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“Next year [AI actors will] be just as good as real actors.”
That’s a real thing a real filmmaker said in a much too credulous August 16th Guardian article about the “incredible promise” of AI for independent filmmakers.
I’m not an AI absolutist who believes the technology has no applications or should never be used. But the Guardian article is a prime example of how out of whack the discourse around it is. On the one hand, you have people saying this is the future and it’s going to “empower” everyone and anyone to make movies; and on the other, you have people saying this future is scary because it’s moving too fast and people will lose their jobs.
But is anyone actually looking at the products of this ‘groundbreaking’ technology?
The guy who claims that AI actors will be as good as real actors in a year’s time is Kavan ‘the Kid1’ Cardoza, and he is churning out ugly slop that demonstrates what little he knows of good acting. How could he, when he makes films in his oppressively gray and bare spare bedroom in Playa Vista?
To recognize, and then elicit, good acting, you, of course, need to be interested in actual human people and all their idiosyncrasies and counterintuitive behaviors. And the people propagating the myth that AI can do that tend to be maladjusted misanthropes who are interested in juicing the valuations of their wildly unprofitable companies. But how can any self-respecting reporter apply such little scrutiny to what are now oft-repeated, dull AI talking points?
Sure, you can use AI to invent and actor or a set. But will what you create be surprising or nuanced? Will it have depth and texture? Will it convey any sort of truth? These are the questions the proponents of AI-based filmmaking need to answer.
Here’s what’s happening this week:
Are you a film financier? I’d like to talk to you for a story I’m working on. It’s a fun one and you’ll enjoy the conversation. Email nothingbogus1@gmail.com.
Former Indiewire EIC Dana Harris-Bridson announced that she is launching “a new source of reporting and intelligence about the people, deals, and business models changing how stories are financed, owned, and distributed.” It’s called Flamingo. The first edition publishes Tuesday.
Clearly, DEI in Hollywood is OUT OF FREAKING CONTROL!!! A recent study from Dr. Stacy L. Smith & the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that in 2025, 33.6% of speaking roles in movies were female characters. Behind the camera, women made up 8.2% of top directors, 16% of writers, 8.5% percent of composers and 24.4% of producers. And [*gasp*] on-screen ethnic/racial representation nearly matched US census data.
I was not prepared for how good and fun Paranormal Activity on Broadway was. Show runs through January at August Wilson Theater. More here.
There were 90-plus films and episodic series’ at Sundance this year. About a dozen arrived with distribution. Seven months after the festival, 34 titles have been acquired.
On Thursday Aug 20 at 9:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM PT, The Lone Screen will be hosting an online screening of The Kidnapping of Arabella. Though it is online, it is a live event and there is no pausing, rewinding, or replaying. After the screening, there will be a discussion forum where director Carolina Cavalli will be answering questions. Tickets can be purchased here.
Blood Shine, from directors Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks, is opening in select theaters and on VOD/Digital Platforms 8/21. The film will be playing at Cinema Village with Q&As with Emily and Justin during opening weekend. Tickets here.
Neal Kelley is seeking a femaile film editor in LA. Feature experience required. DM @nealgk on IG.
Great interview with Late Fame screenwriter Samy Burch in Filmmaker Magazine. Love this from Burch:
There is a tendency to want to understand what a character is about, or what a film’s tone is. I see that kind of response to movies all the time. There’s this critique: The movie didn’t know what it wanted. But maybe that is what it wanted. There can be a certain amount of curiosity in the process of watching a film. Generally, I am drawn to stories or characters that are more complicated. In the case of May December, the bigger elements of a story like that—sexual abuse, the woman not being the victim—prompt interesting questions. Things don’t follow a pattern that we are told is the pattern.
August 18th at 9:00 pm, Eddy Frumkin and William George-Louis host th sixth screening of All-Starrs at Starr Bar in Bushwick. They’ll be screening films from comedians Clare Austen-Smith and Sofia Dobrushin (Booger), Henry Chaisson with Mia Vallet (Recluse), documentarian Pacho Velez (The American Sector and The Reagan Show), musician Block, and FilmLinc Artists Academy alumni Mariales Diaz and Jard Lerebours. Tickets are $10 - $15 sliding scale.
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UNSOLICITED ADVICE
And best of all, it will help other people too.
I’m generally reluctant to give advice through this newsletter because, A) what have I accomplished?, and B) there is soooo much creative advice2 on the internet, and isn’t it ultimately quite boring? Journal! Exercise! Meditate! Read! Watch! Unplug! Join a writers group! Take a class! Experience life! Blah blah blah yada yada yada!
These are all good tips. But it’s easy to spend so much time consuming creativity/productivity content that your whole inner world becomes dominated by uninteresting writer bullshit. Either that, or you become a slave to process and annoy everyone close to you because you are always acting like Reynolds Woodcock.
Last year, though, I made an exception and wrote a little blog about how Umarells — groups of Italian men who stand around with their hands behind their back and watch construction — provided inspiration during a bad bout of writer’s block. But the thing is, that was only half the story.
The other half involves the simplest and most effective thing you can get unstuck — and best of all, it helps other people too.
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