Another Hollywood basement startup

Hollywood loves grand visions and grand myths. The biggest myth of the last two years is that artificial intelligence will write films. Direct them. Replace actors. Really? A look at the latest deal between Ben Affleck and Netflix provides a much more sobering answer.

Netflix has acquired the AI company InterPositive. Founded in 2022 by Affleck in Los Angeles without any PR fanfare and without any tech hysteria – 16 employees, engineers, researchers, creative minds. And an idea that is astonishingly pragmatic: Using AI as a tool.

As part of the deal, Affleck will become a senior advisor at Netflix. The purchase price remains confidential. However, what is interesting about this move is not just the deal itself, but the technology therein.

AI

When AI stops dreaming and does real work instead

Most current AI video models work on the same principle: you write a prompt and the machine invents images out of thin air. Sounds spectacular, but in real everyday production it is often rather useless.

InterPositive takes a different approach: The system trains with real material from an ongoing production – working on daily footage shoots. This material is used to create a specific AI model for that particular film or series. This model then helps in post-production, not only redefining the work process, but also changing costs and thus the entire production.

And it does that not as an author or director – it is in fact the production crew, working it as a tool.

AI IS A TOOL

The invisible problems of film production

Filmed dailies rarely turn out as perfectly as they look in the end. product A shot is missing, lighting is wrong, stunt wires are suddenly visible, a frame is not right, etc.

Fixing all of this in a second run costs time and, above all, a lot of money, having to rectify, re-do or re-work shoots. This is where InterPositive comes in. Its technology can replace missing shots, correct lighting, reframe shots, remove stunt wires and optimise backgrounds. Much more, but these are the crucial (post/re-)production workflows. All tasks that have previously consumed enormous resources. In other words, AI does not invent a film – it repairs it.

Affleck observed the rise of AI as early as 2022 and, drawing on his experience as an actor and director, asked a simple question: Why are we building systems that are supposed to write stories instead of ones that help filmmakers visualize stories? The answer was InterPositive.

A toolbox for post-production. Built by filmmakers for filmmakers.

AI

Die AI-Hysterie: Wir sind die Roboter

The most recent AI snippet going viral featured a showdown between mega-superstars Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, who have actually only appeared together once in a film, and even then without any action scenes:

The answer to that is quite simple. This creative Sputnik-Shock is just as brainless as is the idea of full circle AI marketing. AI bots do advertising, now we’re seeing AI bots doing the shopping as well. Advertisers and consumers watching in silent confusion. CEOs oozing dire warnings over the destruction of all desk and computer jobs.

The key question in this doomsday scenario is: Who will earn the money, choose products, make purchases and change minds if the quality is not right? Who will buy, consume and thus finance the infrastructure of this brave new AI world? Not the bots, pal.

The silent AI strategy of Netflix

The deal fits into a larger strategy: Netflix already uses generative AI for special effects in its own productions. At the same time, the company is building its own systems such as Eyeline. The idea behind this is surprisingly unspectacular: Technology should support, not replace, creative people. This is a stance that is currently being hotly and falsely debated in Hollywood and the rest of the world in terms of work practices – but in actual fact is highly political, especially due to the intervention of the Trump regime into said Warner negotiations.

However, apart from the transformation of the Warner Group into a Fox News-style propaganda channel, the industry is still negotiating employment contracts, with AI repeatedly being the point of contention. Following the strikes of 2023, trade unions are keeping a very close eye on this landmark discussion.

What is particularly interesting about all this is the timing. Netflix had previously considered acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, but that plan is now off the table. Instead, it has opted for a smaller, relatively inconspicuous deal – but one that is far more strategic. While other corporations are bidding billions for media empires, Netflix invests in the foundations of film production. In tools. And the financing of it all.

NETFLIX POSITIONS ITSELF

The real question: Can AI write films?

Perhaps someday – when a neural network can not only weigh yes and no at high speed, as it does today, but has learned to understand the concept of grey, maybe, perhaps and gut-feeling . By incorporating thousands upon thousands of brilliant works by humans and studying the subject of illogical, purely emotional creativity. Then – perhaps.

Until that day and definitely for the foreseeable future, the Affleck deal means something completely different. It deals with and builds really interesting AI. Not the kind that replaces Hollywood. But the kind that makes Hollywood more efficient. Lower costs, more possibilities. And: still with humans at the wheel.

AI IS NOT THE ARMAGEDDON – IT’S A TOOL

Brave new world ?

Yes, in many ways but the odds are much better. Netflix’ move in this highly political dispute over the Warner takeover is a prime example of foresight and vantage-point strategic thinking. The company withdrew from a bidding war it would have lost anyway and concluded a deal behind the scenes that will shake not only the future Trump propaganda tool Warner, but Hollywood film production to its foundations.

If – and this is crucial – Affleck and the powers behind InterPositive see this as a tool, traditional jobs will not be replaced, but improved, and productions will become cheaper. As long as people plan, comment and work hands-on until finalising creation and strategy this is not AI, it’s working with AI tools: As it should be and finally – hopefully – an example of what AI can actually do without the idiotic hype: Reduce the cost of complex and expensive production – which should really please every consumer.

The fact that WarnerBros as Trump’s designated mouthpiece are strategically missing out in the medium to long term is the icing on the cake of this initially really positive development.