Authors First launches with $10 million for AI-assisted book adaptations

Authors First emerged from stealth with more than $10 million in seed funding to launch a book-to-screen studio and distribution platform that combines human-led work with AI-enabled production tools. The company said its model gives authors creative authority and shared upside in film and television adaptations. The round was led by Brand Foundry and Authors First founder Robert Hamwee. Bolt Ventures, the family office of David Blitzer, Andy Mills, Mike Duggal and John Kline also participated. The studio works directly with writers on character design, scripts, storyboards and virtual cinematography. It uses AI generators including Seedance 2.5 and Nano Banana, alongside tools such as Blender, to make adaptations. Its first project is “Genghis: Birth of an Empire,” made with Conn Iggulden and adapted from his 2007 book “Wolf of the Plains,” about Genghis Khan. Iggulden had ultimate creative control and final-cut approval. Authors First said more than 30 production artists helped shape the adaptation’s narrative arcs, camera angles, dialogue, score and visual detail. Variety put the human team at roughly 25 people and reported that the project itself was mostly generated by AI. The company said its technology replaced expensive location shoots, CGI and green-screen work for difficult cinematic sequences. Iggulden said previous adaptation offers had fallen apart because a historical epic required too large a budget, and that filming across remote Mongolian landscapes would otherwise have required substantial capital and years of work. “Genghis: Birth of an Empire” is slated to be available for purchase through the Authors First platform and other leading digital outlets via a Filmhub distribution relationship. Authors First is pitching its approach as a way to make historical fiction, science fiction and fantasy viable when conventional studio budgets would rule them out. Hamwee said the company was built so that production budgets would no longer dictate what was possible on screen. Jennifer Weltz, of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, told Jane Friedman that authors generally do not have final say even when they are consultants, writers or executive producers. The Hollywood Reporter has also described literary agencies and publishers building new pipelines intended to give writers greater involvement and control in adaptations. Authors First said its next projects include Peter F. Hamilton’s “Pandora’s Star” and adaptations of books by David Ball and R.A. Salvatore.