AI divides Hollywood writers between creative tool and existential threat as WGA earnings drop

Hollywood screenwriters are grappling with an unprecedented challenge as AI technology rapidly advances into their creative domain, with some embracing it as a collaborative tool while others view it as an existential threat to human storytelling. The debate has intensified since the 2023 Writers Guild strike, which secured protections against mandatory AI use, but many writers remain concerned that the technology’s exponential growth could fundamentally reshape—or eliminate—their profession.

The big picture: AI’s integration into Hollywood extends far beyond writing, permeating nearly every stage of production from script development and previsualization to casting and marketing, but screenwriting remains the most controversial battleground.

What you should know: The Writers Guild of America’s 2023 contract established precedent-setting protections, but adoption is already happening quietly behind closed doors.

• Studios can’t require writers to use AI, and AI-generated content can’t be considered “literary” or “source” material.
• Writers can use AI with studio approval under rules protecting credit, authorship, and intellectual property.
• The number of WGA members reporting earnings fell nearly 10% in 2024 compared to the prior year, and over 24% compared to 2022.

The resistance: Billy Ray, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “Captain Phillips” and “The Hunger Games,” has never used ChatGPT and views AI as “a cancer masquerading as a profit center.”

• “My level of impostor syndrome, neuroticism and guilt is high enough while I’m working my ass off,” Ray says. “There’s no way I’d make myself feel worse by letting a machine do my writing for me.”
• Ray warns that studios are “putting more and more time and energy into exploring what AI can do for them,” with inevitable results being “chaos, bad movies, bad TV shows and a lot of people out of work.”

The embrace: Paul Schrader, writer of “Taxi Driver” and “First Reformed,” praised ChatGPT as a creative oracle after asking it to generate movie ideas in various auteur styles.

• “I’M STUNNED,” Schrader wrote on Facebook. “Every idea ChatGPT came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out.”
• He called AI feedback on his old script “as good or better than I’ve ever received from a film executive.”

The middle ground: Some industry figures see AI as a collaborative tool rather than a replacement, focusing on streamlining mundane tasks rather than core creative work.

• Amit Gupta, co-founder of AI writing tool Sudowrite, says writers complained about “dreaded” tasks like writing loglines and treatments—exactly what AI could automate.
• “You could watch it,” Gupta says of AI-generated content. “But you’re not going to like watching it.”

What they’re saying: Directors and writers emphasize the irreplaceable human elements of storytelling.

• “Creativity is born out of mistakes, obfuscation, fumblings, desire — things that computer technology can never replace,” says writer-director Todd Haynes.
• Bong Joon Ho, director of “Parasite,” doubts AI’s capacity for depth: “I honestly don’t think AI programs will write a fun story about themselves. I feel like I am a better writer for those stories.”

The educational response: Film schools are carefully navigating AI integration while protecting developing writers.

• USC’s School of Cinematic Arts now offers AI-focused courses but keeps screenwriting classes AI-free.
• “We’ve been very intentional about protecting that early phase when students are still figuring out who they are as writers,” says Holly Willis, chair of the Media Arts and Practice Division.

The underground adoption: Despite public resistance, many writers are quietly experimenting with AI tools.

• “Far more people are probably using it than are comfortable saying they are,” says filmmaker Oscar Sharp, who created early AI-scripted shorts like “Sunspring” in 2016.
• Writer Roma Murphy warns about exploitation of unlicensed material: “I’m certainly not going to type my own ideas into the platform and just give them to it to train with.”

Why this matters: The debate reflects deeper questions about the nature of creativity and authorship as AI becomes more sophisticated, with implications extending far beyond Hollywood to any field involving human creative expression.