At Cannes’ American Pavilion, executives from TPC, Hello Moment Productions, Grindstone Entertainment, and Luma AI gathered for a panel on independent film from financing to distribution—arguing that AI can cut costs, but only if filmmakers protect the “soul”
By the time the panelists took their seats at The American Pavilion at Cannes, the mood was already set: independent film is under pressure, budgets are tighter, and everyone wants a smarter way to make the numbers work—without sanding away what makes movies matter.
The conversation, titled “The New Playbook for Independent Film: From Financing to Distribution in the Age of AI,” was presented by Clever Caboose and built around a simple question: in 2026, what business models actually hold up?
Four executives brought their own slice of the industry to the discussion—Viviana Zarragoitia. Executive Vice President at TPC; Torsten Ruether. Writer/Director/Producer and CEO of Hello Moment Productions; Josh Spector. Vice President of Acquisitions & Production at Grindstone Entertainment; and Ryan Black. Entertainment Account Executive at Luma AI. The panel was moderated by Clever Caboose Founder and CEO Andrei Bulawka.
Nobody on the panel treated AI as optional anymore. Instead, the disagreement wasn’t whether it was entering the filmmaking process—it was how independent filmmakers should use it.
Zarragoitia was direct about the appeal for smaller productions. “I think AI is becoming a tool, especially for independent film,” she said. “You can have some cost savings as part of your budget. I think a lot of independent producers are finding it worthwhile that there is this tool that keeps their costs low and minimal that they can integrate.”.
Black added that cost pressures start long before release day. “Most of the films that are trying to get greenlit are having similar issues,” he said. “Which is ‘Okay, we need to figure out a way to either shave a day off the schedule or a hundred thousand dollars off my budget.”
He framed AI savings as a production-side lever aimed at survival: “It’s more on the production end of things. Finding efficiencies to help enable to get it greenlit by bringing some costs down early on.”
That theme—efficiency without replacement—sat at the center of the room’s optimism. Ruether put it in more emotional terms, calling for restraint in what filmmakers let AI do. “We have to consider all the tools, and we do. There’s a lot of fantastic tools, no doubt about it,” he said. “But what I also think. and I guess everybody here is with me. we have to protect the soul of it. Not lose the soul, protect the soul, and consider all those tools with a lot of sensibility.”.
The panel didn’t pretend the economics of independent film are easy. It treated the real challenge—rising costs, tighter returns, and the constant fight to keep a project alive—as the backdrop for what comes next.
Watch the complete panel in the video above.
Clever Caboose Cannes American Pavilion independent film AI in film Viviana Zarragoitia Torsten Ruether Josh Spector Ryan Black Luma AI TPC Grindstone Entertainment Hello Moment Productions Andrei Bulawka