Bonus Edition: Why Not Just Use AI To Write The Script?
Today I’m writing a special edition outside of Flawlessly Human’s normal schedule to address a few questions you might have in mind, especially if you’ve been reading the last few issues of the newsletter…
“Why should I invest time to study and understand the Hero’s Journey and other screenwriting frameworks if I can simply use ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini to write the script?”
This seems like a really relevant question these days when everybody is so happily “outsourcing” their thinking to LLMs…
But here is why I think that being lazy, especially in the storytelling portion of the art, is a really bad idea…
I’ve mentioned before in this newsletter that there are two possible ways to use AI:
Some people will use AI to “augment” themselves and make it possible for them to do things that were before out of reach –things like creating a feature movie without a million-dollar budget.
This is, in my opinion, the good use of AI.
Other people will try to use AI to do all the work for them, effectively REPLACING THEMSELVES OUT.
These are the lazy people the world is full of, unfortunately… the people who are never willing to put in the needed work.
Those who, coincidentally, have never –and will never– see any success.
I’m not one of those people, and if you’re still reading this, you aren’t either.
Now that we have established that, in order to become successful, we must put in the work, the only relevant question is:
Where should I be focusing 90%+ of that effort to maximize my chances of success?
THAT is the right question to be asking!
Of course, the answer depends on what you want to become successful at.
But if you’re reading this newsletter, I’m going to assume that you want to become a successful AI Director & Filmmaker.
In that case, the answer to the question is crystal clear:
You must focus 90%+ of your effort into becoming an AMAZING storyteller!
As we established in this issue, that’s all that matters in this business!
That’s why I’m not willing to outsource to AI the only thing that can differentiate me from the competition!
At the end of the day, as always happens in business, your success –or lack thereof–will be dictated by what YOU –not Gemini, or ChatGPT– can bring to the table!
Let’s be honest here: ANYONE can create a cool-looking video with AI.
You see, this is the tricky thing with superpowers: if everyone has superpowers, then nobody does.
People make the mistake of thinking: “Oh, AI is democratizing filmmaking so that now we all will be able to make movies!”
This is obviously a big fallacy!
YES, now we all can make movies…
But guess what: the people who were already making movies, those who actually know what they’re doing…
They ALSO have access to the same AI tools and models you and I have access to… and, almost certainly, to some proprietary models we won’t be able to afford as well!)
So, in practice, it’s not like AI is giving the small guy the power to disrupt Hollywood like everybody is saying…
What’s actually happening is that the bar is being raised: everybody’s toolbox is getting a huge boost with new, almost-magical creative tools.
These GenAI tools will allow studios to produce better quality movies in more quantity than ever before… and as a result the public, the spectator, will come to EXPECT MORE.
Now, I don’t want you to think that I’m being a cynic here, and that I’m saying that all is lost and there is no hope for us to ever compete with the big studios.
That’s not what I’m saying at all!
All of the contrary: I’m convinced that, for the first time in history, we have a chance!
I even dare to say that we’ll see the first full-feature film produced by a small studio with fewer than 5 people crush it in the box office in the next 3-5 years!
But this is the thing you need to understand: it won’t be everyone.
That’s the fallacy I must cure you from right here and right now.
As with every life-changing opportunity, only a small group of people will have the right mindset, and will be willing to put in the hard work that’s needed, to take full advantage of this definitive moment in history.
This is what most people fail to see:
EVERYONE has a cinema-quality camera in their pocket… but photographers still exist, and they still take better pictures than 99.99% of the population.
YES, everybody will be able to create AI video…
And YES, the prices of these models will collapse to ZERO in the next couple of years…
That fact alone won’t make you a cinematographer, let alone a respected cinema Director.
If you want take advantage of this incredible opportunity, and position yourself to be A NAME in this nascent AI Film industry that’s bound to become HUGE in the next few years, you must be smart…
And when I say that you need to be smart, what I’m really saying is that you must be SERIOUS, and VERY STRATEGIC in your approach.
I’m talking about a few very specific things you should keep in mind at all times if you really want to position yourself to win:
There is always a WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY.
My best guess is that the window of opportunity for you and me to get a name in this new industry is, maybe, 9 to 18 months max.
Right now we’re all in a level field, but some names are already becoming household names among AI Filmmakers…
There is still time to get your name out there, but that time is seriously limited.
My best guess is that by this time next year, we’ll have the go-to guys that get 95%+ of the opportunities falling on their laps… and everyone else.
We’re living a very rare “glitch in the Matrix” that could allow almost anybody to put their name out there and become one of those go-to guys and gals… even if you don’t have a background as a filmmaker yet.
But the window of opportunity is closing REALLY FAST!Demos are cool, but you need to be focusing on REAL PRODUCTS!
This is as valid for AI Filmmaking as it is for software development with AI:
People love posting little demos on X, and there is nothing inherently wrong with demos… as long as you understand that a demo is a demo, and as such it’s FAR from being a real product people will be willing to pay money for.
I’m surprised how many people seem to forget this simple truth!
When it comes to AI Filmmaking, all those cool videos we see people sharing all the time in social media are the equivalent of the cool but quite useless demos “vibecoders” love to share all the time!
Nice proof of concept, but ZERO ECONOMIC VALUE per se.
Never forget that the only goal of a “proof of concept” is to check if there is interest out there for a product… but then you still must build it!
If you want to be more than an influencer posting about the new cool things you can do with the model of the week, you must start thinking about what you need in order to create real products people actually want to consume and pay for!
What leads us to…Stop being distracted with the tech and FOCUS ON WRITING GREAT STORIES!
A great story is the beating heart of any successful full-feature movie, TV series, or short.
This has always been the case, and it will never change.
People are WAY too focused on the latest video model, and what they can or cannot do with it.
This is, for the most part, a waste of time.
There is only ONE THING you need to know about AI models: they WILL get better.
That’s it.
That’s really all you need to know to plan accordingly.
This means that anything we cannot quite do right now will become possible soon.
(I recommend you read what I said about the “adjacent possible” mindset here)
It also means that, as time passes, we will need fewer and fewer tools, lfewer and fewer workarounds to get the exact results we want!
WE CAN COUNT ON THAT.
You know what we cannot count on?
That we’ll become incredible storytellers if we don’t put in the reps RIGHT NOW!
And THAT is the only thing that really matters.
The ONE thing that will determine how successful you’ll be in this industry in the years to come.
It doesn’t matter if you want to direct and produce your own movies…
Or you dream about joining a well-funded Studio that can help you bring your vision to life…
Even though we’re living in one of the most uncertain times in history, there is ONE THING that’s as certain as it gets:
There will be PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES in the next few years for the REALLY GREAT STORYTELLERS out there!
You cannot control the future, and there are lots and lots of things that are completely out of your control.
But there is ONE THING that’s completely within your control: WHAT you decide to FOCUS ON, and how many “reps” of that are you doing TODAY!
I hope you’ll understand now why I’m investing so much time in teaching you storytelling and helping you understand and master the most effective story frameworks used to craft exceptional stories.
I know it’s not sexy, and that some of you would rather burn some dopamine watching nonsensical 10-second videos and movie trailers with lots of explosions and no real substance behind them.
I get it: I love them too, and I watch way more of them than I should every day on X and YouTube.
But I’d be doing you a HUGE disservice if that were all I’m sharing with you here in Flawlessly Human.
I prefer to risk this newsletter being not as popular as it could be… but sleep well at night knowing I’m teaching you something that will make a difference in your life.
In my 20+ years as an entrepreneur and business coach I’ve found that the first thing you need to understand in order to become successful at any business is that there are 2 distinct types of people in this world:
There are CONSUMERS and there are CREATORS.
LEADERS and FOLLOWERS.
But here’s the kicker: YOU get to choose the camp you want to be in.
My goal with Flawlessly Human is to inspire you to CREATE, to unleash your vision and share it with the world.
So let me use this opportunity to share with you what’s in the plans for the next few months, the roadmap of Flawlessly Human if you will…
First of all, in case you’re new here, I want to remind you that you can read all the past issues of Flawlessly Human online in the Archive:
https://flawlesslyhuman.substack.com/archive
I strongly recommend you start from the very bottom with our first issue, and read your way up, issue by issue, until the most recent issue at the very top of that list.
This is NOT the usual newsletter where the author is sharing with you random thoughts in the order they hit their brain…
NO.
These are carefully planned LESSONS, and they are in the order they are for a reason!
So far, we have covered the main tools of the Language of Visual Storytelling –the “letters”, as I call them– in a very specific order that will really help you internalize these tools to the point that they become second nature.
In the last issue of this section, I put everything I taught you in the previous lessons in the series together in a full step-by-step process where I show you not only the tools –anyone can show you that–, but, most importantly, my exact thought process and decisions along the way!
This is what makes Flawlessly Human SO different from any other newsletter and educational resource covering AI Filmmaking out there:
I not only show you the final result; I show you all the behind-the-scenes, the things that I tried and didn’t work, the constant back-and-forth of the creative process, my changes of mind, the failures and the happy accidents along the way…
This is A MONSTER of an issue, and I know you’ll be really tempted to go right to it…
But please: do yourself a favor and start from the very beginning and follow the lessons in order!
I know, I know…
You might think you already know all of this so you don’t need to read it all through, and you’re probably right.
But no matter how experienced you are as a filmmaker or screenwriter, I dare to think that anyone can learn a thing or two if they give themselves the chance to at least skim through these lessons!
A few issues back, as you might be aware if you’re been a subscriber for a while, I started a new and very important series of lessons focusing on storytelling and storytelling frameworks.
I have so far covered the Hero’s Journey as originally presented by Joseph Campbell in his 1949 book “The Hero With A Thousand Faces”, and provided a full analysis of the movie “The Matrix” –another monster of an issue– using this incredibly rich mythological framework.
In our next issue –due next Friday– I’ll be teaching you a simplified version of the Hero’s Journey introduced by Chris Vogler in his book “The Writer’s Journey”…. and we’ll cover Dan Harmon’s Story Circle –also derived from the Hero’s Journey– after that.
Once again, there is a specific reason why I’m introducing these story frameworks to you in this specific order!
After covering Dan Harmon’s Story Circle –without a doubt one of the most used screenwriting structures in modern feature films and TV series– we’ll move on to cover a couple of notable story structures based on the traditional 3-Act Structure: namely Michael Hauge's Six-Stage Plot Structure, and the 12-Sequence Story Structure.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…
“Why do we need to cover all of these?”
The short answer is, of course, we don’t.
But as I explained before, I’m convinced that the key to your success in this industry boils down to your ability to become the best storyteller you can be!
Each one of these frameworks will give you a slightly different perspective on what makes a story great, and that’s invaluable in my opinion.
And don’t worry: having done the heavy lifting with the original, extended version of the Hero’s Journey, you’ll find that all these other story frameworks are pretty similar and quite easy to grasp…
But the slight differences in perspective between these frameworks –which I will help you notice, of course–, will give you such rich insights into what makes a story work that there will be no genre or type of story you won’t be able to write with ease and confidence!
After we finish with the Storytelling section –arguably one of the most important parts of this entire training– we’ll move into Acting, and Professional Editing.
I understand that it won’t come as a surprise to you that we’ll be covering Editing, since as you know, editing is the third writing of a movie and its importance is paramount!
I cannot even tell you how many mediocre movies have been saved by the hand of an excellent editor… and how many have been cursed by a mediocre one!
It’s also good to note here that in AI Filmmaking the differentiation between pre-production, production, and post-production has pretty much vanished, as we now have the liberty to experiment all the way through, jumping back and forth between all these stages at will in a completely interactive creative process.
Consequently, having a good understanding of what each one of these stages entails, and the specific tools, strategies, and workflows used in each of them, is super important.
Only when you have a good understanding and command over these 3 stages will you be able to experience the incomparable creative freedom that AI has made possible in the filmmaking process!
One thing that’s less obvious, and could surprise you, is my decision to include Acting among the disciplines I’ll be teaching you in Flawlessly Human.
Won’t AI make actors irrelevant, after all?
NO, it’s not like that.
At least, not in my humble opinion.
In my opinion, there are TWO BIG things that pretty much everybody praising AI video’s superpowers is completely missing.
And everyone who insists on ignoring these 2 key ingredients is condemned to produce BAD MOVIES.
These 2 key elements for great cinema are:
A GREAT, COMPELLING STORY
GREAT HUMAN PERFORMANCE (AKA, Good Acting!)
Of course this is only my opinion, but I don’t believe AI will replace the human ability to convey subtle emotional nuances in their performances.
Certainly not anytime soon, and, most likely, never.
Even among human actors we differentiate the good from the bad and the great by their so-called “emotional range”, meaning what’s the range of emotions a particular actor or actress can access and credibly portray.
The ability to portray these emotions in a credible way, that is, in a way that “resonates” and produces the same emotional experience in other humans, is intimately connected with the human experience itself.
AI might be able to imitate the expression of human emotions to a certain degree, but, for obvious reasons, it will likely never fully match the full range of the human experience.
What does this mean for AI Filmmaking?
Simple: if you want to make a good movie, on top of a great, profoundly human story, you need humans to portray the characters in a way that will resonate emotionally with a human audience. FULL STOP.
The future of AI Filmmaking –or simply “filmmaking”, as it will be called in the years to come– is human performance transferred into realistic avatars indistinguishable from reality.
Why bother using AI in the first place then?
Because AI unlocks infinite possibilities in filmmaking, possibilities that were not only out of budget but, honestly, out of the question before.
We can now film movies on Mars, inside a black hole, or in the realm of atoms or viruses if we so choose, reconstruct any historical event or location with absolute fidelity, age and de-age actors at will… and even bring anyone back from the dead.
If “the sky was the limit”, then the sky has been lifted to the Sun now!
“Imagination is the limit” is not a euphemism anymore, but the very nature of this crazy new reality we’re living in!
The only question that remains is:
What will you create next?
See you in our next issue,
Leonardo
P. S. I want to say a few words more on my teaching method:
As I already said a few times in this issue, I’ve planned really carefully every subject we’ll cover in Flawlessly Human, and in what order the concepts will be presented to you.
My goal is to make Flawlessly Human THE must-have resource that every director hands over to each new member of their studio.
If you’ve read all the issues I’ve written so far you’d know that, sometimes, I start covering a subject from the bottom up, just like when I started with “the seed of a story” to gradually expand later to the “letters” of The Language of Visual Storytelling…
This approach allowed you to taste a quick win first, which gave you the energy and enthusiasm needed to tackle the deep-dive into the tools and principles that Directors use to convey emotion through visual storytelling.
In the Storytelling section I’m working on right now, I’m doing just the opposite: I’m building your understanding from the top down, because in my experience this is the approach that will give you the best possible chance to internalize these story frameworks, and connect the dots that will make you a great storyteller.
In other words, I’m asking you to trust me as a guide in this wonderful world of visual storytelling we call the business of making movies.
I’ve been teaching for more than 35 years, and in all these years I’ve found that, even if we all learn differently, there is always an efficient way to approach every subject and make it more easily digestible for the student.
It’s my hope that, if you’ve been reading Flawlessly Human for a while, you have already experienced some of this “unlocking magic” and “A-HA” moments of your own!
P. P. S. “Ok, I get it but… is it really SO BAD to use ChatGPT to write my movie’s script?”
It depends.
If you’re an expert screenwriter and you know what you’re doing… then it’s 100% ok for you to use AI to become more productive!
It’s also great to use AI as your training wheels when you’re learning something new, as I described in this issue.
But if you don’t know how to structure and write a good story, and you’re using AI to fill in the gap for you, you’re cheating yourself out of the learning needed to acquire this must-have skill that will make or break your chances of success in the future.
You might get away with it for now, especially if all you’re doing is posting short cool videos in social media, but sooner or later a life-changing opportunity will knock on your door and you’ll miss it… simply because you won’t have what it takes.
My suggestion?
Put your head down NOW, and use this little window of time we still have ahead of us to put in the reps while everybody else is still distracted with cat videos and brainrot memes.
Do NOW the unsexy work that most people won’t, so that you can LATER live the dream life that most people can’t.
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