669 - They Ate Our Scripts
Scriptnotes Podcast
John August
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2024
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many of the biggest AI models have been trained on film and TV dialogue, and writers are furious. John and Craig explore the legal, ethical and philosophical implications of this revelation, our emotional reactions to it, and offer strategies for picking the right hills to die on.
But first, we follow up on the definition of horror vs. thriller, generational narcissism, and young people’s ambition. We also answer listener questions on when to bail on a script and how to approach your first contract.
In our bonus segment for premium members, we dig into the philosophical implications of Craig believing we live in a simulation, and whether that necessarily implies a creator. Woah, man.
Links:
- Flightplan (and The Lady Vanishes)
- There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI by Alex Reisner for The Atlantic
- Vince Gilligan Statement on AI to USCO
- Lunchables
- The Serenity Prayer
- Jon Batiste hears Green Day for the First Time
- Tini’s Mac and Cheese on TikTok
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
- Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
- John August on BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, and Mastodon
- Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
- Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at [email protected]
You can download the episode here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome. My name is John August. My name is Craig Mason. And you're listening to Episode 669 of Script Notes, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. Today on the show, the revelation that many of the biggest AI models have been trained on film and TV dialogue has writers up in arms. How should we think about this moment? |
| 0:21.0 | And coming AI fights, we'll discuss the options. |
| 0:24.2 | Plus, we'll have listener questions and feedback on contracts or and bailing on a project. |
| 0:29.8 | And in our bonus segment from premium members, Craig, you frequently say that we are living in a simulation. |
| 0:34.3 | Yes. |
| 0:34.7 | So does that mean that you are a theist who believes in a creator? |
| 0:38.0 | Okay. |
| 0:38.3 | We'll discuss the philosophical implications of this dynamic. |
| 0:41.8 | Fair question. |
| 0:42.5 | All right, fair. |
| 0:43.6 | But first, we have some follow-up. |
| 0:45.0 | Drew, help us out. |
| 0:45.9 | So let's go back to episode 666 a few weeks ago where we talked about satanic movies. |
| 0:51.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:52.2 | Steve writes, I have a slightly more detailed answer to Emily's question |
| 0:55.5 | about the difference between thriller and horror. |
| 0:58.3 | Thrillers scare us with the fear of death, |
| 1:00.4 | usually in a gruesome manner like being cut with a knife |
| 1:02.6 | or slashed by the claws of a beast. |
| 1:04.6 | I would say that slasher is just a subgenre of thriller |
| 1:07.3 | that is maximally bloody and usually involves a maniac with a blade, |
| 1:10.8 | hence the name. |
... |
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