AMC Networks is fully embracing AI, most recently via a partnership with startup firm Runway. But CEO Kristin Dolan says the push should be seen as “a technology play” rather than anything jeopardizing the company’s IP or creative partners.
Speaking on the company’s second-quarter earnings call Friday, Dolan expanded on the Runway team-up, which she said is consistent with the company’s aim “to put the best tools in the hands of our creatives.”
Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios, added that the company’s AI practices “live clearly and cleanly within the parameters established by all the guilds.”
AI has been a sensitive topic in Hollywood over the past three years, helping to define the 2023 negotiations between studios and streamers and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. Given the economic challenges faced by media and entertainment companies, which have cut back on staff, the view remains widely held that AI is eliminating jobs. Proponents of AI say it will be disruptive but ultimately will add job opportunities.
Media companies are all experimenting with AI, but the practice is extremely touchy in the talent community and with unions. Having experienced the bruising dial strikes of 2023, companies are reluctant to say as much publicly as AMC Networks did on Friday’s call. The sensitivities came to light during a recent series of events at Disney around the production of Moana and Tron: Aries, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. A few vocal advocates have surfaced, among them Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who said last month that AI is making films and series “better, not just cheaper.” Disney and NBCUniversal, meanwhile, have sued AI firm Midjourney, accusing it of unlawfully training its models on proprietary IP.
Asked whether the agreement with Runway involves allowing the startup to use AMC Networks programming to train its models in exchange for use of its tools, Dolan said the intent is in areas either below the line or in marketing. “Our teams are using Runway for visualization of ideas, whether it’s set design or, you know, interestingly, shots that we wouldn’t be necessarily be able to afford on our budgets, so things like shooting an oil rig or an aerial shot of a shipwreck.”
The relationship with the startup, she continued, “is really to help facilitate our opportunities to expand our scope, ensure creative alignment, you know, visualize more quickly. … It’s a technology play. It’s not a integrated IP kind of play with any of our content or anything that we’ve created.”
McDermott said the entertainment industry “has been integrating emerging technologies into the development and production of shows and films since the advent of the talkies.” He called AMC Networks “an early adopter” in using AI “to help us ideate come up with concepts, ideas, help our showrunners, visualize what they want to do, where they want to do it.”
Recognizing his audience of Wall Street analysts on the call, McDermott added that the company is “able to save a considerable amount of money” in post-production of the 30 to 50 episodes it makes each year.
“Generative AI is so good right now, it delivers 4K imagery priced at anywhere from 20% to 40% of what traditional VFX is,” he said. “And we’re not just placing any of these people, either. I want it to be really clear that all of our efforts live clearly and cleanly within the parameters established by all the guilds. We’re committed to the principle that everything we do is the support of the people that make these great shows possible, and we’re literally just giving them tools that will enhance their ability to do the great work they do.”
