Authors First raises $10M to put sci-fi and fantasy writers in control of screen adaptations

Authors First, a startup led by private equity veteran Robert Hamwee, closed a seed funding round of more than $10 million to develop AI-assisted screen adaptations of science-fiction and fantasy novels, the company announced.

The company launched with its first project, "Genghis: Birth of an Empire," an adaptation of British author Conn Iggulden's 2007 novel "Wolf of the Plains" about Genghis Khan. The film was generated mostly by AI, with a hybrid production team of roughly 25 humans contributing to story, camera angles, and character dialogue.

What does Authors First actually do?

Authors First combines AI generators such as Seedance 2.5 and Nano Banana with visual effects platforms including Blender and "other technology" to render adaptations without the budgets traditionally required at Hollywood studios. The studio targets science-fiction and fantasy authors specifically, framing the founder's pitch around authorial control rather than cost-cutting.

"As a lifelong fan of historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy epics, I've always believed the definitive version of any story is in the author's imagination," Hamwee said in a statement. "We built Authors First to give them full creative control and modern tools so production budgets no longer dictate what's possible on screen. For readers and fans, there's nothing better than seeing a beloved world brought to life exactly as the author intended – without compromise."

Who is funding it?

The seed round drew capital from:

• Hamwee himself
• Venture capital firm Brand Foundry
• The Family Office of David Blitzer
• Andy Mills, Mike Duggal, and John Kline as individual investors

Hamwee serves as CEO. His leadership team draws from veterans of Hulu, Warner Bros., and Universal, the company said.

Why a Genghis Khan epic for a debut?

Iggulden, the British author of the "Wolf of the Plains" source novel, said the adaptation would not have reached a screen absent AI tools. Previous studio offers collapsed once production costs for a historical epic became clear.

"It would have taken significant capital and years of filming on location across thousands of miles of remote Mongolian landscape," Iggulden said in a statement. "Readers finally get to experience history's greatest rags-to-riches story exactly as I'd always envisioned it: uncompromised, epic, and true to the written word."

Roughly 25 human collaborators handled story, camera work, and dialogue on the film, while most of the visual output was AI-generated. The model raises immediate questions about what authorship, performance labor, and location production will mean as AI rendering spreads.

How does it fit the current market?

Authors First enters a crowded field of companies positioning themselves around AI-powered literary adaptations:

• Utopai Studios is adapting Mike Bender's children's book "The Most Serious Fart," from the "Not Another Teen Movie" screenwriter, and the Chinese literary classic "Journey to the West."
• Intelligent Animation, an AI animation studio, is producing "The Dragon Prince's Bride" for the microseries platform aTwist.

Iggulden's 2007 novel is the cornerstone of his acclaimed Wolf trilogy that includes "Lords of the Bow" (2008), "Bonehunters" (2010), and "The Khan's Shadow" — though only the first novel has so far been reported as an active Authors First project. The company has not yet announced release timing for "Genghis: Birth of an Empire."

If the studio's model holds, Authors First will test whether author-led, AI-rendered feature films can attract both audiences and follow-on capital — and whether writers' guilds and studios treat those outputs as equivalent to conventionally produced cinema.