An AI-generated sci-fi series is giving Hollywood a concrete production figure to debate: approximately $38,000 in AI-generation credits. Director Darin Stewart and executive producer Simone Ferretti gave the figure to Business Insider for a report published October 11, 2026. Crucially, that number describes credits used on AI tools, not a verified total budget.
The five-part series, The Arc, runs roughly 83 minutes. Backed by the creator platform Artlist, it follows a veteran sent through historical simulations in a near-future setting. The filmmakers used generated performances and environments rather than a conventional cast or physical sets, with people still responsible for direction, story decisions and editing.
Eight to ten generations per shot
Stewart told Business Insider an individual shot often took eight to ten attempts. The team initially generated lower-resolution versions, then spent more credits once a shot worked. Seedance and Kling handled much of the moving imagery; Claude also assisted with script development. The reported AI-credit use averaged about $7,600 per episode.
In its own production account, Artlist says the complete project took about three and a half months from concept to completion, with a private premiere in London on August 18. The much shorter three-and-a-half-week figure cited elsewhere describes the first episode’s delivery, not production of the entire series.
What the headline number leaves out
AI-generation credits do not account for the full cost of a screen production, including labor, post-production and overhead. Stewart said the production team received its regular day rates. Without independently verified comprehensive accounting, the $38,000 figure should not be presented as the total cost of the series.
The project is also part of an ongoing Hollywood conversation. TheWrap reported that Stewart and Ferretti showed footage and discussed how they made the series at its recent AI Creator Day in Los Angeles. The technology may change who gets to make ambitious screen stories, but it also raises unresolved questions about jobs, authorship and rights. The Arc illustrates both the new capabilities and the misleading simplicity of a single cost figure.