Latest news with #PouyaShahbazian
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Prime Video Launches AI-Assisted Dubbing Of Movies And Series In Pilot Program
Amazon's Prime Video has launched a pilot program using AI tools to dub select movies and series into English and Latin American Spanish. The initiative, which launched Wednesday, is intended to make the streaming service's 'vast streaming library accessible to even more customers,' the company wrote in a blog post. More from Deadline New AI Player Staircase Studios Formed By 'Divergent' Producer Pouya Shahbazian; Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Kenneth Lerer And Aryeh Bourkoff Among Its Advisors And Backers Phoebe Waller-Bridge To Narrate Wildlife Documentary 'Octopus!' For Amazon 'Maxton Hall - The World Between Us' Season 2 Launch Date Update: Breakout YA Series To Launch "At The End Of The Year" The AI-assisted dubbing will be used for licensed movies and series that would not otherwise have been dubbed. The 12 licensed movies and series being tested including titles like El Cid: La Leyenda, Mi Mamá Lora, and Long Lost. 'At Prime Video, we believe in improving customers' experience with practical and useful AI innovation,' said Raf Soltanovich, VP of technology at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. 'AI-aided dubbing is only available on titles that do not have dubbing support, and we are eager to explore a new way to make series and movies more accessible and enjoyable.' With the streaming boom recently yielding hits made in one international territory and then embraced by viewers elsewhere (the ultimate example being Netflix's Squid Game), interest in dubbing and subtitling has grown significantly. Netflix reported last year that more than 40% of viewing of Korean unscripted series was dubbed, with 'regions like Brazil, Mexico, LATAM and EMEA showing a strong preference for dubbing over subtitles.' The Prime Video announcement didn't offer any regional breakdowns, but it called the pilot program 'a hybrid approach.' The AI tools are combined with human localization pros in an effort to ensure quality control. 'Incorporating the right amount of human expertise can enable localization for titles that would not otherwise be accessible to customers,' the blog post said. Using AI on the creative/production end of things to span cultures and languages can be tricky. The filmmaking team behind The Brutalist saw the indie film's Oscar chances briefly thrown into uncertainty after a backlash concerning the use of AI to smooth some actors' Hungarian dialogue. In the living room, by contrast, AI is more welcome as a way to improve the process of connecting with and discovering programming. Dubbing is also proliferating on YouTube and on social media. Last year, YouTube rolled out AI tools to promote dubbing and help video content more easily travel and Meta has announced plans for similar resources on Reels to help with dubbing and lip-syncing. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys & More 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Staircase Studio, a New AI Production Company, Looks to Produce 30 Films in 4 Years
Pouya Shahbazian, producer of the 'Divergent' films and Andrea Arnold's Cannes Jury Prize-winning 'American Honey,' has launched the new AI production company Staircase Studio, which aims to produce 30 films over the next four years at budgets of $500,000 or less through the use of artificial intelligence software. Huffington Post co-founder Kenneth Lerer is joining the studio as a partner with Lorenzo di Bonaventura signed on as an advisor. Staircase Studios plans to use scripts and performances from human writers and actors as the basis for its films, with the voices and expressions from performers forming the basis for the AI-generated footage. 'After packaging and selling 150 projects into the studio system overthe past 15 years, I've borne witness to far too much inefficiency to continue the status quo. Over the past year, I've dedicated myself to pairing ethical AI usage with our industry's most underutilized assets–overlooked stories waiting to be produced from fantastic writers and directors,' Shahbazian said in a statement. 'Thanks to Kenny and our investors, it's been thrilling to be able to hire those talented artists to do what they do best—make the kinds of films that the industry actually wants but lacks the risk tolerance to currently greenlight,' he added. The studio is already in production on its first project, 'The Woman With Red Hair,' directed by Brett Stuart and produced from Michael Schatz's 2016 Black List script. It tells the true story of Johanna 'Hannie' Schaft, a young woman who dropped out of college to join the Dutch Resistance during WWII, eventually becoming one of their most talented assassins and one of the Nazis' most wanted enemies. It stars newcomer Maya-Nika Bewley, Leander Vyvey '('Vikings: Valhalla'), Angus Castle-Doughty ('Shadow & Bone'), and Geoffrey Breton ('The Crown'). Teddy Newton, former Pixar animator and character designer for 'The Incredibles,' provides the character designs used by Staircase's propriety AI workflow, ForwardMotion, for the film. Emmy-winning animator Alfred Gimeno also contributed art and designs. Staircase Studios released a sizzle reel for 'The Woman With Red Hair,' which can be viewed here. The post Staircase Studio, a New AI Production Company, Looks to Produce 30 Films in 4 Years appeared first on TheWrap.
