
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.”
