It’s hard not to feel the ripple effect when big changes happen. One such change happened on Wednesday when Lionsgate—the studio responsible for John Wick, Survival game, And Twilight franchises—has announced that it has partnered with artificial intelligence company Runway for a “first-of-its-kind partnership” that will give the AI company access to the studio’s archives to create a custom AI tool for pre-production and post-production on its films and TV shows.
According to Runway, Runway’s upcoming tool will “help Lionsgate Studios, filmmakers, directors, and other creative talent elevate their work” and “create cinematic videos that can be looped multiple times with Runway’s controllable toolset.” a press release announce the deal.
If that sounds like it might pique the interest of those who have been following the impact of AI on creative work, it should. Hours after The Wall Street Journal broke the storyWriter and director Justine Bateman, who verbal criticism of AI during the Hollywood strikes last year, posted an article on X that was almost like a warning: “Over a year ago, I told you that I thought studios were NOT sending lawyers to #AI companies about their models just kidding [sic] their copyrighted movie, because they wanted their own customized version. Well, here it is.”
If anything, the new deal could serve as a test of the AI protections that unions like the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) secured in contract negotiations with studios last year. protectionStudios must get actors’ consent before creating digital copies of them. Because Lionsgate and Runway said the tool would only be used for pre- and post-production work, it falls under the scope of that agreement, said Matthew Sag, a professor of law and AI at Emory University.
“It may seem like a big development, but the film industry has been using all sorts of technology and automation for years,” Sag said. “So you could also see it as a natural evolution. The difference is that now we’re seeing a lot of what we used to think of as creative and artistic being automated.”
The announcement comes a day after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed law aimed at protecting actors from having their work copied without their consent. Set to take effect next year, Newsom’s move comes at a time when people working in video games, specifically voice actors and motion captioners, on strikepartly due to AI protection.
“We continue to wade through uncharted territory when it comes to how AI and digital media are transforming the entertainment industry,” said California Governor Gregg. in a statement“This law ensures the industry can continue to grow while strengthening protections for workers and how their images are used.”
Even if the jobs of actors and other performers aren’t affected by the new tools, it’s hard not to wonder about the impact that new generative AI tools could have on those working in pre-production and post-production. Lionsgate initially planned to use Runway’s custom tool for things like storyboarding, the WSJ reports. Eventually, the studio plans to use it to create visual effects for the big screen. “It’s impossible to know for sure which productivity tools will create or destroy jobs,” Sag says, but it seems like these tools could have an impact on jobs.
But according to Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela, they won’t. “Our core belief is that AI, like any powerful tool, can dramatically accelerate your progress through creative challenges,” Valenzuela says. “It does this by helping solve specific tasks, not by replacing the entire workflow. Artists are always in control of their tools.”
Like Valenzuela, Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns sees AI as a boon to filmmaking, one that will help the studio “develop cutting-edge, capital-efficient content creation opportunities,” he said in a statementLionsgate noted that some filmmakers are excited about the new tools, without naming those filmmakers. “We see AI as a great tool to augment, enhance, and complement our current operations.” What it will do to their future operations remains unknown.
