Picture a typical brief. One campaign, but the client also wants a version for every market, a vertical cut for social, stills for the website and the product in every colour. Oh, and preferably next month. Not so long ago we’d have planned three shoot days and a lot of travel. Today there’s another way.
I’ve been in production for over twenty years, and every few weeks someone asks me whether AI will make our job obsolete. I don’t think so. But it is changing what good production looks like, and I believe the future is hybrid.
What is hybrid production?
Hybrid production combines a real shoot with CGI and AI, planned together from day one. You shoot the people for real: faces, hands, skin, the moment someone laughs. The world around them you build, change or extend digitally. Another location, a set extension, the product in six colourways, versions for twelve markets. All from one production.
The important part is the planning. You decide upfront what you capture in camera and what you create, and you design the shoot around that. Otherwise you end up with a post team solving problems nobody thought about on set.
Why I believe in it
Let’s start with efficiency. Instead of shooting one hero film and then squeezing forty cutdowns out of it, you plan for the full asset list from the start. Capture your talent the right way, with clean plates and a few extra angles, and one shoot day can deliver dozens of variations. For in-house teams who deliver every week, that’s the difference between keeping up and falling behind.
It’s also faster. You can test looks and environments before anyone is on set. And you’re no longer standing around waiting for the weather to clear. Those late changes we all know (a new product colour, an extra market, a claim legal wants to change) become a few days of work instead of a reshoot.
That makes it cheaper too, or rather: smarter with budget. You travel less and need fewer people on set. Good CGI isn’t free, so it’s not always cheaper upfront, but the cost per asset drops considerably. And the money you save can go where it matters most: the idea and the people in front of the camera.
Then there’s sustainability. Flying a crew across the world for sunshine in February is getting harder to justify. If you can build a location digitally, you don’t need to fly. Hybrid isn’t automatically greener, since rendering and storage use energy too. But if you make the right choices at the start, it’s one of the most concrete things we as producers can change.
Real people in front of the camera
With all this technology, there’s one thing I always hold on to: working with real models and actors.
Every producer knows the best moment often isn’t in the storyboard. A spontaneous reaction, a look between two people, the way someone holds a product they actually like. A good actor brings something you didn’t write, and that’s often the shot that ends up in the film. AI can create beautiful images, but it’s hard to get that kind of moment out of a prompt.
It’s also about trust. Especially in beauty and fashion, people want to see someone they can relate to, with real skin and a real body. And honestly, I’d also like the actors and make-up artists I’ve worked with for years to still have a job.
To me, that’s what the technology is for: helping real people and real stories work harder.
Looking ahead
Hybrid does ask more of us upfront. Creative, production, tech and post need to sit at one table from the very first meeting, and you need to know what each approach can and can’t do. It won’t suit every project either; some still deserve a fully traditional shoot.
But for a lot of what brands need today, I think the best answer lies somewhere in between. The tools will keep changing, and what feels impressive today will look dated in a year. What stays the same is that great production comes down to people, and the choices you make along the way.
I’m curious whether others are seeing the same shift, or whether I’m being too optimistic.
Kim