Dubai's MForMedia signs AI production pact with Arcana Labs
The Dubai producer will embed Arcana Labs' software in its workflows, train staff on it, and co-produce Arabic-language originals under a new partnership.
Key takeaways
- Dubai's MForMedia has signed a strategic partnership with Arcana Labs to embed AI workflows in its production slate and train staff on AI-native production.
- Arcana Studios, the production arm of Arcana Labs, and MForMedia will co-produce original Arabic-language content for the Middle East and North Africa, with titles already in development.
- MForMedia produces Arabic versions of Carpool Karaoke and The X Factor and recently hired Ziad Kebbi as managing director as it pivots toward AI production and IP ownership.
- Arcana Labs chief executive Jonathan Yunger said the aim is to keep Arabic-language production in the region.
Dubai's MForMedia has signed a strategic partnership with Arcana Labs to embed the software company's tools in its production workflows, its Arabic-language co-productions and its staff training, with the stated goal of building AI-native film and television capability across the Middle East and North Africa.
Deadline reported the deal on 30 September. Arcana Studios, the production arm of Arcana Labs, and MForMedia will also co-produce original content for MENA audiences, with unnamed titles already in development. MForMedia staff are being given a five-day workshop on AI-native production this month.
MForMedia is led by its co-founders and managing partners Ralph Matar and Khalil Homeissy. Its slate includes Arabic versions of Carpool Karaoke and The X Factor, and shows including the Mahzooz Lottery Show, Eisha Sah, Celebrity Escape Room and Celebrity Advice Bureau.
The agreement continues a pivot the company signalled two weeks ago: MForMedia hired the MENA television veteran Ziad Kebbi as managing director and said at the time that it was moving toward AI production, original content and IP ownership and away from a production-services model. Arcana Labs is represented by Paradigm Talent Agency.
"The Middle East and North Africa region is one of the most active production markets outside the United States, yet premium original Arabic-language content has struggled to keep pace with soaring demand," said Arcana Labs chief executive Jonathan Yunger. "With this model, we are embedding an AI-native pipeline inside a regional studio from day one."
Matar and Homeissy said in a statement that the collaboration reflects a shared ambition to expand what is possible in regional storytelling, and framed the tools as giving directors, producers, designers and storytellers more room to experiment while retaining creative control.
For creators in the region the deal matters less for the technology than for where the work happens. Regional production has often meant Arabic-language formats commissioned and finished elsewhere, and the partnership's stated aim is to keep that work in Dubai. What the deal does not yet say is how much of each production will be AI-generated, how the two companies will split costs, or what the revenue terms are.
Titles and release dates for the co-productions have not been announced; the staff workshop begins this month.
Sources
- deadline.com - the deal, the parties and both executives' statements
- deadline.com - the earlier hire and the pivot the deal continues