World's First Ever 80 Minute AI Film · Road to Cannes Ep. 1

2026-04-30 · BTS / making-of / vlog · Adil, Chuck Russell · recording, 11:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productions (case studies) (also: Assets, references & consistency, Studio work & business, Cost, credits & plans, Pre-production & story, Prompting & AI assistants) · mode: Behind the scenes · tags: series, guest or collaboration, prompts shared, one creator's experience

In the first episode of the Road to Cannes production diary, Adil sets the goal: a 15-person team will make an 80-minute AI feature film continuing Hell Grind in 14 days, with 10 million credits, for Cannes. He gives the cost of the 22-minute Episode 1: 253 clips kept from 16,181 generations, about $69,000. Chuck Russell estimates the same material would cost at least $5 million with a traditional studio. Adil then shows the pre-production: a screenwriting skill in Claude, a style prefix in every prompt, character sheets in several forms and a shot list split across teams.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Cold open: an 80-minute AI film for Cannes, with 10 million credits, 15 people and 14 days

★★★ Adil says the team will present a fully AI-generated 80-minute feature film, the continuation of Hell Grind, at Cannes in less than a month, with 10 million credits, 15 people and 14 days. — 00:00:00 · Hell Grind · also in: How to Make AI Films That Don't Look AI (Full Tutorial)

00:00:20 — What is happening: the goal of the film, the team and the diary series

★★★ Adil says the Hell Grind feature film is meant to prove that AI can produce cinema: a viewer watches 80 minutes and forgets it is AI, and the film holds together as a story. — 00:00:21 · Hell Grind
★★ Adil says 15 people, him included, work on the Hell Grind feature: the same people who made the Higgsfield Original Series Arena Zero, Hell Grind and Zephyr. — 00:01:02 · Higgsfield Originals, Hell Grind, Zephyr
★ Adil says the Hell Grind feature team is 14 professional directors, DOPs and editors, plus himself. — 00:01:38 · Hell Grind
★★ Adil says a new episode of the production diary will come out every couple of days, showing the prompts, the credits spent and what breaks. — 00:01:38

00:02:18 — What the 22 minutes of Hell Grind Episode 1 cost

★★★ Adil says the 22-minute Hell Grind Episode 1 kept 253 videos out of 16,181 Seedance 2.0 generations and 107 images out of 10,701, and spent 1,152,095 credits, about $69,000. — 00:02:24 · Hell Grind, Seedance 2.0
★★ Adil says the generations of Hell Grind Episode 1 were not waste but craft: each kept generation taught the prompts for the next, and masterpieces are the thousands of prompts nobody sees. — 00:02:24 · Hell Grind

“Masterpieces aren't single prompts. They're the 26,000 you don't see.”
★★ Adil says Hell Grind Episode 1 took almost 27,000 generations for 22 minutes, and the team now has to make 60 more minutes in 14 days with 10 million credits. — 00:02:49 · Hell Grind
★★ Adil says that in traditional production the first episode of Hell Grind would have cost millions of dollars. — 00:02:49 · Hell Grind

00:03:21 — Special guest Chuck Russell on Hell Grind and what it would cost traditionally

★★ Chuck Russell says Hell Grind pleasantly surprised him: he was entertained and, though he meant to watch an AI production critically, got into the characters and the story. — 00:03:38 · Hell Grind
★★ Chuck Russell tells the Hell Grind filmmakers they made him care about their characters, something he almost never sees in AI. — 00:04:06 · Hell Grind
★★ Chuck Russell says mainstream productions like his use live-action actors with AI enhancements for sets and visual effects: a new tool in the visual effects toolbox. — 00:04:06
★★★ Chuck Russell estimates that a traditional studio workflow for the same Hell Grind material would cost maybe a minimum of $5 million, depending on cast. (hedged) — 00:04:30 · Hell Grind
★★ Chuck Russell says full-AI production, made by a handful of people on a micro budget, is a whole new opportunity for independent filmmakers. — 00:04:30
★★ Chuck Russell calls the volume-screen landscapes of The Mandalorian one of the first forms of AI, which to him is smart CGI, and says not to fear AI: it reminds him of the new CGI on The Mask. — 00:04:53
★★ Chuck Russell says film will always be about the human heart, and the authenticity of small productions like Hell Grind is one of their biggest advantages. — 00:05:19 · Hell Grind

00:05:39 — Pre-production: how the script was written with a custom Claude skill

★★ Adil says the whole script of the Hell Grind feature film was finalised in only three days. — 00:05:40 · Hell Grind
★★★ Adil says the Hell Grind script was written with a custom Claude skill trained for screenwriting, which knows the film's characters, tone, pacing rules and world and, fed context, outputs scenes that fit the film. — 00:06:08 · Claude, Hell Grind
★★ Adil advises adjusting the Screenwriter Claude skill to your own writing style first: run it once with your idea, then tell Claude to change the parts you dislike in the skill itself. — 00:06:30 · Claude
★★ Adil says the shared canvas that holds all the Hell Grind assets is a feature still in development, shaped with the directors' input, and should be live on the website by the time the video is out. (hedged) — 00:06:30 · Canvas, Hell Grind

00:06:49 — The canvas: style prefix, assets, characters in different forms

★★★ Adil says a detailed style prefix (style, lighting, colour, camera) is hard-baked into every prompt of the Hell Grind shot list so that shot 1 and shot 80 stay consistent. — 00:07:13 · Hell Grind
★★ Adil says each asset on the Hell Grind canvas (locations, characters, props) carries a detailed description, not just a name, to give the model as much context as possible. — 00:07:13 · Canvas, Hell Grind
★★★ Adil bakes the prop sheets into the character sheets so he need not upload several images at once, and says Seedance 2.0 does a pretty good job of rendering such small objects across all shots. — 00:07:50 · character sheet, Seedance 2.0
★★★ Adil says generating each character in different forms matters, especially in a team: if Roko is injured in shot 13, using his base form in shot 78 makes viewers sense something is off. — 00:07:50 · character sheet

00:08:27 — Creating characters in Cinema Studio 3.5 and GPT Image 2; locations

★★ To cast a character in Cinema Studio 3.5 with AI Cast, Adil generates four images one at a time so that each one is completely different. — 00:08:44 · Cast
★★ Adil edits a chosen Cast actor in GPT Image 2 by dragging him in and prompting "make him completely bold"; the result keeps the same face and clothing. — 00:08:44 · GPT Image 2, Cast
★★★ Adil says every Hell Grind character was made in Soul Cinema and edited in GPT Image 2, with iteration as the key: Jax took nearly 600 Soul Cinema generations and a couple hundred more in GPT Image 2 for the outfit. — 00:09:18 · Soul Cinema, GPT Image 2, Hell Grind
★★★ Adil advises spending time on the character images, because they are used for all the Seedance 2.0 generations and affect the output a lot. — 00:09:53 · Seedance 2.0
★★ Adil says the Hell Grind locations are made from many different angles to keep everything consistent across shots. — 00:09:53 · Canvas, Hell Grind

00:10:13 — The shot list split across teams and the daily plan

★★★ Adil says the Hell Grind film is split into chunks, each given to a team with its own director; every team must generate 2.5 minutes of usable footage a day so that all 80 minutes exist after week one and week two goes to refining. — 00:10:14 · Hell Grind
★★ Adil says each Hell Grind team submits its edited 2.5 minutes of footage to the lead editor at the end of every day. — 00:10:14 · Hell Grind
★★ Adil says that at the start of day 1 of 14 the Hell Grind script is done, the canvas built, the shot list split and the teams assigned. — 00:10:43 · Hell Grind

00:10:58 — What happens next: day 1 of 14

Threads in this video

milestone · Hell Grind (Higgsfield Original Series) — Adil says the team will present a fully AI-generated 80-minute feature film, the continuation of Hell Grind, at Cannes in less than a month, with 10 million credits, 15 people and 14 days. (00:00:00)
refine · What does an AI clip, shot or film cost? — Adil says the 22-minute Hell Grind Episode 1 kept 253 videos out of 16,181 Seedance 2.0 generations and 107 images out of 10,701, and spent 1,152,095 credits, about $69,000. (00:02:24)
restate · What does an AI clip, shot or film cost? — Chuck Russell estimates that a traditional studio workflow for the same Hell Grind material would cost maybe a minimum of $5 million, depending on cast. (00:04:30)
first on record · How do you write the script for an AI film? — Adil says the Hell Grind script was written with a custom Claude skill trained for screenwriting, which knows the film's characters, tone, pacing rules and world and, fed context, outputs scenes that fit the film. (00:06:08)
refine · How do you write the script for an AI film? — Adil advises adjusting the Screenwriter Claude skill to your own writing style first: run it once with your idea, then tell Claude to change the parts you dislike in the skill itself. (00:06:30)
promised · Adil: leave the Hell Grind screenwriting Claude skill in the description (2026) — Adil says he will leave a link to the custom Claude screenwriting skill in the description. (00:06:30)
kept · Adil: leave the Hell Grind screenwriting Claude skill in the description (2026) — The description links the Screenwriter skill as a folder to upload whole. (video description)
restate · How do you keep a consistent colour palette and visual style across generated images? — Adil says a detailed style prefix (style, lighting, colour, camera) is hard-baked into every prompt of the Hell Grind shot list so that shot 1 and shot 80 stay consistent. (00:07:13)
refine · How do you keep a location, product or prop the same across shots? — Adil bakes the prop sheets into the character sheets so he need not upload several images at once, and says Seedance 2.0 does a pretty good job of rendering such small objects across all shots. (00:07:50)
refine · How do you keep a character the same across shots? — Adil says generating each character in different forms matters, especially in a team: if Roko is injured in shot 13, using his base form in shot 78 makes viewers sense something is off. (00:07:50)
refine · Which image model should be used for keyframes, edits, text and outfits? — Adil says every Hell Grind character was made in Soul Cinema and edited in GPT Image 2, with iteration as the key: Jax took nearly 600 Soul Cinema generations and a couple hundred more in GPT Image 2 for the outfit. (00:09:18)
restate · How big should an AI production team be and how should it be organised? — Adil says the Hell Grind film is split into chunks, each given to a team with its own director; every team must generate 2.5 minutes of usable footage a day so that all 80 minutes exist after week one and week two goes to refining. (00:10:14)
promised · Adil: show the first generation day of the Hell Grind feature, a Claude shot list and the credit spend in the next episode (2026) — Adil says the next episode will take viewers inside the first generation day of the Hell Grind feature: how to create a shot list with prompts for the whole film using Claude, his first shot, and the credit spend so far. (00:10:43)
milestone · Canvas — Adil says the shared canvas that holds all the Hell Grind assets is a feature still in development, shaped with the directors' input, and should be live on the website by the time the video is out. (00:06:30)
promised · Adil says the first draft of the full Hell Grind film will be finished by episode 3 (2026) — Adil says the Hell Grind film is split into chunks, each given to a team with its own director; every team must generate 2.5 minutes of usable footage a day so that all 80 minutes exist after week one and week two goes to refining. (00:10:14)

Where the stories that moved here went next

Adil: leave the Hell Grind screenwriting Claude skill in the description (2026) — kept
Adil: show the first generation day of the Hell Grind feature, a Claude shot list and the credit spend in the next episode (2026) — kept
Adil says the first draft of the full Hell Grind film will be finished by episode 3 (2026) — kept
Canvas — running; last: milestone, 2026-09-16
Hell Grind (Higgsfield Original Series) — completed; last: looked back, 2026-10-20

Mentioned

Central: Chuck Russell · Hell Grind · Screenwriter skill · Seedance 2.0

Also: Projects: Higgsfield Originals

Works: Arena Zero · The Mandalorian · The Mask · The Scorpion King · Zephyr

Concepts: character sheet · style prefix

Events: Cannes Film Market

Characters: Jax · Roko

Products: Canvas · Cast · Cinema Studio 3.5 · Claude · GPT Image 2 · Soul Cinema

Replies to

refers to · Hell Grind - Episode 1 · Higgsfield Original Series (2026)

Replied to by

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