Briefs to treatments
A first draft in minutes, in your studio's voice, ready for you to shape.
Founding cohort opening
The off-camera unit for your studio's AI.
Second Unit helps small video and ad studios put AI to work on the operational side of the business - the admin, the busywork, the parts that eat your week - so your team stays on the work that's actually on camera.
Join the waitlist
Founding cohort. Limited places. No spam, no sales sequence.
01 / The week
You know AI could be saving you hours. You just don't have time to figure out where.
Everyone's told you AI changes everything. Nobody's shown you how - inside your studio, on your projects.
Meanwhile the week fills up with the parts of the job nobody got into this to do:
- Writing the same proposal and scope for the fifth time this month
- Chasing client feedback scattered across email, Slack, and three text threads
- Turning one finished edit into nine deliverables for nine placements
- Drafting treatments from a half-page brief
- The admin around every project that quietly swallows a day a week
That's the work Second Unit takes off your plate. Not the craft. The clutter around it.
02 / Off camera
A second unit for the work that happens off camera.
I come in, find where your studio is losing time, and set up AI to handle it - properly, in your actual tools, with your actual projects. You're left with workflows that run, not a strategy deck and a reading list.
Feedback, gathered
Client notes pulled into one place instead of five.
One edit, every cut
Turn a master into the versions each platform needs.
Proposals and scopes
The boilerplate written for you, so you're editing, not starting from blank.
The admin layer
Recurring busywork around every project, handled quietly in the background.
Set up once. Runs while you get on with the work.
03 / Why me
I've spent a decade building software for studios like yours.
I'm James. For about ten years I've designed and built software used by video and ad studios - I know how briefs become boards become deliverables, how client rounds actually go, and where the time really leaks, because I've spent years inside that workflow.
Most AI consultants know AI. They don't know your business. I've built for it.
That's the whole idea behind Second Unit: AI help from someone who already speaks production.
04 / Three ways in
Opening to a small founding cohort first.
01
The Teardown
A working session where we go through your studio and I map the three or four places AI will save you the most time. You leave with a recording and a one-page plan. The fee comes off a Sprint if you book one within 30 days.
02
The Sprint
I set up the two highest-impact workflows in your actual tools, train someone on your team, and hand over a short playbook. You end with AI quietly running parts of your operation.
03
The Retainer
For studios that want a hand on the tiller as things change. A standing monthly check-in and ongoing setup as new tools and needs come up.
Founding studios get in first - and for less.
Second Unit is opening with a small founding group. The first studios get founding pricing, my full attention, and a direct say in how this works - in exchange for being the first to put their name to the results.
No inflated claims, no borrowed logos. Just early access, an honest rate, and work I'll stand behind.
06 / Request a place
Join the waitlist.
Tell me a little about your studio and I'll be in touch when a founding place opens.