Read exclusive WrapPRO articles for free. Want to take your entertainment career to the next level? Subscribe to WrapPRO.
Writers aren’t the only ones to worry about AI. Everyone from truck drivers and lawyers to Hollywood executives participates. That’s what a group of showrunners emphasized to TheWrap during an exclusive panel on the WGA strike.
“You know who else really needs to worry? Executives I asked, ‘Can you read the script? ‘” “Have you got your notes yet?” said Gloria Calderon Kellett, showrunner of “With Love” and “One Day at a Time.” “Executives are on the verge before writers.”
“The fact that they don’t speak [AI] In our case this is the most obvious, but very short-sighted. It’s going to hurt them even more,” added Diary of a Future President showrunner Ilana Peña.
As Kellett emphasized, the conversation around artificial intelligence in Hollywood is much more nuanced than many people realize. In order for the AI software to learn to write in a particular style, it needs to be input with a script. This raises the question of whether the authors of these scripts are being compensated in any way. Second, these programs have limitations. Because they can only regurgitate what they’ve been fed, programs like Chat GPT can only create certain types of stories that have recurred in mainstream monocultures.
“For all the white writers who have been telling me, ‘You guys are stealing our work,’ AI is stealing your work,” Kellett said. “Because you know what I can’t write? I said, ‘Write a scene where Brujo tells Brujo about being from Cuba and Santeria.’ I can’t write that scene. can. “And Kellett knows what she’s talking about. She’s already been tested.”
But according to the panel, some of the biggest mistakes the media have made when discussing the WGA strike and AI issues are not broadening the conversation.
“I feel like there’s a little bit of a feeling that pits the writers against not just people in other entertainment fields, but people in other fields in general,” said Ali Shorten Sieks, showrunner of “iCarly.” rice field. “I don’t think we’re at odds with teachers, truck drivers, executives. We are on the same side, we are on the side of humanity and we can get a living wage.”
“This is not just a struggle between writers,” Peña said. “AI is coming to truck drivers, too. AI is not just in industry, it’s not just in managers, it’s not just in CEOs, it’s not just in lawyers and accountants. It’s coming to everyone,” Peña said. He stressed that the writers’ strike should be positioned as a “global struggle.”
For these three showrunners, they’re not just picketing for self-interest. In this time of ‘squeezing and squeezing’, they are fighting for the future of their staff, the industry as a whole, and for a future that is less adversarial than the streaming-dominated present. Schoutensiegs tries to keep in mind that for many writers, these jobs are a means of providing for a family. Many inexperienced writers will be expected to deliver pages immediately after the strike ends. “I think it’s really hard to ignore that on top of everything the showrunners are facing. But I think it will continue to be about the most vulnerable writers.” I think,” Shortensheeks said.
Watch the full roundtable in the video above.
For all of TheWrap’s WGA strike coverage, click here.
