Paolo Russo

“Hey, AI! Can you write that?”
The measure of (artificial) intelligence in a changing world for screenwriting

Oxford Brookes University, UK

2023 was the year AI took centre stage. Beyond the wider public debate, a provisional agreement has been reached on the EU “AI Act” that enforces transparency requirements (i.e. disclosure of AI-generated content and of copyrighted data used to train Generative AI) and that AI systems be overseen by humans. While clearly informed by a philosophy that wants AI to be useful to people rather than replace them (cf. Acemoglu and Johnson, 2023), the Act also identifies “high risk” areas for employment, thus echoing the findings of a recent OpenAI working paper assessing the impact of Large Language Models (such as GPT-4) on labour and projecting “high” or “full exposure” for professions such as writers, creative writers, authors, journalists, interpreters, translators, editors and copyrighters (Eloundo et al., 2023).

Meanwhile, in the US, the long WGA strike culminated in a new Minimum Basic Agreement that “sets a monumental precedent for labor relations” (Litwin, 2023). It too introduces transparency requirements on the use of AI by companies; and, crucially, it establishes that AI-generated material cannot be considered literary, source or assigned material. Furthermore, the Guild “reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited” by law (WGA MBA, 2023).

This fast-evolving scenario begs the hard question: can and/or will AI replace screenwriters (and, for that matter, other professions working with scripts – e.g. readers, editors, etc.)?
This paper puts the use of AI to the test. From multiple pulpits we are assured that AI (scrip)writing tools such as ChatGPT, Jasper, ShortlyAI, Writesonic and Writecream can generate ideas, outlines and other development documents, plotlines, enhance character development and improve dialogue among many other things. Can they really? Through an empirical approach framed by my recent modelling of Screenwriting as a Complex Adaptive System (SCAS), I will focus on dialogue by testing the actual effectiveness, usefulness, and implications of using an AI tool such as ScriptHop.

Paolo Russo is Senior Lecturer in Film at Oxford Brookes University (UK). He is a member and former Chair of the Screenwriting Research Network. He is co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of Screenwriting Studies (2023). Among his other publications: Storia del cinema italiano (2008); ‘Dream Narrative in Inception and Shutter Island’ (Routledge 2014); ‘Storylining engagement in Gomorrah – The Series’ (Journal of Screenwriting 8:1 2017); ‘(The Facts Before) The Fiction Before the Facts: Suburra’ (Palgrave Macmillan 2018); ‘HBO’s Boardwalk Empire: constraining history into the serial drama format’ (Toronto UP 2019); and ‘Screenplectics: Screenwriting as a Complex Adaptive System’ (Palgrave Macmillan 2023). A professional screenwriter and a member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Russo was on the writing team of Season 1 of Topo Gigio for Italian broadcaster RAI.