Flawless' TrueSync and DeepEditor AI Tools Go to Steven Schuurman's TBellScout in Administration Sale

Dutch tech billionaire Steven Schuurman's startup TBellScout has acquired Flawless' TrueSync visual dubbing technology and DeepEditor performance-editing tool, according to Deadline, in a sale run by administrators of Flawless' UK trading company. The tools that alter actors' mouth movements to match new dialogue now belong to a separate owner, while Flawless' co-founders keep control of the company's American business.

• The sale covers two AI tools. TBellScout bought the TrueSync and DeepEditor intellectual property from AI dubbing company Flawless, and Deadline understands the tech was held by Flawless Holdings Limited, its UK trading company.
• Schuurman confirmed the deal. Schuurman, who founded software company Elastic, confirmed the acquisition to Deadline and declined to comment further.
• Administrators ran the sale. Insolvency specialist BTG Begbies Traynor took over operations of Flawless Holdings Limited after it entered administration, then sold the tech to TBellScout.
• The U.S. company stays with the founders. Co-founders Scott Mann and Nick Lynes remain in control of Flawless AI Inc., and Deadline reports the pair are exploring a new venture.
• One part of the platform goes unmentioned. Deadline names TrueSync and DeepEditor in the sale but does not say what happened to Artistic Rights Treasury, the rights management platform Flawless built alongside them.

A lender-appointed administrator sold the IP after Flawless' UK company entered administration

Flawless Holdings Limited is listed as in administration on its Companies House record, with its registered office now care of BTG Begbies Traynor.

The company's Companies House filing history records the appointment of an administrator and a move of the registered office to the administrator's address.

Deadline compares UK administration to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, except that in the U.S. directors stay in control of the business. Here, insolvency specialist BTG took over operations and handled the sale to TBellScout.

Sprk Capital, a UK-based tech lender, appointed BTG as administrator. Sprk holds fixed and floating charges over Flawless, which are forms of repayment security granted to a lender.

Deadline says the circumstances of the IP sale are unclear. The sale follows Amit Kapur becoming Flawless' co-CEO after serving as a board member since 2024; Kapur did not respond to Deadline, and Mann declined to comment.

Deadline's report does not say whether TBellScout plans to offer TrueSync or DeepEditor to productions.

TrueSync and DeepEditor alter actors' mouth movements in post to match new lines

TrueSync analyzes an actor's full performance and subtly alters the face and mouth movements in the original footage to fit any vocalization, TIME reported when it named the tool one of its Best Inventions. The result is a dubbed actor whose mouth looks like it is speaking the new language.

Flawless' DeepEditor handles dialogue and performance changes without costly reshoots by synchronizing actors' mouths to new lines, according to Deadline.

According to Deadline, Flawless raised $100 million from wealthy individuals rather than venture capital to build the technology, and its founders built Hollywood studio relationships on a consent-based approach to AI.

Deadline describes the technology as endorsed by the actors' union SAG-AFTRA.

SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has cited Flawless as an example of AI as a tool that augments human creativity. Variety reported that the union's 2023 agreement did not impede that use, because Flawless changes lip movements to match a translated script instead of changing the script to match the lips.

Fall and Watch the Skies showed what the tools did on real releases

Deadline reports Flawless' technology has been used on hundreds of Hollywood productions, with much of that work kept quiet because studios declined to disclose their use of AI.

Mann also directed Fall, the 2022 thriller about two friends who get stuck up a 2,000-foot radio tower in the desert, which became a case study for the tech. The production used AI to visually dub swearing out of the movie to secure a PG-13 rating.

Deadline reports that Swedish sci-fi film Watch the Skies was the first theatrical full-length feature to use immersive AI dubbing, with Flawless partnering with distributor XYZ Films on the English-language U.S. release.

That version used the original cast's voices, and AMC Theatres committed 100 screens in the top 20 U.S. markets, according to Variety.

Other Flawless translation projects include Michel Gondry's The Book of Solutions, judo thriller Tatami, South Korean title Smugglers, Stéphan Castang's Vincent Must Die and Berlin Film Festival opener The Light.