LOS ANGELES — Continuing a historical trend of the mainstream side of showbiz following up on trends that are already commonplace on the adult side of the entertainment industry, Warner Bros. has just announced an exclusive deal with AI startup Cinelytic to use their project management system to help them decide what movies to make, who to cast and what genres and subjects to focus on.
Under the new deal, the Hollywood Reporter revealed today, Warners "will leverage the system’s comprehensive data and predictive analytics to guide decision-making at the greenlight stage."
According to the trade publication, Cinelitic's "integrated online platform can assess the value of a star in any territory and how much a film is expected to make in theaters and on other ancillary streams."
Today's announcement prompted a bemused reaction by members of the adult industry, who have been told for years that certain trends in scenarios, niches and casting approved by big companies headquartered outside Porn Valley are dictated by an algorithm.
"Porn, as always, leading the way for mainstream!" tweeted outspoken performer Sovereign Syre. "Welcome to the crushing boot of the algorithms on your neck, Hollywood!"
Even some tweets from outside the industry echoed the notion that Hollywood, much as it did with the adoption of VHS, Blu-ray and streaming, is trailing the adult sector on hands-off, mathematical decision-making by a few years.
"I guess Warners will be moving heavily into porn," tweeted @NotKevinBlank. "I guarantee you the Warner executives are not prepared for this thing telling them people want Waluigi [Stepbrother] Porn starring a K-pop band and a Tango Ice Blast," joked @NekroButcher187.
The Hand That Programs the Algorithm
Although decision-makers have used different forms of data gathering and interpretation since the early days of the movies — common showbiz expressions like "suits" and "bean-counters" consulting "spreadsheets" are part of that culture — the difference with bringing AI into the equation is significant.
Appeals to AI, algorithms or any specialized, hard-to-explain-and-understand proprietary tech and science remove the human element in responsibility for choices and decisions with personal and cultural consequences ("Don't ask me, it's what the algorithm says!") and also eliminate logic as grounds for appealing or arguing for or against different models or courses of actions ("Don't ask me, we ran the numbers!")
Also, many questions remain about the biases of the people who program the algorithms, craft the language to be used and frame the input data. Companies are unlikely to be transparent about what they're feeding as input into to these models.
Yesterday, XBIZ reported that Airbnb now owns a patent for a technology to screen potential guests to the rental properties listed on their platform based on "traits" like "neuroticism and involvement in crimes," "narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy," being "involved with drugs or alcohol, hate websites or organizations, sex work” or being “involved in pornography."
Little is known of Los Angeles-based Cinelytic, a four-year-old startup whose stated mission is to "support studios and independent content companies to make faster and better-informed greenlight, acquisition, and release decisions."
The company was founded by Tobias Queisser, a German financier and film producer, who has appeared in news media promoting the beta-stage of Cinelytic:
According to the positive notice by the Hollywood Reporter, "while the platform won’t necessarily predict what will be the next $1 billion surprise, like Warners’ hit 'Joker,' it will reduce the amount of time executives spend on low-value, repetitive tasks and instead give them better dollar-figure parameters for packaging, marketing and distribution decisions, including release dates."
“The system can calculate in seconds what used to take days to assess by a human when it comes to general film package evaluation or a star’s worth,” Queisser told the Hollywood Reporter.
