Thrax Media · Pre-Seed Round · 2026
AI-native anthology
& production school.
Telling stories worth watching. Teaching creators how to make them. Bite-sized sci-fi built for the timeline — not the theater.
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AI-native anthology
& production school.
Telling stories worth watching. Teaching creators how to make them. Bite-sized sci-fi built for the timeline — not the theater.
AI tools are powerful but most output is slop. Very few try to — or even know how to — edit, direct, or craft outputs into real stories.
Creators want to learn AI filmmaking but existing courses teach tools, not storytelling craft — and no one offers a capstone that ships as real IP.
Social feeds are the dominant screen. Nobody is building premium serialized visual stories designed to live and spread on the timeline.
1–2 minute anthology episodes designed for social feeds. AI-generated visuals with human-directed editing, sound design, and VFX. Premium content that lives where attention already is.
4-week production cohorts at $690. Students learn everything from scripting to distribution. Capstone: produce a real RIFT episode. The community votes on whether you earn IP ownership.
Vote on storylines, expand the lore, and earn real influence over the world of RIFT. A DnD-style element of randomness keeps everyone on their toes.
Students learn the full production pipeline through live classes and feedback — visual storytelling, scripting, AI generation, editing, sound design, VFX, and distribution.
Capstone: each cohort produces a real RIFT episode. The community votes on whether the creator stays on as owner of that branch of the IP.
| Platform | Price | Offering |
|---|---|---|
| Curious Refuge | $749 | 4 weeks, no capstone, no IP |
| AI Filmmaker Academy | $5/mo | Forum, self-paced, no structure |
| Udemy / Skillshare | $20–100 | Commodity content, no mentorship |
| RIFT Academy | $690 | Mentorship, live feedback, capstone → real episode. IP ownership possible. |
$690/cohort, 4-week cycles. Capstone episodes expand the series. Scalable with demand.
License the RIFT production pipeline and IP framework to third-party studios. Academy graduates become the talent pool.
Sponsored episodes, product placement within story worlds. Native to the content.
Contract RIFT producers to create third-party media. From academy graduates with a proven track-record.
The closest direct comp — Curious Refuge — was just acquired by an a16z-backed studio whose CEO previously built a $200–300M exit. The broader education platform space is producing multi-billion dollar outcomes. RIFT sits at the intersection of AI filmmaking (where a16z is already deploying capital) and cohort-based education (where MasterClass proved the premium model at $2.75B).
| Capability | RIFT | AI Video Courses | Traditional Studios | Creator Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI-native production | ✓ | — | — | PARTIAL |
| Platform-native series | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Production school | ✓ | ✓ | — | PARTIAL |
| Capstone → real IP | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Community storyline voting | ✓ | — | — | — |
Story + world design. Lore-connected scripts.
Seed visuals via AI. Fantastical locations and situations.
Edit, VFX, sound design. Hide the hallucinations. Still an art.
Native to timeline. Community engagement. Storyline voting.
Runs Thrax Media (Toronto). Writes, directs, edits, codes, and ships. Built RIFT end-to-end: story, production pipeline, website, leaderboard backend, social strategy. Background spanning filmmaking, design, brand development, creative direction, AI, and software.
Thrax Media · Toronto, Canada