In Hollywood’s glamorous film and TV world, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a tech buzzword—it’s becoming a revolutionary tool capable of generating entire scripts, designing visual effects, and even crafting new characters. However, while AI opens exciting doors, it also raises significant questions: Who owns the creative content that AI produces? With AI being a hot topic at MIPCOM 2024 and the recent launch of ContentX by allrites, the conversation around AI and intellectual property (IP) is more relevant than ever.
In the first article of our AI series, we explored how AI is transforming the content production process, from scriptwriting to post-production. Now, in this second article, we dive into the legal, ethical, and creative challenges AI presents. What do these developments mean for the future of creativity and intellectual property in the film and TV industry?
Let’s explore how AI is changing the game and what the latest developments tell us about the future of intellectual property in entertainment.
AI in Scriptwriting: Will Machines Replace Writers?
AI-generated scripts are no longer the stuff of science fiction. Today, AI-powered tools can produce screenplays, treatments, and dialogue that convincingly mimic the style of human writers. Some studios have already begun experimenting with AI to co-write or enhance scripts.
Recent Development: A few films, mostly short form, have openly credited AI for scriptwriting. For example, the Swiss Sci-Fi feature The Last Screenwriter attributes its script to ChatGPT-4.0. However, not everyone appreciated this transparency—over 200 complaints were lodged following the film’s premiere at the Prince Charles Cinema in London. After such backlash, it raises a pressing question: How many films and series have already been fully or partially created by AI without public disclosure, perhaps due to fear of being “cancelled”?
Copyright Dilemma: If an AI writes a significant portion of a screenplay, who owns the intellectual property? Current copyright law grants ownership only to human authors. But if a producer inputs prompts and fine-tunes the AI-generated content, does that qualify as human authorship? As AI tools become more prevalent in scriptwriting, Hollywood is preparing for the legal challenges this grey area will inevitably bring.
In response to these growing concerns, prominent Hollywood creatives are pushing back. Figures like Shane Black (Iron Man 3), Jim Herzfeld (Meet the Parents), and Akela Cooper (M3GAN) have collaborated on a platform called The Gauntlet, designed to keep AI out of the script evaluation process. Developed by ScriptHop, The Gauntlet employs over 30 professional human script readers from prestigious companies like HBO and Lucasfilm to ensure script assessments remain in the hands of experienced readers—not algorithms.
By running scripts through multiple rounds of evaluation, The Gauntlet ensures that promising projects aren't derailed by a single opinion—or worse, by an algorithm. Herzfeld explains, “The Gauntlet counters the troubling rise of AI’s involvement in script reading,” underscoring the importance of human judgment in the creative process. This platform offers a transparent, human-driven solution, protecting screenwriters from being sidelined by AI and preserving the integrity of creative storytelling.
Visual Effects (VFX) and CGI: AI Takes Centre Stage
The visual effects industry has long been one of the biggest adopters of AI, relying on technology to generate crowd scenes, de-age actors, and create hyper-realistic CGI characters. However, AI is now moving from simply supporting human creators to generating sequences and reshaping how films are made.
Recent Development: Disney has developed a new AI tool called FRAN (Face Re-aging Network), which can automatically alter the age of actors, either making them younger or older. Traditionally, this process required weeks of manual labor, such as painting over each frame or replacing actors with digital puppets. FRAN, however, allows AI to handle much of this work, with the results further refined by VFX artists to maintain quality. While FRAN isn't perfect, it significantly reduces production time and costs, making it "production-ready" for major studios.
Disney has also utilized FaceDirector, an AI-driven software, to refine actors' emotional expressions in post-production. This technology allows filmmakers to seamlessly composite different takes, ensuring that CGI characters, like the Hulk in Avengers, convey the right emotions in complex scenes. Similarly, in The Irishman, AI was used to de-age actors like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino through deepfake technology, offering a more cost-effective alternative to traditional CGI methods.
This growing use of AI in visual effects extends beyond de-aging. Jeffrey Katzenberg, Quibi founder and former DreamWorks Animation CEO, recently predicted that AI could revolutionize the animation industry. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy panel, Katzenberg explained that in the past, creating an animated film required 500 artists working for five years. Now, he believes AI could reduce that workload by up to 90% within the next three years, dramatically speeding up production timelines and lowering costs.
Ownership Questions: As AI becomes more integral in generating entire sequences, studios, and VFX houses must grapple with ownership issues. Who owns the final product—the studio, the VFX team, or the developer of the AI tool like FRAN? These questions remain unresolved, but as AI continues to shape the future of VFX and animation, the need for more explicit contracts and legal frameworks becomes more urgent.
James Cameron, director of Avatar and Terminator, has joined the board of Stability.AI, a company developing AI-generated video tools. While Cameron sees AI as the "next wave" in visual effects, Stability.AI has faced legal challenges over using training data from the internet without proper permission. Getty Images has sued the company for allegedly using its copyrighted material to train its AI models. This raises the question: who owns the output created by these AI tools, especially if the training data comes from copyrighted works?
AI-Generated Actors: A New Kind of Star?
AI can now create digital doubles—virtual versions of actors who can perform in films without ever setting foot on set. From recreating deceased actors to digitally de-aging iconic stars, technology is transforming how movies are made. But this raises serious concerns about copyright, royalties, and moral rights.
Recent Development: In The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm used AI to bring a young Mark Hamill back to life as Luke Skywalker. AI algorithms synthesized his voice and appearance, blurring the line between human performance and machine-generated content.
Who Owns the Digital Actor? Does Mark Hamill own his digital likeness? Does Lucasfilm? Or does the AI software company have a claim?
These questions are at the heart of the actor's strike in 2023 when SAG-AFTRA members demanded fair compensation and protections around the use of AI in digital replicas. As part of the deal negotiated with Hollywood studios, actors are now required to give explicit consent for creating their digital doubles, and they must be compensated for using their likeness. However, even with these safeguards, many actors still need to be comfortable about the future. For some, the pressure to consent to digital replication can feel overwhelming, with fears that refusing could lead to lost job opportunities.
These developments highlight the tension between creative innovation and the rights of performers. While AI opens up possibilities for filmmakers, it also threatens to undermine job security and personal control over one's image, particularly for stunt performers and supporting actors who may be easily replaced by digital doubles.
AI-Generated Film Marketing Materials and Trailers
As AI continues to evolve, it's making significant inroads into film marketing, specifically in creating promotional materials like trailers. By leveraging AI tools, streaming platforms and studios are automating the creative process and gaining insights into audience preferences to fine-tune these materials. However, while AI brings efficiency, it also introduces complexities around ownership, creativity, and ethics in content creation.
Recent Development: A notable early example of AI-generated trailers was IBM Watson’s collaboration with 20th Century Fox to create the trailer for Morgan in 2016. Watson analyzed visuals, sound, and scene composition to select the most intense moments from the film, creating a horror trailer assembled without human editors. Though ground-breaking at the time, it demonstrated AI’s potential to understand narrative structure and tone to produce engaging marketing content.
IP Implications: Even though Morgan remains one of the most famous AI-generated trailers, AI technology has evolved, and we are seeing more AI involvement in content creation. A key question is: who owns the rights to these trailers when an AI generates them? This issue becomes particularly complex when the AI is employed by a VOD platform or CTV rather than by the original content creators or rights holders. Ownership, copyright, and fact-checking concerns are on the rise. For example, if an AI assembles a trailer, does the studio or the AI developer own the final product? Streaming platforms will likely need to negotiate new terms with content creators and tech companies as AI’s role in marketing grows.
A prime example of this complexity is the backlash when a fan-made, AI-generated Superman trailer surfaced on French TV without director James Gunn’s approval. Gunn, a staunch critic of AI in entertainment, condemned the unauthorized use of AI, highlighting the need for tighter control over AI-generated materials. Similarly, Lionsgate recently had to pull the Megalopolis trailer after discovering that it included AI-generated fake quotes from famous critics, illustrating the potential pitfalls of relying on AI without thorough human oversight.
The Legal Response: What’s Hollywood Doing to Adapt?
Hollywood’s legal system is still catching up to AI’s rapid advancements, but steps are being taken to address the growing number of IP issues. Industry unions, such as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA, are working on guidelines to protect human creators from being displaced by AI while embracing its potential.
Recent Development: In its latest contract negotiations, the WGA secured strong protections against using AI in screenwriting. Under the new agreement, AI cannot be used to write or rewrite literary material, ensuring that AI is treated strictly as a tool to assist, rather than replace, human writers. Writers also gained the right to be consulted if studios plan to use AI tools in any capacity, protecting their creative roles from being overshadowed by machine-generated content.
Similarly, SAG-AFTRA took action to safeguard actors from the rise of AI in film and TV production. Their latest contract required actors’ consent and compensation if their likeness, voice, or performances were replicated through AI. This not only preserves the creative integrity of human actors but also ensures they are fairly compensated for any AI-driven reproductions of their digital likenesses.
What’s Next? Hollywood studios will likely see an influx of lawsuits and contract disputes as AI continues to shape the creative landscape. The industry is on the verge of a new era where contracts, royalties, and IP ownership will need a complete overhaul to account for AI’s expanding role.
Conclusion: Hollywood’s New Creative Battleground
As AI technology evolves, it is becoming a double-edged sword for Hollywood. While it offers incredible new possibilities for creating and distributing content, it also challenges the industry’s very foundation of intellectual property. Who owns AI-created content? The answer is far from clear, but one thing is sure: how Hollywood responds to these pressing IP questions will shape the future of entertainment.
With AI playing an ever-greater role in film and TV, creatives, studios, and legal experts must work together to redefine the boundaries of authorship, ownership, and creativity. The developments happening today will determine the direction of Hollywood tomorrow.
What do you think? Will AI be the next great disruptor, or can Hollywood adapt quickly?
AI for All of Hollywood: Introducing ContentX by allrites
At allrites, AI should empower everyone in the entertainment ecosystem, from independent creators to significant studios and streamers. That’s why we’ve created ContentX.
Stay tuned for the following blogs in this series, where we will dive deeper into AI’s evolving role in the entertainment industry. We'll explore how ContentX by allrites can help film and TV content owners unlock untapped monetization opportunities by harnessing AI's power and examine how AI companies can legally train their models on sound and video data.With AI shaping Hollywood’s future, it's crucial to understand how tools like ContentX can help creators thrive while ensuring legal and ethical boundaries are respected.
Stay with us as we continue to unravel AI’s potential in entertainment.
About allrites
Located in Singapore and operating globally, allrites is a premier marketplace for buying and selling film, TV, and sports rights. We provide a vast catalog of Film and TV content, from major studios to independent producers, available in any language and genre. Our innovative licensing models, including allrites Content-as-a-Service, offer flexible and efficient solutions for content monetization and acquisition, accommodating the evolving needs of content buyers and sellers worldwide.
Contact us to learn more about us and our revolutionary CaaS model.
About ContentX by allrites
ContentX is a new solution designed to create fresh revenue opportunities for both content rights holders and AI companies. For film and TV content rights holders, it allows them to unlock new streams of income by distributing and licensing their content across a wider range of platforms, maximizing its reach and potential. Meanwhile, AI companies can leverage the vast library of licensed content available through ContentX to enhance their machine learning models, recommendation systems, and other AI-driven media technologies, opening doors for innovative partnerships and content utilization.
Contact us to learn more about ContentX by allrites.
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