Hollywood is COOKED
In a Nutshell
Hollywood faces disruption from AI tools like ByteDance's Sora 2.0, which generate near-production-quality videos of Marvel superheroes and short films for pennies, prompting studios like Disney and Paramount to issue takedowns and lawsuits over IP theft. A five-step shift unfolds: DMCA enforcement halts fan content, creators pivot to infinite original AI works, indie platforms explode with rapid iteration bypassing gatekeepers, traditional studios merge or adapt AI for VFX, and fandoms migrate to YouTube-style creators offering customized, algorithm-driven entertainment. Hollywood survives as a prestige niche for human actors, while AI dominates cheap, personalized digital content like novels, music, and films.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Hollywood is cooked and the writing is on the wall. ByteDance has released Sora 2.0, a text-to-video model very close to production quality. Videos show Marvel superheroes and others, with short films created that would cost millions traditionally but now cost a few dollars.
Studios like Paramount and Disney are sending takedown requests and cease-and-desist orders, getting videos demonetized or removed from Twitter, probably YouTube, and filing lawsuits. An all-hands-on-deck reaction to a new AI shows the industry is paying attention.
Motion Picture Association and SAG-AFTRA decry use of stolen intellectual property to generate faces and movements of actors like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.
Fewer barriers to production technically.
Kickstarter for my book is live - link in description.
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Everyone gets DMCA takedowns to stop using copyrighted IP and trademarked material. Already happening; Disney targets China, ByteDance limits models from generating protected material.
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Everyone generates infinite novel stuff enjoying copyright and trademark protections. Litigation says AI-generated content is not copyrighted, but law favors owners. Anything written is automatically copyrighted (married a librarian). Write a story by hand, own it; AI derivatives protected. Infinite influx of original works, not fanfics.
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Art form iterates faster than industry; people go for indie stuff like KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). Massive indie publishing proliferation. Global platforms: YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch for distribution. Hollywood controls big screen, but first fully AI-generated indie feature film will hit theaters. SAG objections are rent-seeking obstructionism, like resisting theaters, radio historically. No gatekeepers; e.g., post-labor economics comics.
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Traditional studios fold and merge like publishing houses. Warner Brothers, Paramount, Netflix drama; Disney buys IP (Iron Man, Star Trek, Star Wars). Big IPs stick around. James Cameron considers AI for Avatar 4 and 5 to lower VFX costs after Fire and Ash did $1.5B vs. Avatar 1's $3B, on $400M budget mostly VFX. AI for VFX, not actors or writing.
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New normal: fandoms around YouTube and creator platforms. E.g., Locked Tomb series built huge fandom from debut novel. Individuals build large fandoms without traditional publishing.
Law forces original creative work; people on Twitter brainstorm originals, e.g., Grok prompt for epic high fantasy kids movie trailer of the '80s that didn't exist - passable trailer. Dragons and ships like Temeraire (Her Majesty's Dragon) - Master and Commander with dragons.
Imagination is the limit. Hollywood controls physical infrastructure, theaters, marketing (posters, cutouts); high school job at theater. Marketing budgets north of $100M, 10-20% of budget. YouTube offers organic discovery.
Organic discovery prevets taste; algorithm as sorting mechanism. Instead of years and hundreds of millions, produce cheaply in afternoon/weeks, iterate, limited release to fans, screen tests.
Like Japan: anime/manga studios copy/borrow, tropes iterate quickly in high volume; pretested by release.
Indie YouTube successes get studio deals. E.g., The Martian by Andy Weir: public project with fan input, tightly written, movie used book as screenplay scene-for-line. Publishing prevets stories (Harry Potter, Twilight). Video artifacts doing well on YouTube get big screen releases; tweak with AI.
Hollywood not gone; nostalgia for human actors makes it prestige genre like symphony, opera, Broadway - better at home, but people go for human index.
Vast majority of digital entertainment AI-generated: better, faster, cheaper, customized.
E.g., made albums on Suno over a year ago for personal taste, not popularity; shared, got criticism as generic.
Context windows allow AI novels; people generate own entertainment. Already AI music listeners. Custom feed: novels, music, TV. E.g., historical period pieces run out (Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth); bespoke on demand.
Thanks for watching. Kickstarter pre-launch: sign up for post-labor economics book. Manuscript to editor, practicing voice for audiobook.
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