Bettina Sherick has spent a lot of time in meetings with Hollywood executives who were, she says, “incentivized to keep the industry the way it is.” In a decades-long career that has spanned several major studios, she remembers hearing many industry insiders dismiss ideas that would soon go on to change everything.
“I sat in rooms where people laughed at Netflix sending out DVDs, and then laughed at them when they started streaming. But what they didn’t realize is that Netflix built a huge database of information about viewer behavior that they were able to then use to build a streaming business that revolutionized our industry,” Sherick noted last week at a State of the Industry panel at the Coronado Island Film Festival.
Sherick is the founder of Hollywood in Pixels, a foundation dedicated to digital marketing innovations. And she believes Hollywood is at another inflection point — this time in AI — and should embrace change instead of pretending, yet again, that it won’t happen.
She called for “thinking about what we need to be doing as stewards of this industry — so that we don’t have somebody come in and completely upend us.”
Sherick was one of five panelists at the State of the Industry panel, which was moderated by MovieMaker. The main takeaway was this: Change is scary, but also brings new opportunities.
Sherick is so open to AI that she used ChatCPT to choose a new place to live when she decided to move from Los Angeles. She told the AI chatbot what she was looking for in a home, and it recommended she move to Gig Harbor, Washington, where she now lives.
But that’s only one potential use of AI.
The Best Ways for Filmmakers to Leverage AI
Aaron David Roberts, CEO of the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex, noted that AI can be very useful for things like shot lists and writing pitches. And actor and filmmaker James Oliver, the founder of Blckbrd Films, noted that he’s used AI to do research on historical settings while writing scripts.
Brian Walker sees it as an innovative way to make new contacts. He’s the CEO of Picture Motion, a Los Angeles-based social impact agency that creates socially conscious media and entertainment marketing campaigns. The company uses AI — backed by humans, of course — to find potential experts in a given field who can help promote projects connected to those fields.
For example, for the new film American Solitaire, about a soldier struggling with the complexities of gun violence, Picture Motion is reaching out to veterans’ groups.
Walker said Picture Motion can use AI to compile, in an hour or two, a list of up to 10,000 organizations — “from churches to community centers to schools” — that can help get the message out about a particular film. Picture Motion then narrows down the list.
That kind of work requires the right prompting — around audiences, geography, and other considerations. As Sherick noted, writing the correct prompts can feel like speaking a new language.
What AI Should Never Do
One thing the panelists agreed on is that AI should not take over creative roles. Actor Joshua Close, who stars in American Solitaire, noted that some of his voice-actor friends are losing opportunities because of AI voices.
“There are certain things that I hope we can slap regulations on,” he noted, such as making sure AI “can’t manipulate performances too much.”
Oliver, meanwhile, said he welcomes the challenge of creating stories in the age of AI.
“I’m wired for two things — optimism and battle,” he said. “And I just get excited when I see the robots coming with really bad scripts that are just boring and can’t touch the human heart. … There’s great art to be made that a robot cannot touch.”
Coronado Island Film Festival State of the Industry Panelists on Distribution
The panelists also called for innovation in the way we view films.
Roberts noted that many theaters are sitting empty for lack of new films, which creates opportunities for independent filmmakers to rent out those theaters.
“Your AMC is your art house,” he said. “They need content.”
Walker, meanwhile, noted that many of the films Picture Motion works on use non-traditional distribution.
“We’re using theaters, we’re using churches, we’re using libraries. We had a screening tour at natural history museums for a Nat Geo series. We’re looking at ways that you can leverage those spaces, as well as even create hybrid experiences.”
For example, he said, “I’ve seen people use video game platforms to host screenings.”
Oliver also recommended unique viewing experiences, like bringing in musicians to perform at screenings.
“I’ve seen people who — even if they don’t have names or international sales value attached their film, based on the people that are involved in it — they’re eventizing whenever they can, and bringing a lot of people together to see it,” he said.
He believes audiences are still thirsty to watch movies together.
“Take advantage of the fact that people are really wanting to see each other and do more interesting, fun things,” he said.
You can click here, if you like, for more coverage of the Coronado Island Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.
Main image: (L-R) Aaron David Roberts, CEO of the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex; actor Joshua Close; Brian Walker, CEO of Picture Motion; James Oliver, actor and founder of BLCKBRD Films; Bettina Sherick, CEO and founder of Hollywood in Pixels. Photo by Tony Amat for the Coronado Island Film Festival.