How Hollywood Drove Itself To A Place Where Movies Aren’t Important Anymore

A blunt rant + a 4-week AI-native plan to turn one idea into proof, fans, and revenue—so you’re not waiting on a greenlight to matter.

Sep 30, 2025

A rant—with hope—and an AI-native action plan you can run this month

Let’s say the quiet part out loud (and this may be controversial to some, or maybe we all agree, but here we go): Most movies aren’t really that important to us anymore. I liken it to a
Movies used to be the “operating Manual” for our lives. They showed us how to dress, how to date, how to think about our lives differently, hell, how to fall in love.

Now? They’re inventory. Product. A conveyor belt of “what’s new?” built to feed a dopamine loop Big Tech engineered and Wall Street keeps juicing. Somewhere after 2020, talent cultivation—the slow, messy, expensive kind—was shown the side door.

Yes, the old studio chiefs were ego-drunk tyrants. They were also film nerds. The machine-made room for Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange. Films were events—our common language in a dark room with strangers, story washing over us in wave after wave.

Quick clarification before the pitchforks: I’m not anti-AI. I’m cautiously encouraged. Generative tools can push us into aesthetics and workflows we could never afford—and drive costs down. But let’s be honest: a flood of two-minute vertical AI soap operas is coming. That’s the slop. The answer isn’t to flee AI; it’s to use it deliberately to build something the sludge can’t touch: worlds.

With that in mind, I just had coffee with a friend who is leading the deep discussions at Hollywood Studios and agencies around where AI and the film/TV industries are going to meet. He had just came out of one of those “Very Big Agency” meetings where a room full of agents were asking very directly about next steps with AI. The agencies and studios don’t know the “how” yet, but they’re pouring a ton of money into figuring out movies, money and AI. So showing thought leadership in this space can get you through some pretty big doors. Translation: your job title might be molting right now.

Rant over. Now this Proven Plan begins

***(Wanna know how I know this? Because I used this exact process to sell a project to Sam Raimi/Sony).

First Principles (so we don’t lose the plot)

Filmmaking is the art of pictures in motion—not “being on set with awesome equipment.” The gear is a means, not the point. The point is sequencing images so we take people on a ride we designed: when to laugh, when to flinch, when to breathe, when to cry, when to see themselves in a new light. Tools change. Rhythm, juxtaposition, intention do not.

A Note on Controversy & Control (read this twice)

Yes, this plan may be controversial, given the way I’ve seen these conversations can some times go (or not. I give up guessing what the internet gets the Ick around.). Hollywood is adopting AI—in full. Period. But human artistic sensibilities are still driving the bus. As a story conductor/world builder, you are in charge: the taste, the canon, the timing, the meaning. And this approach is for proof and early adoption—to build audience, traction, and leverage quickly. It is not a substitute for making the film you want, the way you want to make it. When it’s time to roll cameras, roll cameras.

Become an AI-Native World Builder (and Story Conductor)

Storytellers make films. World builders make systems that continuously produce stories, formats, and revenue. Not camera-first. AI-first. You’ll compose scenes, styles, performances, sounds, and moments generated within an AI production ecosystem—no physical camera required (unless you want to).

Think Fortnite-style world-building (credit: my friend’s analogy, not mine). Your role shifts from “I author a 110-page script and beg for a greenlite” to “I conduct people and AI tools to generate episodes, drops, and experiences on demand.”

You can still shoot later. You probably will. But you don’t need a lens to start building, proving, and monetizing your world. That’s the point. Remember: We’re building proof here, not the final project.

The AI-Native World-builder Plan (4 weeks, no camera required)

Week 1 — Build the World Bible (the why before the what)

Theme spine (1 page): The belief your world argues (tattoo-short).
Core loop: The conflict engine that repeats without breaking canon.
Audience slice: Two to three micro-communities who will claim this (e.g., “Deep-Sea welders on TikTok” + “Disaster-relief volunteers + Female glider pilots”).
Canon rules: What can/can’t happen. (AI needs guardrails as much as collaborators do.)

Deliverable: Tight 5–7 page PDF for humans and AI models alike.

Week 2 — Assemble Your AI Pillars(your camera-free studio)

Five reusable layers—generated inside AI:

Look & Motion – style frames, animatics, blocking passes (gen-video/3D/previs).
Synthetic Performance – licensed synthetic scratch reads + character motion
Design Library – characters, locales, props, iconography (iterate in seconds).
Sound First – motif kit, tone beds, stings; score iterations from prompts; finalize with a human mix.
Exporter Rail – auto outputs: vertical (Shorts/Reels), 16:9 (YouTube), audio (pod), stills (newsletter/lookbook).

Deliverable: A 60–120 sec sequence drop—generated without a camera—that makes people feel the world.

Week 3 — Publish & Measure Passion, Not Views (via Evan Shapiro’s KPIx Index)

Your scoreboard is KPIx (Key Passion Index). If a task doesn’t move one of these, it’s theater:

EQ — Engagement Quality: comments/100 views, saves/shares, fan UGC (stitches, art).
FV — Fan Velocity: days from first view → email opt-in → first $1.
ER — Emotional Resonance: % of long comments (sentences, not emojis).
IDAR — Identity Adoption Rate: fans wearing/using your symbol, joining lives, self-identifying “in the world.”
LDV — Lifetime Devotion Value: median $/fan over 90 days (memberships, passes, zines).

Targets this month:

Avg view duration 50%+
30% of comments are full sentences
Opt-in < 7 days from first view
LDV $7–$15 (median)
25 fans using your icon/badge or posting UGC

Deliverable: A weekly-updated KPIx dashboard (Sheet/Notion). No vanity metrics.

Week 4 — Monetize the World (no greenlight required)

Founders Pass ($99–$199): 12 months of private drops, director notes, credits. Cap at 300.
Members ($5–$15/mo): BTS emails, AMAs, polls shaping the next drop.
Workshops/Live: One craft lab + one private screening/month. Price like an adult.
Sponsor Test Pack ($7.5k): 1 pre-roll, 1 newsletter placement, 1 live mention; 14-day turnaround; make-good if metrics miss.
Windowing Map: Design your route now (SVOD → AVOD/FAST → international) even as AI-native; buyers love a plan.

Deliverable: Your first $10–$25k sponsor/pre-sale and one partner call booked.

Thanks for reading PitchCraft: Unlocking Success in Hollywood Pitch Rooms! Send it to someone you’d love to see succeed.

Where AI Actually Helps (this month, for real)

Pre-vis at the speed of your creativity: style/motion iterations you couldn’t afford.
Sound scaffolding: temp motifs/beds so sequences feel right early.
Versioning & localization: instant aspect ratios, alt cuts, language variants.
Synthetic reads: time your beats without booking cast; replace later with humans if you want.
Design exploration: 100 looks in an afternoon; pick one with taste.

Rule: AI isn’t “your replacement.” It’s your orchestra. You’re the conductor—still making pictures in motion, sequenced with intention to move a human being exactly when you mean to.

Update Your Deck (so buyers don’t glaze over)

Add four slides and watch rooms stay awake:

Platform Signals — retention graph, comment heatmap, fan UGC.
Affinity Metrics (KPIx) — EQ/FV/ER/IDAR/LDV snapshots.
Monetization & Windowing — memberships, sponsor units, SVOD→AVOD/FAST→intl.
Production Civility — AI-native workflow (no camera required), rights/ethics disclosure, domestic insurance/union clarity.

Line to borrow:
“An AI-native world validated by KPIx, with a domestic production plan if/when cameras roll, and post-window licensing across AVOD/FAST and international partners.”

Executives don’t buy your plot. They buy their win. Show it.

Five Prompts to Start Building (today)

Tone note: “Write a 1-page tone that merges [Film A] + [Film B] with the ethics of [Theme]. Declare three canon rules.”
Core loop: “List 10 episodic conflicts that can repeat forever without breaking canon.”
Sequence drop: “Describe a 90-sec beat that proves the theme in one location with one turn.”
Identity asset: “Generate five simple symbols/taglines (≤3 words) a fan would wear.”
Sponsor fit: “Name five brands whose customers share this world’s belief. Why now? What deliverable makes their boss say yes?”

Use AI to iterate; use taste to decide. That’s directing.

Ethics, Rights, Credit (be the adult)

Disclose synthetic elements in your EPK.
License voices/images—no scraping living actors.
Credit humans first; tools are below the line.
Protect canon—it is your IP.

The Two-Hour Day That Changes Everything

45 min: World Bible → AI-generated sequence drop
30 min: Publish + reply to 20 comments (ER)
15 min: One sponsor/buyer email (partner kit attached)
30 min: Members/BTS note

Four days/week × four weeks. You will have a world, fans, money—and options.

Movies may not be “important” to the machine anymore.
Your world still can be.

Build it inside AI. Conduct it. Sequence the ride so they laugh when you want, cry when you say, and recognize themselves exactly on your cue. Then—bring cameras only if the story truly needs them at this early stage.

Until next time,

Alex

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