Deep Fusion Films Aligns with Topfoto for Co-Pro Partnership

Deep Fusion Films has partnered with Topfoto, a 100-year-old, family-owned historical picture archive agency, to deliver a slate of 12 documentaries in six months using its proprietary software Weavr.

“This partnership with Topfoto opens up a treasure trove of stories—and stories that, in today’s oversaturated and underfunded content market, would remain in the vault without AI technology,” said Benjamin Field, co-founder and CEO of Deep Fusion Films. “It’s this efficiency that opens up the opportunity to create new programs at scale for the new digital era, whilst maintaining authenticity and creativity. In essence, we are using non-traditional means to create traditional documentaries quickly and at a fraction of the cost. Our AI tools will expedite the long and costly research process that underpins premium documentary production, allowing us to tell niche stories, bring the explored past to life and to ‘create not scrape’ Topfoto’s unparalleled archive.”

Deep Fusion will be granted access to a curated selection of Topfoto’s archive material to produce a slate of one-hour documentaries. Deep Fusion will employ Weavr to analyze archival material and assist producers in curating that material through visual analysis, drafting a script, creating a guide voiceover track and auto-assigning the archive material to the right moments in the script before creating a draft edit. Humans are still involved at every stage in the process to ensure accuracy and creative control. This reduces the production timeline from weeks to just under five days.

The 12 documentaries will be organized across four thematic collections. The first collections to come from the new partnership will draw on Topfoto’s archive of royals, presidents and feats of industrial engineering. The 12 docs will be released in three-title collections over a six-month period, with all distribution revenues to be evenly split between the two parties.

“Topfoto is thrilled to be starting off on this adventure with Deep Fusion,” said Flora Smith, managing partner at Topfoto. “We have thrived for nearly a century by recognizing and adapting to profound technological shifts. When those shifts have occurred, we have always got into the change and worked out how to navigate it successfully. We are interested in AI that is used by creatives to license work, support copyright and provide excellence in the creative marketplace and social spaces. With the historic integrity of our archive being underpinned by a range of things, including archive anchoring on blockchain, this supports us to be bolder in seeking out partnerships and experimental projects built on integrity. Our guiding motto is ‘innovate at the speed of trust,’ which is why we are delighted to partner with Deep Fusion, who share our commitment to historical accuracy and the rights of photographers and creatives.”