AI Filmmakers Push Back on Notion That Generative Video Is Easy

Generative artificial intelligence may offer significant budget reductions compared to traditional physical production, but practitioners warn that crafting high quality narrative screen work remains an intensive, demanding technical process.

Speaking at TheWrap's AI Creator Day panel during its annual Grill conference, actor, director and producer David Bianchi pushed back against assumptions that generative media requires minimal effort. Bianchi told panel moderator and TheWrap founder Sharon Waxman that creating AI cinema is an "egregious amount of work" and "f-king hard."

To illustrate the actual workflow, Bianchi detailed the technical output behind a three-minute and 38-second short from his production company, Exertion Films. The brief piece required a four-person team logging over 200 hours of manual work and generating 1,200 distinct renders, consuming 25,000 compute credits at an estimated cost of $2,500.

Bianchi noted that the identical concept would have required an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million to stage and shoot practically. However, he emphasized that budget savings do not eliminate the necessity of creative discernment. "As a filmmaker, I see things through a filming lens, and I compose things through a filming lens that speaks to the aesthetic that I want to predict beyond," Bianchi said, arguing that artists with strong visual taste can now execute complex visions that were previously cost-prohibitive.

## The Primacy of Story

Fairground founder and chief executive Colin Petrie-Norris reinforced that viewpoint during the session, identifying foundational narrative discipline as the true benchmark for AI-driven platforms. "I think that's the lost art, just telling good stories," Petrie-Norris said, noting that compelling scripts matter far more than technological novelty.

For Hollywood Tomorrow, the practitioner perspective underscores a widening divide between automated novelty clips and commercially viable production. While software costs remain a tiny fraction of physical studio budgets, delivering coherent cinematic results still demands skilled human labor, aesthetic judgment and extensive iterative refinement.