How Hollywood is Integrating Artificial Intelligence

Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses whether the Hollywood blockbuster is still possible with Lumovex Media Group’s Steve Diamond and Kerri Zane.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Joining me now, Kerri Zane and Steve Diamond from Lumovex Media Group. Steve, Kerri, great to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.

Kerri Zane, Lumovex Media Group

Thank you for having me here.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, look, I’m really excited about this. We’ve chatted a lot offline about the world that is changing, the content world, and I’m excited to have people from your industry and bring them into the financial services world because, gosh, we need help communicating with people. But, Carrie, I want to start with you because I want you to set the landscape here.

How is artificial intelligence changing the landscape in Hollywood today in the entertainment industry?

Kerri Zane, Lumovex Media Group

It definitely is, Jeff, and whether the community wants to believe it or not or embrace it or not, it is here to stay. Like many other innovative disruptors, like CDs versus Spotify or cable versus streamers, the entertainment community is always evolving, and this is the next evolution. This is the next disruption.

I mean, think about the media giants now. Just yesterday, Ben Affleck announced that Netflix purchased his AI company, which he secretly had since 2022, and he fully admitted that he was afraid, but he jumped in, and he created a process that will help the entertainment industry in post-production. So case in point.

And also Disney allowing their characters to have UGC create animation with their little characters. I mean, they just got free animation, right?

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

I think that’s in the eye of the beholder. I mean, certainly the technology, Steve, is absolutely amazing. I’ve seen a lot of the shows.

We’re going to get into the IP and the privacy issues involved, but I want to ask you, does AI programming look as real? I come from the Ten Commandments era where Cecil B. DeMille made the Ten Commandments.

There were practical effects, Star Wars. Does AI programming look as real today as some of those practical effects in the past?

Steve Diamond, Lumovex Media Group

Well, I’ll tell you, practical effects still own a certain amount of the moments in filmmaking today. AI shines when you need it, which is really when it comes to speed, scale, and iteration without burning through those massive budgets. But we’re getting there at LumaVex.com, and we use AI for speed, but we use humans for taste, story, and final approval. I think that’s so important. And we do it so that the audience feels it, not just sees it.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

So, Kerri, can you still produce the blockbuster, the Hollywood blockbuster I just referenced in Star Wars, the Marvel comic trilogies, can you still produce the Hollywood blockbuster like we did in the past using AI?

Kerri Zane, Lumovex Media Group

I think that Hollywood blockbusters are here to stay. I think big Hollywood celebrities are here to stay. I think that AI can enhance what they’re doing.

And I think that there’s also a great space for small indies that have a lot of moxie and want to create their own films. They can raise their own money. Chris Struckman just did it.

He raised $1.4 million on a crowdfund, and he’s marketing, and he’s having a lot of success. I think the middle ground in terms of filling the entertainment pipeline is where AI is really going to shine.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Steve, Kerri talked about Ben Affleck’s sale to Netflix of his AI business, but I’ve read a lot in The Hollywood Reporter, there seems to be some concern from actors and actresses about maintaining their likeness. How are these actors today protecting themselves in this new AI world?

Steve Diamond, Lumovex Media Group

They’re coming to Lumavex because we’re actually consulting them on this. Consent is the new baseline, and actors are demanding that kind of control over their own IP, and they have every right to. Look at Matthew McConaughey, for example.

He federally trademarked his likeness and his iconic phrases, and now he has the ability to force a takedown if someone uses it without his permission. Lumavex has a division that is supporting actors in this process, and we treat their likeness like an identity. It’s documented, permissions, clear terms of usage, and human oversight from start to finish.

I think that is going to be the industry standard moving forward.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

So I can’t say, all right, all right, in the same way Matthew McConaughey. I did it on purpose not to say it that way, because I don’t want him suing me in the broadcast about the network.

Steve Diamond, Lumovex Media Group

He wouldn’t sue you in that respect. I think where it will be used is if you use it in some sort of a property that’s being sold or monetized in some way, that’s when he would come after you.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Okay. Well, Matthew, I apologize. You were the best.

I loved you in which it dazed and confused. Carrie, we talked earlier about the short, the Hollywood blockbuster, but is the future, and our show is a short form content show, but maybe not as short as where things are heading. So is it all about short form today?

Kerri Zane, Lumovex Media Group

You know, I think that there is a time and space for long form content and short form content. If you think about it, long form, you’re very intentional. You’re going to go to the movies or you know there’s something on a streamer that you want to see.

It’s still that kind of appointment feeling. But short form fills that, the dopamine that you need, that hit of entertainment. So if you’re in the subway and you’ve got, you know, 10 minutes from stop to stop, maybe you just want to watch something.

And TikTok and Instagram and micro dramas where we’re landing, that’s where it’s king. And it is exploding. And I do think that short form may outperform monetarily, may do better in the long run than some of the short, some of the long form.

But I guess that’s, you know, we have to wait and see. I mean, you’re in the financial business. So what do you think?

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Oh, wow. So you’re the interviewer now.

Kerri Zane, Lumovex Media Group

It’s fair.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

That’s fine. That’s fair. Turnaround is fair play.

We started the broadcast Retirement Network seven and a half years ago. We started with longer form content. What we noticed is that people, even people my age, our age, had lesser attention spans and therefore we shortened.

So our show was now eight minutes, give or take. And then we put out 45 second to 60 second clips. So it’s my estimation that it’s going to continue to get smaller and smaller.

Now, we don’t have the same micro dramas, the same scripting that you do in the Hollywood entertainment world. But as Steve, you were saying this is a blending that’s happening between all these other industries and entertainment.

Steve Diamond, Lumovex Media Group

It really is. And I’ll tell you something that I think about a lot is, you know, TikTok really was the game changer in terms of attention span. And that’s really where the data came from for us to understand that short form content is the content going forward.

And you’ll be shocked to know that the average person has an online attention span of just eight seconds.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Eight seconds, actually.

Steve Diamond, Lumovex Media Group

So when you think about it, you know, you have probably two seconds to three seconds at the very most to grab someone’s attention before they scrolled on to the next thing. Wow.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, I can see that. Kara, we’ve got about a minute or so left. And I really enjoyed this conversation.

We’ll have to bring you and Steve back. But I’m a small business. You guys are a small business.

I always worry about the smaller enterprises. So does this AI conversation really help those smaller studios get off the ground? Because they’re fighting for funding.

They’re fighting for opportunity. They’re fighting for distribution every day.

Kerri Zane, Lumovex Media Group

Yeah. Yes, in a very big way. And I think everyone should understand that AI is not scary.

It’s an incredible opportunity for many of us. I was a small studio. I was an indie.

And what AI does is it allows us to tell our stories and create our sizzle reels or do some short form to garner buyers’ attention or viewers’ interest. And it’s affordable. It’s well done and it’s affordable.

And I think that’s another thing that we at Lumavex do and do very well is to help smaller businesses and smaller studios tell their stories. Story is a game, by the way.

Steve Diamond, Lumovex Media Group

And one more point I’d like to point out in addition to that. You know, there’s good AI and there’s what we call in the industry, slop AI. And just like good or bad stories or good or bad movies, you will watch them all until you don’t.

And at some point, the audiences will become more discerning and lean into better quality AI. And that is where the top talent like writers, directors, actors working with companies like us to use their highly skilled knowledge and all of that to create scripts and also allow our prompt engineers to create better content. And I think that’s going to be the future.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Well, look, guys, I’ve enjoyed the conversation. I just ask that if you make me into an avatar, you take the early 30s, Jeffrey, who had hair, was a little bit more svelte, and we can do it, which is, you know, crackling with energy. Kerri Zane, Steve Diamond, so great to see you.

Thanks for joining us. And we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon. Thank you so much, guys.

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