“Pulp Fiction” co-writer Roger Avary recently told the “Joe Rogan Experience” that it was “impossible” for him to get his movies made through “traditional” means. But after launching his AI production banner General Cinema Dynamics, he now has three features in production.
“I go out there and try to get stuff made, and it’s almost impossible,” Avary said. “And then I built a technology company over the last year, basically making AI movies, and all of a sudden, boom, like that, money gets thrown at it. All of a sudden, just by attaching the word ‘AI’ and [the fact] that it’s a technology-based company, all of a sudden, investors came in, and we’re in production on three films now.”
“It was so easy for me to get that going and so difficult for me to get a traditional movie going through the traditional route,” he added. “Just put AI in front of it and all of a sudden you’re in production on three features.”
Avary’s three AI films are “a family Christmas movie that’ll be in theaters this holiday season,” a “faith-based movie for next Easter” and a “big romantic war epic.”
While filmmakers like Avary are taking advantage of the AI boom, many in Hollywood fear the technology will bring seismic, irreversible changes to the industry. These fears were further realized on Tuesday when a user plugged a two-line prompt into AI video generator Seedance 2.0 and created a polished, hyper-realistic clip for Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt. After the video went viral, the Motion Picture Association released a statement denouncing Seedance 2.0, and its parent company ByteDance, for engaging in “unauthorized use of U.S. copyrighted works on a massive scale.”
“By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs. ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity,” read the statement.