July

June was interesting. July is already intriguing and it's only the first day of the month. Buckle up! 

I spent much of June waiting for OpenAI and Google to release all of the features they had both pimped out to us in May. OpenAI did come out and say that the Voice model will gradually roll out and that most of us plebs won't see it until the fall. Whether that means after the US presidential election or not who knows. But that was not the only new feature. I also need to try the image creation capabilities they teased. Especially to help me create a graphic novel or illustrated novel. I prefer to use only a few tools to create everything I need for these image-heavy projects. I like Midjourney a lot more for image creation, but I keep hoping that OpenAI will improve either Dall-E 3 or provide a new image generation tool with better quality and more capabilities. Not sure where Google's updates are either. I especially wanted to try the video model Veo and Project Astra. Oh well. I guess this is yet another lesson in how patience is a virtue. 

While the big boys have been overpromising and underdelivering in a timely manner, we now have a few new AI video generation models to fawn over. I touched on this in my last post. However, I have had time to think on things since then. On Friday, Runway started to grant access to more people, namely those in the Creative Partners Program. While I did apply to this last week, I was too late to get access. Hopefully, I'll be allowed to join the CPP program at some point so I can get early access to future tools. After seeing what GEN-3 could do I was thrilled to see  GEN-3 Alpha rolled out to everyone today. I am all signed up and ready to start using these new tools. Perfect timing. Thanks, Runway. 

Over the past year, I was reluctant to use the existing AI video tools, something I have mentioned here several times. The quality was not good enough. My focus for part of the last year had been on AI images. Even my writing plans have been guided by the great quality of AI images and the ease with which they can be created. My main focus after the recent two-month query period for a TV series I created was meant to be on a two-part illustrated novel series and a graphic novel series. Having learned enough about creating AI images, I felt confident I could not only create illustrated novels but also graphic novels. However, with these AI video tools all dropping in the past few weeks, and more still to come, I have been forced to reconsider my immediate plans. 

Ever since last spring, I have had an eye on the AI video space with the thought of diving in once the quality reached a certain point. Sora had me dreaming, but its belated release had me focus on what I could do with AI images. If I had access to Sora in February, I would have created a trailer for the TV series to go with the pitch deck and the series bible I created for my query package. Oh well. 

I knew when I saw those early Sora videos that other companies would start to catch up. And when they did I would pivot some of my time and attention to AI video. While AI images are at a point where I can create what I need for the illustrated novel series and for the graphic novel series, I think those projects have become secondary for the next month. It is time to learn to use these AI video tools. I have been waiting so long to have this type of control over moving images once again.

It is one thing to write a story and have people read it. With a novel and illustrated novels, I still have control over what a reader sees. Whereas when screenwriting I have to rely on countless others to bring my vision to life. With AI video tools I have near total control. I say near because we are still early in the AI video space and these things are not perfect, even if they are incrementally better than what we were seeing before Sora. This reminds me of the kind of control I had back when I was making short films back in the day. Because of that, I will spend a big chunk of time in July focused on AI video and learning all I can about AI audio tools. 

The one thing I have not mentioned much about here is my desire to create an APP. I spoke with the people close to me over the past year about my desire to create it, but I wasn't sure if the APP was something that was needed because I saw others creating somewhat similar APPS or GPTs. However, I think I can make an APP that can help a lot of people and help me learn more about the process of creating an APP. I had considered making a GPT through OpenAI, but I think an APP is a better way to go, even though I will have to do a good bit of research. I think it can help more people in that format than as a GPT. 

GPTs seem to be quickly becoming a thing of the past. Microsoft is doing away with them and there are rumors that OpenAI is not as keen on them as they used to be. I want to keep learning about technology but I also want to create. I will likely lean on AI to help me build the APP, while also learning about the process. I am an artist not a martyr, so I don't mind leaning on AI for not only the image and video side of my new creative process but also some of the technical aspects of creating and launching an APP. I have learned a lot over the past year, but I cannot just sit down and crank out this APP without some guidance. 

So, I am making my main focus of July all about educating myself. Learning about AI video, AI Audio, and APP creation with AI assistance. We'll see if I can learn all that I need in one month. Maybe, maybe not, and it may be that I need to keep at it for another month or two. I'm up for the challenge. In whatever free time I have left, I'll also try and get some work done on the first book in the illustrated novel series and create a few panels in the graphic novel. Busy. Busy. Thanks for reading. 

Will AI Change Everything Or Will It Be The Same Only Different?

I am starting to have doubts about how much AI will benefit me as a creative person. This time last year, I was just getting my beak wet, but my imagination was soaring with how it would creatively benefit me. While I have said for a long time that I write what I want to read or see play on a screen, deep down I'd like others to take some enjoyment out of the process as well, and maybe even make some money off of the hard work I've put in and the sacrifices I have made. 

Self-publishing books has almost run its course for me. What started as a personal challenge revealed a lot about not only myself but the business of books. It is tough as hell to sell books. You first have to have a great book, and then you have to stand out and be recognized amongst all the other books. When you self-publish it is almost impossible to stand out, especially now after the newness of the self-publishing craze has died out. 

Now think about Movies. Independent movies have always been a tough sell. And now, even blockbuster movies made for 100s of millions of dollars are having a hard time breaking even. This time last year I could see how AI would give me superpowers. The thing is that it also gives everyone else creative superpowers. Most of whom have never lifted a finger in an attempt to create worlds for themselves before AI, let alone done so to entertain others. And yet, within a year or two everyone will be able to do just that. 

Those who have been keeping up with the progress of generative AI and have seen the demos for all the new products know that massive change will wash over the general public soon. Many of those in Hollywood who have been fortunate enough to get access to Sora can see that this technology will change the business forever. Those of us who have been paying attention since February know exactly what I mean. The results are stunning and will only get better.  

At that time, I was knee-deep in preparing to query Hollywood about a TV show I had been working on. But, it was plain to see that Sora would change everything once people had access to it. I didn't let that deter me from my task, contacting others about the incredible TV series package I had put together. In fact, I worked into my pitch just how I envisioned AI tools could help with the post-production marketing of the series and may even be able to augment what had been shot after things were completed. I didn't want to suggest that any new tools like Sora should be used in the production. Those things should be left up to the production team. My job is to lay out the road map for the series. All I need is one person to believe in my story and the big ideas I have laid out. "It's hard out here for a pimp."

The most important part of my process is coming up with a story and then putting in the work to write the story for others. Once that is done, this is where AI would be massively helpful to someone like myself. Most people who are not authors or screenwriters will need AI to help them write stories, therefore they will be unable to copyright them - as the copyright laws stand now. That might be my only leg up on the masses who would be able to create just about anything with a few prompts. But, if I can eliminate the need to convince others, who are busy with other projects and in constant contact with other writers who they actually know and have worked with in the past, then I could focus on actually using my storytelling skills to create a film or tv show with tools like Sora. I'd rather work with people the old-fashioned way, but they have to want to work with me as well, and I can't force people to buy my work. Unlike most people, I would be able to copyright the stories I would want to use in partnership with Sora-type tools because I would have written them, and maybe that is the window of opportunity for me. Maybe. 

With each email I send and get no response my heart breaks a little. Not for myself, don't pity the Pitters, but for the work and the people it might touch, inspire, or somehow affect. I look forward to using AI as yet another creative means to an end. It feels like I am an explorer awaiting a ship that is being built. Soon enough I'll be off exploring new lands. I've sent thousands of emails through the years. It's like water off a duck's back at this point. I know my efforts are usually in vain because they largely have been for twenty years, which is fine. That's the way it is. Sometimes you catch a break but more often than not you will have wasted time, energy and passion only to be ignored.

If I had been more involved in the business over the past twenty years I might be more conflicted about using AI tools. However, I spent much of last year during the strikes and the rise of Generative AI wrestling with my conscience about its use. And recently I have had time to reflect on all the blood, sweat, and tears I have put into projects over the past twenty years with 90% of people unwilling to even respond to an email. And I feel empowered for the first time in a long time. 

I will not hesitate to bypass people in order to get my stories in front of an audience. Hopefully, those AI tools will be available soon so I can get trained up and put them to use ASAP. I've gained a lot of experience over the past two decades and learned even more about patience. In the meantime, I'll keep writing and sending personalized emails to those whose work I respect and would love to work with in creating movies and TV shows. 

I never dreamed of having a media empire when I started writing, I have just kept plodding away at creating stories in different formats. But, with the help of AI, I may be able to create dozens of movies, TV shows, and graphic novels in a short span of time, and all of the stories will be copyrighted. There are likely thousands of people like myself who have been writing for decades and only publishing or putting onto screen a few of the works they have actually created. In fact, if the technology is good enough that will be one of my goals-- a media empire. My ambitions are usually bigger than what I can achieve but then I am a dreamer and always think big. 

Once I have actually completed my first ready-for-consumption production I will have to deal with marketing and sales. Cringe. At least I will be on the backend of production and not stalled out waiting like a jackass for people to respond to an email. I have been reluctant to call producers and directors about the TV series at this point-- even though I have a few phone numbers, but once I have a TV show or movie in the can you bet your ass I'll be on the phone using all my sales skills. Regardless, it will still be a tough task to earn people's attention.

This is where I am starting to have doubts. Not in my own abilities to tell a good story or that the technology might not be good enough. It's that the technology likely will be good enough and I believe I will be able to create all the stories I decide to pull from my library of unpublished works. However, the marketplace will become over-saturated and I will face a similar problem that I face today: getting people's attention and earning their interest. The good thing is that the work will be completed and I won't have any regrets about stories sitting on a shelf because I could not get anyone to help me make them into movies or TV shows. But they might very well be stuck on a cloud unwatched next to millions of other unwatched movies and TV shows. I'm not sure which is worse, querying dozens of people with a well-written story whose plan for the first season is ideal for a number of streaming services with only a few responses, or creating the TV series using AI and no one watches it. Both are tragic. 

I've always said that I write what I want to read or watch because it does not yet exist. But if everyone is doing that and not consuming what anyone else creates then that is pretty damn depressing. And it probably won't be good for society if we just stay in our own imaginary bubbles without taking in new information. I hope that doesn't happen. I like what other people create and I always will, but I also like what I create as well. I may create it because it is something that I would want to read or watch, but I use that as a barometer because what I really want is to create something that others might enjoy. I don't want to sit around at night and read or watch my stories. That sounds vain and fucking boring. I hope we don't become a society that sits around quasi-creating movies or TV shows with a simple prompt custom-made just for us from scratch. Storytelling is something that is shared with others, even if we may experience it on our own in our own homes. We then go talk about it with others. 

I can hear the conversations with friends in the future. "I generated and binge-watched this amazing cop show series this weekend. I programmed it to be like The Shield  and NCIS: Los Angeles." Will people even be able to send that show to their friends so they can watch it or will it just be something that you can watch? Can it be shared with the world? Who makes money off of it? Do people get quasi-famous for prompting something that they had very little actual input in? So many questions. What I fear most is the loss of shared experience, which is the point of stories going all the way back to cave art. There are things we can learn from each other that we may not have learned on our own. 

The writing of a story is the act I love most, inspired by personal experiences and what I have learned about the world. An AI will do much of the same but without the personal human experiences of its own. That seems to be the possible barrier that these tools may struggle to pass. Blade Runner touched on this subject. They may become humanlike but may never be able to become truly human. But then we may become more machine-like as we look to expand on our own mental limitations. 

Once a lot of entertainment is AI generated there may have to be a notification system informing viewers how much of a story was created by a human. This might tell a viewer or reader if it has been copyrighted and how much was manufactured by an AI-based upon a prompt or prompts. It will likely get to a point where it won't matter as much because the AI will be a better storyteller than most people. However, there will always be a need to know if what we are consuming comes from the soul of a flesh and blood person who has lived a human life or if it is from an AI that has been trained to simulate those experiences. 

It's tricky because eventually we will reach AGI and we've no idea if that will be a net good thing for society as well as storytelling or a net bad thing. Until then, I will try, however futile my efforts may be, to create the stories that do not exist that I would want to read or watch hoping that you might too. Thanks for reading. 

Memorial Day Weekend

This year has been an interesting one so far. The sacrifices I have made will go without mention, though I could write and may write a book or two about them one day. But not today. I will sequester that for the sake of perceived normalcy. While I may have selfish goals, I do not make those efforts while being a bull in a china shop. I do not seek the attention I once sought as a younger man. Give me a cup of coffee, a quiet place to write with internet access and all is right with the world. 

I am nearing the end of my current query period for a TV series I have worked on for a few years. A few follow-ups and I can wipe the dust off my hands and be satisfied with my efforts. Getting anyone to take an interest in what you do is difficult, and I chose a direct route this time. Bypassing the contests, the agents, the managers, the readers who have slowed me down in the past. 

As a grown-ass man, I prefer to cut out all the BS and get to the point. Being respectful but direct has become my mantra this time around. Never let it be said that I didn't try to save Hollywood in my own way from the 100-year-old spreadsheet-loving and algorithm-driven studio executives who only want remakes or different takes on something successful back in the 80s, 90s, & 00s. Creativity and Originality are not as important as they used to be. Give them the formulaic tripe that people can watch while cleaning the house and you've made the execs happy. 

The echoes of 2009 and my last major screenwriting push are reverberating. The shadows of disinterest from that time approach on the perimeter of my campfire. I can shoo them away these days, but in 2009 they haunted my days and nights and led me to start writing books. My objective this time around is not an entirely selfish endeavor as it was back then. I have a love for Hollywood and the magic that it can bring as part of my mission. But, things are a bit shit right now. And I don't mean that there aren't some good shows and movies out there because there are. However, we are going through a tumult of change in viewership, and the powers that be are living in a bye-gone era. 

While my current project is a TV series, my head is and has been concerned about the state of both TV and movies for some time. I am not a studio exec and would never want to be one, but they need to pull their heads out of their butts because movie after movie is only in the theater for a short few weeks before it is released to digital. This is a disaster of epic proportions because they are meant to have long runs at the box office. YIKES! SNAP OUT OF IT! 

What the hell am I doing being worried about the movie box office when writing a TV series? Again, we as a society are going through change. Even before the pandemic movie theaters had begun to struggle because of the rise of streaming and cell phones. The pandemic only exacerbated it. And now they will struggle to get back to those 20th-century numbers. It's just not going to happen. And the execs are realizing this and are making the turnaround time from theatric release to digital release more quickly than in years past. However, the effects of doing this mean that we will be less likely to get movies with big budgets above $150 million made because of diminishing returns from theatrical releases and an over-reliance on digital to save their bacon. 

What does this have to do with my TV series? I began this conversation in an earlier post How to Save Cinema? I mentioned ways to adapt and merge the movie-going experience with streaming platforms. I had my current TV series in mind when I mentioned it, so I pinned it to my Twitter page. The TV series I have been shaking my tail feathers for recently is structured in a way to be one example of how execs can adapt to these changing times in an intelligent way as opposed to the knee-jerk way that has them paying hundreds of millions for a feature that they pull from theaters to try and save it on digital. 

My TV series has eleven episodes in the first season. I am an anthology nut who has long been combining multiple stories into standalone movies. Yet, I have been writing TV series for a decade since streaming started its takeover, occasionally reimagining some of my longer anthology movies into mini-series. Insanity right? Well if you mix my brand of insanity with the instability of movie releases and the change in society because of technology you get a recipe for a new way to think about the theater-going experience in the age of streaming, which isn't going anywhere FYI. 

The simple solution I came up with is to merge the two. While my current TV series has 11 episodes, three of them are designed to be movie-like episodes, with each of those movie-like episodes different in style from the other two - the pilot, the mid-season cliffhanger, and the season finale. The pilot is the most movie-like episode with all three storylines seamlessly intertwined. The midseason cliffhanger is similar to a traditional anthology movie where each of the three episodes are standalone segments one after the other like in the movie Two Evil Eyes without a narrative break, but with titles between the chapters. The season finale was inspired by the alternate ending of the movie Timecrimes. 

Motivate people to go to the theater for the experience and for financial benefit. Streaming services are coalescing into cable-like agreements to protect themselves from the streaming wasteland. I say streaming wasteland because there is so much shit out there with no easy way to sift through it all, and the fact that people can leave anytime they want. Unlike when people had cable contracts and you were locked in for a year whether you liked it or not. Executives would love to have that model again. However, since people have cut the cable and won't be going back, execs had to find something as similar to that old model as possible. Hence, the packaging of multiple streaming services for a higher price than you would pay for just one of them on their own. 

I spent an hour or more last night scrolling through Disney, Paramount, Netflix, & Prime trying to find a movie without having to pay $19.99. To no avail. I settled in and watched two episodes of Only Murders in the Building, which is hilarious. What I really like is to get lost in big-event entertainment that is a must-watch because it feels like I am part of something we are all watching -- Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Dune 2, The Mandalorian. While I also like being able to binge-watch shows, I much rather have to mark my schedule for a show or movie because I am so excited about it that I don't want to miss it and I want to get wrapped up in the moment.

My plan for my most recent TV series is to have the two-hour pilot episode premiere in the theater one or two weeks before it releases on digital. In the previous post, I mentioned providing discounts for the streaming service that would be carrying the series. This is something that I am sure is possible and some people would love; however, a studio or streaming service might be less likely to sign off on it as it would mean less money for them from each person. I am not a businessman by any means but I do understand people and their motivations. While the economy is good people are still feeling the pinch of lingering inflation. And even though a studio exec or a streaming exec might get less money from each person, you would be likely to gain more streaming members with that discount and thus compensate for the discount by the sheer volume of members. But what the hell do I know? 

Let's say someone purchases a movie ticket to the theatrical release of the movie pilot of my TV series. They love the movie and want to then watch the series but are not signed up for the streaming service. They can scan that movie ticket into the streaming service and receive a 25%-50% discount on that service for a year. Same for people who already have the streaming service or don't like the movie, they also get that discount on their existing service. It creates trust and a symbiotic bond between the theater, the streaming service, and the viewer. Maybe it even opens up further discounts for other movies at the theater or other similar types of streaming shows that release at least one episode in the theater. 

Movies and TV shows are a form of entertainment, yes. But they are also of cultural importance to our society. I think studios will soon start slashing budgets for movies, if they haven't already, and do these limited theatrical releases on purpose before sending them to digital. Unfortunately, we may see far less massive productions unless they have a baked-in audience. Which is sad as hell. Most people don't go to a movie on the opening weekend and haven't for decades. My childhood revolved around the movie theater. Go see a movie and then hang out with friends in the area around the theater. Take a date and maybe grab some dinner. Things change though. Now going to a movie seems like an afterthought. And some movies are getting run out of theaters and onto digital before we even get a chance to experience them on the big screen. And in other cases, the movie is still in the theater but already streaming. If that is the case then why go see it in the theater? And that is awful for theaters. We are witnessing the death of the 20th-century entertainment paradigm and need to adapt. 

Ideally, I would like all three two-hour episodes of my TV series to be released in the theater for a week or two. To me, this is a great way to not only get people to go to a theater and spend money but also to create an excited fan base. Maybe you could only get one of those episodes into the theater, so that would likely be the pilot or the finale. Ideally, if you got all three theater releases, you would want the streaming service to air the episodes during the week between Monday and Wednesday so that you could release the midseason cliffhanger (episode 6) in theaters on a Thursday or Friday. This would require movie theaters to change. But if movies are going to get shorter runs because of a lack of popularity it would also open the way for my plan, and for others to emulate the same model for a symbiotic relationship between theaters and streaming services. One that allows them to cross-promote and benefit each other.    

This would also require studios to agree to change the format of  some TV programs. Plenty of shows have storylines in a season that are broken up into at least two parts to maintain an hour-long structure. This way creates suspense, yes. But also frustration. And it lessens the importance of having to watch the first part on the day of release because you have to wait a week to watch the second part. This is not the 20th century when people were trained to wait for gratification. Again, we are in a new era when people need instant gratification and you could risk losing them if you keep delaying it because the method worked in the past. This is why the binge structure has taken off. Again, what I am proposing is a way to satiate both needs -- the patient and the impatient. 

It is time to adapt. If you want to save theaters then imagine how this makes sense. Again, this is not your father's century where things are black and white. We are 1/4 of the way into this century and need to take steps to create a future that reflects the times we now live in. A hybrid of movie and TV storytelling that blends them both into a new kind of entertainment would generate huge buzz simply because it is new. But, it could also change the way we view series. We would still have standalone movies and TV shows that adhere to the traditional structures that worked so well in the 20th century. However, to blend the two formats, to me, is exciting as hell. Even if all the 90 to 120-minute episodes do not end up in a theater, the fact that there are longer episodes makes them unique from the majority of the other episodes and raises the stakes and hopefully audience interest.

The pattern of release for my TV series is 1-4-1-4-1, with each "1" being movie-length episodes that could all be released in theaters, and the four episodes between them being the straight-to-streaming hour-long episodes. I have thought a lot about what is wrong and right about the movie theater experience, the benefits and flaws of streaming, and the effect technology has had on how we watch and consume movies and television shows. From what I can tell in my attempts to be objective about this, these ideas are well-suited for the 21st century. Just carrying on with a 20th-century mentality when it comes to entertainment seems counterintuitive. Ancient box office track records don't need to be thrown out the window but adjustments need to be made.  

Even if my TV series gets produced and released just as I have described it could still be a bust. Whether that be because the story doesn't resonate as intended, or the production could have been better. However, this way of merging the theater experience with a streaming series is something I can get behind. You can't do this with every series, that would be awful. Can you imagine every NCIS series following this format? While I can see them doing standalone movie-length episodes, a theatrical release seems less likely. It would mean the death of actual movies if every series got an episode with a theatrical release. However, if Game of Thrones had done a theatrical release of a two-hour episode season premiere I would have been there and the atmosphere on opening night would have been awesome. Guaranteed! I think back fondly on The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a time when everyone in that theater was thrilled to be there. Same with Avengers: Endgame. 

While I would want but never expect that kind of excitement for my TV show, it does not take much to imagine what it would have been like had Game of Thrones put a season finale in the theater before putting it on streaming. The level of excitement would have been through the roof. People would have been talking about it the week before and while in line as they waited for the theater to open. That is the buzz that is missing these days. That is the kind of social interaction that elevates the movie and the spirits of those who are there to see it. You can't create that buzz as much as we used to because studios are not taking enough creative risks. Those studio execs have to accept it and take ownership of their not having adapted well enough to the changed landscape. But we (execs and creatives alike) need to adapt and realize that we can still create those moments if we are willing to understand what it now takes to achieve them. Not only does that mean green lighting more creative original material, but also adapting to the streaming landscape in a way that is symbiotic between the theater and streaming. Not knee-jerk reactions that make execs look like they have no idea what the hell they are doing and have no grasp on what is going on in the world. 

While the plans I have envisioned for my TV show are pie-in-the-sky-type stuff, I am realistically optimistic about the chances of it ever happening. Or at least that we can make a shift to a similar type of format for other productions. I just want to get swept up in the excitement again, preferably with a group of people who also want to enjoy the moment. Everyone is complaining that all that studio execs want is more of the same that worked before. There are problems with this way of thinking but creatives also need to find a way similar to the one I have laid out, or that are unique in their own way that create a blueprint for success, as opposed to just feeding the execs what they ask for. It's that or just write some crap that makes execs happy and yet will fail because times have changed. This cycle has to change at some point. We've been talking for over a decade about how cinema is dying. There will continue to be a few movies a year that buck the trend, but if we don't change things will continue to decline. That is until I get a hold of an artificial general intelligence model that will help me bypass all the impediments in my way and allow me and others to make our creative visions a reality. Thanks for reading.