{"id":559718,"date":"2026-04-02T06:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T06:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/559718\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T06:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T06:23:15","slug":"before-netflix-deal-ben-afflecks-ai-firm-set-aggressive-production-cost-cutting-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/559718\/","title":{"rendered":"Before Netflix Deal, Ben Affleck’s AI Firm Set Aggressive Production Cost-Cutting Targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAfter revealing their surprise acquisition of Ben Affleck-founded AI firm InterPositive<\/a> last month, Netflix<\/a> executives and the actor-director emphasized how much it would benefit the creative community.<\/p>\n

\n\tA\u00a0patent application filed in 2024 and recently reviewed by Deadline shows that along with those benefits, the company also promised significant cost savings for film and TV producers. The reductions made possible by InterPositive<\/a>\u2018s technology would be \u201csubstantial\u201d on below-the-line production<\/a>, \u201cconservatively\u201d reaching at least 10% to 20%, the application said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe main document (read it HERE<\/a>), filed under Affleck\u2019s legal name, Benjamin G\u00e9za Affleck-Boldt, itemizes the areas where spending could drop thanks to the company\u2019s technology. Visual effects<\/a> costs, for example, would be cut by 50%, with savings reaching 70% for background actors and stand-ins.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn example included with the patent application includes a budget for an unidentified production<\/a> that started in January 2023 and had its budget figures updated in April 2024. The names of the film\u2019s director, producer and above-the-line talent are redacted, but below-the-line production costs are shown totaling $32.1 million. InterPositive claimed it could shave $7 million from that below-the-line number.<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix and Affleck\u2019s camp both declined to comment when contacted by Deadline.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Read Deadline\u2019s Rendering Columns About How AI Is Disrupting The Entertainment Industry<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tSpecific departments and estimated savings are called out in the documents: additional production units in cities outside the main location, 40%; art department, 30%; set dressing, 40%. None of the projections include specifics about the number of jobs that could be affected by the adoption of the company\u2019s tools. Nevertheless, with anxiety levels surging across Hollywood about the outlook for industry workers, especially as major unions negotiate new contracts with studios and streamers, the figures are certainly eye-opening. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe financial implications of incorporating AI<\/a> technology into the film production process are substantial,\u201d the application states. \u201cWith principal photography savings estimated to range conservatively from 10-20% of total production costs, the financial burden on studios could be significantly reduced. For instance, considering the estimated spending on original films and series in 2022 by major companies, which amounted to a combined content spending of $140.5 billion, a hypothetical reduction of 20% in spending towards original content production could lead to substantial savings. This reduction translates to savings ranging from $8.43 billion to $16.86 billion, based on the estimated range of $56.2 billion to $84.3 billion allocated towards original productions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow that InterPositive and its small group of employees have been integrated into Netflix, the company\u2019s tools will be used exclusively on in-house productions. But the application posits a scenario of the company licensing its technology to various partners, as many vendors currently do. \u201cAI service providers can generate substantial revenue by charging a fraction of the cost savings as their fee, thereby creating a win-win situation for both the film industry and the technology sector,\u201d the application says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe potential to lower production costs helps explain why Netflix paid up to $600 million to acquire InterPositive, according to Bloomberg. (The final cost could be lower, but company principals are eligible for payouts based on certain performance targets.)<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a video conversation with Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria and Chief Technology and Product Officer Elizabeth Stone, Affleck says post-production tasks can be accomplished more \u201cquickly\u201d and \u201ceasily\u201d with InterPositive. He doesn\u2019t mention costs. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s not really about cheaper, it\u2019s really about better,\u201d Bajaria says. (Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has made similar comments when asked by Wall Street analysts about potential efficiencies. In July 2025, he said AI \u201crepresents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tAffleck, in a statement about the company\u2019s formation and growth released with the acquisition news<\/a>, focused on narrative and craft rather than cost savings. He spoke about the obligation he felt to an industry experiencing significant disruption. \u201cWe need to preserve what makes storytelling human, which is judgment,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe kind that takes decades to build, experience to hone and that only people can have. I knew I had a responsibility to my peers and our industry, to protect the power of human creativity and the people behind it. In creating InterPositive, I sought to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStone said the deal is consistent with the company\u2019s \u201cgeneral \u201cresponsible\u201d approach to AI. \u201cThe InterPositive team is joining Netflix because of our shared belief that innovation should empower storytellers, not replace them,\u201d she said in a press release announcing the deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe approach taken by the patent application is consistent with some of Affleck\u2019s previous remarks about AI.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a November 2024, he appeared at a CNBC conference<\/a> alongside Gerry Cardinale, who co-founded production company Artists Equity with Affleck and his longtime collaborator Matt Damon. <\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about his general outlook for AI, Affleck said he didn\u2019t see an immediate threat to acting, writing and other core aspects of filmmaking. Even so, AI will \u201cdisintermediate more laborious, less creative, more costly aspects of filmmaking\u201d and bring costs down, he predicted. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t like to be in the visual effects business. They\u2019re in trouble because what used to cost a lot of money is going to cost a lot less. And it\u2019s going to hammer that space, and it already is. And maybe it shouldn\u2019t take a thousand people to render something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe upside of that cost reduction, he said, is that it will \u201clower the barrier to entry and allow more voices to be heard. It will make it easier for people who want to make Good Will Huntings to go out and make them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After revealing their surprise acquisition of Ben Affleck-founded AI firm InterPositive last month, Netflix executives and the actor-director…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,21821,230095,14007,217,59225,34086,74,248152],"class_list":["post-559718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ben-affleck","tag-interpositive","tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","tag-netflix","tag-production","tag-techline","tag-technology","tag-visual-effects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}