Ted Sarandos: The ‘Bigger Opportunity’ with AI in Filmmaking Is ‘If You Can Make Movies 10% Better,’ Not Just Cheaper

The Netflix co-CEO cited James Cameron's recent statement that the technology could cut production costs in half.

Artificial or not, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has some ideas on how artificial intelligence could make films “better.” During the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Sarandos said that he believes that the real opportunity for AI in filmmaking is if they can help films be “10 percent better,” not just “50 percent cheaper.” Sarandos cited James Cameron‘s recent comments about how the technology could cut production costs in half.

“There’s a ton of excitement about what AI can do for content creators,” Sarandos said on the call. “I read the article too about what Jim Cameron said about making movies 50 percent cheaper. I remain convinced that there’s an even bigger opportunity if you can make movies 10 percent better. So, our talent today is using AI tools to do set references, pre-vis, VFX sequence prep, shot planning, all kinds of things today that kind of make the process better.”

He added, “Traditionally, only big-budget projects would have access to things like advanced visual effects such as de-aging. Today, you can use these AI-powered tools to enable smaller-budget projects to have access to big VFX onscreen.”

Sarandos pointed to Martin Scorsese’s 2019 film “The Irishman” as an example of what AI could achieve. The film used VFX de-aging effects for its central characters, played by Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, across decades. Sarandos explained that if the feature was made today, AI could have enhanced (and eased) the process for a fraction of the budget, and have had an “improved” result onscreen.

“If you remember that movie, we were using very cutting-edge, very expensive de-aging technology that still had massive limitations, still created a bunch of complexity on set for the actors,” Sarandos said. “It was a giant leap forward for sure, but nowhere near what we needed for that film.”

“The Irishman” cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto later made his directorial debut with “Pedro Páramo,” which used “AI-powered tools” to de-age its stars. According to Sarandos, the effects cost a “fraction” of the tech for “The Irishman.”

An insider told IndieWire that “Pedro Páramo” incorporated a tool called Vanity AI, which is the proprietary tool from visual effects studio MARZ (Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies). It has been used on films and series like “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Stranger Things” Season 4, “Gaslit,” “First Ladies,” and “Being the Ricardos,” and the source said the tool was instrumental in achieving the much better results and creative experience than what Prieto was able to achieve following his experience on “The Irishman.”

“In fact, the entire budget of the film was about about the VFX cost on ‘The Irishman,'” Sarandos added in the call. “So, same creator using new tools, better tools, to do would’ve been impossible five years ago — that’s incredibly exciting. So, our focus is simple: Find ways for AI to improve the member and the creator experience.”

“Avatar” director James Cameron previously said during the “Boz to the Future” podcast that AI will be key to minimizing costs for films, and also make for shorter development time. “If we want to continue to see the kinds of movies that I’ve always loved and that I like to make and that I will go to see — ‘Dune,’ ‘Dune: Part Two,’ or one of my films or big effects-heavy, CG-heavy films — we’ve got to figure out how to cut the cost of that in half,” Cameron said.

He added, “Now that’s not about laying off half the staff and at the effects company. That’s about doubling their speed to completion on a given shot, so your cadence is faster and your throughput cycle is faster, and artists get to move on and do other cool things and then other cool things, right? That’s my sort of vision for that.”

Additional reporting by Brian Welk