N°001 / 2026

SLATE

Studio Layering And Transformation Engine

10 MCP servers that match or exceed a $600M proprietary system. Custom tools, standard footage, no special hardware.

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02 / The Context

What InterPositive Built

In March 2026, Netflix acquired InterPositive for $600M. A 16-person company with no website and no public product. Their asset: a patent describing "Integration of video language models with AI for filmmaking."

Founded by Ben Affleck, InterPositive's system uses a "gray stage" workflow where actors perform on a bare stage while proprietary hardware captures everything. AI generates sets, lighting, extras, and environments in post-production.

The patent promises dramatic cost reductions across every line item in a film budget. But it requires expensive, purpose-built infrastructure that only works inside their pipeline.

Patent US12438995B1: "Integration of video language models with AI for filmmaking." Filed by InterPositive Media, granted 2026.

Their system requires:

  • Physical LiDAR rig co-mounted with every camera
  • Green screen stage with controlled lighting
  • Multi-camera dolly setup with motion logging
  • Proprietary training data and model stack
  • On-site hardware for real-time metadata capture
Netflix paid $600M for a 16-person company. The patent is the product.
$600M
Acquisition price
16
Employees at sale
-50%
VFX cost target
-70%
BG actors target
-30%
Set dressing target
-40%
Set construction target
03 / The System

The SLATE System

Studio Layering And Transformation Engine. Ten independent MCP servers, each replaceable, each best-in-class.

InterPositive

Monolithic proprietary pipeline
Physical LiDAR hardware required
Must shoot on their stage
Proprietary training data
One integrated model for everything

SLATE

10 independent MCP servers
Neural depth estimation (software-only)
Works with ANY footage from ANY camera
Custom models + standard footage
Best-in-class model for each task
04 / Architecture

The 10 Modules

Each module is an independent MCP server. Swap any model, upgrade any component, without touching the rest of the pipeline.

01

Metadata Processing

slate-metadata-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Proprietary on-set hardware captures camera metadata in real time. Limited to what their sensors record during the shoot.

SLATE

FFprobe + EXIF extraction + ARRI/RED sidecars for camera data. MASt3R for 3D scene geometry from video alone. YOLO v9 for scene content tagging. Chirp (Cloud Speech) for audio transcription.

Why ours is better

Camera + scene + audio metadata vs just camera metadata. Works on ANY footage retroactively, including archival material shot decades ago.

02

Depth & Spatial Data

slate-depth-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Physical LiDAR scanners co-mounted with cameras. Requires custom hardware on every rig, every shoot.

SLATE

Apple DepthPro delivers metric depth maps at 2.25MP in 0.3 seconds. MASt3R generates multi-view 3D point clouds with camera poses. DELTA provides dense 3D tracking across frames.

Why ours is better

Works on ANY existing footage, even material shot years ago. Their LiDAR data cannot be applied retroactively. Our approach turns every camera into a depth sensor.

03

Scene Adjustment

slate-scene-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Tracks changes between takes using manually logged metadata. Relies on what crew members remember to record.

SLATE

Easi3R performs training-free dynamic scene separation. SAM 2 segments and tracks any object across frames. DELTA provides 3D point tracking for spatial consistency verification.

Why ours is better

SEES what changed between takes vs relying on what was LOGGED. Catches un-logged changes automatically: a moved prop, a shifted light, a changed costume detail.

04

Camera Movement

slate-camera-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Records exact camera motion from physical dolly rigs. Locked to their proprietary hardware and stage setup.

SLATE

DUSt3R/MASt3R extract camera paths from ANY video. Procedural physics simulation for virtual camera rigs. Library of extracted real camera motions from classic films.

Why ours is better

Can EXTRACT camera motion from any film ever made and apply it to new work. "Give me the Steadicam path from The Shining's hallway" is a valid input. They can only replay their own rig data.

05

Lighting

slate-lighting-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Relights scenes using depth and normals from controlled training data captured on their stage.

SLATE

RelightMaster (SOTA video relighting with Multi-Plane Light Images). IC-Light V2 scored a perfect 10/10/10/10 at ICLR 2025. Light-A-Video provides training-free temporal consistency. FFmpeg LUT pipeline for color grading.

Why ours is better

IC-Light V2 scored PERFECT marks at ICLR 2025. RelightMaster outperforms all competitors on every benchmark. Their patent was filed before these models existed. The field has already surpassed their approach.

06

Narrative Coherence

slate-narrative-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Internal ML model checks visual continuity between shots. Limited to what the camera sees. Surface-level consistency.

SLATE

Scene graph database maintains relationship maps of every character, prop, and location. Gemini 2.5 Pro for deep reasoning about narrative logic. Custom persistent memory database for cross-session continuity tracking.

Why ours is better

Checks visual + narrative + logical continuity simultaneously. Catches story-level plot holes their vision-only model cannot. A character who shouldn't know something yet, a timeline contradiction, a missing motivation.

Gemini API Memory DB Scene Graph DB
07

Cinematographic Language

slate-cinelang-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Custom tokenizer trained on filmmaking terminology. Translates industry jargon into internal system parameters.

SLATE

Comprehensive cinematographic ontology with relationship mapping. LoRA fine-tuning trained on the ASC Manual, Cinemetrics database (15,000+ films), and director commentary tracks.

Why ours is better

Knows filmmaking vocabulary + film history + director intent + the emotional psychology behind lens choices. "Spielberg oner" means something fundamentally different than "Scorsese oner" and our system understands that distinction.

HuggingFace PEFT (LoRA) Cinemetrics Dataset Custom Ontology
08

Model Routing

slate-inference-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Single proprietary model stack handles all tasks. If one capability lags, the entire pipeline is constrained.

SLATE

Intelligent routing to best-in-class model per task: DepthPro for depth, MASt3R for 3D reconstruction, RelightMaster for lighting, Gemini for reasoning, Veo 3.1 or Imagen 4 for generation, local ONNX for latency-critical inference.

Why ours is better

Best available model for each subtask, independently upgradeable. When a better depth model ships next month, swap it in without rebuilding anything else. Their monolith requires retraining the entire stack.

ONNX Runtime Gemini API Google Veo API Google Imagen API HuggingFace Inference
09

Prompt Processing

slate-prompt-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Custom model translates natural language prompts into internal pipeline parameters. Limited to their system's vocabulary.

SLATE

Cinematographic ontology + Gemini 2.5 Pro for deep intent understanding. Structured output compatible with ANY generation API. ControlNet conditioning for precise spatial and compositional control.

Why ours is better

Understands cinematic references and director-specific styles as creative intent, not just keywords. "Spielberg oner" produces a different camera plan than "Scorsese oner" with different blocking, different energy, different emotional arc.

Video Prompt Builder Gemini API ControlNet
10

Render & Output

slate-render-mcp

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Details

InterPositive

Single model generates final frames. Output is baked. Adjustments require re-rendering everything from scratch.

SLATE

Multi-source compositing: AI-generated video + 3D renders + overlays + color grade, all as separate layers. Film stock emulation (grain, halation, gate weave, LUTs). ProRes/XAVC delivery at 4K, 6K, or 8K.

Why ours is better

Separate layers mean non-destructive editing. Adjust relighting without touching the base video. Swap the sky without re-rendering actors. This is a professional VFX workflow, not a monolithic render pass.

FFmpeg Blender MCP Unreal MCP Veo 3.1 Imagen 4
05 / Pipeline

End-to-End Workflow

From creative intent to final deliverable. Each node is an independent MCP server that can be monitored, replaced, or scaled individually.

SLATE / Pipeline
All systems nominal
01

Creative Input

0 prompts/hr
What happens here Collapse

The director describes what they want in plain language. Gemini interprets the creative intent, understands cinematic references like "Spielberg oner" vs "Scorsese oner," and translates that into precise technical instructions the rest of the pipeline can execute. Think of it as an AI script supervisor that speaks both filmmaker and machine.

Gemini 2.5 Pro Prompt Processing Narrative Engine Model Router
02

Generation

0 frames/min
What happens here Collapse

This is where the footage gets made. Google Veo generates photorealistic video from text descriptions. Imagen 4 creates still frames and textures. Blender and Unreal Engine build 3D environments and virtual sets. The system picks the best tool for each shot automatically.

Google Veo 3.1 Google Imagen 4 Blender MCP Unreal MCP
03

Analysis

0 layers deep
What happens here Collapse

Every generated frame gets X-rayed. AI maps the depth of every object (how far things are from camera), reconstructs the scene in 3D space, tracks camera movement, identifies every actor and prop, and transcribes dialogue. This metadata is what makes everything downstream possible.

DepthPro MASt3R YOLO v9 Chirp (Speech-to-Text)
04

Enhancement

0 % fidelity
What happens here Collapse

The raw footage gets polished into something cinematic. AI relights the entire scene without reshooting. Continuity checks catch plot holes and visual mismatches. A film grammar engine ensures every cut, angle, and transition follows professional standards. This is where the footage starts looking like a real movie.

RelightMaster IC-Light V2 Gemini 2.5 Pro ControlNet
05

Delivery

0 K resolution
What happens here Collapse

Everything composites into a final deliverable at up to 8K resolution. AI-generated video, 3D renders, lighting overlays, and color grades are kept as separate layers so any element can be adjusted without re-rendering the whole thing. Film stock emulation adds the organic grain and halation of real celluloid. Output in ProRes or XAVC for professional editorial workflows.

FFmpeg Blender MCP Unreal MCP Google Veo 3.1
Throughput
0%
Processing
Output
Nominal
06 / Technology

Tools Reference

Every model in the SLATE pipeline. All independently verifiable, all replaceable.

Tool Module License Repository
DepthPro slate-depth-mcp Apple License apple/ml-depth-pro
MASt3R slate-depth-mcp, slate-metadata-mcp, slate-camera-mcp CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 naver/mast3r
DUSt3R slate-camera-mcp CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 naver/dust3r
Easi3R slate-scene-mcp Apache 2.0 Inception3D/Easi3R
SAM 2 slate-scene-mcp Apache 2.0 facebookresearch/sam2
CoTracker 3 slate-scene-mcp, slate-camera-mcp CC BY-NC 4.0 facebookresearch/co-tracker
DELTA slate-depth-mcp, slate-scene-mcp MIT snap-research/DELTA
SEA-RAFT slate-camera-mcp BSD 3-Clause princeton-vl/SEA-RAFT
RAFT slate-camera-mcp BSD 3-Clause princeton-vl/RAFT
IC-Light slate-lighting-mcp Apache 2.0 lllyasviel/IC-Light
Light-A-Video slate-lighting-mcp Apache 2.0 bcmi/Light-A-Video
YOLO v9 slate-metadata-mcp AGPL 3.0 ultralytics/ultralytics
Chirp (Cloud Speech) slate-metadata-mcp Google Cloud cloud.google.com/speech-to-text
ComfyUI slate-render-mcp GPL 3.0 comfyanonymous/ComfyUI
RelightMaster slate-lighting-mcp Research Paper arxiv.org/abs/2511.06271
07 / Build Phases

Shipping Order

Prioritized by what can run today with zero GPU, scaling up to full pipeline integration.

01

Foundation

Now / No GPU required

  • slate-metadata-mcp
  • slate-prompt-mcp
  • slate-camera-mcp
02

Spatial Intelligence

PyTorch CPU inference

  • slate-depth-mcp
  • slate-lighting-mcp
03

Intelligence Layer

API integration

  • slate-narrative-mcp
  • slate-cinelang-mcp
  • slate-inference-mcp
04

Full Pipeline

Integration & compositing

  • slate-scene-mcp
  • slate-render-mcp