In the latest edition of ScreenMDM Talks’ The SwitchScreen strand, we welcome Jonathan Yunger, veteran film producer and co-founder and CEO of Arcana Labs, to discuss how the company is using artist-driven AI to protect the integrity of storytelling, lower barriers to entry for new artists, and enhance the financial viability of indie moviemaking.
Unlike a lot of AI platforms for creatives, Arcana Labs has its roots in Hollywood, not Silicon Valley; co-founder Yunger is a longtime producer, running Millennium Media, with some 50 credits to his name.
His AI “lightbulb moment” happened about five years ago, mid-production on an indie film in Europe. Facing unaffordable licensing fees for a specific image needed, Yunger was introduced to Midjourney on Discord. While his early experiments with the tech were crude, he could see the potential, and together with another veteran creative, screenwriter and producer, Hank Hoffman, Arcana Labs was born.
“Can we figure out how these AI tools work? Can we put them all into a sandbox where you could try to maintain as much control as possible to raise production value and lower costs? Is it possible that we’re on the horizon of a brand-new toolset?”
Watch the entire conversation with Yunger on YouTube or Spotify, or read excerpts below.
There is no magical “push button” when it comes to AI in filmmaking, Yunger explains. But its workflows can help creatives save time and money. On a recent major independent feature that had found itself over budget, Arcana stepped in to service visual effects shots, saving the production between $700,000 and $800,000. Plus, you can use AI tools “like a glorified second unit.” This isn’t about replacing actors or creatives, Yunger stressed. “The production workflow is just shifting.”
“I don’t care how many AI tools you have,” he adds. “I don’t believe in AI for writing. You won’t find any of that inside Arcana ever. I think the future belongs to the storyteller, to the creative. If you think about it, the only thing today that’s truly tech-proof is intellectual property and distribution. And you can now own that if you have the grit, because it’s still hard.”
Arcana Labs, he adds, is about “preserving storytelling and enhancing storytelling via humans—humans to the power of AI, not AI to the power of humans.”
Arcana is expanding its footprint globally, franchising its banner, academy, and production workflows to a new branch in Dubai; building ties across Asia; and working with studios across Europe.
It is also raising capital to build out Arcana Studios. “Instead of making two movies for $20 million dollars, I’ll make six, but still thoughtful high -concept content. We’re all experts at identifying the right IP, the right project, backing into whatever budget we have to make.”
The ultimate goal, he says, is “to usher in a new era of the studio. An era of the studio in which the filmmaker feels at home and the creator has an opportunity. We want to do stuff for budgets anywhere between $500,000 to $3 million. But today we can make $3 million look like $20 million.”
