Digital press package

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The startup CYBERFILM.AI CORPORATION (known as CyberFilm) was founded in 2021 by brothers Russell and Andrew Palmer of Toronto, Canada.

Russell Palmer (President & CEO) was inspired a few years ago when he saw his first GPT-3 demo and got access to the playground, to see what stories AI could write and what it would tell us about it and humanity. He has worked for the last 15 years as a Product Manager from Seattle to Silicon Valley, at Microsoft, Samsung, JPMorgan Chase, and the pioneering AI start-up Viv Labs.

Andrew Palmer (Chief Story Officer) is an Author, Screenwriter, and award-winning Director/Producer. He founded Synapz Productions Entertainment Company to create, develop and produce Canadian entertainment content. Andrew has worked as an Assistant Director (AD) for the last 15 years on movie and television sets in Toronto and Vancouver, and is a member of the CMPA, DGC, and WGC.

CyberFilm makes software products for content creators and filmmakers. Their expertise is in Artificial Intelligence, particularly Generative AI. 

CyberFilm's first product "SAGA" was initially launched in April of 2023, with an upgraded version rolling out in Fall 2023. It assists filmmakers ideate, plan, and write all aspects of a feature film (including the plot, b-story, characters, acts, one-pager, beatsheet, screenplay, and to draw all of the storyboards). Their upcoming version in 2024 will add pre-viz, animation, and video capabilities for generating cartoon animation.

CyberFilm's headquarters is in San Francisco with a satellite office in Toronto, and remote employees in Montreal.

We raised a Friends & Family round earlier in 2023 including Shed Capital, followed by a Pre-Seed investment from famed Angel Jason Calacanis (LAUNCH Fund 4; All-In and This Week In Startups podcasts).

"Generative AI-powered tools for the next generation of filmmakers, helping them make more of their best work faster!"

The mission of our company is to democratize Hollywood filmmaking, empowering anyone with the passion and desire to create a Blockbuster-quality movie on an Indie budget. Silicon Valley startups have a mindset to do more with less, but Hollywood budgets have blown way out of control - becoming almost a bragging point and validation of a quality story. However, diverse original stories are no longer being told in favor of built in audiences through franchises, and VFX artists are overworked and out of reach of all but top studios. We think Generative AI can help; help grow the industry, grow jobs, grow quality and quantity, and grow the world's enjoyment of cinema in to the future.

As children, our co-founders Russell and Andrew were obsessed with movies - so much their parents hardly needed  babysitter (they could just put on a VHS tape of Ghostbusters or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). After watching the tapes so often the brothers literally burned up the VCR watching so often. With no tape left the Palmer brothers would act out the scenes for fun - after realizing they were memorized. With some skills learned, after a few school plays, the boys had short stints as child actors for the CBC. Landing a few "paid gigs" with some Sears advertisements. They also made home movies using the family video camera to and at Computer Camp programs (perfecting stop-motion and claymation using their favorite toys). This blossomed into dozens of vidos filmed through summer camps and programs in High School, making a number of short films and learning tools of the trade like editing, blocking, and other skills of production. 

While both studying Computer Science & Engineering in University, the brothers differed in their paths when Russell moved to Silicon Valley to work as a Product Manager building Artificial Intelligence, and Andrew went back to Film School (majoring in Creative Writing) to pursue a career in the film industry, working his way up on Hollywood production sets from Toronto to Vancouver now as an AD (Assistant Director), having worked on shows like "Suits" and "The Boys". 

In the summer of 2021 while taking a Stanford course on AI Product Management, Russell received an A+ on his course paper on 'how AI could disrupt an industry' (writing on Hollywood) with insight from Andrew. They wrote about notably how it could improve and grow the film industry (while noting things to watch out for and push back against in terms of ethics and jobs). His professor at Stanford serial entrepreneur Dr. Ronjon Nag encouraged them to start a company. After time researching at Y Combinator "Startup School" they built a working prototype, performed customer interviews, and were ready to incorporate their startup CyberFilm in the Fall of 2021.