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Arts & Entertainment

AI worries are spreading throughout Hollywood

People hold signs and picket against a green hedge, with one sign reading "NO A.I."
Actor, director and cinematographer Mark Gray holds a sign reading "No A.I." as writers and actors staged a solidarity march through Hollywood to Paramount Studios on Sept. 13, 2023.
(
Frederic J. Brown
/
AFP via Getty Images
)

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Topline:

Advances in AI script coverage have creative executives, assistants, financiers and marketing executives worried about a Hollywood “Moneyball Era,” where executive decisions are outweighed by cold hard analytics and technology.

Why it matters: As AI technology continues to improve at a rapid rate, the question is no longer whether it will be used in Hollywood, but how widespread it will become. Script coverage, one of the core tasks in Hollywood, is now part of an increasingly robust suite of AI tools that can assist the jobs of not only assistants but also creative and marketing execs as well as members of the finance team — with the looming sense that before long it could do more than merely assist.

Callaia’s huge potential: Callaia, a new script coverage tool from AI company Cinelytic, can create a 35-plus page report that provides coverage, comps, theatrical release strategies, casting recommendations and more. While promising, there are limitations in its casting suggestions as well as its strategies for how to release a movie.

Tool vs. replacement: Callaia and other script coverage services may have some flaws, but the technology continues to advance. The smartest people in Hollywood are trying to incorporate AI into how they work lest they be replaced by someone more skilled at learning these new services.

For more... read the full story on The Ankler.

This story is published in partnership with The Ankler, a paid subscription publication about the entertainment industry.

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