Case study

LA Times: AI May Be a Way In for Young Screenwriters, Say the Educators Who Teach It

12 November 2026 · RenderBob team

Ada Tseng's Los Angeles Times piece says some film teachers see generative AI as a way for newcomers without Los Angeles connections to get a script noticed.

Ada Tseng's Los Angeles Times piece of 11 November reports that some educators see generative AI as a way for newcomers without Los Angeles connections to get noticed. It leans on teachers who have adopted AI, so it is not a picture of the whole industry. We read a reprint of the opening, which covers Winters, the Popeye sale and Netflix's figure. The other teacher details below are from Tseng's piece and were not in that excerpt.

What the piece reports

• Where it helps. Educators say AI can help with loglines, research, pitch decks and outreach. Justin Trevor Winters of Loyola Marymount, who teaches producing and screenwriting with AI, says his students' loglines improved. In the reprint he says they did not become skilled writers overnight: stronger concepts and stronger loglines, and students who were excited about the results.
• Examples. A student's animated short led to industry meetings and job offers, the piece says. Winters says a logline he finished with ChatGPT for a Popeye reimagining sold within a few weeks. The reprint supports his account. Both stories are his, or his students'.
• Limits. Dara Resnik, a writer and USC instructor, says AI use is widespread and that silence about it encourages unethical use. She uses it to brainstorm and then fact-checks, and not for work she is hired to produce. Clayton Colmon of the University of Pennsylvania warns that leaning on AI too early can flatten a beginner's voice.
• Craft first. Winters puts craft at 80 to 90 percent of the work, with AI as the remainder.
• Context. The reprint says Netflix reported that roughly 300 programmes used generative AI in production this year. We wrote on 11 October about what Netflix's July letter does and does not show. The piece also notes Google's investment in A24 for filmmaker tools. A June Times story put the sum at around $75 million, from an unnamed source. That figure is not in the reprint we read.

Counterpoints in the article

AI remains divisive after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The reprint has Winters describing students who were confused when the industry seemed to reject tools he had taught them to use. Tseng's piece also says Resnik was heavily criticised for admitting her use publicly, and that she and Fred Grinstein, who teaches cinematic AI, both raise wider worries. Grinstein advises writers to understand union rules and protect their IP.

A sensible way for a newcomer to use AI

• Write the idea yourself first, then use AI to test it.
• Keep a note of what AI contributed and what you wrote.
• Check union and contest rules before submitting.
• Fact-check anything research-based with a real source.
• Show your process if an employer or festival asks.

What to watch

Whether guilds and festivals publish disclosure rules for AI-assisted scripts and shorts, and whether the course outcomes described here show up beyond a few classrooms.

RenderBob 3 and this story

RenderBob 3 gives generated shots their own timeline lane, with the model chosen per clip, and keeps references and prompt logs with the studio, so a short made to get noticed can show what was generated.