We hear a lot about artificial intelligence devastating the filmmaking industry, and it’s true. But AI is also radically democratizing cinema, liberating creators from the dictatorial whims of Hollywood. I know this firsthand because I’ve produced full-length movies both the traditional way and, more recently, with AI.
In 2012, I produced the movie "Little Red Wagon" the old-fashioned way with the help of a star director, screenwriter, and music composer, celebrated actors, and hundreds of crew members. It took millions of dollars and four years to make, was released theatrically worldwide, then licensed first to Walmart (where the DVD shot to the bestsellers list), then Netflix. Today, it is distributed by Lionsgate on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, and other platforms.
Three years ago, I began writing my current movie, "The Invisible Everywhere." Inspired by my bestselling book, "Believing Is Seeing," the movie tells the story of how modern science shattered my atheism and opened my blind eyes to the existence of God. In early 2025, fully prepared to once again follow the long, laborious, tried-and-true Hollywood playbook, I had a weird experience that changed everything.
At 4:00 one morning, while I was still in bed, I heard an urgent, inner voice say: “Don’t wait! Make this movie right now, even if you have to use your iPhone camera to do it.” I was completely taken aback because at that hour of the morning I wasn’t thinking about the movie or much of anything else. Yet the directive was so persuasive that, in the days that followed, I unwittingly began my journey into artificial intelligence.
While browsing the Internet for filmmaking gear, I came across a thing called Runway, one of a small number of then-obscure AI video generators. Intrigued, I prompted Runway’s free-trial version with a line from my script. In less than a minute, it spit out a five-second video, which honestly wasn’t great — what people today call “AI slop.” But the scientist in me was sufficiently fascinated by this new technology that I began tweaking the prompt over and over again. Looking back, I now realize I was learning to communicate with this completely alien form of collaborator.
On about the 16th try, I hit the jackpot: Runway generated a video that completely blew me away. Not only did it conform to my vision of the particular scene, it also transcended it. That’s when I dared to wonder whether AI video generators could help me produce a full-length movie, five seconds at a time. After prayerful consideration with my wife, I dove in. Little did I know it would become one of the most grueling tasks of my life, on par with earning my doctorate in physics, math, and astronomy.
At the start, the AI generators typically took many, many prompts before generating a scene that lived up to my aesthetic and scientific vision, a process so frustrating I wanted to tear out my hair. Another problem was that my desktop computer was not designed to handle huge video files.
After it crashed multiple times, I bought a gaming computer for about $2,000 and a large monitor with high-quality speakers for about $300. The other problem was that AI video generators began multiplying like rabbits, with each one constantly upgrading itself. It was a huge chore keeping up with the latest, greatest, especially since I ended up using about two dozen different AI apps.
Holed up in my small, darkened office, I worked 12-hour days, six days a week, eating meals while working and leaving only for bathroom breaks. In that strange, Alice-in-Wonderland AI world, I considered it a good day if I managed to get one minute of film in the can, after which I spent many days more layering in music, sound effects and narration. After seven straight months of that intense effort, I completed the rough draft on Labor Day 2025 and then released the final, polished movie on April 8 of this year.
In retrospect, the inner voice that led me to use AI to make "The Invisible Everywhere" — what might be the first full-length movie produced entirely by one person, on a desktop computer, using commercially available AI tools — was prescient. I say that because my AI collaborator was able to visualize the 95 percent of the universe that is invisible in a stunning, unprecedented way. What’s more, the rave reviews the movie is receiving from all parts of the world made the exhausting effort more than worth it.
Equally rewarding is discovering how liberating AI is for filmmakers, freeing us up from the traditional financial and cultural demands of the Hollywood establishment. That’s why AI is, indeed, is disrupting the industry
Because of AI, "The Invisible Everywhere" lets audiences see for themselves how modern science clearly points to, not away from, God. It offers worldwide audiences a never-before-seen portrayal of the deep beauty and purpose of the universe beyond us and within us, and reveals how — contrary to what secular-materialists believe — most of reality is not visible, not logical, and not even imaginable.
Michael Guillén, PhD, taught physics at Harvard and, for fourteen years, was the Emmy-winning Science Editor at ABC News. His new movie, THE INVISIBLE EVERYWHERE, can be seen worldwide at www.michaelguillen.com.