Video is the format clients want most and agencies find hardest to deliver profitably. Filming, editing, motion graphics, sound design, colour grading: the production chain is long, the skills are specialist, and the costs stack up quickly. A 60-second brand video can easily consume £5,000-15,000 in production costs.
AI is changing the economics. Not by replacing videographers and editors, but by compressing the parts of the process that are repetitive, time-consuming, or do not require creative judgement. The agencies adopting these tools are delivering more video content, faster, at better margins.
Here is what works, what does not, and which tools are worth your time.
Script generation and pre-production
Before a camera rolls (or an AI generates a frame), the script needs to be right. AI is strong here.
Script drafting. Feed AI a brief with the key messages, target audience, tone, and duration, and it produces a working script in minutes. The output needs editing for brand voice and creative sharpness, but starting from a structured draft beats starting from nothing. Getting the quality control process right is essential here, as with any AI-generated content.
Shot list generation. Give AI the script and it produces a detailed shot list with suggested angles, transitions, and B-roll requirements. For agencies that produce a high volume of social content, this saves 30-60 minutes per video.
Storyboarding. AI image generation tools (Midjourney, DALL-E) create rough storyboard frames from scene descriptions. These are not production-quality, but they communicate the concept to clients far more effectively than written descriptions alone. We have seen client approval rates on video concepts increase when storyboards are included, and AI makes producing them trivial.
The editing tools that matter
Descript
Descript is the standout tool for agencies. It treats video editing like document editing: you edit the transcript and the video follows. Delete a sentence from the text, and the corresponding video segment is removed.
Why it works for agencies:
- Speed. Rough cuts happen in a fraction of the time. Your editor works from the transcript, not the timeline.
- Filler word removal. Automatic removal of “um,” “uh,” and long pauses. Essential for interview content and talking-head videos.
- Overdub. Correct mistakes in voiceover by typing the correction. The AI synthesises the speaker’s voice for the new words. Useful for small fixes; not yet convincing for long passages.
- Auto-captioning. Accurate, styled captions generated instantly. Given that most social video is watched without sound, this is non-negotiable.
Descript is not a replacement for Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve on complex projects. But for social content, internal comms, client testimonials, and talking-head videos, it is dramatically faster.
Opus Clip
Opus Clip takes long-form video and automatically identifies the most engaging segments for short-form clips. Upload a 30-minute webinar and it produces 10-15 potential Reels, Shorts, or TikToks, complete with captions and aspect ratio adjustments.
The quality of the automatic selections is surprisingly good. It analyses engagement signals (hooks, key points, emotional peaks) to choose clip boundaries. Your editor still curates and refines, but the initial selection is done.
Time saved: 2-3 hours per long-form video for repurposing. For agencies managing content across multiple platforms, this is significant.
Runway
Runway is the most capable AI video generation tool available. It generates video clips from text prompts and extends or modifies existing footage using AI.
Practical uses for agencies:
- B-roll generation. Need a 5-second clip of a cityscape, abstract motion graphics, or a product in a styled setting? Runway generates it without a shoot.
- Video extension. Extend a clip by a few seconds when the edit needs breathing room.
- Style transfer. Apply a visual style across footage for consistency or creative effect.
The honest limitation: AI-generated video still has a quality ceiling. It works for B-roll, social content, and motion graphics. It does not work for anything requiring realistic human movement, precise lip sync, or photorealistic detail. The “AI look” is identifiable, and clients with premium brand standards will notice.
AI presenters and voice
HeyGen and Synthesia
These tools generate videos of AI avatars speaking to camera. You type the script, choose an avatar (or create one from a real person’s video), and the platform produces a polished talking-head video.
Where this works:
- Internal training content. Product updates, process walkthroughs, onboarding videos. Content that needs to be professional but does not need a production crew.
- Multilingual versions. Record once and generate versions in 30+ languages with lip-synced translations. For agencies with multinational clients, this is transformative.
- Personalised video at scale. Sales outreach, event invitations, client updates. Generate hundreds of personalised videos from a single template.
Where it does not work: brand campaigns, thought leadership, or anything where authenticity matters. Viewers can tell it is AI, and the uncanny valley effect undermines trust in contexts where trust is the point.
Voice cloning considerations
AI voice cloning has reached the point where synthetic voices are nearly indistinguishable from real ones. This creates both opportunities and obligations.
Opportunities: Produce voiceover content without booking studio time. Update narration by editing text. Generate voiceover in multiple languages from a single voice sample.
Obligations: Always get explicit, documented consent from anyone whose voice you clone. Disclose AI voice usage to clients. Check that your usage complies with local regulations, which are evolving quickly. The reputational risk of undisclosed voice cloning is severe and not worth taking.
Video repurposing workflows
The highest-ROI application of AI video tools is not production. It is repurposing. One piece of video content becomes ten.
A practical workflow:
- Record a 20-minute interview or webinar (human production)
- Transcribe automatically (Descript)
- Extract 8-12 short-form clips (Opus Clip)
- Add captions to each clip (Descript or CapCut)
- Generate a blog post from the transcript (AI writing tools)
- Create social graphics with pull quotes (Canva AI)
- Produce an audiogram for podcast distribution (Headliner)
Total time for steps 2-7: approximately 90 minutes with AI tools. The same workflow done manually would take a full day.
Client review workflows
AI improves the review process as well as the production process. Tools like Frame.io use AI to:
- Auto-generate timestamped summaries of video drafts for reviewers
- Suggest edit points based on pacing analysis
- Track revision history and consolidate feedback from multiple reviewers
- Flag potential issues (audio levels, colour inconsistency, pacing problems)
For agencies managing multiple rounds of client feedback on video content, streamlined review workflows save hours per project and reduce the miscommunication that leads to extra revision rounds.
What this means for margins
AI video tools do not eliminate the need for skilled editors, videographers, or motion designers. They change the ratio of creative work to production work.
A realistic breakdown for a social video content retainer:
| Task | Pre-AI time | Post-AI time | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Script and storyboard | 3 hours | 1 hour | 67% |
| Filming | 4 hours | 4 hours | 0% |
| Rough cut | 3 hours | 1 hour | 67% |
| Captioning | 1 hour | 10 mins | 83% |
| Repurposing to 5 formats | 4 hours | 1 hour | 75% |
| Total | 15 hours | 7 hours | 53% |
The creative decisions (what to film, how to frame it, which story to tell) remain human. The mechanical execution gets dramatically faster. That is where the margin improvement lives.
Start with Descript for editing and Opus Clip for repurposing. These two tools alone will change your video team’s output capacity. Add Runway for B-roll and HeyGen for training content as your confidence grows. Build the workflow, measure the time savings, and price your video services accordingly.
This is part of Tool Drop, a series reviewing AI tools and approaches through an agency lens. Subscribe to the newsletter to get new articles weekly.
