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Veteran Hollywood Producer, Pouya Shahbazian, Launches AI Entertainment Studio, Staircase Studios AI
Kenneth Lerer, venture capitalist and longtime media executive, joins as partner and lead investor
Pouya Shahbazian, producer of the Divergent franchise, has founded Staircase Studios AI, a new film, television, and gaming studio. In collaboration with Brett Stuart, Head of AI Filmmaking, Staircase has built a proprietary AI workflow, ForwardMotion, that revolutionizes the process of studio filmmaking. The studio aims to produce upwards of 30 projects in the next three to four years by achieving near-major studio quality releases at budgets under $500,000 USD. Joining the company as a partner and working as the lead investor in the venture is Kenneth Lerer, who co-founded The Huffington Post and is currently Managing Director Emeritus of the venture capital firm Lerer Hippeau. Advising the company is Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of the Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises.
Staircase has acquired multiple pieces of IP and a number of well-regarded industry scripts, including nearly 20 scripts that appeared on the annual Black List over the past decade. Staircase is committed to working with union members in many production departments, including actors, who will be paid industry rates to voice all of the dialogue in every script.
Shahbazian, Staircase’s CEO, said, “After packaging and selling 150 projects into the studio system over the 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. 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.”
Lerer commented, “AI is inevitable across all industries, and it’s crystal clear what’s ahead for movies, television, and gaming. While the industry is invariably dealing with the Innovator’s Dilemma that stagnates innovation, at Staircase, we have been a first mover and have already built out a process that puts us on course to scale a truly stand-out studio and platform for AI content.”
Today, Staircase released a sizzle reel which includes the opening from the studio’s first feature film, "The Woman with Red Hair," directed by Brett Stuart and from Michael Schatz’s 2016 Black List script. "The Woman with Red Hair" is the extraordinary true story of Johanna “Hannie” Schaft, a young woman who dropped out of college to join the Dutch resistance during World War II, eventually becoming one of its 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 and Bone"), and Geoffrey Breton ("The Crown").
The film has original character designs from Oscar-nominee Teddy Newton, who was formerly a member of the Pixar brain trust and served as one of the character designers of "The Incredibles." It also includes art and designs from Emmy Award-winning animator Alfred Gimeno ("Kung Fu Panda" and "Tiny Toon Adventures").
Currently in pre-production, the studio’s second feature film is "Every Living Creature"—a fully animated four-quadrant adventure thriller directed by three-time Emmy Award winner, Bernie Su ("Artificial"). J.R. Arellano ("Flicka 2") adapted the script from the Truly*Adventurous digital media magazine article of the same name. The film is inspired by the true story of three brave daredevils who risked their lives to rescue every animal left stranded on the Caribbean island of Montserrat after a devastating volcanic eruption in 1997.
On the gaming side, Staircase is partnering with Mother Games, an AI gaming tech company pioneering adaptive, player-driven AI experiences to leverage its Womb suite of foundational AI tools—developed for gaming—to accelerate new game creation. Their first game collaboration will be announced shortly.
Among the investors in the venture are Aryeh Bourkoff, CEO of LionTree, Robert Pittman, Tad Haley of Rafiki Ventures, and New York City-based venture capital firm Red Sea Ventures.
Staircase Studios AI’s first slate of films and television series also includes:
Staircase has acquired multiple pieces of IP and a number of well-regarded industry scripts, including nearly 20 scripts that appeared on the annual Black List over the past decade. Staircase is committed to working with union members in many production departments, including actors, who will be paid industry rates to voice all of the dialogue in every script.
Shahbazian, Staircase’s CEO, said, “After packaging and selling 150 projects into the studio system over the 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. 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.”
Lerer commented, “AI is inevitable across all industries, and it’s crystal clear what’s ahead for movies, television, and gaming. While the industry is invariably dealing with the Innovator’s Dilemma that stagnates innovation, at Staircase, we have been a first mover and have already built out a process that puts us on course to scale a truly stand-out studio and platform for AI content.”
Today, Staircase released a sizzle reel which includes the opening from the studio’s first feature film, "The Woman with Red Hair," directed by Brett Stuart and from Michael Schatz’s 2016 Black List script. "The Woman with Red Hair" is the extraordinary true story of Johanna “Hannie” Schaft, a young woman who dropped out of college to join the Dutch resistance during World War II, eventually becoming one of its 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 and Bone"), and Geoffrey Breton ("The Crown").
The film has original character designs from Oscar-nominee Teddy Newton, who was formerly a member of the Pixar brain trust and served as one of the character designers of "The Incredibles." It also includes art and designs from Emmy Award-winning animator Alfred Gimeno ("Kung Fu Panda" and "Tiny Toon Adventures").
Currently in pre-production, the studio’s second feature film is "Every Living Creature"—a fully animated four-quadrant adventure thriller directed by three-time Emmy Award winner, Bernie Su ("Artificial"). J.R. Arellano ("Flicka 2") adapted the script from the Truly*Adventurous digital media magazine article of the same name. The film is inspired by the true story of three brave daredevils who risked their lives to rescue every animal left stranded on the Caribbean island of Montserrat after a devastating volcanic eruption in 1997.
On the gaming side, Staircase is partnering with Mother Games, an AI gaming tech company pioneering adaptive, player-driven AI experiences to leverage its Womb suite of foundational AI tools—developed for gaming—to accelerate new game creation. Their first game collaboration will be announced shortly.
Among the investors in the venture are Aryeh Bourkoff, CEO of LionTree, Robert Pittman, Tad Haley of Rafiki Ventures, and New York City-based venture capital firm Red Sea Ventures.
Staircase Studios AI’s first slate of films and television series also includes:
- "Wild Night," a novel by New York Times bestselling author Patrick Lee. Pitched as "Die Hard" in a zoo, the project is currently an open writing assignment and will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
- "Between the Dog and the Wolf," by Matthew Sand, the veteran screenwriter behind "Deepwater Horizon." Pitched tonally in the vein of "Heat" meets Bram Stoker’s "Dracula," Sand will make his directorial debut.
- "Fully Wrecked," by Josh Feldman and Scott Wolman. Pitched tonally in the vein of "Rush Hour," "Fully Wrecked" appeared on the 2013 annual Black List. Logline: An R-rated talking car from the ’80s is brought back into service and teamed up with the son of his former partner, a befuddled cop looking to earn his stripes.
- "Sundown," by Nick Hurwitch. Pitched as "E.T." meets "A Quiet Place," "Sundown" appeared on the 2023 annual Black List. Logline: Monsters that roam in daylight keep a small rural family confined to a nocturnal lifestyle. But when their son starts to question the monsters’ existence, his parents must see how far they’re willing to go to keep him safe.
- An untitled procedural television series from showrunner Gabe Rotter ("The X-Files"), creator of the upcoming Netflix series "The Beast in Me," starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys.
- A television series adaptation of Mark Svartz’s graphic novel, "I Hate You Kelly Donahue," pitched as "The Office" meets "American Psycho."
About Staircase Studios AI
Staircase Studios AI is a film, television, and gaming studio telling new, original stories. Staircase combines the expertise of Hollywood screenwriters, directors, actors, animators, visual effects artists, and other union talent, with AI specialists who use our proprietary AI-enabled workflow in order to make movies and television series at a fraction of the cost of traditional Hollywood budgets. To learn more, visit https://staircasestudios.ai and follow us on YouTube, TikTok, X, and Instagram.
About Red Sea Ventures
Red Sea Ventures is a pre-seed and seed-stage VC firm investing in transformative consumer brands and technologies, including Allbirds, Sweetgreen, Nest, Prose, and Novo Bank. For more information, visit https://www.redseaventures.com.
About Kenneth Lerer
Kenneth Lerer co-founded The Huffington Post and Now This News. He has served on the boards of numerous companies including Viacom, and currently, BLADE Urban Air Mobility, Inc. (NYSE: BLDE). He was chairman of BuzzFeed for a decade.
About Pouya Shahbazian
Pouya Shahbazian is a 20-year industry veteran and BAFTA nominee for Andrea Arnold’s "American Honey" (A24). He also produced Greg Berlanti’s "Love, Simon" (Fox 2000) and the Netflix fantasy series "Shadow and Bone."
Media Contact
Jillian Roscoe
jillian@birchpublicrelations.com