A recently published article by Rest of World explores how Netflix is accelerating its use of artificial intelligence in film production through its work with InterPositive, an artificial intelligence company built by Hollywood actor Ben Affleck, signaling a shift that is less about replacing filmmakers and more about reshaping how films are made.
The technology focuses on post-production efficiencies, using AI trained on a project’s own footage to handle tasks like relighting, continuity fixes, and visual effects, dramatically reducing time and cost while keeping creative direction in human hands.
But the broader implications are harder to ignore. As Kim Owczarski notes, “AI is not replacing creativity, but it is reshaping labor,” underscoring how these tools could redefine roles across visual effects and post-production. While studios frame AI as assistive, the growing reliance on platform-controlled technology raises critical questions about authorship, workforce disruption, and who ultimately controls the filmmaking pipeline.
Kimberly Owczarski is an associate professor in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at Texas Christian University. Her teaching and research focus is in the areas of conglomeration, franchises, media authorship and digital distribution. View her profile To explore how AI is transforming the media and entertainment industry and what it means for creative labour, production workflows, and the future of storytelling simply contact Kim Owczarski for expert insight and commentary today.
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Biography
Kimberly Owczarski is an associate professor in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at Texas Christian University. Her teaching and research focus is in the areas of conglomeration, franchises, media authorship and digital distribution. She has published essays in Spectator, Journal of Film and Video, Quarterly Review of Film and Television¸ Journal of Popular Culture, Media Fields Journal, Jump Cut and Popular Culture Review, as well as several academic anthologies.
Areas of Expertise
Media Industries
Media Conglomerates
Economics of Film
Digital Media
Accomplishments
Nominee, Wassenich Award for Mentoring, Texas Christian University
Netflix’s AI deal puts the global VFX workforce at risk
Rest of the World online
2026-04-20
Kimberly Owczarski, an associate professor of film, television, and digital media at Texas Christian University, told Rest of World. “That seems unlikely, given the shrinkage in the overall number of film and TV series productions in recent years across the globe,” Owczarski said.
Kimberly A. Owczarski, an associate professor at Texas Christian University who studies media franchises, told NPR in an email that Netflix's decision to partner with a filmmaker of Affleck's prominence sends out a positive message to an industry reeling from the threats posed by the growing adoption of AI across the entertainment landscape.
"His status in the industry as a star, filmmaker, and producer gives substantial weight as he promotes a responsible use of AI in filmmaking," Owczarski said.
“For students who want to stay here [in Texas], it’s been a boon because now the productions are here,” said Kimberly Owczarski, associate professor of film, television and digital media. “They don't have to travel all the way to New York or L.A. for those kinds of opportunities.”
Cinemark rises to the top of a struggling theater industry
The Washington Post online
2024-08-18
"The strike after covid has just really been a one-two punch for all aspects of the industry,” said Kimberly Owczarski, an associate professor of film, television and digital media at Texas Christian University.
Even though Disney may struggle to make its money back on these films from cinema sales, they will continue having value on Disney+ for years to come, according to Kimberly Owczarski, associate professor at the Texas Christian University.
“‘We Are One’: Hasbro, eOne, and the Failure of the In-House Franchise Strategy”
October 2024 | Blockbusters Future Conference Indiana University, Bloomington
“‘I Will Tell My Stories My Way’: Taylor Sheridan, Authorship, and Branding in the Streaming Television Era”
March 2024 | Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference Boston, Massachusetts
“Pitch Decks, Screen Worlds, and Project Development in Contemporary Hollywood Media”
July 2023 | Screen Studies Conference Glasgow, Scotland
Research Focus
‘I will tell my stories my way’: Taylor Sheridan, authorship and the role of the writer–producer in the streaming television era
Despite the success of the show Yellowstone (2018–24) and its spin-offs, creator Taylor Sheridan is a controversial figure in the industry due to his unconventional approach to TV series production. By rarely employing writers’ rooms and taking on the daily activities of showrunning on multiple series simultaneously, he has bypassed traditional chains of command with regard to drama production. In an interview that came out weeks into the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, Sheridan asserted his status as the sole voice on his productions and refused to play by any industry rules that affect his authority. As he tells his stories in his own way, Sheridan provides a key case study of the role of the branded showrunner in today’s contentious television landscape.
Boomtown: What Fort Worth, Texas, Teaches Us About the Role of Film Commissions in the Era of Mobile Production
This article argues that local film commissions in the United States are increasingly stepping beyond their traditional roles as facilitators of location scouting and permitting to become active agents shaping the long-term viability of media production in their regions. Using the Fort Worth Film Commission and its collaboration with Taylor Sheridan and 101 Studios as a case study, the essay demonstrates how commissions are engaging in legislative lobbying, workforce development, and infrastructure planning to compete in the unpredictable landscape of mobile production. Through interviews, economic data, scholarship, and legislative analysis, the article reveals how Fort Worth's film commission has helped transform a city with no major production infrastructure into an emergent media hub—offering a template for how commissions in politically conservative or under-resourced regions might sustain production beyond one-off projects. Ultimately, the case study provides new insights into the evolving functions of film commissions in shaping where and how contemporary media production takes root.
Re-Designing FTDM 10113: The History of Broadcasting
Dean’s Teaching Enhancement Grant
2022
Articles
Pitch Decks, Project Development, and Creative Labor for Contemporary Hollywood TV Series
Journal of Film and Video.
2024
This article explores the use of pitch decks in the development process of television series. Pitch decks, which originated in start-up businesses, have become a popular tool in Hollywood for pitching new ideas to networks and studios. The article discusses the advantages and challenges of using pitch decks in the media industry and highlights their increasing importance in securing funding and development deals. It also provides an example of how a pitch deck played a crucial role in Netflix's decision to greenlight the series Stranger Things. Pitch decks like this are important in the development and acquisition process for TV shows and films, but they are rarely seen or discussed outside of those directly involved in the process.
Toward a “New Normal”: A Case Study of the Pandemic’s Effect on Film Exhibition
Popular Culture Review
2022
As the largest theatrical chain globally, AMC Theatres faced enormous financial losses during the coronavirus pandemic, but the company also found opportunities to expand their business and contest the studios’ growing dependence on streaming services. AMC provides a case study of how the pandemic affected movie theaters and how chains negotiated this challenging time. AMC’s ability to overcome these challenges provides a blueprint for what it takes to survive in the theatrical business moving forward.
Theatrical Life after the Coronavirus Pandemic: Trolls World Tour and the Collapsing of Hollywood’s Window System
Media Fields Journal.
2021
Amidst a global pandemic in April 2020, media analysts debated the significance of an upcoming film release for the future of cinema: Trolls World Tour (dir. Walt Dohrn, US, 2020). On the surface, the sequel to the highly successful Trolls (dir. Mike Mitchell, US, 2016) seems like standard kids’ picture fare with cute, colorful characters and catchy musical numbers, features which hardly spell a game-changer for Hollywood. But as Universal faced significant challenges posed by the coronavirus epidemic, the distributor chose an alternative path for the film. Indeed, Universal decided to release the film in theaters (the few still operating in the US) and on premium video-on-demand (PVOD) simultaneously.
“A Guaranteed Seat:” Fandango and Changing Business Practices in Movie Exhibition
Quarterly Review of Film and Video
2020
In March 2000 at the annual ShoWest convention for exhibitors, six U.S. movie theater chains jointly announced the creation of an online ticketing system to take advantage of consumers’ growing usa...
From Austin’s Basement to Hollywood’s Back Door: The Rise of Ain’t It Cool News and Convergence Culture
Journal of Film and Video
Kimberly Owczarski
2012-01-02
Although new technologies have always been integrated into Hollywood filmmaking practices, digital technologies offer vastly different opportunities for the industry than adapting to the wide-screen format, sound, or color. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) allows for creation of the unfilmable in lifelike realism, as the realism of the aliens in District 9 (2009) attests. The final, digital print of a film permits both a cheaper and a more widespread release pattern, as witnessed by the worldwide release of Avatar (2009) on more than 17,000 screens simultaneously. Studios can use the Internet to promote films and target specific markets, as Paramount successfully did with Paranormal Activity (2009), attracting the desirable young demographic to theaters through having them demand a screening in their hometown via a specific social networking Web site, Eventful.com—a tactic that helped the low-budget film generate more than $100 million at the domestic box office. DVDs, or digital versatile discs, provide a nonlinear approach to the film-viewing experience, allowing the viewer to choose what content and in what order. All of these new digital technologies have contributed to the soaring grosses of Hollywood in recent years and play a crucial role in how texts currently are developed, filmed, marketed, and released.
