Artie, the “Creator’s Companion,” launches at Sundance to help ambitious creators get more premium content made

PARK CITY, Utah, Jan. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Artie, a commercial infrastructure company, announced its public launch today at the Sundance Film Festival. Led by former Google/YouTube executives Matt McDonald and Derek Scobie, Artie bridges the gap between creative vision and financial reality.

As traditional studio models shift, Artie offers a solution for creators with big ideas — and often TV-sized audiences — but who lack the tools to fully realize their potential. By turning scripts, audience engagement and delivery data into standardized financial inputs, Artie prices projects and gives creators optimizing insights before a single frame is shot.

“At YouTube, we saw the power of democratizing distribution. Artie is about democratizing access to capital,” said Matt McDonald, CEO of Artie. “Every creator should be able to access the resources to get their project made — on their terms.”

“Artie provides an intelligence layer that gives brands and capital partners the confidence to back creators at the scale they deserve,” said Derek Scobie, CCO of Artie.

“We believe in tapping into creator voices that customers trust and engage with, but the industry still lacks a credible, scalable way to measure whether that content drives real business outcomes,” said Cenk Bulbul, Chief Marketing Officer, Santander Financial Services. “I’m excited to see Artie entering the market with a clear focus on addressing that gap.”

“The creator economy is a $250B market still running on handshake deals and opaque payment terms,” said Justin Saltzman, Managing Partner, Tavern Capital. “Artie brings transparency and rigor that lets capital providers underwrite this market with confidence.”

Artie’s platform functions through a unique four-step process:

• Create: Optimize projects through development and packaging tools.
• Score: A proprietary engine generates robust predictions of audience reach and commercial value.
• Match: High-fidelity pairing between projects with aligned brands and capital partners.
• Verify: Track deliverables and ensure both sides are treated fairly – and fast!

Artie is showcasing its initial product at Sundance through high-profile pilots including DETOURS, an animated short form series from top podcaster Danny Pellegrino.

For filmmakers and producers, Artie represents a shift toward scalable capital without surrendering ownership or control. Just like its real-life namesake, Artie is here to be a loyal partner throughout the creative journey.

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SOURCE Artie