Welcome to Hollywood AI, the weekly newsletter covering the latest AI developments in the entertainment industry.

My name is Jason Levin and I’m the new writer for Hollywood AI. I’ve been writing for startups for the last 2 years, and I’m stoked I now get to blend my love of tech and movies. You can find me on Twitter at @iamjasonlevin.

Ok enough about me. Let’s get on to the good stuff. Here’s what’s on tap today:

• 🖊 A Letter to Writers — From a Writer

• 👨‍🎨 ______ in the style of Wes Anderson

• 🍿 AI Kernels

A Letter to Writers — From a Writer

The Writers Strike continues:

• Marvel hit pause on ‘Blade’ due to writers strike

• Drew Barrymore dropped out of hosting MTV awards

• SNL is on pause (is this what finally ends its reign?)

Last time writers striked 15 years ago, the fallout of the 100-day stoppage was roughly $2 billion. “Could we see more? Absolutely,” said Kevin Klowden, chief global strategist of the Milken Institute.

According to The Motion Picture Association, a single major film producing shooting on location contributes $250,000/day to the local economy. Think restaurants, construction companies, etc. on top of all the showbiz workers.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said that as many as 20,000 workers across 600 productions could be out of work. No one wants this obviously. We all want our late night shows back. But the WGA asked for a $429 million raise and that doesn’t seem to be happening.

Ok forget about all the big scary numbers for a sec. Let’s jump back to AI.

It’s good to know that all writers aren’t cowering in fear of big bad AI stealing their jobs. The techno-optimists out there do want to use this tech as part of their creative progress.

As a writer witnessing the Writers Strike, I find it really disappointing that so many people are afraid of AI. If you’re a half-decent writer, there’s nothing to fear. ChatGPT can’t write like you do. It has no style or humor. No flare that makes your writing special. There’s nothing to fear (unless you’re a crap writer).

While ChatGPT can’t write as well as you, it can give you some 🔥 ideas. So don’t be afraid of ChatGPT stealing your job. Instead embrace it!

As the famous saying goes, “AI won’t steal your job, someone using AI better than you will.” So writers, stop being afraid of AI. Start experimenting. I think you’ll have a lot more fun than you expected.

_____ in the style of Wes Anderson

There’s been a recent trend online to use AI to make TikToks, pictures, and even a Star Wars trailer in the style of… you guessed it Wes Anderson.

This Star Wars trailer is truly next level. Its title “The Galactic Menagerie” even sounds like a Wes Anderson plot while the trailer shows the Star Wars characters on a mission to “Steal the Emperor’s artifact”. George Lucas, say hello to your new best friend Wes Anderson!

But Wes Anderson’s aesthetic is easy to mimic, argues Billboard’s editorial director Robert Levine. It’s so obviously Wes Anderson, an AI can copy that. Same with mimicking Drake vocals.

Levine argues that mistakes are much harder to copy. “Until relatively recently, most great artists had quirks,” Levine points out that:

• Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham played a bit behind the beat

• Snoop Dogg started drawling out verses at a time when most rappers fired them off

• Willie Nelson has a sense of phrasing that owes more to jazz than rock.

Someone like “[Willie] Nelson’s timing is going to be hard for algorithms to imitate until they start smoking weed.” 😂 With this in mind, can AI ever copy the mistakes that make great artists unique?

AI Kernels

Here’s a round-up of interesting news and stories that caught our attention this week:

Who Owns SpongeBob? Paramount Global’s tech chief Phil Wiser showed company leaders how DALL-E can remake SpongeBob! I’m ready! → WSJ

Snoop Dogg Talks AI. “It’s blowing my mind. This is what we watched as kids in movies […] Are we in a movie right now?” → Milken Institute

Runway Gen-1 now supports 15 second AI-generated videos. Use words and images to generate new videos out of existing ones.  → Runway

AI-Themed Content of the Week

Every week, we’ll hit you with a piece of content centered around AI. It might be a book, movie, whatever.

I couldn’t put Daemon down. And I can’t stop thinking about it 3 weeks later.

Without any spoilers, it’s about a video game designer who dies and leaves behind an AI program to do his dirty work for him. Enjoy.