Vancouver, BC – LeVere Entertainment, founded by veteran VFX Supervisor Marcus LeVere, announces the launch of
OpenBID Client, a groundbreaking AI-powered tool designed to standardize and expedite the VFX bidding process for production-side supervisors and producers. OpenBID Client offers a unified platform for script breakdowns, vendor communication, and bid comparison
– ensuring accuracy and efficiency down to individual shots or assets.
“Bidding is the most critical part of VFX, but also the least interesting,” states LeVere. “There are no accolades for accurate bids. Streamlining the process benefits everyone by opening up more time for the creative aspects of VFX supervising.”
OpenBID Client simplifies workflows through built-in automations that generate and send NDAs, insert thumbnails and video links, and share tech memos. It enables production-side VFX supervisors to lock the format of their bid breakdown, and see all submitted bids in one comprehensive overview display. OpenBID Client complements OpenBID Vendor, which was first launched in March 2022 to support VFX vendor operations with features such as cash flow tracking and resource planning.
With over two decades in VFX, Marcus LeVere's journey from CG artist on 'The Scorpion King' in 2002 to VFX supervisor showcases a commitment to helping others. His expertise spans roles at Lucasfilm / ILM, Zoic Studios, and FuseFX, with a focus on machine learning and innovation.
Integrating OpenAI’s API, OpenBID by default automatically generates shot descriptions from the new ChatGPT-4 Turbo and example storyboard images from DALL-E. LeVere advises that there are going to be additional and compelling implementations of AI added to OpenBID, especially across financial analysis tasks.
Brian Connor, Oscar-winning VFX production supervisor forDune, says of OpenBID, “If you have to breakdown and bid scripts, you really need to be using OpenBID. It is made by someone who fully understands bidding and has done all the tedious work for us and beyond.”
The OpenBID ecosystem is built on top of Google Workspace*, which provides familiar user interfaces of Google Sheets* and Google Drive* as well as the trusted security of Google cloud infrastructure to protect sensitive pre-release project details. This foundation allows users to have real-time collaboration directly in the bid. For example, when the client increases the number of cuts in a sequence or omits shots, the vendors’ bids are all automatically updated and reflected back in the client’s main overview, eliminating the need to send separate emails to each vendor and wait for their replies.
Cloud-native tool brings standardized bidding to production-side VFX supervisors
Users of OpenBID have control over their project data through the open-source format of OpenBID. Unlike other cloud-based project management systems, OpenBID allows users to easily export their work, with the automated spreadsheet calculations remaining intact.
Another element in the OpenBID ecosystem is the On-Set Camera Report (OSCR), which brings open-source and modern usability to the template developed by the Visual Effects Society in 2013. OpenBID OSCR has built-in presets, allows both the VFX supervisor and data wrangler to enter data simultaneously, and preserves cell version history.
LeVere has also created a VFX job referral service. Productions that don’t already have preferred vendors can get a list of available, pre-qualified providers by completing a simple form. LeVere recruits and manages the list in order to assist the VFX community that has been significantly impacted by this year’s strikes. “So many VFX professionals have been laid off and some of them are establishing new boutique VFX houses,” observes LeVere. “The OpenBID ecosystem can help them show their talent to new clients directly, without just crossing their fingers and waiting for the work to come in.”
VFX supervisors and producers can get started with OpenBID for free by visiting
openbid.bid and following the instructions to install the OpenBID Toolkit.
*Google Workspace, Google Sheets, and Google Drive are trademarks of Google, LLC.