LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2026, 14:16 PST
- Netflix has picked up InterPositive, an AI-focused filmmaking tech firm started by Ben Affleck
- Netflix said the startup’s team is coming aboard, with Affleck taking on a senior advisor role at the streamer.
- The deal comes as studios experiment with AI tools, treading carefully around concerns about jobs and copyright.
Netflix Inc on Thursday announced its purchase of InterPositive, the AI-driven filmmaking tech startup set up in 2022 by Ben Affleck. The streaming giant has tapped Affleck as a senior advisor. “Innovation should empower storytellers, not replace them,” said Elizabeth Stone, the company’s Chief Product and Technology Officer. Netflix
This deal lands as the industry tiptoes back toward AI, after years of Hollywood warning that the technology could put jobs and intellectual property at risk. “We believe new tools should expand creative freedom, not constrain it or replace the work of writers, directors, actors, and crews,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said. Disney, for its part, agreed late last year to let OpenAI tap characters from Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel for the startup’s Sora video generator. Reuters
Netflix plans to fold the startup into its Eyeline production-tech division, but hasn’t shared what it paid, TheWrap said. InterPositive trains its models on a project’s daily raw footage—dailies—to fill in missing shots, tweak lighting, or swap backgrounds. Stone said the tool’s still in development and won’t be a blanket requirement. “It’s not text to video prompts,” Stone told TheWrap. Affleck described the change as “a real opportunity and a real authentic danger.” TheWrap
InterPositive takes aim at the behind-the-scenes grind once the spotlight fades. Rather than creating a film from nothing, the focus shifts to nudging a project from “almost there” to “finished,” all while keeping its visual integrity intact.
While text-to-video tools are aimed at generating fresh footage from scratch based on written prompts, InterPositive is pitched differently—it’s a toolkit designed to operate on footage that’s already been shot.
Netflix has long relied on software to suggest content and keep its worldwide platform humming. Now, the company is stepping further into the nuts and bolts of film and series production.
The promise? Straightforward enough: less time lost to reshoots, fewer minor tweaks piling up, and a post-production process that directors and editors can actually keep their hands on.
Yet AI remains a touchy topic in Hollywood. Should creators suspect the technology is trimming crews or see rights fights break out over training data, expect adoption to hesitate and pushback to spike.
Netflix shares edged up roughly 0.5% to $99.17 on Thursday, market data showed.
Netflix is putting just as much weight on the messaging as on the code itself. The company wants to position AI as a tool built to support the existing creative process—not something set to edge out the storytellers.
