Production Companies Ready to Battle the “Slop Avalanche” in 2026
Production companies are getting battle-ready for 2026 by banking on entertainment, emotion, and elevated craft to combat an age of splintered trust, media fragmentation, and AI slop.
Australian prodco Rabbit, which collaborated with DDB Sydney for Skoda and ABEL for MILKRUN in 2025, is looking to “amplify creative ideas” through craft. Associate executive producer Marcus Butler told LBB that in 2026, Rabbit’s output will need “crafted entertaining hooks” and “meaning and emotion to cut through.”
“As a production partner to creative agencies and clients, we're looking to elevate and amplify their creative ideas through craft and astute collaborative approaches to the scripts we see,” Marcus said.
“In 2026 -- as an industry -- we all need to lean further back into better craft outcomes to combat the swell of box-ticking retail approaches. We've seen AI requests increase, and it's our role to guide our clients through this confusing landscape. We need to show them that currently, it works as a great tool to help convey concepts [and] pre-vis[ualise] elements in pre-production … but it isn't the final destination or a shortcut to an attention-grabbing campaign.
“Production companies will need to navigate these requests and hopefully set some consistent guidelines and standards so that we can all be on the same page moving forward.”
Across the Tasman, Film Construction executive producer and partner Belinda Bradley isn’t too worried about emerging AI technology harming the New Zealand industry.
“As long as there is an economy, people will need to tell stories about what they make, why it matters, and why someone should care,” Belinda explained.
“The formats will change. The platforms will change. The need for good work does not.”
Film Construction will celebrate its 30th year in 2026. In that time, the prodco -- co-founded by Belinda’s partner, director Perry Bradley -- has lived through plenty of what Belinda calls “this will kill the industry” moments.
“Film to digital, the rise of in-house production companies, the shift from big TV to social, and now AI,” Perry added. “Each time, the panic is loud. Each time, the work evolves.
“One thing we’ve always believed is that it’s your company. Not the industry’s. Not the algorithm’s. A production company is a wonderful, malleable thing, so make it your own.
“For us, being ‘battle-ready’ isn’t about racing toward slop at scale. It’s about backing talent, taste, and craft. Helping the right people find the right collaborators. Making work that earns attention.”
“Clients Don’t Need More Talk”: TAG CEO
But the pace of technological advancement makes complacency impossible. New York prodco Supper Club Pictures opened its doors in 2025, and as executive producer Jim Huie put it, is “fully committed to talent and craft” amid rapid changes in the industry.
“Agencies, facing margin pressure, are internalising more production and post to retain every possible dollar,” Jim explained.
“What’s left on the outside is no longer routine work -- it’s more specialised, director-led execution that demands real precision and elevated craft. That reality is exactly what drove the formation of Supper Club Pictures.
“We exist to serve the work that cannot be templated, internalised, or automated -- the projects that still require expert creative leadership, deep production fluency, and a meticulous, cinematic approach. In a landscape increasingly crowded with ‘good enough’, our strategy is simple: make fewer things, but make them exceptional."
It’s a sentiment common across the industry, from an incipient independent to a global production powerhouse, Tag. Matt Kitcherside, EMEA CEO, told LBB though the industry spent much of 2025 talking about AI and other emerging technology, Tag’s focus is on “making that shift real”.
“That means investing not just in technology, but in the expertise of our people in the form of reinventing roles, rethinking workflows, and combining creative craft with AI-enabled production to improve speed, efficiency and performance at scale,” Matt said.
“Just as important is the integration of media and production to drive performance. Every asset must be optimised [to work] harder at every touchpoint.
“As we move into 2026, that conversation needs to shift from possibility to delivery at scale. Clients don’t need more talk but partners who can execute this reliably and deliver real commercial impact.”
Delivering bold, reliable work starts with culture, and backing craft in an age of new technology will mean supporting and empowering individual producers.
Michelle Nicholson, CEO and executive producer of Nashville-based, US production house FARMUSE, said clarity matters more than volume.
“The sheer amount of content isn’t slowing down, and discernment has never mattered more,” Michelle said.
This also means doubling down on craft, taste, and “the human intelligence machines can’t replicate.”
“We’re adapting by elevating producers into true creative partners, investing in calm, well-run systems and curating teams with intention rather than scale. AI has its place as a tool, but not as a replacement for intuition, collaboration, or storytelling that truly resonates.”
Craft and Curation Remain North Star
Following the launch of its originals arm, Aussie prodco Entropico focused on “maker-led” work in 2025 – a year in which the company also saw significant growth in its design studio and post-production teams.
Founding partner Erin Moy said growing a large group of full-time practitioners has been a key factor in giving the company’s work a “distinct creative fingerprint.” In 2026, the business will be “doubling down on talent and nurturing unique, interesting voices across all parts of our business,” Erin said.
“We’ve made some incredible hires in 2025 across branding and design, animation and post-production, and are currently looking for our next hires in sound and edit for an even bigger 2026. Having these practitioners under the same roof as the creative and production teams, and the creative producers that develop our long-form IP has allowed us to effectively move across ever-changing formats, platforms, and disciplines in a way that cuts through.”
Michael Ritchie, co-owner and MD of fellow Australian prodco Revolver, agreed 2026 will be a year for the whole industry to hold on to what “makes us all good,” calling AI a “misnamed tool”.
“It's not about the tech, it's still about the craft of filmmaking and knowing how, when, and where you use it,” Michael said.
“[Revolver is] incorporating generative new technology into the process where it’s relevant and improves the outcome, and certainly not creating an arm that has 'AI' in its namesake – that is akin to taking vowels out of a logo.
“On the flip side, I think we will see a more integrated social capability involved with all our output – that may well be where we push as well.
“The mission for us is to keep the course, stick to our values, and ensure that everything we do is highly crafted.”
Owner and founder of Zombie Studio, Natalia Gouvea, added "really good" craft is something AI can't imitate, technology advances will improve the tools ad creatives' disposal.
“We believe that the evolution of the business landscape is not a threat, but an expansion of our creative repertoire," Natalia said.
"We are not afraid of AI or new technologies -- after all, everything new that emerges becomes a tool to enhance great ideas, not to replace them. A really good craft, on the other hand, remains something that no machine can anticipate: it is born from human vision, repertoire, intuition, and technical mastery.
"While many worry about the avalanche of low-quality content, we reinforce the opposite direction: we continue to invest in craft, in human talent, in an authorial perspective, and in processes that value excellence to achieve innovative results."
Since founding Epoch Films in 1989, co-owners Mindy Goldberg and Melissa Culligan have made curating a home for directors and tastemakers their north star. But with tighter budgets, shorter timelines, and greater competition, Mindy is eager to remain grounded in 2026.
“Creatively, our response isn’t to chase every trend, but rather double down on what we do best: backing people to make ads, shorts, and films with clarity, originality, and taste,” she said.
Melissa added the prodco is changing how it develops talent in response to technological advancements.
“We are changing how we discover and develop talent, and we’re actively working with AI tools to prototype faster and problem-solve earlier,” Melissa said.
“We’re working on ways to combine film craft, fine art, and new technology. And while technology is exciting and powerful, it doesn’t have a creative mind … AI doesn’t have taste. It can’t make judgment calls or understand nuance. That’s why directors, producers, and creatives are essential. Without their guidance, new workflows won’t stand up to the standards. Taste is the differentiator.”
How to Fight a “Slop Avalanche”
CYLNDR Studios managing director Sylvain Tron told LBB the production landscape is, and has been, shifting faster than most companies want to acknowledge.
“The belief that agencies will not encroach on production work is outdated,” Sylvain said.
“The lines are blurring, and production companies need to evolve. Adaptation means thinking more upstream while still leading with craft. We start with making and let the thinking emerge from what the work — and where it’s going to live — demands.
“This new landscape requires hybrid producers and creators who can partner with clients, are brand fluent, understand platforms deeply, and help shape creative development. It also requires approaching content creation through design thinking, where iteration and clarity guide the process from the start.”
In response to unflinching standards and a volatile landscape, New Zealand studio Reel Factory deliberately built an ecosystem, rather than a traditional production company with crew, studios, cameras, tech, and post, all under one roof.
“This gives our clients flexibility, speed, and scale that’s hard to match,” company director Dan Watkins said.
“We’re also continuing to invest heavily in technology and our people to unlock creative freedom. Our Volume Wall, robotics, in-house production team, camera department, and post-production are on hand to heighten craft and eliminate obstacles.
“Fewer compromises. More ambition. More control. That’s how you fight the incoming slop avalanche.”
Reel Factory is also hoping to collaborate with its client partners earlier in the creative process, a sentiment echoed across Australia and New Zealand this year.
“We are always eager to strengthen relationships with agencies and clients, so production is brought into the fold earlier. When production is involved upstream, ideas get sharper, budgets work harder, and everyone wins. Early collaboration lets us push creative boundaries further.”
BURN executive producer and MD Brad Johns agrees. “In 2026, production companies that win move upstream into strategy while protecting the craft,” he told LBB.
“We're doubling down on filmmakers – building a roster of creatives who understand platforms, paired with agentic systems that supercharge research and strategy. Our bet: AI accelerates the work, but human creative direction becomes the differentiator.
“The slop avalanche is real. Our answer isn't to chase it -- it's to build woven narrative ecosystems where content meets audiences where they are, narratively interconnected and lived in, distinctly on-brand, made by filmmakers who share the same worldview.”
Refusing to Battle, or Ready to Fight Big Dogs?
Authentic, human-made storytelling may be the goal for production companies, but Voyager co-founder Andrew Hutcheson believes it’s hardly surprising to see so many companies embracing generative AI, given how much of the industry “seems to be propped up on a willingness to exploit labour, resources, and the environment merely to generate more profit.”
“Great creative works are inherently fresh -- fresh ideas, fresh voices, fresh takes -- so how could anyone begin to think that an algorithm that regurgitates past work is the future?
“I think audiences are already burnt out -- whether on the same generic studio fare, pandering ads, or generative garbage -- and are clamouring for something fresh, something genuine, something made by someone with something to say.
"In the face of so much slop, I see the value of well-crafted, bold, human storytelling only increasing in the near future.”
Martin Rodahl, executive producer of fellow American production company Picture North, added agency producers now have less time and face more pressure than ever before.
“Picture North is built on speed and modularity, so we can take on projects quickly and transition seamlessly from production to post,” Martin said.
“That means keeping up with a bunch of artists and companies beyond the directors and editors that we exclusively represent.”
But Neighborhood Watch MD Dal Wolf is taking a slightly different approach to 2026, preferring to “build trust” while remaining “as creative as possible”.
“At this stage, we’re not interested in battling anything,” Dal said. “We’re focused on creating great projects with our partners and reducing friction wherever possible. The landscape is always changing, and so will we. Staying adaptable is in our DNA; our roots in indie filmmaking, DIY content, and working with artists who know how to pivot keep us nimble.”
Greenpoint Pictures founding partner Mike Kuhn will always be ready for the battle.
“You have to come ready to fight on a daily basis if you want to survive against the big dogs,” Mike said.
“It’s a David and Goliath story for us every single day in order to stay relevant and carve out a piece of the pie.
“We will always stand up for making films with the craftsmanship and finesse that put us on the map in the first place … We’re here to tell true, heartfelt human stories.”
