How AI Could Reshape Filmmaking

For several decades, placing long-shot bets and hoping for the best was pretty much all there was when it came to making TV shows and movies. Then along came data and analytics.

In this episode of Now & Next (the podcast I host), we hear from Jack Zhang, who believes he’s found a better way to tackle the problem of matching supply with demand. He’s a recent Waterloo grad who started a company called Greenlight Essentials to combine his love of math with his love of movies. Zhang calls his system ‘audience demand analysis’.  It uses an AI-based system to develop probability models that determine the demand for a movie, before it’s made. Think a ‘Moneyball for movies’.

So far, the tests Jack Zhang has run look promising. He created a trailer for a movie that didn’t exist using the database he created that itemizes over 40,000 attributes found in movies. With little expectation of anything happening, he posted the trailer to Facebook. It ended up getting close to 3 million views and tens of thousands of comments. That movie is now in the process of being ‘packaged’ (the industry term for bringing together writers, producers, directors and on-camera talent) by executives in Los Angeles.

Show Highlights:

• When Jack first realized data could help transform the film industry (05:09)
• How Jack got Hollywood’s attention (09:40)
• How Jack's company ended up being involved in film production after demonstrating its success online (11:49)
• The challenges and uncertainties inherent to a new world of human-AI collaboration (14:15)

Click here to download a transcript of the episode.