“AI can be cryptocurrency, or it can be the internet. We don’t know if it will mess up the bed and make it useless, or replace us all.”
一This is what a writer/producer described on their first day at the Writers Guild of America, as they walked the cordon in front of Warner Bros. in Burbank, CA When the threat of artificial intelligence strikes.
In interviews with WGA members this week, many cited AI as a central concern in their ongoing fight against the coalition of film and TV producers representing Hollywood studios and streamers one of the points. The association wants to ban studios from using AI to write or rewrite literary material, to use it as original material, and to use the work of WGA writers to train AI.
While the current battle is not about what technology can do today, but about protecting writers from future technology, studios may try to use if Writers’ Strike continues, AI sooner rather than later. We wanted to see how much competitive risk current chatbots pose for writers. So The Hollywood Reporter turned to ChatGPT for An AI-generated scene from the iconic show about television writing itself, NBC’s Tina Fey comedy 30 Rock .
THR Enter the following prompt in ChatGPT: “Write a 15 about Liz Lemon’s Rock Playbook, Two-fer, Lutz and the Frank strike and how it affects TGS.” Chatbot in less than 1235478681 seconds generated the unedited text below. fast, yes. But how good is it?
To answer this question, we turn to human THR TV critic Dan Fienberg, He also produced his text within seconds with a single hint: “The shape of the scene is not terribly bad. It is setting some Farce that didn’t really materialize, but the idea was a totally respectable C-. However, the dialogue had no punchlines and no recognizable voices associated with characters with very recognizable voices. I’m fairly confident Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski was able to read the phone book and be funny, but I’m equally confident they couldn’t make it funny even if they tried.”
His bottom line: “Let AI writing comedy scripts is definitely something Jack Donaghy will do before he learns a valuable lesson about the importance of Lutz.”
Fade in:
INT. TGS WITH TRACY JORDAN – DAY
Liz Lemon, Two-fer, Lutz and Frank huddle together in Liz’s office looking serious.
LIZ LEMON Okay guys, we need to talk. Now is the time for us to take a stand.
TWO-FER I agree. We don’t get the respect we deserve.
LUTZ I’m tired of being the butt of every joke.
FRANK Also, we don’t get paid enough to put up with this crap.
LIZ LEMON That’s right. We are going on strike.
TWO-FER But what the hell are we on strike for?
LIZ LEMON RESPECT, FAIR TREATMENT AND BETTER PAYMENT. It’s time for TGS to recognize our contributions.
LUTZ We won’t go back to work until we get what we want.
FRANK Yeah, we’ll show them who’s boss.
Cut to:
Inside line. TGS WITH TRACY JORDAN – DAY
The strike has been going on for days and the TGS crew is struggling to keep the show going without Liz, Two-fer, Lutz and Frank.
TRACY JORDAN What the hell is going on here? We couldn’t perform without them.
JENNA MARONEY I don’t know, Tracy. They did not budge on their demands.
PETE HORNBERGER We can’t just replace them. They are so valuable to the show.
TRACY JORDAN This is a disaster. We need to do something about it.
Cut to:
INT. LIZ’S OFFICE – DAY
Liz, Two-fer, Lutz and Frank are still on strike, but they are starting to feel the effects of the job losses.
TWO-FER I don’t know how much longer we can go on. I need money.
LUTZ I miss the chance to be on the show.
FRANK But we can’t give up now. We must persevere.
LIZ LEMON I know it’s tough, but we have to stay strong. We are fighting for justice.
Cut to:
INT. TGS WITH TRACY JORDAN – DAY
Tracy has an idea.
TRACY JORDAN I know how we end this strike.
How about PETE HORNBERGER?
TRACY JORDAN We’ll tell them how much we need them. We will do the show without them.
JENNA MARONEY This is crazy, Tracy. We couldn’t have done the show without Liz and the others.
TRACY JORDAN We must try. This is the only way to get them back.
Cut to:
INT. TGS WITH TRACY JORDAN – DAY
Tracy, Jenna and the rest of the TGS crew are doing their best to perform without Liz, Two-fer, Lutz and Frank.
TRACY JORDAN Now, I guess it’s about the… um… Lutz skit?
Without Lutz to play with, the skit was flat.
JENNA MARONEY THIS IS NOT WORKING, Tracy. We need Liz and the others back.
TRACY JORDAN I know. But we must keep trying.
Cut to:
INT. LIZ’S OFFICE – DAY
Liz, Two-fer, Lutz and Frank are watching a TV show.
TWO-FER This is too bad. We must go back.
LUTZ Yes, they need us.
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