CineMe, the AI platform for filmmakers and content creators founded by BAFTA and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Dan Hartley and former Amazon Prime Video UK managing director Chris Bird, goes live on 1st October 2026.
The founders have also confirmed that Julia Stuart, formerly Director of Original Film at Sky and now leading the international film strategy at STUDIO TF1, has joined the CineMe advisory board. Stuart was named one of the Most Powerful Women in International Television by The Hollywood Reporter in October 2024.
CineMe turns a script into photo-realistic images and video, then carries the project through budgeting, scheduling and financing in a single collaborative workspace. For filmmakers and content creators that means storyboards, previsualisation and pitch decks strong enough to secure financing, attract cast and align the creative and production teams. The platform is available across a range of subscription tiers.
“CineMe turns words into worlds, so any storyteller can see, shape, cost, sell and produce,” said Dan Hartley, founder of CineMe. “Anyone with a story to tell should have production-grade tools in one collaborative hub. The aim is to raise creative ambition and lower financial risk at the same time, by making it possible to prototype a film at very low cost.”
“YouTube gave everyone a platform, Netflix gave everyone a cinema, and CineMe gives everyone a studio,” says Chris Bird, co-founder of CineMe.
Julia Stuart said: “I’ve been on an incredible journey over the past year with Dan seeing the birth of CineMe, watching it come to life and seeing what’s possible. It’s a project I feel passionately about, and I’ve been involved every step of the way, contributing on a practical and creative level. The benchmark we have set ourselves is the gold standard, and getting there has been a process of rigour and, at times, perfectionism. What excites me most is how far we can advance creativity through the technology.”
Over the coming months Hartley and Bird will shape the CineMe 5% Fund, honouring a founding commitment to place 5 per cent of the company in a charitable trust. Its purpose is to put enterprise-grade artificial intelligence in the hands of the screen industries workforce.
“The pandemic and the strikes left a generation of freelancers financially exposed, and I was one of them,” said Hartley. “This is a watershed moment. The UK can hold its position as the leading global production centre and set the standard for how this technology is used, but only if it also builds a pipeline for the workforce of today and tomorrow.”
