Screenwriting 101: Steven Soderbergh

“I may be the Neville Chamberlain of this subject, but I am not afraid of A.I. in this specific context. It has no life experience. It’s never been hungover. It’s never made a meal for anybody it loved. It’s never been scared walking home late at night. It’s never felt insecure because somebody that it went to high school with 20 years ago has become incredibly successful. I’m not afraid of it. It’s just another tool. If it helps you finish a first draft of a script, great. But can it finish that thing and make it great on its own? Absolutely not. As of today, it is not keeping me up at night.”

— Steven Soderbergh (Variety, June 12, 2023)

Who knows where the future may take this technology, but my immediate concern, specifically the negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP, is not so much about what A.I. is capable of producing as a “writer,” but what the companies believe it is capable of. If they look at movies and television as “content,” and not stories, I fear they may believe that A.I. has the “skills” necessary to create treatments or outlines which they can hand off to actual writers to “humanize” the material. Or worse, they my believe that A.I. is capable of writing entire scripts from concept to final draft.

So, yes, A.I. has no “life experience,” but with companies focused on “optimization” (i.e., the maximization of profits), I doubt that is a concern.

After all in their eyes … it’s just content.

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