The Video Creation Margin Curve: Why Assembly Cost Collapse Rewrites Agency Retainers

Video creation tools have collapsed assembly cost to near zero, but they have not collapsed the brief, script direction, or editorial review that clients actually pay for. Agencies that sell the judgment layer around template assembly hold margin; agencies that sell "AI-generated video" as the product watch clients recognize the template within one delivery cycle and churn. The strategic question is not which platform to buy but which part of the production chain you refuse to automate.