Netflix paid $587 million for Ben Affleck's AI startup, disclosed on a recent earnings call that 300 of its shows now use generative AI, and is one of several major studios striking deals with AI firms. Puck founding partner Matthew Belloni, who has covered Hollywood for two decades, argues the debate over whether the industry will adopt AI is effectively over. His summary: everyone is doing it.
The scale of the money reframes the story. Affleck's exit alone is larger than any payday he has earned from acting or directing, and it lands alongside a $75 million investment from Google DeepMind into A24 and a Lionsgate stake in Runway, the AI video-generation company. The C-suites at the major studios are moving in the same direction at roughly the same time, and the through-line is cost pressure — Pixar originals now run at least $200 million to produce, and box-office receipts are not keeping pace.
Belloni divides the adoption into two categories. Corporate AI — search, workflow, internal tooling — is universal and uncontroversial. Generative AI touching the creative process is where the friction sits, and it is happening anyway. Belloni recounted a prominent showrunner who walked into the writers' room and pushed her team to use ChatGPT for creative brainstorming: scenarios, jokes, scene descriptions.
“basically castigated her writing team for not using ChatGPT to help with the process”— Matthew Belloni, Puck founding partner
Key facts
- 01Netflix acquired Ben Affleck's AI startup for $587 million, one of the largest AI deals in entertainment to date.
- 02Netflix disclosed on its most recent earnings call that 300 of its shows now use generative AI.
- 03Google DeepMind invested $75 million into A24, and Lionsgate took a stake in AI video firm Runway.
- 04Pixar originals cost at least $200 million to produce, driving studios toward AI to control budgets.
- 05A full version of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey leaked on X and was viewed roughly a million times before Universal issued a takedown.
The Writers Guild's position on this is more permissive than the public narrative suggests. As long as a human writer receives credit on every script and the technology is not used to eliminate jobs, the guild does not prohibit it. Screenwriters Belloni has spoken to are already using the tools to draft location descriptions and rough scenarios, treating it as an extension of the research process rather than a replacement for it.
The Affleck deal is the clearest tell on where Hollywood is heading. Netflix bought a company most of the industry barely knew existed until the sale closed. Belloni's read is that Netflix bought credibility as much as technology — an Oscar-winning filmmaker publicly vouching for the product buys the streamer room to deploy AI more aggressively than a competitor could.
“Was this a $600 million press release?”— Matthew Belloni, Puck founding partner
The underlying tool, per Belloni, ingests footage a production has already shot and makes it available for generative extension. That means avoiding costly reshoots for missing coverage, extending the edges of a frame, or synthesizing a shot the director failed to capture on the day. It is presented as a filmmaker's tool, not a filmmaker's replacement — a distinction that matters given the stakes on the labor side.
The public backlash has real consequences when studios do not manage the rollout carefully. Amazon held a media day showcasing an AI-generated animation slate led by executive Albert Chang, with named creators attached. The online reaction was severe enough that one of the announced creators stepped away from his project. Belloni called it AI shaming, and it is currently a functioning check on how loudly studios can promote their AI ambitions.
“the big fear in Hollywood is that this technology will replace [people]”— Matthew Belloni, Puck founding partner
The reputational math has not stopped the deal flow. Darren Aronofsky is working with the technology in ways Belloni characterized as the so-called right way, and the industry's reaction to Affleck's $587 million exit was less moral discomfort than sticker shock. The dominant response Belloni heard was some version of holy cow, that's a lot of money.
The counterweight is real. A full version of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey leaked on X last weekend and was viewed roughly a million times before Universal could issue a takedown, raising the question of whether xAI's Grok scraped the film for training. Belloni also flagged the ongoing skepticism about whether current generative output is actually good enough — most AI-generated shorts and pilots he has seen are technically impressive but detectably synthetic. Animation is furthest along; live action is not close.
The direction of travel is set. Every major studio is either buying, investing, or partnering, and the $587 million Netflix paid for Affleck's company establishes a valuation floor that will pull more filmmaker-led AI startups into the market. The next phase of the fight will not be whether Hollywood uses AI. It will be over who controls the training data, who owns the models the studios depend on, and whether the labor gains the Writers Guild secured in 2023 hold when the tools get good enough that the credited-writer requirement becomes the last line of defense.
Working on something we should cover, or seeing a story we missed? Send leads, documents, or feedback to hello@aichatdaily.com. For sensitive tips, see our secure tips page for Signal and PGP options.
Spotted an error? Email hello@aichatdaily.com with the URL and the issue, or read our full corrections policy.
