Sunny Hostin, co-host of ABC's The View, has signed with AI film and TV studio Fountain 0. She will develop films from her novels and license her image and likeness for use in them. The studio announced the deal on 31 August and called her the first major personality to agree to such an arrangement with it.
Fountain 0 made Dreams of Violets, which it describes as the first full-length, live-action-style AI film accepted by a major festival, following its Tribeca premiere. It says its own software, built on top of AI video models, has cut production costs to almost nothing. Its next goal is lower marketing costs. The plan is to cast well-known personalities and influencers as characters, betting that their social media followings will bring viewers to the films. The studio argues that familiar faces have always sold films, and that adding social media reach lets fans find out about a film simply because someone they follow is in it.
Under the licence, Hostin decides which of her books get adapted and which roles her synthetic image may play, and the studio says the terms give her tight control. Hostin is also a bestselling novelist. She said the deal lets her bring her fiction to the screen without traditional budget limits, and called AI production a new art form that could change how public figures connect with audiences. Having her own image in the adaptations, she said, would let readers relate to her through her stories and not only as an author. She also wants to tell stories for diverse audiences she thinks Hollywood neglects, and believes AI productions can reach them.
The studio's leaders explained how the money is supposed to be split. Executive chairman Tom Rogers said everyone whose image appears in a Fountain 0 production gets a share of that film's revenue, even in small parts. Hostin would earn both as writer-producer and through her likeness. Co-founder Pooya Koosha, who also handles post-production, said the studio aims to copy a person's voice and mannerisms as well as their looks, so fans feel the star is present even though the performance is generated. Writers and directors, Rogers added, will also get significant revenue shares in the productions they create.
Emma Sarah Wilson, the studio's counsel, said everyone involved signs a long-form licence covering consent and usage rights. It also sets rules on how their reference images and voice recordings are stored and used. Chief executive Ash Koosha called the arrangement new territory for major talent and praised Hostin for going first. He also used the announcement to invite influencers with big followings to join a talent directory, from which their likenesses could be licensed for future films and episodes, and said anyone licensed with approval would be eligible to earn from them.
The release also previewed the studio's next feature, Odysseus: The Fall, which uses the likenesses of real people. They include Ash Koosha as Odysseus, Pooya Koosha as Eurylochus and Rogers as Mentor. Dreams of Violets streams on Fountain 0's own site, which also hosts the Odysseus trailer. At the time the new film was due the following month.
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