What Is Prompt Make?

Mallal coined the term “prompt make” to describe the new skillset filmmakers must master: translating a creative vision into precise, technical AI instructions. It’s not unlike directing a human crew—but instead of yelling “action,” you’re typing detailed prompts that instruct the model to simulate a camera pan, adjust lighting, or copy ambient sound.

Using Google’s Flow platform—which leverages Veo3 and integrates video, speech, ambient noise, and more—Mallal produced not only a film, but a scaffolding for the of “cinematic news.” His newest work, Midnight Drop, dramatizes a fictional U.S. military touch on Iranian nuclear facilities. Despite its gritty, on-location feel, the entire 12-minute sequence was computer-generated.

The Rise of AI-Powered Storytelling

This is more than a technological feat—it’s a fundamental change. As David Jones, CEO of Brandtech Group, explains: “Today, less than 1% of brand content is generated with AI. But in the , that figure will be 100%.” Jones believes AI will become not just an option for creatives, but the default engine for content production across film, advertising, and streaming.

Case in point: Netflix recently employed generative AI for the Argentinian sci-fi epic El Eternauta. A complex building-collapse sequence in Buenos Aires was created using AI tools ten times faster than traditional VFX workflows, according to co-CEO Ted Sarandos. This speed made the production economically viable without sacrificing narrative ambition.

AI’s reach is even being felt on platforms like TikTok. On his podcast The Rest is Entertainment, author and producer Richard Osman predicted that by 2027, AI-assisted production will dominate not only movie trailers but short-form and branded content as well.

New Creative Models: Faster, Cheaper, Bolder

What AI enables is not just speed, but freedom. “The creative process is about making bad stuff to get to the good stuff,” Mallal says. “Now we have the best bad ideas faster.” With reduced costs and time, filmmakers can iterate freely—testing multiple versions of a scene in days instead of months.

Experimental director Ava Stanton, who leads the New Reel Collective, explains, “AI lets us storyboard, block, and shoot scenes within a weekend. It’s not perfect, but it’s enough to break through creative paralysis.” Stanton recently completed a surrealist short about quantum consciousness, entirely rendered using AI tools.

Expanding Access to Film Production

The democratization of cinema is arguably AI’s most exciting promise. Individual creators, small studios, and even students now have access to tools that rival traditional post-production houses. Programs like Runway ML, OpenAI’s Sora, and Midjourney enable visual storytelling from the ground up—no camera required.

AI also enables localization at scale. According to Li Fang, a computational linguist at MIT Media Lab, “With voice cloning and automated dubbing, a short film created in English can be fully localized into Mandarin or Arabic overnight.” Fang’s team is working on emotion-aware translation tools that preserve tone and cadence—necessary for cross-cultural storytelling.

Copyright, Ethics, and the Road Ahead

But with new possibilities come new ethical tensions. In the UK, proposals to allow AI training on copyrighted material without explicit permission have sparked outrage among creative professionals. Baroness Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer and children’s tech rights advocate, acknowledges AI’s potential but warns, “If creators don’t have equity in the system, we risk losing culture to algorithms.”

This sentiment is echoed globally. YouTube’s terms of service already allow uploaded content to be used for model training. But many artists and rights-holders feel this constitutes exploitation. Mallal, for one, supports “transparent frameworks that ensure artists are credited and compensated.”

Francesca Tay, a Singaporean producer who co-founded Collective Cinema, adds, “This is a renaissance of storytelling—but we need ethical scaffolding. AI should be an amplifier of creativity, not a thief of labor.”

The Philosophical Implications of AI Filmmaking

AI’s arrival isn’t just technical—it’s existential. Who owns a film when no one held a camera? Can a machine generate emotion, or is it merely remixing our past? These questions are no longer hypothetical—they’re central to how stories will be made, shared, and experienced in the .

Renowned film theorist Elliot Kessler of NYU writes, “Filmmaking was always a negotiation between imagination and limitation. AI removes the latter. What we gain in possibility, we must balance with intention.”

In this new frontier, the filmmaker becomes less of a technician and more of a conductor—composing from datasets instead of storyboards, orchestrating algorithms instead of actors. The art remains, but the tools are reborn.

The is Already Rolling

What used to take years can now be done in weeks—or even days. Budgets once requiring millions are now achievable at a fraction of the cost. Samir Mallal’s ability to produce real-time “cinematic news” stresses this transformation.

AI is not just accelerating the filmmaking process—it’s evolving it. The boundary between creator and coder is blurring. As the tools become smarter, faster, and more accessible, we are entering an time where anyone with vision and a keyboard can become a director.

The of cinema is no longer confined to the backlots of Hollywood. It’s unfolding in basements, bedrooms, and browser tabs around the world—one prompt at a time.