Artificial intelligence platform Runway has launched The Hundred Film Fund to help finance 100 projects that use its AI to tell stories. Created by the company through its Runway Studios, the Fund is starting with $5 million, “with the potential to grow to $10 million.” Runway is presenting the Fund as “an open call to all creative professionals who have AI-augmented film projects in the pre- or post-production phases and are in need of funding.” Directors, producers and screenwriters are among those invited to apply. The program will consider all formats, from features to shorts, documentaries, experimental projects, music videos and more.

Applications are now open for grants typically ranging from $5,000 to $1 million, with an additional $2 million worth of Runway credits to be awarded. Generative AI output is getting ever faster, and Variety says Runway’s funding will be quick, too: “decisions on applications will typically be made within 14 days of submission.”

“We believe that the best stories are yet to be told, but that traditional funding mechanisms often overlook new and emerging visions within the larger industry ecosystem,” Runway co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela wrote in a blog post.

Runway has created an advisory board to help evaluate pitches that includes Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal; Richard Kerris, VP and GM of chip giant and Runway investor Nvidia; artist, entrepreneur and Runway investor will.i.am, Company 3 founder and CEO Stefan Sonnenfeld; and producer Christina Lee Storm, founder and CEO of Asher XR.

Variety reports that “Runway will not have ownership rights to the intellectual property created under the program” or distribution rights, quoting Valenzuela saying, “this is not about getting our money back,” but to promote the creative possibilities of generative AI.

“Runway recently made headlines when it formed a first-of-its-kind AI partnership with Lionsgate,” notes IndieWire, adding that “the first practical collaborations will likely be on pre-vis and storyboarding. In other words, wanna see if that ‘John Wick 5’ script would be any good? Train the text-to-video model with the first four films, input an already- (by a human, we hope) written screenplay, and see what it spits out.”

For its part, Runway will have “access to the studio’s massive portfolio of films and TV shows” for model training, reports The Verge.

IndieWire points out that “Runway launched the AI Film Festival in 2023 and received about 300 short-film submissions; the 2024 version received more than 3,000 submissions.”