Earlier today, Variety announced that international media executive and producer Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann and AI filmmaker Mark Wachholz have launched Dreamkite Studios, an AI production company. We spoke to Higuchi-Zitzmann about the venture.
Are the projects on your slate short-form or will you also be working on feature-length films and series? We’d like to start with short-form [content], but we would also like to develop feature films and series because what is not possible now will be possible in four months, and what is not possible in four months will be possible in eight months. The development is so super quick. I’ve been in the business for 20 years, and have a network with the best storytellers, screenwriters and directors. We want to be ready for the next step.
Where do you see the opportunities for AI production? I think in the fields of animation and advertising, business is already there. But in the long term, you can also produce long feature films and series with AI and hybrid. For example, you have your actors, but if you have a huge action film or huge fantasy film or animation, you could not finance it from Europe in the past. But now we have the possibility to finance with AI big projects in a hybrid system with real actors, but you don’t have to go to the Himalaya mountains or build a huge set in New Zealand for a fantasy film. You can do it with AI. So there are big possibilities for feature films and series, and it’s a huge opportunity also for Europe.
Popular on Variety
How will you distribute your projects? With disruptive content, you also have to think about disruptive distribution. I think it’s important to be open-minded. Now you have these new elements of distribution like going directly through an app on mobile devices or going directly via YouTube to the customers and finance it through advertisements, or maybe build our own platform, and so on. So, I really respect the traditional world, and I feel privileged to be in this network, and I would love to work with broadcasters and streamers and big distribution companies, but also to have this opportunity to think out of the box, not only in terms of content but also in terms of distribution.
How do you overcome the concerns about AI production? I think there is a lot of insecurity and fear, which I can really understand, but AI production will create a lot of new human jobs, and I think creatives who really embrace the new technology will be very successful in the future.
I can understand the fear and the insecurity, but my suggestion is to use AI as a tool and a technology to make great human-created content.