An AI platform for the film industry, Filmustage, is today announcing recent funding. First launched in 2020, the platform is designed to streamline pre-production within the film industry using a wide range of features, resembling the power to interrupt down scripts in a couple of minutes and categorize them into scenes and elements like props, costumes and characters.

The most recent funding, which totals $550,000, includes backing by Flyer One Ventures, Geek Ventures, Vesna Capital, and Imaguru and can go toward a global expansion that can make the product available in multiple foreign languages. As an illustration, this summer, Filmustage will turn out to be available in Spanish, French and German. In 2024, it would roll out in Hindi and Chinese.

Investors like former WhatsApp product designer Anton Borzov and Looksery co-founder Yurii Monastyrshyn, amongst others, also backed the corporate.

“We’re witnessing how AI is penetrating and fundamentally changing the creative industries,” Vital Laptenok, General Partner at Flyer One Ventures, said in a press release. “Previously, filmmakers only used AI tools in post-production. The pre-production phase lacked innovation, and Filmustage created an efficient solution. Today, the worldwide filmmaking market is valued at over $100 billion, and I think that implementing AI will boost it even further!”

As Filmustage is currently only available in English, becoming available in other languages will allow filmmakers across the globe to make use of Filmustage of their desired dialect.

The corporate also plans to make use of the funding to amass recent B2B customers, which include “several major players within the film industry,” Filmustage told TechCrunch.

The product is especially known for its script breakdown feature, which highlights characters and other elements like locations, props, extras, costumes, and more. Users may seek for, change, or remove any breakdown element and add recent categories. It may possibly then be uploaded as a PDF file or into Final Draft.

Other features include a script summary tool, which gathers all the weather for one scene on a page to find out the variety of forged members, props, costumes, locations, vehicles and extras a selected film will need, in addition to the reports and references feature, which permit users so as to add a visible reference to categories with stock images or their very own uploads. The visual reference tool might be handy for set directors that want to visualise props for certain scenes. As an illustration, what the feather will appear like firstly of “Forrest Gump.”

The most recent tools on the platform are “Scheduling” and “Evaluation.” The semi-automatic shooting schedule tool allows users to assign shooting locations to scenes, which day they plan to shoot and an estimation of what number of hours each scene will take. Users can upload their schedule right into a spreadsheet or into software like Movie Magic Scheduling and Gorilla Scheduling.

The evaluation feature uses AI to research a screenplay based on various factors that might help filmmakers prepare higher and be certain that that they don’t forget anything crucial for the pre-production process. This includes animal handling, children’s safety, copyright law objects, stunt performance requirements and even COVID safety measures.

The evaluation feature was requested by users who’ve run into issues after being unprepared for certain situations, co-founder and COO Andrei Karalkou told us.

“We heard a story that this guy desired to shoot a scene in a desert, but they forgot to order these huge fans for cooling down,” Karalkou said. “So we wish to assist filmmakers to be prepared and for them to be certain that that they don’t forget anything crucial for the [pre-production] process.”

The corporate also plans to launch integrations with several marketplaces that will allow users to buy film-related equipment directly on the platform. Users will eventually have the opportunity to create an inventory of things that they need and compare pricing. The tool would likely be helpful for filmmakers with investors that need to see the film budget estimation.

One other feature within the works is a script pitch deck where users can create a pitch with the intention to potentially get investments for his or her film.

Overall, Filmustage appears to be a helpful tool for a lot of film departments and employees, above and below the road, resembling cinematography, set design, casting, and costume design. One notable user is Roger Christian, Oscar-winning set decorator and director known for his work on “Star Wars.”

Christian spoke about Filmustage in the course of the 2022 European Film Market event. “You’ve to be experienced to interrupt the principles. It’s like architecture; should you’ve got a grounding in the idea, then you definately can break the principles. So, what [Filmustage] has done there’s broke some rules now since it was actually needed within the marketplace. And I’ll encourage filmmakers to do that because you would like this data,” he said.

Filmustage was co-founded by Belarusians Egor Dubrovsky, Ruslan Khamidullin and Andrei Karalkou, who’re film lovers and tech professionals which have known one another since studying at university.

Dubrovsky got here up with the thought for the platform while working as a second assistant cameraman for production corporations that create TV shows for Netflix and Prime Video.

“I worked for over 10 years within the industry and all the time wondered why we couldn’t automate a number of the most time-consuming processes in filmmaking,” Dubrovsky said. “Even within the U.S., a hotbed for filmmakers, creators face the identical problem. Right on the set, I surveyed the primary potential clients, and after I returned home, I gathered a team and commenced working on Filmustage.”

As of February 2023, Filmustage has greater than 4,400 registered users, and over 350 paid users, the corporate claims.

Users can either enroll for the fundamental plan, which is $49/month and allows you to upload three projects per thirty days, or the studio plan, which is $149/month and allows you to upload ten projects per thirty days. The platform also offers a seven-day free trial.