Charlie Kaufman on Using AI in Screenwriting: “The Only Thing That Makes Money Is Garbage”

The post Charlie Kaufman on Using AI in Screenwriting: “The Only Thing That Makes Money Is Garbage” appeared first on Consequence.

Charlie Kaufman is joining the masses of fellow filmmakers who feel pretty bleak about the industry these days. During a masterclass at the Sarajevo Film Festival Monday (August 14th), the I’m Thinking of Ending Things director aired his grievances on the “garbage” films dominating the box office, and lamented the use of AI in screenwriting.

“At this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage,” Kaufman said (via Deadline). “It’s just fascinating. It makes a fortune, and that’s the bottom line. It’s very seductive to the studios but also to the people who engage and become the makers of that garbage, especially if they’re lauded for the garbage because they don’t have to look inward or think long about what they’re doing.”

Kaufman — whose screenwriting credits also include movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich, opined that rising filmmakers should “make movies outside of the studio system as much as possible.” Those sentiments feel particularly relevant amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes, and concerns of AI infiltrating the screenwriting sphere.

“Writers have been trained to eat and make the garbage too,” Kaufman added, emphasizing his stance that the WGA needs to continue fighting against the use of AI. “As long as they are in that arena making that shit, then you might as well have AI do it…Once you give that up and allow the studios to use AI to write their screenplay, there’s no going back… Then there’s no hope because AI can’t create a moment of humanity.”

Likening good films to a hearty meal, Kaufman went on about the snowball effect of low-value work: “The diet is so corrupted and has been for so long. It’s like if you eat shit all your life, you want shit. If you eat processed food, you crave it. And you wouldn’t if you hadn’t been fed it all your life. That’s what the movie machine does and I find it really offensive. It makes me angry… If the agenda is to sell a product and if that product is the movie or something within the movie, it can’t be art.”

Consequence also recently chatted with some Hollywood stars on the picket lines. See their responses about the strikes here.

Charlie Kaufman on Using AI in Screenwriting: “The Only Thing That Makes Money Is Garbage”
Abby Jones

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