The Business Tilly Norwood creator defends her controversial synthetic character
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Mar 13, 2026 Eline van der Velden, actress, comedian and co-founder of Particle 6 Productions, defends her synthetic character Tilly Norwood and explains why she sees AI-native characters as valid creative work. She discusses how Tilly is built with mocap, prompts and human editors. She also tackles training-data ethics, creative control and where AI belongs in entertainment.
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Affleck Sold Filmmaking AI Tool To Netflix
- Matt Belloni explained Ben Affleck's Interpositive sale to Netflix is positioned as a filmmaker tool for VFX completion, not a text-to-video replacement.
- He noted the deal could be worth up to $600 million with earnouts tied to the tech's usefulness to Netflix.
Tilly Is Built For AI Native Storytelling
- Eline Van der Velden created Tilly Norwood as an original AI-native character, not to replace human performers.
- She presented Tilly in a comedy sketch and says the intent is to keep the character confined to AI-generated entertainment to avoid taking actors' jobs.
From Stage Actor To AI Character Creator
- Van der Velden described her trajectory from musical theatre to digital creator and founding Particle 6 to produce higher-quality content on small budgets.
- She built characters before (Miss Holland, Jane) and used those experiences to craft Tilly with a team of producers and AI specialists.