It’s time for producers to consider how to protect themselves from potential copyright and ownership issues related to the use of generative AI tools in film and television production.
That was one of the messages coming out of the Producers Guild of America's 14th annual Produced By conference in Los Angeles on Saturday, which featured a day of panels digging into digital disruption and other pressing issues for content creators.
“I don't know if the artists I commission are using generative AI. I didn't really care before, but now I think I should,” said Lori McCreary, CEO of Revelations Entertainment and former PGA president, during the hour-long “AI: What Every Producer Needs to Know” session, moderated by Carolyn Giardina, senior entertainment technology and craft editor at The New York Times. variety And Variety VIP+.
Ghaith Mahmood, a partner at Latham & Watkins who specializes in AI-related legal issues, walked the audience through the complex question of where copyright protection for content currently begins and ends, emphasizing that with more than a dozen copyright cases pending in federal court, new rules are likely to be established over the next few years.
“I think we're on shifting sands,” Mahmood told the audience at the Darryl F. Zanuck Theater on the Fox Studios campus. Currently, only human-created works are eligible for copyright protection. And the key legal test at this point hinges on the level of human control and creativity exercised in creating the work. With the technological breakthrough of generative AI powered by incredible computing systems, he noted, legal experts are eagerly awaiting a report from the U.S. Copyright Office, due to be released this summer. That report “will provide more detail on what it means for humans to have sufficient creative control.” [make content] “Copyright protected”
Renard T. Jenkins, president of I2A2 Technologies, Labs & Studios and president of the Society of Cinema and Television Engineers, explained the nuances of AI and the terminology surrounding its use. He emphasized that the entertainment industry has a strong incentive to ensure that AI tools used in professional film production are based on “clean” large-scale language model databases, that is, built from the ground up with proper consent and copyright protection clauses. This is how human craftsmen can retain control over the technologies and tools that will have such an impact on production.
“We should be paying more attention to how the tools are being used and who is using them, rather than the tools themselves,” Jenkins said. “We have an opportunity to incorporate some of these tools into our process, and we need to train our artists how to use and build these models so they have more control over their IP.”
Variety/VIP+'s Carolyn Giardina, Latham & Watkins' Ghaith Mahmood, Lori McCleary and Leonard T. Jenkins attend the Produced By conference
Jordan Strauss of the PGA
As the conversation turned to the issue of deepfakes, including copyrighted works and likenesses of famous people like Revelations Entertainment partner Morgan Freeman, McCreary offered a personal example. The famous actor is a frequent target of fake social media videos and memes. McCreary is usually quick to spot a fake, but a few weeks ago he was left shaken by a video that looked so real he had to call Freeman to confirm it wasn't him.
“In this time of misinformation, it scares me,” McCleary said. “As a community, we need to get ahead of this.”
To that end, Jenkins said SMPTE and other industry groups are working to develop a metadata-based tracking system to verify the authorship and integrity of content. The effort will require some coordination among high-end producers, studios and distributors around the world. “Everybody joins the pool, and if there are bad actors, they get kicked out of the pool,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Stephanie Allan, owner of Homegrown Pictures and co-president of the PGA with Donald De Line, moderated a candid session with veteran producers including Brad Simpson, Lynette Howell Taylor, Mike Farrar and Tommy Oliver. The group agreed that the past year has been a rollercoaster ride for the industry, given the marked slowdown in Hollywood production volume following the writers' and actors' strikes and the peak of the TV boom decade.
Allan also spoke candidly about assessing the impact of racial injustice in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd, noting that even on her own projects, there have been instances where executives and creatives have been promoted into roles for which they were not prepared.
“I had to fire them,” she said, expressing deep regret. With budgets and market challenges these days, it's hard to give a chance to inexperienced talent. The dilemma for producers is: “How do you learn if you don't have the opportunity to fail? How do you protect your film? But you don't want an all-white crew.”
Produced By: Brad Simpson, Lynette Howell Taylor, Mike Farrar, Tommy Oliver
Jordan Strauss of the PGA
Alan stressed that bringing more diversity to Hollywood is a big priority for the PGA, given the dwindling number of classical music producers working in the city.
“We're trying to make this job, this calling, a viable career for anyone,” Allan said. Simpson (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “American Crime Story”) said producers should proactively hire diverse crew and production teams, including by visiting film school.
“You see people at the moment they're hiring and then they complain that there's no one to hire,” Simpson said.
Allan also pressed the panel on whether there was a “line” he would not cross when working as a producer, to which he responded that he would pass on projects that featured glorified violence.
Oliver, who recently finished filming Riz Ahmed's feature film “Hamlet,” said that even when he was younger, he would never turn down an offer to work with “a director who wasn't a nice guy.” He added that “the yellow flag never turned into a red flag on set.”
Howell Taylor says the same is true when assessing the creative value of a project: [early on] It's not going to be great, it's never going to be great.”
Farah echoed Oliver's sentiments, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a good reputation in the professional world. Though the entertainment industry has grown significantly over the past two decades, it's still a small community when it comes to physical production. “It's not hard to get good, bad and in-between stories about hiring production staff,” Farah said. “Take the time to really think about how you treat people. The golden rule works for a reason.”
The afternoon session of the conference began with PGA Co-Chairman Don DeLine, who moderated the session along with Greg Berlanti, Chuck Roven and Roxanne Avent Taylor, discussing the future of golf. DeLine began his talk with a sad slogan that has permeated the city during these demanding and stressful times: “Survive until 25.”
“As far as I see it, the biggest problem facing the industry isn't economic – it's people feeling displaced, less connected and less of a sense of community,” Berlanti said, adding, “Everyone's talking about having to do more with less, and empirically, that's true for us. Making things on a budget is back in style.”
Roben, who produced “Oppenheimer,” which won this year's Oscar for best picture, offered an optimistic outlook.
“Last year the box office was amazing. This year so far it hasn't been, but it was a really good weekend,” he said, noting that the upcoming “Bad Boys” sequel starring Will Smith is expected to gross more than $50 million. He reminded the audience that “people want content, but you can't make content without producers.”
(Pictured above: Lori McCreary of Revelations Entertainment and I2A2 Technologies Lab & Studio)/SMTPTE of Leonard T. Jenkins
