Creatives from ‘Sharknado’ and ‘Doctor Who’ Are Now Making AI Films (Exclusive)

Since the AI filmmaking era began, Hollywood screenwriters have generally been loathe to put their names anywhere near such projects.

They might quietly work on some AI pieces, sure, hoping no one will notice as they cash the check. And of course they’ll prompt ChatGPT for an idea when the screen stays stubbornly blank. But a trade announcement for an AI-enabled film? You’d sooner find an LLM winning an Oscar.

That appears to be changing. A number of credited writers are boarding AI films backed and developed by Promise AI, a Los Angeles based startup devoted to using AI for original work, company officials tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Among them are Jamie Magnus Stone, who directed eight episodes of the modern Doctor Who in its 12th and 13th seasons, and Micho Rutare, a longtime producer who developed the Sharknado Syfy franchise via his former studio The Asylum. As Hollywood creators grapple with how much, and whether, to incorporate AI into their workflows, this small but growing list of creatives are going all in on AI, moving well beyond the efforts of people like Martin Scorsese, who at least so far may be sampling the tools but not working on AI-led films.

The pairings come from Promise executives’ belief that AI filmmaking benefits when it has a strong dose of traditional writing and development.

“People who work on AI films have a mastery that very few people have — you need to learn dozens of tools,” says Tyler Mitchell, a former Imagine Entertainment exec who now runs development for Promise. “And a [traditional] writer can bring in all their talent. It really provides a very strong map and aligns everyone creatively.”

Stone will be writing the screenplay for Everything is Within Tolerance, about a hidden bunker in which scientists conduct experiments while secretly being experimented upon.

Rutare is writing Ninja Punk, an animated movie set in 2065-era Los Angeles centered on ninjas, Yakuza and a supernatural underworld. Both creators will be paired with AI natives, including the AI filmmaker Guillaume Hurbault for Stone and Promise chief creative officer Dave Clark for Rutare.

Founded by a pair of YouTube veterans, Promise already has been combining tech-y outsiders with traditional entertainment. Development is run by Mitchell, the Imagine vet, and financing comes from the Peter Chernin-founded North Road (he recently sold the company). Veteran cinematic artists like Rick Baker have attended its film school.

But these pairings up the ante.

Mitchell says he doesn’t see a conflict in what the company is doing — in fact he sees it as continuing a tradition.

“Look at what Pixar does, constantly putting things up on a feed and rewriting them over and over again,” he says. “But that’s really expensive. AI can do it much faster and cheaper — and not just for animation.”

Promise did not make any of the AI filmmakers available by phone. But Rutare answered questions by email. Asked about a potential backlash to his move within the Hollywood creative community, he wrote, “In my conversations with fellow screenwriters, there is some fear of the unknown, but there’s also a sense of excitement around what opportunities these new tools will unlock.”

Among the other pairings are Clark with Robert Rugan, the co-writer of Marlon Wayans horror-comedy The Curse of Bridge Hollow (they’ll be teaming on an animated supernatural coming-of-age music film called Tuning In) and Clark and the AI artist Metapuppet with an up-and-comer named Ivan Rome. That group is working on Hardcore 94, an animated short series about aliens invading 1994-era Compton. That project is already in production.

Funding for now all comes from Promise; the projects do not need a ton of financing unless the project uses a hybrid model where some live-action is shot. Traditional distribution partners will be sought, Mitchell said, though whether mainstream streamers and exhibitors is a big unknown.

Also an open question is whether films break a stigma or further provoke a creative community skeptical of using their experience to further AI-led projects. To be sure, Sharknado was not exactly a handmade film to begin with; the conceit (and title) literally combined two well-known subgenres and presented them as original — a kind of proto-LLM. AI could just automate such projects so they can be made faster, and thus more abundant.

Still, the gleeful absurdity of that concept came with its own humanity.

Asked if he thought AI made future Sharknados more possible, Rutare wrote, “For sure,” adding  “That was an exercise in tone, a Goldilocks hybrid of earnestness and ridiculousness. Experimenting with things like tone and pioneering new microgenres will become less of a crapshoot and more of a science,” presumably referring to the fact that trial-and-error will be easier on film scenes when you don’t need to shoot them.

Mitchell says he understands the skepticism but sees many new opportunities with this type of work, especially for writers themselves.

“Many of the ones we talk to are getting excited because they see their stuff go instantly from the page to the screen. There’s something special about that and also helpful about that,” the executive said.

He added, “We want to be among the first to make great stories with this new technology. At the end of the day that’s how we will be judged, and that’s how we want to be judged.”