Filmustage, a digital platform that streamlines pre-production for film, has raised $550,000 in a funding round backed by Flyer One Ventures, Geek Ventures, Imaguru and Vesna Capital. The money will be used to translate the product into languages including Spanish, French and German as part of an international expansion commencing this summer. Next year the company plans to add Hindi and Chinese. Founded in 2020, Filmustage software automates script breakdowns, categorizing scenes and tagging elements like costumes, props, characters and locations. Company co-founder and CEO Egor Dubrovsky said more than 30 features have been added since launch.

“We are witnessing how AI is penetrating and fundamentally changing the creative industries. Previously, filmmakers only used AI tools in post-production. The pre-production phase lacked innovation,” Vital Laptenok, general partner at Flyer One Ventures, said in TechCrunch, citing Filmustage as a creative solution.

In general, he believes AI assistance can result in cost savings that will drive revenue and profit in a global film market he values at more than $100 billion.

The funding will also be used to acquire new B2B customers, including “several major players,” according to TechCrunch, which notes that “investors like former WhatsApp product designer Anton Borzov and Looksery co-founder Yurii Monastyrshyn” are also backing the company.

Filmustage has become known as an effective script breakdown solution. Users can “search for, change or remove any breakdown element and add new categories,” TechCrunch reports, noting the results “can then be uploaded as a PDF file or into Final Draft.”

The newest features are “Analysis” and “Scheduling.” The semi-automatic shooting schedule tool — which integrates with Movie Magic Scheduling and Gorilla Scheduling — “allows users to assign shooting locations to scenes, which day they plan to shoot and an estimation of how many hours each scene will take,” TechCrunch writes.

The analysis feature draws on AI to dissect screenplays from a variety of perspectives, increasing the odds that nothing will be overlooked in pre-production. Things like stunt requirements, COVID-19 safety measures and compliance with laws regarding minors and animals can all be accounted for in Filmustage.

“We strongly believe that NLP [natural language processing] continues to change the world in a good sense, helping people to avoid routine work, decreasing stress rates, making things eco-friendly, avoiding pandemic risks, and helping professionals to stay focused on what is important,” Dubrovsky said in a 2022, posted by No Film School, adding that even filmmaking veterans are embracing the conveniences offered by artificial intelligence.

Related:
How AI and the Cloud Are Erasing the Borders in Making Movies and TV Shows, Forbes, 2/24/23