{"id":978,"date":"2026-05-29T17:42:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=978"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:42:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:42:06","slug":"csi-creator-anthony-zuiker-developing-cinemalistics-an-ai-generated-true-crime-app-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=978","title":{"rendered":"\u2018CSI\u2019\u00a0Creator Anthony Zuiker Developing Cinemalistics,\u00a0an AI-Generated True-Crime App (EXCLUSIVE)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\u201cCSI\u201d\u00a0creator Anthony Zuiker got a phone call about six months ago from his former CAA colleague David Freeman, who left his role as the agency\u2019s digital media chief to found the startup Kynetic Media Ventures, who wanted to figure out a project about \u201creal-time true crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=976\">Shalom Brune-Franklin and Jimmy O. Yang Join Oscar Isaac in Netflix Vegas Drama \u2018The Roman\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tBut while Zuiker wasn\u2019t interested in another vertical video project alongside his GammaTime microdrama projects, he was intrigued by the prospect of telling true-crime stories in real time, without the monthslong gap between a breaking crime story and the documentaries that chart each beat.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tEnter Cinemalistics,\u00a0a new true-crime platform in development that lets users watch AI-generated cinematic and documentary vertical videos of crime sagas \u2014 with the projects updating as new evidence emerges. The app\u2019s AI-generated trailer features an AI recreation of Zuiker (watch it below).<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe consumption of journalism needs to evolve,\u201d Zuiker, who is the platform\u2019s \u201cchief crime officer,\u201d\u00a0said in a recent interview from his home in Santa Barbara. \u201cWe believe with the emergence of AI that this is the way to do it, where you just watch it versus read it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe app would allow users to watch an AI-generated adaptation of a crime story within hours of it breaking, with each \u201cfilm\u201d\u00a0or \u201cdocumentary\u201d\u00a0relying on items such as public records, news reports, press conferences and social media posts to produce a minutes-long video. The app will be powered by a proprietary engine using Nvidia\u2019s AI tools, and it plans to feature both ad-supported and premium tiers for users.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe platform is created by Zuiker, Freeman, AI and technology entrepreneur Doug Scott, and actor Donovan Leitch, and it\u2019s part of Nvidia\u2019s Innovation Lab for AI startups. The company hopes to make its public debut at October\u2019s Mipcom conference in Cannes. David Carstens\u2019 venture capital firm 5IR Funds is leading the company\u2019s first investment round and provided its first round of funds, though Zuiker declined to get into how much the project has raised so far. As more funding comes in, Zuiker hopes to hire journalists, production managers and story editors.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tFreeman said in a statement, \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege of working with Anthony throughout my career, and his superpower is his ability to bridge any platform with forward-thinking global storytelling. That\u2019s why his digital book series \u2018Level 26\u2019 was so successful and it\u2019s why \u2018CSI\u2019 became a global TV phenomenon. I started Kynetic to bridge the world\u2019s biggest creators directly with audiences and fandom to deliver innovative and first-of-its-kind storytelling experiences. Now, Anthony is taking that same approach to journalism with\u00a0Cinemalistics\u00a0and reinventing how true crime fans will watch and engage with news on mobile devices.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=974\">\u2018Stop That Train\u2019 Director Adam Shankman on How the \u2018Silly\u2019 Comedy Brings Back an Old Genre<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe project aims to combine the boom of vertical videos proliferating on social-media platforms with the true-crime obsession that\u2019s remained a pillar of the entertainment industry, from the long-running Investigation Discovery series \u201cOn the Case with Paula Zahn\u201d\u00a0to the \u201cCrime Junkie\u201d\u00a0podcast that regularly tops Apple and Spotify\u2019s podcast charts. Audiences also have been fixated on high-profile cases such as Bryan Kohberger\u2019s conviction last year for murdering four University of Idaho students and Nancy Guthrie\u2019s disappearance in February.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tZuiker, who will oversee the production of the AI-generated videos, said the story would be uniform for every user, and as beats unfold \u2014\u00a0for example, if a new witness emerges or a weapon is discovered \u2014\u00a0both the film and documentary versions would evolve to reflect the new information. For users who want to dive deeper into each case, the app will provide a menu with access to primary sources behind each video, including 911 calls, media coverage, press conferences and more.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tA challenge for Zuiker is making sure each video doesn\u2019t depict the violent crimes themselves while respecting the victims and their families impacted by the act. It\u2019s a line he\u2019s had to toe while overseeing the \u201cCSI\u201d\u00a0franchise, including the flagship show and its four spinoffs, making a focus for Cinemalistics producing \u201cgreat storytelling in the crime space to satiate the crime enthusiast\u201d\u00a0while respecting survivors.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cWe may merely just raise the knife and get out, and then find eloquent ways, as that information came out, to do it in a cinematic way that didn\u2019t feel gratuitous and disrespectful to the surviving families,\u201d\u00a0he said, adding that the AI-generated videos would not portray faces of people until they come to light. \u201cThat\u2019s a strict thing. We\u2019re not a gore company, we\u2019re just a storytelling company with science and forensics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe goal is to eventually allow Cinemalistics\u00a0users to create their own AI-generated productions of crimes, though with guardrails to prevent the gratuitous depiction of violence. \u201cIt\u2019s a journalism fix of the future, but it\u2019s also a community ride of the century,\u201d\u00a0Zuiker said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cYou want to give freedom of expression to use the platform,\u201d\u00a0he added. \u201cWe also don\u2019t want to stifle someone who could be far more creative than [me] to come in and go, \u2018Well, you know what? That clue I found on the 14th button that says \u201cAutopsy\u201d that\u2019s purple that I pressed in that third file says something like this about broken glass, I think this is what happened in the hit and run,\u2019 and they may want to give their version.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=972\">\u2018Half Man\u2019 Emmy Submissions Revealed: Richard Gadd Goes Supporting as Jamie Bell Leads HBO Limited Series Push (EXCLUSIVE)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tWatch the sizzle reel for Cinemalistics:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The project would produce AI-generated cinematic and documentary versions of crimes as the story\u2019s saga unforlds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1008,1009],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biz","tag-anthony-zuiker","tag-cinemalistics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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