Particle 6's Eline van der Velden: AI and Traditional Filmmaking Can Coexist

Particle 6 founder and CEO Eline van der Velden pushed back on the narrative that AI filmmaking tools and AI actors are primarily a cost-cutting threat to labor, arguing instead that they democratize creative production. Speaking to Yahoo Finance, she noted that her studio has sextupled its workforce over the past year, framing AI as a job creator rather than a displacer — much like previous technological revolutions did not eliminate the industries they disrupted.

Van der Velden also addressed the thorny question of training data compensation, saying she finds peace with the status quo only as long as AI tools remain openly accessible to all rather than locked to a single studio. She outlined Particle 6's four-part business model: brand and advertising work, an AI consultancy arm, a film and TV co-production studio, and Secoya, a division focused on original AI characters and narrative drama. The company uses publicly available tools and has built a proprietary suite on top of them to ease the transition for filmmakers and production staff.