Making God's Post-Production: Aiming for Netflix

Thanks largely to Manifund donations, Making God has filmed a series of cinematic interviews, with big-hitters such as recent Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton, and will soon film with several more AI experts, ex-AGI lab employees, and civil society.
Now we need to raise for post-production. In our previous production phase, we filmed in multiple locations across the world and worked with several production companies to produce over forty hours of quality footage. Proper post-production would mean that ‘Making God’ has everything it needs to make a splash at film festivals and land on a streaming service like Netflix.
Your donations increase the chance a documentary revealing the risks from AI will land in the homes of hundreds of millions of viewers. We hope they will, at the least, have more knowledge on the issue, and be moved to act.

Post-Production Budget Breakdown

Hiring of Post-Production Studio: This will mean professional editors, sound designers, and colour graders can deliver the film quickly and to the standards necessary for mass distribution.

Purchasing Archival Footage: This will mean ‘Making God’ has the legal rights to use news reports, podcasts, and other third party content.

Purchasing Stock B-Roll: For elements that we cannot film (due to access restrictions) we will license clips, for example, the insides of data centres, political institutions, etc.

Hiring a Motion Graphics Studio: Our explainer sections, where we break down the technical side of AI, requires high-quality motion graphics. To ensure a consistent tone, we intend to use a motion graphics studio.

Maintaining a Post-Production Buffer: To cover unforeseen costs and potential locational hires.

Hiring a Composer: We are fundraising for this now to give our composer the time to compose an original score.

Hiring Session Musicians: Supplementary to the composer, to give them the talents to bring their visions to life.

Hiring a Graphic Designer: For the production of posters, marketing materials, and lower thirds.

Gaining Making God's Classification: To secure an age rating from The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

Why should you donate to finish Making God?

We believe the public is mostly unaware of the rapid advances in AI and what they mean, and of the potential risks posed to them, their families, and their friends. Making God is a feature documentary built for non-technical viewers. Simple but accurate explainers, high-end, cinematic interviews, and a clear story of the race toward AGI and why it matters.

The result is cinematic and serious, but also optimistic and light-hearted! A mix we think is going to allow us to make a splash at film festivals and then (if we manage a nomination or win) a much higher chance of landing on a streaming service like Netflix.

Where we are now

We have already recorded more than 40 hours of footage, including multiple long-form expert interviews.
We have secured interviews with two of the field’s most high-profile pioneers and have additional shoots scheduled across the US, UK, and Canada.
Filmed: Geoffrey Hinton, Prof. Chan Loui, Gary Marcus, Will MacAskill, Tom Davidson, Holly Elmore.
To film: Prof. Yoshua Bengio (MILA, Godfather of AI).
Negotiating interview: Kylie Robison (WIRED), Daniel Kokotajlo (AI 2027), Chris Miller (author of Chip War).
Remaining principal photography runs now to 31 Oct 2025, with post-production scheduled for Nov 2025 to Jan 2026.

Timeline and deliverables

Nov 2025–Jan 2026 (three months): edit, motion graphics, score, mix, grade, QC and mastering
Deliverables: locked feature, M&E tracks, accessibility assets, trailer, poster/key art, and festival-ready masters
Festivals: submissions Feb–Dec 2026 as per deck timeline. Overfunding beyond $327,500 for post will roll into the festival run budget ($102,000).

Team

Director, Mike Narouei. Former Creative Director at Control AI, led multiple large shoots, work featured by BBC, Sky News, ITV, The Washington Post, directed high-reach campaigns and long-form documentaries.
Executive Producer, Connor Axiotes. Former senior communications adviser in UK government, wrote early AI safety policy work at the Adam Smith Institute, leads access and editorial. Has raised around $300,000 so far for Making God.

What success looks like

Acceptance at major festivals and subsequent streamer acquisition.
Viewership at scale plus pre/post viewing surveys on AI-risk understanding.
Media coverage and community/political/policy conversations citing the film.

Risks and how we manage them

Archival costs can spike. We have ring-fenced $50k for licensing and $40k buffer to absorb overages.
Explainers must be clear. The motion-graphics studio budget ($30k) is dedicated to short, accurate explainers.
Scheduling risk. We have set a three-month post window and are booking studios against that schedule.

Why fund this now

We have shown we can deliver. We have worked with quality teams, interviewees, and companies on a project of a genuinely professional standard. We want to maintain that quality in post-production. There is still a gap in the market for an accessible documentary explaining the risks of AI to the public, and we believe we can fill it.