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There is no public evidence that Lionsgate’s Runway deal has already replaced storyboard or VFX artists, or that the companies have announced a plan to eliminate those jobs. But the tools are being used in storyboarding and production workflows, so the possibility of work changing or being substituted is a real concern. The public record describes intended uses and some reported technical and rights complications—not the deal’s effect on employment.
What Lionsgate and Runway announced
On September 18, 2024, Lionsgate and Runway announced a partnership to create and train a generative video model customized to Lionsgate’s film and television content. The companies said the model would generate cinematic video and could be iterated using Runway’s controllable tools. Lionsgate Vice Chair Michael Burns described AI as a way of “augmenting, enhancing and supplementing” the studio’s operations, with possible uses in pre-production and post-production. Lionsgate’s announcement does not name storyboard or VFX positions for elimination.
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The studio described its library as containing more than 20,000 film and television titles. That is the size of the library, not a disclosed count of titles used to train the custom model. The Los Angeles Times reported in October 2024, citing a person familiar with the deal, that a small number of titles would be used and the model would be used by the studio and designated filmmakers. The same report said no money changed hands, while noting the companies declined to comment on financial terms; it is not a complete public disclosure of the agreement.
Which creative tasks are in scope?
The June 11, 2026 update makes the labor question more concrete. Runway said the 2024 partnership’s tools were being used across pre-visualization, storyboarding, and final-frame production. These are points in a filmmaking workflow where storyboard artists and VFX teams may contribute, but naming a workflow does not show that a tool performs the work independently or that a human role has been removed.
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The 2026 announcement also said Lionsgate had taken an equity interest in Runway and that the companies planned a joint-development program to create new intellectual property, beginning with a short-form episodic series drawing on Lionsgate IP and Runway models. The announcement describes a plan and areas of use; it does not report finished output, adoption rates, production savings, or employment effects. Runway’s announcement calls AI a creative resource, but that is the company’s characterization, not independent evidence about how staffing will change.
What the deal does—and does not—show about jobs
AI-generated images and video could change how storyboards, visual-effects elements, or other production materials are developed. If a tool lets a team create or revise some material with fewer paid hours, that could affect demand for particular assignments. The announcements, however, do not establish that this has happened at Lionsgate, how often the tools are used, or whether any time saved leads to fewer jobs rather than different work or more creative iterations.
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Lionsgate’s current Director, Creative AI & Production Technology job description calls for artist-facing tools and pilots validated with artists and production teams across creative development, VFX, production, editorial, and post-production. It says success includes improving quality, speed, or creative possibility without disrupting essential craft and approval processes. This indicates that the studio is building capacity to introduce AI into production workflows; it does not prove that existing storyboard or VFX positions are protected, eliminated, or replaced.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe sources available do not give a partnership-specific count of jobs, paid commissions, hours, or roles lost or created. It would therefore be inaccurate to say the deal has already replaced storyboard or VFX artists, or to assign a number of jobs at risk to this partnership.
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Why the technology and rights picture is not settled
In September 2025, TheWrap reported early technical and rights complications. Its account included concerns that one bespoke model and the available catalog might not support ambitious film-scale uses, as well as questions involving copyright and performer rights. The story quoted an entertainment attorney on the complexity of rights in film and television. These are reported concerns and attributed accounts, not a company-published technical audit.
TheWrap also reported that Lionsgate said the deal was non-exclusive and that the studio planned to use tools from Runway and other AI companies in pre-production and post-production. The 2026 expansion confirms that the relationship continued, but the announcement does not publish a technical resolution, a list of training titles, model-access controls, rights-clearance details, or employment metrics.
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What would clarify the employment impact
A clearer answer requires production-level evidence rather than broad claims about AI or the size of Lionsgate’s library. The most useful disclosures would show where the tools were used, what work they generated or changed, and how human review and approval were handled. Rights and consent terms, credit or compensation arrangements, and workforce data tied specifically to productions using the tools would also help distinguish augmentation from substitution.
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For now, the defensible conclusion is limited but important: storyboard and VFX workflows are explicitly within the partnership’s stated scope, making labor effects a reasonable concern. The public record does not show whether, or how much, this particular deal has reduced or created paid work.
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