The Identity Crisis Hitting Production Companies as AI Compresses the Value Chain

Something I've been watching play out — production companies are starting to have a real identity problem.

A mid-range commercial shoot still costs $50-150K. And AI can produce something visually competitive for maybe $5K. Most production companies see that and their first instinct is "OK we need to add AI to what we do." Which I get. But I think they're misreading it.

What's actually happening is the whole value chain is compressing. Brands that were paying $100K for a shoot are going to start asking why. And "because we have expensive cameras and a crew of 30" isn't going to hold up as an answer for much longer.

The production companies that make it through this won't be the ones who bolted AI onto their existing process. They'll be the ones who started over — story first, then whatever tool gets it done best. We did that and honestly the hardest part wasn't learning the technology. It was unlearning the instinct that expensive means good. Because for a long time it did. And now it just doesn't automatically.