John Gaeta, the Bay Area digital disruptor who won an Oscar as VFX supervisor for “The Matrix,” has launched Escape (escape.ai), a neo cinema hub where global filmmakers, artists and game creators can showcase and monetize original work. Offering a “curated viewing experience” in story, art and experiential content, Escape styles itself as an “experimental” space. “If you like edgy-fun shows like ‘Love Death + Robots’ or the type of stories spun from game worlds, escape.ai is your place,” Gaeta said, describing it as a hybrid platform where premium streaming meets the creator economy.

“It’s a home destination for best in class, new creators, new voices using GenAI and game engines. I expect all sorts of other novel methods, special capture and whatnot, using advanced emergent technology,” Gaeta tells VentureBeat, which links the timing of the Web-based platform’s debut to the fact that “courts are now recognizing that AI assisted creations can be copyrighted.”

While other streaming platforms have gatekeepers and rely on volume-oriented algorithms for discovery, Escape prioritizes the distribution needs of creators, Gaeta said in an announcement that lists direct fan support, merchandise offerings and creator-specific subscription options among its monetization options, though it has yet to release specifics around those plans, emphasizing aesthetics at this early stage.

“A lot of my friends and colleagues have been using Unreal Engine, and other tools, to accomplish new kinds of content and original stories, but there hasn’t been a really great place to find any of that,” Gaeta says in VentureBeat.

While determined sleuths can sometimes find edgy, innovative work on platforms like YouTube and Crunchyroll, Gaeta aims to create impact by concentrating it in one place. Global demand for original genre entertainment has only grown as platforms proliferate, according to the announcement, which cites Statista indicating “more than one-third of video streaming subscribers identify a specific content genre as the primary reason when selecting a new digital content provider.”

Variety says the platform will emphasize new voices, emergent technologies and community.

Although still in beta, the escape.ai site is already public-facing, showcasing a variety of work and touting its own awards show, as detailed in Forbes.

“It’s really sort of the beginning of a new generation of content creators,” Gaeta tells VentureBeat, saying he expects to welcome some “established names as well as studios that are currently incubating emergent tech” to the mix. Neo cinema is sort of a content mash-up of games and generative AI, commercials, cross media and experimental work.