Screenwriting : AI for synopsis and treatment by Amisrael Khai

Synopsis creation is one of those things AI is good at. You don't have to stick with what it generates. You can just use it for inspiration before you draft your own. It might highlight something you didn't see the value in highlighting. It works well as a fresh set of eyes, especially if you keep rerunning the prompt.

ChatGPT is very easy to spot by those who use it a lot, so keep that in mind. Using what it generates straight out the box will have its voice. I see posts and comments on here every day that are blatantly ChatGPT generated. It sticks out a mile.

As for making a difference. It's deck chairs on the titanic. Getting a spec bought/produced is incredibly unlikely. A well written synopsis probably makes it 0.000000000000001% less unlikely.

I think it's like CJ Walley said. This is the kind of stuff AI is good at and at the same time you don't have to stick to what it does.

I use different variations of AI all the time and I don't see it as anything different than the AI noise reduction filter I use in Davinci Resolve that now allows me to shoot dialog scenes right by the a busy road but in the end it gives me control to make the sound good.

So if it helps you it's a tool, the problem is when people think that a tool is the entire solution when it's not.

Well, it is an inevitability and probably very rampant right now. The problem is even if we came to a consensus that AI in limited cases is OK, that pendulum never stops swinging. It will continue until some sort of mass protest and revolt occurs.

E...M... wants to combine humans with computers. You will have an AI inside your brain.

Darrell Pennington I've my buddy with whom I work and is the producer for commercial work has tried a bunch of things, so I decided to play with a couple of his paid accounts and for some stuff like commercial stuff it has useful limitations, but for narrative stuff it's a useless in terms of screenwriting. As an assistant tool it can be a nice assistant.

I always figure that new tech is just that and either you're against it and eventually get left behind or find a way to use it as a tool and keep in step.

I honestly believe that AI can work great as a tool for different things, but won't be able to replace a person where experience and human perception needs to be used. First thing that comes to mind is screenwriting where it's not always an A to Z line and the second is editing where sometimes you just need to hold a shot a few frames longer or do the not logical thing. Of course there's a ton of stuff in between that needs a human touch.

thanks, guys

Perhaps one of the biggest issues with AI is when people try to substitute a human being's knowledge with a machine. It is not possible because AI does not have experience, emotion or history such as a human being does etc. But perhaps if AI is being used as a tool, to give my ideas or information that could enhanced a document that's already completed it could be productive. I guess a person really has to know their intent when using AI, because trying to write stories with Ai is a big red flag. Executives can spot it a mile away and so can experienced screenwriters. It's definitely frowned upon, and it speaks volumes about the screenwriter. The comparison of a document written only by AI and another document written only by human being does not compare. But a document that has been enhance a little by AI might be okay.

I think Vital Butinar hit the nail on the head. AI is an excellent assistant. I use AI to help remind me where I am in my project, to answer questions I'd need to stop what I'm doing to look up (like "what is the name of those two things that stick up on the side of newer bass boats near the outboard motor" for my current screenplay. One quick concise answer saves me from a 15 minute search engine rabbit hole.)

I think the reason people in the industry dislike or even hate AI so much is that for a creator, anything that is synthetic reads as such, and the looming threat that we might be one or to AI generations away from a AI screenplay that is indistinguishable from a real one that livelihoods are at stake.

My viewpoint is that AI is a useful tool that can make us more efficient as screenwriters. And even if it COULD write an outstanding screenplay, I've been writing prose for 30 years and do it because I love it, so I'd prefer to grind out the scenes action line by action line, scene by scene.

I agree that it needs to be used as the tool it is. I ask it questions mostly about things I simply have no knowledge of. Today, for example. I asked it what the common procedure of a coroners inquest was in 1928. That is something that may have taken me a long time to find, but AI informed me quickly. Is it accurate info? who knows, but it is plausible.

I see AI much like I see CGI it is a tool to enhance/assist not to replace. Use it as a digital assistant, like Tony Stark (Iron Man) the ideas and work are coming from you. I can almost guarantee whatever AI comes up with will feel soulless. It is easy to get sucked into the convenience of a machine doing all the work. Keep grinding

If you want the AI company to own your Intellectual Property, then use it. I will never use it except possibly to create an image for a poster to help a pitch because I can't draw.

AI needs to be used as a tool, to give feedback and suggestions. However, these are not 100% since we humans can have a taste in whatever we are reading.

AI should not be used as a creative crutch

yes, i use it for research only, not creatively. But my question was SPECIFICALLY about AFTER-THE-CREATION synopsis and treatment for marketing purposes.

Amisrael Khai - I use it for the mock up poster, character mock ups, and storyboard style scenes for my pitch deck. I clearly notate at the bottom of each pitch deck page that the script is 100% written by me and the artwork is AI generated for illustrative purposes.

Why ever use AI when you can simply ask fellow writers for help? Post your logline and get feedback from real people on it to workshop the best version. That's 100% the best way to polish things via aggregating real opinions that aren't programmed to be sycophantic. Sure, there's more friction than just sitting in your room entering a prompt, but creativity is not a frictionless process, so why should it be in the marketing phase?

PAT - the only reason why is work saving, of course. I'd rather use my time to improve my script or create another one than write marketing materials for it.

You need to market your writing - whether you like that or not.