Vertigo Films and Federation Studios launch AI production system for filmmakers
Vertigo Films and Federation Studios have released Woven, an AI production system designed to automate repetitive tasks in filmmaking. The technology emerged from amersia, an AI entertainment company founded by Vertigo co-founders James Richardson and Allan Niblo.
Woven was originally built as an internal tool to produce Critterz, amersia's first film. The movie was created by Chad Nelson, a producer and creative technologist at OpenAI, and originated within the OpenAI ecosystem. A first-look still from Critterz has been released alongside the Woven announcement.
The system is now in pilot testing with select media companies, with broader availability planned in coming months.
How Woven works
Nik Kleverov, who directed Critterz and leads amersia's creative strategy, describes Woven as built around human-led creativity. "AI should remove friction, not replace judgment," Kleverov said. "By automating the repetitive parts of production, we give artists more time to focus on the creative decisions that actually matter."
Kleverov spent over fifteen years at the intersection of storytelling and technology, including work on title sequences for Narcos and the first AI-generated commercial for Toys"R"Us at Native Foreign, the studio he co-founded that produced the original Critterz short.
Context for creatives
James Richardson, CEO of amersia, frames AI as the next major tool shift in entertainment, following sound and CGI. "Every major shift in entertainment has come when creatives gained access to new tools," Richardson said. "AI is the next inflection point."
Federation Studios is acting as a strategic partner, providing a testbed between traditional production workflows and AI-native approaches. Richardson and Niblo previously produced and distributed over 100 films and television series through Vertigo before it became part of Federation.
Filmmakers involved with the project will speak at the Cannes AI for Talent Summit during this year's Festival.
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