2 weeks ago
Evan and Gregg Spiridellis are nary strangers to nan intersection of exertion and entertainment. In 1999, backmost successful nan dial-up Internet days, nan brothers founded JibJab, which quickly went viral for its flash animations and governmental satire videos specified arsenic nan John Kerry vs. George W. Bush parody This Land! The brace later expanded into nan children’s acquisition assemblage pinch StoryBots, which became an 11-time Emmy-winning franchise that originated connected YouTube and was later acquired by Netflix.
So, it’s possibly nary astonishment that now nan L.A.-based duo is leaning into nan AI abstraction pinch their caller banner Spiridellis Bros. Studios, an AI-powered animation workplace backed by investors including Polaris Founders Capital, Caruso Ventures, Google’s AI Futures Fund, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary and more.
“These AI devices are nan astir breathtaking things that we’ve seen successful 26 years,” Gregg Spiridellis says. “But we don’t conscionable deliberation of ourselves arsenic an AI studio. We are really reasoning astir nan stories and nan IP — that’s nan main attraction for us. We spot ourselves arsenic storytellers who tin really create astatine a level that tin now compete pinch nan biggest studios for a tenth of nan budget.”
The first IP retired of nan gross is Space Unicorn, nan company’s debut animated characteristic which is being shopped to buyers astatine nan Cannes market. The movie sees Gregg and Evan nonstop from a book written with Kubo and nan Two Strings writer Marc Haimes.
“It’s astir this profoundly optimistic, lovable unicorn who winds up connected a travel to a satellite that has been, successful essence, taken complete by tech,” says Evan Spiridellis. “It’s a communicative we wanted to tell. We’re techno optimists but we besides person teenage kids, and we’ve seen really isolating tech tin be. The communicative is really, astatine its core, exertion and isolation versus organization and authentic joy.”
Space Unicorn is inspired by Parry Gripp’s viral opus of nan aforesaid sanction and was calved done an exclusive business nan institution signed pinch nan Emmy-winning musician, which gives Spiridellis Bros. Studios world authorities to create characters and worlds from Gripp’s afloat catalog.
“We’ve done much than 70 euphony videos together pinch Parry,” says Gregg Spiridellis. “With this movie we spot a unsocial business opportunity to motorboat nan franchise pinch an independently-produced, animated, commercialized characteristic film. We will usage AI arsenic a tool, but we really deliberation astir it from nan IP position first. We ne'er could person produced a movie for illustration this earlier these devices existed.”
What’s exciting, says Evan Spiridellis, is that Gripp’s catalog has nary pre-existing visuals, pinch YouTube videos of his songs populated pinch instrumentality art. “We’re designing this from nan crushed up and yet our scheme is to make this and proceed to prosecute nan assemblage that is already location and build connected it.”
He continues: “It’s not just Space Unicorn. Parry’s catalog has hundreds of characters so, successful our writing, we wanted to spot really each of these characters interconnected.”
At present, nan burgeoning institution is slowing building infrastructure, pinch a group of technologists already aboard. While nan duo has built tech businesses before, this time, they say, nan purpose is person “technology service nan artist.”
