Runway is emerging as a notable player in the artificial intelligence landscape, and it appears to be quite generous as well. The AI company, along with its production and entertainment branch, Runway Studios, has introduced the Hundred Film Fund, which aims “to change that by helping to fund and produce one hundred films that utilize AI in storytelling, ” according to its website. If the broader film community isn’t supportive, why not provide financial assistance to those who need it most?It’s a clever strategy. The program’s description states, “We believe that the best stories have yet to be told, but traditional funding mechanisms often miss innovative and emerging perspectives within the industry ecosystem. ” Thus, the fund was created “to ensure that the next era of media will be forged in close collaboration with artists and storytellers. ” Runway encourages directors, producers, screenwriters, and other creative professionals to seek funding for their AI-enhanced projects. Grants from the Hundred Film Fund will range from $5, 000 to over $1 million, and the company plans to allocate an additional $2 million in Runway credits to the selected projects, akin to an Amazon gift card but specifically for AI tools. The fund currently has $5 million available, with the possibility of increasing to $10 million. An advisory panel includes notable figures such as Jane Rosenthal (founder of Tribeca Festival), Christina Lee Storm (Governor of the TV Academy’s Emerging Media Programming Peer Group), Stefan Sonnenfeld (founder of Company 3), will. i. am (of the Black-Eyed Peas), and Richard Kerris (NVIDIA VP).

More members will be added soon. All types of film projects are eligible—features, shorts, documentaries, experimental films, music videos, and more—as long as they are in progress and using Runway’s technology. Grant recipients must also demonstrate a need for additional funding to finish their projects. Runway previously gained attention for establishing a groundbreaking AI partnership with Lionsgate. An insider informed IndieWire that initial collaborations would likely focus on pre-visualization and storyboarding. This means that if you’re curious about the quality of a “John Wick 5” script, you could train a text-to-video model using the first four films, input a screenplay (hopefully written by a human), and see the results. Indeed, the future is here, and while it may be somewhat daunting, at least some of the associated costs can now be alleviated. In 2023, Runway launched the AI Film Festival, which attracted around 300 short-film submissions, and the upcoming 2024 edition has already garnered over 3, 000 entries.