Charlie Kaufman Warns That Hollywood 'Garbage' Is the Only Thing That Makes Money

Charlie Kaufman is one of the most unique and unrelenting voices in entertainment. His writing and directing have given us movies like Being John Malkovich, Synecdoche, New York, and I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

Last week, he was at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where he took up a torch for keeping humans writing stories in Hollywood and warned of a very real AI threat.

Kaufman said (via Deadline), “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. As long as people are doing it and there’s that struggle, then there’s always a chance that something will come out of it that will be worth something to human beings.”

These fears have been echoed by many Hollywood professionals. AI cannot invent or feel. It can only take things that have already been done and assemble them.

The best writing in Hollywood comes from people who think and feel, and experience.

If that's taken away, what will we have left?

Well, right now, Kaufman isn't impressed by what's making Hollywood and what's making money.

Kaufman said, “At this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage. 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.”

You're probably sick of hearing me say this is an unprecedented time in Hollywood, but it is. anyone who claims to know where this is going is a liar.

We're all dealing with it in real-time right now.

The harsh truth is that the rise of tentpoles completely demolished the idea that studios should take chances or prioritize art.

No one knows where this is going, but protecting the job of being a screenwriter from AI is an important first battle of a war that has just begun.

Souce: Deadline