Screenwriting With a View #23
A well-known producer sent me an AI generated screenplay today
For those who don’t know, I teach screenwriting privately, and I’ll likely be stepping into an adjunct role at the College of Southern Nevada by the end of the year. Naturally, I get a lot of AI-generated scripts from students—it’s pretty easy to spot them. I catch about 99.9% without even trying.
So you can imagine my surprise when I got an email this morning from a producer I’ve worked with multiple times—someone with real credits and a solid reputation. He told me this was his first attempt at writing a screenplay, that he was nervous about my feedback, and that he’d pay me to fix it if it was rough.
I was open—until I read the script.
It was clearly AI-generated. Not just because of the flat voice or generic structure, but because he didn’t even bother to proofread. Anyone who uses AI regularly knows that most platforms end with a formatting question. This one literally ended with: “Would you like to add scene numbers to the script?”
That’s not just lazy. That’s insulting.
Look, I’m not anti-AI. It has some real utility, especially for outlining or organizing thoughts. But using it to generate entire scripts and then trying to pass them off as your own? That’s a different conversation. It’s theft dressed up as productivity.
What really bothered me was that this wasn’t a student or some newbie. This is someone who’s worked on major films and clearly has the industry connections and access that actual writers dream about. If he’s cutting corners and trying to pass off AI work as original, then it confirms a fear many of us already had: this is the future the studios are heading toward.
And no, I didn’t take the money. He didn’t come at me directly, and the whole thing felt shady. I’ve done ghostwriting before—I’m no stranger to work-for-hire gigs where someone else takes the credit. But this felt different. This wasn’t collaboration. This was an attempt to deceive.
Had I taken the job, I probably could’ve justified it. I’ve got a wife, a daughter, and I’m in the middle of trying to buy a home. The money was good. But he’s well-known enough that if it ever came out, it wouldn’t just burn him—it could burn me too. Someone else will absolutely say yes to that offer. That’s part of the problem.
And here’s the bigger issue: If you’re a screenwriter who doesn’t direct or produce, and you’re trying to break into the studio system? You’re in trouble. Because studios are moving fast toward AI-generated content—scripts, imagery, even performances. They’ll build stories from their existing libraries and IP, use AI to stitch it all together, and pay the estates of actors whose likenesses are licensed in perpetuity.
It’s going to be all indie film from here on out. Great news for indie filmmakers. Devastating for writers who don’t control the means of production.
To be clear: this wasn’t some random person. A working producer—someone who’s been on major streamers and studio projects—tried to pass off an AI script and offered to pay me to quietly rewrite it, no credit. I assume he came to me because I’m well-known in certain circles but still under the radar enough that no one would ask questions.
I’ve done this kind of work before. I used to ghostwrite for a professor in college. He sold the scripts, but he paid me every penny—knew he’d get me in trouble if it ever came out. That’s why this hits differently. It’s not just unethical. It’s cowardly.
I’m not mad because this was some shocking betrayal. I’m sad because this confirms what I’ve been warning students about for a while. I used to say this was two to three years away. It’s not. It’s here. It landed in my inbox this morning.
And I don’t think it’s just happening to me.
Give in an inch. Take a mile. That's the problem with AI. In a vacuum, some of the tools are FINE to use. But people just suck too much to coexist with the good ones.