The five-episode sci-fi action series The Arc was made by a small team using generative AI and about $38,000 in AI credits provided by Artlist. Director Darin Stewart says each shot typically required eight to 10 generations, with the team using low-resolution drafts before increasing image quality to manage credit use. The production offers a look at the costs behind AI-generated video—and shows that faster tools do not eliminate the need for repeated creative work.
The Arc delivered its first episode in three and a half weeks
Directed by Darin Stewart, with AI creator Simone Ferretti as executive producer, The Arc was approved and produced by AI creative platform Artlist. Set in a near-future United States, the story follows an incarcerated veteran who must fight through deadly historical simulations to obtain medicine for his gravely ill son. Episodes run about 10 to 22 minutes, and the series is available on Artlist’s website.
Stewart says the team had no settled concept when it was cleared to make a short-form scripted series. It took about three and a half weeks from the project’s start to submission of the first episode’s final cut. The story moves across periods and locations, including 19th-century Montana and 17th-century Japan. Stewart said the team came from traditional film and television production, but had never had the budget or opportunity to shoot battle scenes in Japan. AI tools allowed them to depict those settings without traveling to film on location.
Writers shaped the story; AI supported production
Stewart says the human team developed the story, characters and settings from scratch. For each episode, team members spent about 10 minutes talking through the plot, specific dialogue and desired camera movements. They then used Anthropic’s Claude to organize that material into a workable script, which the team edited.
The crew also used the film and television image library ShotDeck and design platform Figma to create character reference sheets and mood boards. Google’s Nano Banana Pro and GPT Image 2 were used to generate images; once scenes were settled, video was generated mainly with Seedance and Kling. Stewart said the preparation resembled a traditional production, including the level of detail the team put into designing sets.
One example appears in the fifth episode: a dining room with a glowing white floor, inspired by the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The team specified individual objects in the room, including stone sculptures and paintings on the walls, and used Claude to help research which artworks suited the character. The workflow can reduce the need for physical sets and location shoots, but visual design and research still require human input.
About $7,600 per episode, with repeated generations using credits
The Arc used about $38,000 in AI credits, or roughly $7,600 per episode. Stewart says a shot could take eight to 10 generations, so the team first worked at low resolution and raised the output quality only after selecting a version it liked. Artlist is a subscription platform that provides access to multiple AI image- and video-generation tools.
The figure is not a complete production budget: the information available covers the platform’s AI credits, not all labor and production expenses. Stewart said a larger budget would have allowed the team to hire more people for different parts of the production. He also said crew members were paid day rates on par with those for live-action shoots. AI eased some constraints around building sets and reshooting scenes, but the project still relied on writers, editors and other production staff.
Hollywood remains divided over AI’s role
AI use in Hollywood continues to raise concerns about jobs and the value of creative work. The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA previously condemned Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated character promoted as an actor, saying AI performers could threaten actors’ livelihoods and diminish the value of human artistry. Meanwhile, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on the company’s July earnings call that AI had been used at some stage in the production of about 300 titles.
Ferretti argues that many creators have stories to tell but lack the financing or industry connections to get projects made, and that AI may lower some production barriers. He also said the tools gave The Arc’s team more flexibility to change the story—for example, having a character leave earlier—without the kind of overseas reshoots a traditional production might require.
The series has screened in person in London and Los Angeles, and the team is working to reach a wider audience. Stewart said he hopes viewers will focus on the work’s artistic expression and story, rather than only on how it was made.