Runway’s AI Studio Arm Launches Animated Pilot ‘Mars & Siv: No Vacancy’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Runway Studios, the production and entertainment arm of AI company Runway, has released a six-minute pilot for “Mars & Siv: No Vacancy,” an animated series produced by the studio and created by Jeremy Higgins and Britton Korbel. Co-directors Higgins and Korbel will now be shopping the series to animation studios and streamers.

The comedic crime series will follow a detective and his partner, who is alien. Higgins describes it as a “satirical take on classic noir film set in a more futuristic setting.” Episodes are expects to be in the 11-20 minute range.

The Runway relationship began last fall, when the studio produced Higgins’ “Migration,” a two-minute short about an explorer who finds a new universe, through its Hundred Film Fund initiative. For “Mars & Siv,” Higgins and Korbel will retain the IP of the project, while Runway assisted with financing, producing and marketing the first episode.

Higgins and Korbel related that the pilot was created with Runway tools, by roughly a dozen artists. “We kind of made use of their tools in as many different ways as possible throughout the process,” Higgins said. “We, ourselves are very traditional animators, so we did everything from a base level by hand, and then we kind of used Runway and their tools (including its latest Gen-4 AI model) to assist with all of the steps in the process.”

Korbel added that it was about “taking all of our knowledge of just working traditionally, and then kind of resetting that to zero.”

“The mandate of Runway Studios is really to help people tell stories, and there’s really a focus on projects that otherwise wouldn’t get made,” said Jaime Umpherson, head of Runway Studios. “Whether that’s [due to] time constraints or budget constraints, or not being able to get the right group of people together, those are the sorts of projects that we’re focusing on. It’s not specific to animation or live action.”

Higgins brings with him a background as a director, animator and designer who has worked in film, commercials and music videos; Kobel is an art director and animator with a background in commercials and music videos.

Runway’s Hundred Film Fund is an initiative to fund 100 projects that involve the use of AI in their production. Another is the Runway AI Film Festival, which is now in its third year. The festival’s 10 finalists will be screened at events on June 3 in New York and June 12 in Los Angeles.