The Day AI Saved My Shoot (And My Sanity)
A few years ago, I was three days from shooting “Dead Space Between Us” when my location scout bailed. No notice. Just gone.
I had a skeleton crew, a $2,000 budget, and exactly zero backup locations that matched the dystopian aesthetic we needed. Normally, this is where you panic-call every favor you’ve ever been owed, spend 48 hours driving around abandoned buildings with a camera, and pray something works.
Instead, I opened Midjourney.
Thirty minutes later, I had fifteen concept images that nailed the mood I was going after. I showed them to a local property owner who happened to have a warehouse that matched the vibe. He got it immediately. Location locked. Shoot saved.
That’s when AI stopped being this abstract “future of filmmaking” thing and became an actual tool in my kit. Not a replacement for crew or creativity—just another way to solve problems faster.
Since then, I’ve tested probably forty different AI tools across every stage of production. Most were garbage. Some were “maybe useful if you squint.” And about fifteen actually earned a permanent spot in my workflow.
This is that list.
Quick note: Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you buy something through them, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I actually use or have tested on real projects. If something’s garbage, I’ll tell you—commission or not.
The Problem
Here’s the thing nobody tells you about AI filmmaking tools: most of them are built by tech people who’ve never been on a film set.
They promise to “revolutionize your workflow” or “unlock unprecedented creative potential”—marketing speak that means absolutely nothing when you’re trying to fix audio sync issues at 2 AM or explain to a client why their color grade doesn’t look like a Christopher Nolan film.
The real problem isn’t that AI tools don’t work. It’s that 90% of them solve problems you don’t actually have.
Need another scriptwriting tool that generates generic three-act structures? There are fifty of those. Want something that actually helps you storyboard a complex action sequence without hiring an illustrator? Good luck finding one that doesn’t crash or produce images that look like fever dreams.
Even when you find tools that seem promising, there’s the integration nightmare. You’re juggling Premiere for editing, DaVinci for color, Izotope for sound, and now you’re supposed to bolt on six different AI platforms—each with their own login, subscription, file format, and learning curve.
It’s exhausting. And expensive. And most filmmakers I know end up abandoning half these tools after the free trial because they’re more hassle than they’re worth.
The Underlying Cause
The AI filmmaking gold rush started around 2022, and everyone wanted a piece.
Venture capital poured billions into startups promising to “democratize filmmaking” (their words, not mine). The result? A flooded market where every tool claims to be revolutionary but most are just repackaged versions of the same underlying AI models—usually Stable Diffusion for images or GPT for text—with a prettier interface and a $30/month price tag.
The actual problem isn’t the technology. It’s that most of these companies don’t understand the filmmaking workflow. They see “pre-production,” “production,” and “post-production” as neat little boxes on a flowchart, not the chaotic, overlapping mess it actually is on set.
Real filmmaking looks like this: you’re scouting a location and suddenly realize the lighting won’t work, so you rewrite a scene on your phone, sketch a new storyboard on a napkin, text your DP about lens choices, then remember you haven’t sent the call sheet yet.
Most AI tools are built for the flowchart version. They want you to complete pre-production before moving to production. They want clean, organized workflows. They want you to work the way project management software thinks you should work.
That’s why so many AI filmmaking tools feel like using a jackhammer to hang a picture frame. Technically capable of solving the problem, but completely wrong for how you actually work.
The Solution
Forget the hype. Forget the “AI will replace filmmakers” headlines and the “democratization” nonsense.
Here’s what actually matters: Can this tool solve a specific problem you have, right now, on an actual project? If yes—and if it saves you more time than it costs to learn—it’s worth considering. Everything else is noise.
The fifteen tools below passed that test. I’ve used all of them on real projects—shorts, commercials, music videos, client work. Some I use daily. Some I pull out for specific situations. A few I actively recommend to other filmmakers.
None of them will “revolutionize” your filmmaking. But they’ll make certain parts of it faster, cheaper, or better. Which is all you should really want from any tool.
Implementing the Solution
Pre-Production: When You Need Ideas Yesterday
1. ChatGPT / Claude for Scriptwriting and Production Breakdowns
Let’s start with the obvious one. Every filmmaker and their cat is using ChatGPT or Claude for something these days.
For actual scriptwriting? Meh. The dialogue usually sounds like it was written by someone who learned human conversation from reading instruction manuals. But for breaking through writer’s block, generating ten different versions of a problematic scene, or creating shot lists from your script? Genuinely useful.
I used ChatGPT to generate the initial shooting schedule for “Blood Buddies.” Uploaded the script, asked it to break down every scene by location and time of day, identify props and wardrobe needs, and estimate shooting time. Got back a detailed breakdown in about two minutes that would’ve taken me hours to do manually.
Did I use it exactly as-is? No. But it gave me a solid starting point instead of staring at a blank spreadsheet.
I use ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) for the GPT-4 access and higher rate limits. Worth it if you’re using it regularly. Check it out here.
2. Midjourney for Concept Art and Location Scouting
This is the one AI tool I genuinely can’t imagine working without now.
Midjourney is an AI image generator, but calling it that undersells what it actually does for filmmaking. It’s basically a concept artist who never sleeps, never complains, and costs $10/month.
Need to visualize a location before you scout? Punch in a description. Want to show a client what the mood of a scene will feel like? Generate ten options in different styles. Trying to explain a complex camera angle to your DP? Show them an image instead of badly drawing stick figures.
I used it extensively on “Elsa” for the winter forest scenes. We needed a specific type of lighting—cold, blue, almost ethereal—but trying to describe that to the location owner wasn’t getting anywhere. Generated a few Midjourney images, showed them on my phone, and she immediately knew which part of her property would work.
The learning curve is weird. You’re not using menus or sliders—you’re typing descriptions (called “prompts”) into a Discord server. Takes maybe an hour to get comfortable with the syntax, then it becomes second nature.
One warning: The more specific you try to get, the more it fights you. Great for mood and atmosphere. Less great if you need an exact image of a specific thing in a specific position. Know what it’s good at and stay in that lane.
Midjourney starts at $10/month for the Basic plan. I use the Standard plan at $30/month because I burn through image generations fast. Sign up here.
3. Runway for AI Video Generation and VFX
Runway is the Swiss Army knife of AI video tools. Text-to-video, image-to-video, object removal, green screen replacement, motion tracking—it’s got all of it in one platform.
The headline feature everyone talks about is Gen-3, their text-to-video model. Type a description, get a 5-10 second video clip. Sounds like magic. In practice, it’s useful for about 20% of what you might want to do.
Where Runway actually shines is the practical VFX tools. Need to remove a boom mic that snuck into frame? Takes thirty seconds instead of an hour of frame-by-frame cloning in After Effects. Want to replace a blown-out sky in a wide shot? Point, click, done.
I used the background removal tool on “Watching Something Private” to composite a character into a location we couldn’t get access to. Shot her on green screen in my living room, generated a background plate in Midjourney, composited everything in Runway. Total time: maybe two hours. Traditional VFX workflow for that would’ve been days.
The text-to-video stuff is genuinely impressive but currently limited. Great for B-roll, abstract visuals, establishing shots where photorealism isn’t critical. Don’t expect to generate your entire short film yet.
Pricing note: Runway’s subscription tiers are based on credits, not monthly limits. You can easily burn through credits fast if you’re not careful. Start with the Standard plan ($12/month) and upgrade if you need more.
Try Runway here – they usually offer a free trial with enough credits to test everything.
Production: The Tools You Need On Set
4. ElevenLabs for Voice Work and ADR
Voice synthesis has gotten stupid good in the last year. ElevenLabs is the best I’ve tested.
The obvious use case is voiceover. Need a narrator but don’t have budget for a voice actor? Clone your own voice (legally, with permission) or use one of their stock voices. The naturalness is borderline unsettling.
But here’s the actually useful application: fixing ADR problems. Actor mispronounced a word and you’re already wrapped? Generate the correct pronunciation in their cloned voice. Background noise ruined one line of dialogue? Re-create it instead of scheduling an ADR session.
I had to do this on “The Camping Discovery” when we realized in post that one critical line was completely unintelligible due to wind noise. Cloned the actor’s voice from their other dialogue, generated the problem line, dropped it in. You literally cannot tell it’s synthetic.
Ethics warning: Don’t be a creep with this. Only clone voices you have explicit permission to use. Don’t generate dialogue the actor never agreed to perform. Basic human decency applies.
ElevenLabs pricing starts at $5/month for 30,000 characters. I use the Creator plan at $22/month. Check current pricing here.
5. DaVinci Resolve’s Neural Engine for On-Set Dailies
Technically not a standalone AI tool, but DaVinci Resolve’s built-in AI features are ridiculously powerful and most people don’t use them.
The Neural Engine powers features like Magic Mask (automatic rotoscoping), Face Refinement (digital makeup), and Voice Isolation (removing background noise from dialogue tracks). All stuff that used to require dedicated plugins or hours of manual work.
For on-set workflow, the Voice Isolation is a game-changer. You can preview dialogue quality immediately, identify problems before you wrap, and avoid expensive reshoots or ADR sessions.
We used it extensively on “Married & Isolated” which was shot in a live apartment with unavoidable city noise. Being able to isolate dialogue on set meant we knew what was usable and what needed additional coverage.
Best part: It’s free. DaVinci Resolve is free. The paid Studio version ($295 one-time) adds some features, but the Neural Engine works perfectly in the free version.
No affiliate link for this one—it’s free software. Just download it from Blackmagic Design’s website.
Post-Production: Where AI Actually Saves Your Ass
6. Topaz Video AI for Upscaling and Enhancement
If you’ve ever needed to upscale footage, denoise a grainy shot, or stabilize shaky handheld footage, Topaz Video AI is the answer.
I’m talking borderline-magical results. Take 1080p footage, upscale to 4K, and it actually looks good instead of blurry garbage. Reduce noise in low-light shots without destroying detail. Stabilize handheld footage without that weird warping effect.
Used it on “Going Home” to salvage some shots that were underexposed and noisy because I screwed up my ISO settings (it happens). The AI enhancement brought them back to usable quality without looking processed.
The catch: It’s slow. Like, render-overnight slow. You’re using AI to analyze and rebuild every frame, so a two-minute clip can take hours to process. Plan accordingly.
Topaz Video AI is $299 one-time purchase (not subscription). They do sales occasionally. Get it here.
7. Descript for Editing by Transcript
Descript is what happens when someone who hates traditional video editing builds a video editor.
You upload your footage, it auto-transcribes everything, then you edit the video by editing the text. Delete a sentence? That part of the video disappears. Rearrange paragraphs? Video rearranges to match. It’s weird and brilliant.
For documentary-style work, interviews, or anything dialogue-heavy, it’s absurdly fast. I edited a 20-minute interview down to 8 minutes in about thirty minutes. Doing that traditionally in Premiere would’ve been hours.
The Overdub feature lets you type new words and have them spoken in the subject’s voice (with permission, again, don’t be evil). Useful for fixing minor mistakes or smoothing over awkward pauses.
Limitation: This is NOT for narrative work. If you’re editing “Chicken Surprise” with complex visual storytelling, sound design, and no dialogue, Descript won’t help you. It’s purpose-built for talking-head content.
Descript has a free tier that’s limited but usable. Creator plan is $24/month. Try it here.
8. Adobe Premiere Pro with AI Features
Premiere’s AI tools keep getting better. Auto Reframe automatically crops vertical video from horizontal (or vice versa) for social media. Content-Aware Fill removes unwanted objects. Scene Edit Detection identifies cuts if you’re working with footage without edit markers.
Nothing revolutionary, but collectively they save hours on tedious tasks.
Auto Reframe alone saved me on “Noelle’s Package” when the client asked for vertical versions for Instagram after we’d already delivered the 16:9 cut. Instead of re-editing the entire piece, I let Premiere’s AI reframe it automatically, then manually adjusted the few shots where it made weird decisions. Total time: maybe an hour instead of an entire day.
Affiliate link: Adobe Creative Cloud starts at $54.99/month for Premiere Pro alone or $59.99/month for All Apps. Current pricing here.
Specialty Tools: For Specific Problems
9. Suno for Original Music
I was skeptical as hell about AI music. Then I actually used Suno.
You type a description of what you want—”upbeat indie folk with acoustic guitar and hand claps, 140 BPM, optimistic energy”—and it generates a full two-minute song in about thirty seconds. Verses, chorus, bridge, the whole structure.
It’s not going to replace a real composer for anything that matters. But for temp music, scratch tracks, or low-budget projects where you genuinely can’t afford to license real music? It’s shockingly usable.
Used it on “In The End” for the temp score during the rough cut. Client ended up liking it enough that we kept it and paid the licensing fee (which is built into the subscription—no additional costs or copyright issues).
Limitation: The styles can be hit-or-miss. It excels at certain genres (folk, electronic, ambient) and struggles with others (classical, jazz). You’ll generate ten versions before you get one you like. Factor that into your timeline.
Suno has a free tier with limited generations. Pro plan is $10/month. Try it here.
10. Izotope RX for Audio Repair
Technically not an AI tool by itself, but Izotope’s newer features use machine learning and they’re insanely good at fixing audio problems.
Remove mouth clicks. Eliminate background hum. Fix clipped audio. Reduce reverb. Stuff that used to be impossible or required expensive re-recording.
Saved me on “Watching Something Private” when we discovered in post that one interview had a loud refrigerator hum through the entire thing. RX’s spectral de-noise basically erased it without touching the dialogue quality. Absolutely magical.
This one’s expensive—$399 for RX 10 Standard—but if you do any kind of audio work, it pays for itself instantly.There’s no subscription option, which I actually prefer. One payment, own it forever.
Affiliate link: Get Izotope RX here. They run sales around Black Friday if you can wait.
11. Colourlab AI for Color Grading
Color grading is one of those skills that takes years to get actually good at. Colourlab tries to shortcut that with AI that analyzes your footage and applies professional-looking grades automatically.
Does it replace a real colorist? No. Is it faster than learning DaVinci Resolve’s entire color workflow? Absolutely.
I used it on a commercial project where the client wanted a “Netflix look” (whatever that means) and I had about four hours to deliver. Colourlab got me 80% there automatically, then I tweaked the remaining 20% manually. Client was thrilled.
Limitation: It works best on well-lit footage with good source quality. Try to use it to fix poorly exposed shots and you’ll get weird results. AI can enhance quality, but it can’t manufacture quality from garbage.
Colourlab pricing starts at $25/month. Check it out here.
12. Wonder Studio for Character Animation and VFX
This one’s genuinely impressive. Wonder Studio (recently acquired by Autodesk and now called Flow Studio) automatically animates, lights, and composites CG characters into live-action footage.
You upload your footage, upload a 3D character model, and it handles the rest. Tracking, lighting, compositing—all the painful parts of integrating CG into real footage.
Useful if you’re doing any kind of sci-fi or fantasy work with CG elements. The tracking is surprisingly robust, and the lighting matching is way better than trying to do it manually in After Effects.
The catch: You need 3D models to use it. If you don’t already have them or know where to get them, there’s a learning curve. But if you’re already working with 3D assets, this saves enormous amounts of time.
Pricing varies depending on usage. Check their website for current tiers.
13. Boords for Storyboarding
Storyboarding is one of those things I know I should do more of but never want to actually sit down and draw.
Boords solves this by letting you generate storyboard frames from text descriptions. You write “wide shot of a forest at sunset, camera panning left” and it creates a visual representation. Not beautiful, but clear enough to communicate the shot to your crew.
Genuinely useful for pre-production when you need to visualize sequences but don’t have time or budget for a real storyboard artist.
Boords starts at $30/month. Try it here.
14. LTX Studio for End-to-End Pre-Production
LTX Studio is trying to be the all-in-one solution for pre-production. Script writing, storyboarding, shot planning, video preview generation—everything in one platform.
The concept is great. The execution is about 70% there. When it works, it’s impressive. You can upload a script, have it automatically generate a visual storyboard, and get video previews of each shot. Great for pitching or planning.
When it doesn’t work, it’s frustrating. The AI misinterprets scenes, generates weird visuals, or crashes midway through processing.
Worth trying if you’re deep in pre-production on a bigger project and want to visualize everything before you shoot. Less useful for run-and-gun indie stuff.
They offer a free tier with limitations. Paid plans start at $15/month.
15. Move.ai for Motion Capture
Last one. Move.ai does markerless motion capture using just your phone camera.
Normally, motion capture requires specialized suits, dozens of cameras, and a controlled environment. Move.ai says “screw that” and extracts motion data from regular video footage.
The results aren’t Hollywood-quality, but they’re shockingly usable for indie projects, pre-viz, or animation reference. I used it to capture reference movement for a fight scene in “Blood Buddies” that we later recreated on set with actors.
Pricing is based on usage credits. Check their website for current rates.
Wrap-Up
Most AI filmmaking tools are solutions looking for problems.
But these fifteen? They solve actual problems I’ve had on actual projects. Some saved hours. Some saved entire shoots. Some just made tedious tasks slightly less tedious, which adds up when you’re doing this professionally.
Will AI replace filmmakers? No. That’s a stupid question.
Will these tools make certain parts of filmmaking faster, cheaper, and more accessible? Already happening.
The trick is figuring out which tools solve problems you actually have instead of problems someone’s marketing department thinks you should have. Start there, ignore the hype, and you’ll be fine.
Now go make something.
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About the Author:
Trent Peek is a filmmaker specializing in directing, producing, and acting. He works with high-end cinema cameras from RED and ARRI and also values the versatility of cameras like the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema.
His recent short film “Going Home” was selected for the 2024 Soho International Film Festival, highlighting his skill in crafting compelling narratives. Learn more about his work on [IMDB], [YouTube], [Vimeo], and [Stage 32].
In his downtime, he likes to travel (sometimes he even manages to pack the right shoes), curl up with a book (and usually fall asleep after two pages), and brainstorm film ideas (most of which will never see the light of day). It’s a good way to keep himself occupied, even if he’s a bit of a mess at it all.
P.S. It’s really weird to talk in the third person
Tune In: He recently appeared on the Pushin Podcast, sharing insights into the director’s role in independent productions.
For more behind-the-scenes content and project updates, visit his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@trentalor.
For business inquiries, please get in touch with him at trentalor@peekatthis.com. You can also find Trent on Instagram @trentalor and Facebook @peekatthis.
