AI revolution for movie industry: Best AI tools for scriptwriters

The AI revolution for creative industry

Every industry is benefiting from the AI revolution. The amount of work, which can be done in a certain amount of time by a human being is increasing. We saw the improvement for developers working with copilot, we saw groundbreaking shifts in the healthcare industry with AI tools, and revolution in many other fields. If you want to see amazing AI apps created by the lablab.ai community, for example a tool to create a video based on stable key frames or a personal assistant to enhance your stories, feel free to explore the possibilities AI revolution can offer.

We want to show the changing landscape of AI based solutions, which can improve the work of many creative industries. In every article of the series we will take a closer look into every creative field and propose (and verify) the best tools to improve your work.

So, without any further ado, let’s dive into the world, where AI and creative industry can bloom together!

AI tools for scriptwriters

As large language models (LLM) are… language models, they can amazingly deal with certain language tasks provided. And what is movie script, different than… “language task” (:

I won’t mention here all tools for generating moodbooks, visualizations of your characters or storyboards. This particular article is to gather all of the best tools to help script writers with their work.

In this article we will provide the same prompt to every of the tools and will take a sneak peek at how useful every of the apps can be.

Which are free?

Which do better with dialogues?

Which provides a better story?

And what is the quality of input?

Let’s dive in!

Jasper AI

Jasper AI is a powerful AI content generator for providing best quality text to text generation. Despite obvious capabilities to generate emails, blog posts or long stories, it can be also helpful to scriptwriters. Also it has some additional features, like Chrome extensions, image generation or chat. It has a variety of support options and there are a lot of materials to help you master it. And the content can be translated into 25+ languages.

Is it free? No. See the pricing

But how does it help scriptwriters?

As Jasper uses GPT-3 it has many capabilities of ChatGPT or GPT-4. Using the built in interface, you can write outlines for your stories, brainstorm treatments, and condense the script into one pager. Also it can create a logline from the provided prompt or the content it generated.

It also can provide the output of a movie script (you just need to edit it a little bit to fit in celtx). The quality of the story is not amazing, but in the end, it is just a tool to brainstorm for ideas and get inspired, not the one to replace your work.

Let’s give it a spin!

**FADE IN:**

ACT I

EXT. SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY

A young BOY named SAM is walking down the street, calling out for his missing DOG, BOLT.

SAM \
 (whistles) \
 Here, Bolt! Come home!

As Sam turns the corner, he bumps into LARA, an energetic teenage GIRL who offers to help him look for Bolt.

LARA \
 Hey there, what's going on? Are you okay?

SAM \
 My dog is missing. I can't find him anywhere.

LARA \
 I'll help you look for him. Let's go!

ACT II

EXT. PARK - DAY

Sam and Lara search through the park for Bolt. As they search, Sam tells Lara about how Bolt is the only connection to his dad, who had passed away a year ago.

LARA \
 I'm sorry to hear that, Sam. But maybe finding Bolt will help you find happiness again.

SAM \
 I hope so. Dad used to love taking Bolt to the park.

They continue searching the park, calling out Bolt's name.

LARA \
 Look, over there!

Lara spots a couple walking their dog.

COUPLE \
 Hey, do you guys need help?

SAM \
 Yes, we're looking for my dog. Have you seen him?

COUPLE \
 Actually yes, we saw him running down that alleyway over there.

SAM \
 Thank you!

ACT III

EXT. ALLEYWAY - DAY

Sam and Lara race to the alleyway to find Bolt. As they search, Sam is filled with hope that he will soon be reunited with his beloved dog.

SAM \
 Bolt! Come home boy!

LARA \
 Sam, over there!

Lara points to Bolt, who is hiding behind a dumpster. Sam rushes over and picks up Bolt, who licks his face and wags his tail.

SAM \
 (excitedly) \
 Lara! Look, it's Bolt! We found him!

LARA \
 (overjoyed) \
 Great job, Sam! Now you have your companion back!

As they walk out of the alleyway, Sam stops and looks up at the sky.

SAM \
 (smiling) \
 Thanks for helping me, Lara. I think I finally understand that everything is temporary, and I should find the beauty in its constant shift.

LARA \
 (happily) \
 I'm glad you're feeling better, Sam. Nothing lasts forever, but the memories and joy we create along the way do.

They walk off, with Sam and Bolt happily reunited and ready to face whatever challenges life throws their way.

FADE OUT.

THE END.

ChatGPT

The ChatGPT model has been trained on a vast amount of text data, including conversations and other types of human-generated text, which allows it to generate text that is similar in style and content to human conversation. ChatGPT can be used to generate responses to questions, code, make suggestions, or provide information in a conversational manner, and it is able to do so in a way that is often indistinguishable from human-generated text. The initial model has been trained using Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), using methods similar to InstructGPT, but with slight differences in the data collection setup. The model is trained using supervised fine-tuning, where human AI trainers provided conversations in which they played both sides—the user and an AI assistant. The trainers would have had access to model-written suggestions to help them compose their responses.

Is it free? No. See the pricing

How does it help scriptwriters?

ChatGPT can be used for a vast amount of apps, not only scriptwriting or creative writing ones. Actually the question would be “how ChatGPT cannot help scriptwriters”. You can use it for writing loglines, outlines, brainstorm ideas and of course write some drafts of your scripts. Just provide ChatGPT with a prompt and it will help with it.

For now there is a proposal from the Writers Guild of America to allow screenwriters to use generative AI to write the scripts and the credits will be only for the writer using it. I hope the proposal will turn into a law and AI will improve the quality of work of scriptwriters and the quality of the output (scripts) itself.

Let’s give it a spin!

And I want to underline one thing - ChatGPT also come up with a title - “Lost dog, found life”

Act I:

FADE IN:

EXT. SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY

We see a 9-year-old boy, JIMMY, walking down the street calling out for his lost dog, MAX.

JIMMY

(shouting)

Max! Max! Where are you, boy?

Jimmy stops and looks around, worried. He spots his neighbor, MRS. JOHNSON, watering her plants.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(excitedly)

Mrs. Johnson, have you seen Max?

MRS. JOHNSON

(sympathetically)

No, I haven't seen him, Jimmy. I'm sorry.

Jimmy continues his search for Max, hoping to find him soon.

Act II:

EXT. FOREST - DAY

Jimmy is walking through the forest, calling out for Max. He hears a bark in the distance and runs towards it. He finally finds Max, who is injured and unable to move.

JIMMY

(worried)

Oh, Max! What happened to you?

Jimmy sees a man, MR. SMITH, walking by and calls out to him.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(excitedly)

Mr. Smith, please help me! My dog is injured!

Mr. Smith helps Jimmy carry Max to the nearest vet.

Act III:

INT. VET'S OFFICE - DAY

The vet treats Max's injuries and Jimmy waits anxiously. While waiting, he strikes up a conversation with a woman, MARY, who is waiting for her cat.

JIMMY

(sadly)

Max is the only connection I have with my dad. He died a year ago and Max was his dog.

MARY

(sympathetically)

I'm sorry to hear that, Jimmy.

JIMMY

(optimistically)

But I realized that Max is just a part of the beautiful constant shift in life. I need to find beauty in everything, even when things change.

Mary smiles at Jimmy and they continue to talk while waiting for their pets to recover.

FADE OUT.

GPT-4

GPT-4 is OpenAI's 4th generation Generative Pre-trained Transformer, a successor of ChatGPT. It is a multimodal large language model that uses deep learning to generate human-like text and it can accept images and text as inputs. GPT-4 is OpenAI's most advanced system, producing safer and more useful responses, it hallucinates less than previous models and is a major step forward. There are two versions with context windows of 8192 and 32768 tokens, which is a significant improvement over GPT-3.5 and GPT-3. OpenAI introduced the concept of "system message" that can be given to chat-optimized versions of GPT-4 in order to set the tone and task of the response.

Is it free? No. See the pricing

How does it help scriptwriters?

Long story short, GPT-4 does everything with what GPT-3.5 or ChatGPT does, but much, much better. Just better. Just see the quality of the output speak for itself.

Let’s try it out!

Title: A Boy and His Dog

Genre: Adventure/Drama

Setting: A small suburban neighborhood

Characters:

1. Timmy (9 years old boy) 

2. Luna (Timmy's lost dog) 

3. Mrs. Thompson (Timmy's elderly neighbor) 

4. Ben (Timmy's new friend)

ACT I:

INT. TIMMY'S BEDROOM - DAY

Timmy is sitting on his bed, looking at a framed picture of his father holding Luna as a puppy. He clutches the picture to his chest, tears streaming down his face.

TIMMY:

(whispers) I miss you, Dad. And now Luna's gone too.

INT. TIMMY'S KITCHEN - DAY

Timmy's mom is on the phone, visibly worried.

MOM:

Yes, I've put up flyers and posted on social media. Please let me know if you see her. Thank you.

Timmy enters the kitchen, determination in his eyes.

TIMMY:

I'm going to find Luna, Mom.

MOM:

(softly) Be careful, Timmy.

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY

Timmy walks down the street, calling out for Luna. He spots MRS. THOMPSON, his elderly neighbor, tending to her garden.

TIMMY:

Mrs. Thompson, have you seen Luna?

MRS. THOMPSON:

No, dear. But don't lose hope. She'll come back.

ACT II:

EXT. PARK - DAY

Timmy is searching for Luna in the park when he meets BEN, a boy his age, who's also looking for his lost cat.

BEN:

I'm Ben. My cat Whiskers is missing too. Maybe we can help each other.

They search together and, during their journey, they laugh, share stories, and bond over their love for their pets.

EXT. WOODS - DAY

Timmy and Ben find a small hidden pond in the woods. They sit down, exhausted from their search.

BEN:

You know, my grandpa always said that everything in life is temporary. It's up to us to find the beauty in its constant change.

Timmy smiles, understanding the message.

ACT III:

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY

Timmy and Ben return to the neighborhood, still searching. They hear barking and meowing coming from a nearby yard.

EXT. NEIGHBOR'S YARD - DAY

They find Luna and Whiskers playing together. Timmy and Ben hug their pets, overjoyed to have found them.

TIMMY:

Thanks, Ben. You're a great friend.

BEN:

No problem, Timmy. I'm glad we found them together.

EXT. TIMMY'S HOUSE - DAY

Timmy and Ben return to Timmy's house, their pets in tow.

TIMMY:

I've learned to find beauty in change. Luna is the last connection I have to my Dad, but I've made a new connection with you, Ben.

BEN:

And that's the beauty of life, Timmy.

They smile at each other, their friendship solidified by their shared adventure, as they walk into Timmy's house with Luna and Whiskers.

FADE OUT.

Bing Chat

On 7th of February 2023, Microsoft announced that it’s going to include in the newest version of Bing search a chatbot. As you can read in the article, the AI included in Bing search is a LLM that “is more powerful than ChatGPT and customized specifically for search. It takes key learnings and advancements from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 – and it is even faster, more accurate and more capable.”

As you already know, what ChatGPT and GPT-4 are, you have one, for free, built in Bing search. And that one has access to the internet. And if you want to learn more about it, or learn how to use it, we got you covered.

Is it free? Yes

How does it help scriptwriters?

As it runs on GPT-4, we already know it is one of the most amazing tools out there. It is capable of all of the tasks provided - writing outlines, logline, treatments and of course the scripts. But it has two main advantages over GPT-4 from OpenAI - it has access to the internet and is free.

Let’s give it a spin!

Here's a short script for you:

Title: Finding Hope

Act 1:

Fade in to a young boy, JIMMY (9), sitting on his bed holding a photo of him and his father with their dog, MAX. Jimmy's mother, SARAH (35), enters the room.

SARAH: Jimmy, it's time for dinner.

JIMMY: I'm not hungry.

SARAH: (sighs) I know you miss your father and Max. But we have to keep going.

JIMMY: (tearfully) Max is the only thing I have left of Dad.

SARAH: (hugs Jimmy) We'll find him. I promise.

Act 2:

Jimmy sets out to find Max. He puts up posters and asks around the neighborhood. He meets an old man, MR. WILSON (70), who tells him he saw Max near the park.

Jimmy runs to the park and finds Max playing with other dogs. He's overjoyed and hugs Max tightly.

MR. WILSON: (approaching) Looks like you found what you were looking for.

JIMMY: (smiling) Yes, I did. Thank you.

MR. WILSON: Sometimes we have to let go of the past to find happiness in the present.

Act 3:

Jimmy returns home with Max. Sarah is relieved and happy to see them.

SARAH: I'm so glad you found him.

JIMMY: (smiling) Me too. But I realized something. Max isn't the only thing I have left of Dad. I have you and all the memories we shared.

SARAH: (tearfully) That's right. And we'll always have each other.

Fade to black.

Designs.ai

Designs.ai is an online platform that uses proprietary AI technology to make design accessible to everyone. This means that even without design experience, you’ll be able to create stunning marketing portfolios in less than 2 minutes with the help of our user-friendly interface and AI powered tools.

It has some amazing tools to help your creative work - colormatcher, graphic maker or font pairer.

With designs.ai you can create logos, videos for different campaigns, generate voices from text prompts and many more. Also they have a tool to generate text, and that’s the one we will be using.

Is it free? No. See the pricing

How does it help scriptwriters

Well, you can find results for itself, but you might find it useful among other AI tools, that inside of that you can also create some visualizations / moodbooks and other materials to leverage your script’s marketing materials to a different level.

Let’s give it a spin

ACT I

FADE IN:

EXT. SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY

We see a 9-year-old boy, JIMMY, running down the street, calling out for his dog, MAX. Jimmy is out of breath and looks worried.

JIMMY

(shouting)

Max! Max! Where are you?

Jimmy stops and looks around. He sees a couple walking their dog.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(excitedly)

Have you seen my dog? He's a golden retriever.

COUPLE

(shaking their heads)

Sorry, we haven't seen him.

Jimmy looks disappointed and continues his search.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARK - DAY

Jimmy is now in the park, still searching for Max. He sees a man sitting on a bench, reading a book.

JIMMY

(excitedly)

Excuse me, sir. Have you seen my dog? He's a golden retriever.

MAN

(looking up from his book)

No, I haven't seen him. But I hope you find him.

Jimmy nods and continues his search.

CUT TO:

ACT II

EXT. FOREST - DAY

Jimmy is now in the forest, still searching for Max. He hears a bark in the distance and runs towards it.

JIMMY

(excitedly)

Max! Max! Is that you?

Jimmy sees Max in the distance, running towards him. Jimmy runs towards Max and hugs him tightly.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(tearfully)

I missed you so much, Max. You're the only connection I have to my dad.

Jimmy sits down next to Max and starts petting him. He looks up at the sky and takes a deep breath.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(sighing)

I miss my dad so much. But I know he's watching over me.

Jimmy looks at Max and smiles.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(happily)

Let's go home, Max.

CUT TO:

ACT III

EXT. SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY

Jimmy and Max are walking down the street towards Jimmy's house. Jimmy sees the couple from earlier walking their dog.

JIMMY

(excitedly)

I found Max! Thank you for your help.

COUPLE

(smiling)

We're glad you found him.

Jimmy and Max continue walking towards Jimmy's house. Jimmy looks at Max and smiles.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(happily)

I'm so glad I found you, Max. You helped me end my grief and start enjoying life again. I understand that everything is temporary and I should find the beauty in its constant shift.

Jimmy and Max arrive at Jimmy's house. Jimmy opens the door and Max runs inside. Jimmy looks at Max and smiles.

JIMMY (CONT'D)

(happily)

Welcome home, Max.

FADE OUT.

More AI tools for writing:

Wordtune

An amazing rewriting tool from AI21. It cannot write you the script itself, but it can help you to brainstorm it. It can help you rewrite a treatment, outline, or logline, shorten it or make it longer or even more formal. There are some daily free credits to help you improve your work for free.

Worth considering.

Nolan.ai

This is one of few AI tools designed for scriptwriting. It is in an early stage and as I was trying it out to have it generate a whole script, as with all the previous ones, but it generated only the first two scenes. But it created an opening of the story, and formatted it. It has some cool features, like the possibility to work offline or to generate visualizations of the scenes out of script’s scene description - but it is an early beta, so I hope they will improve that in the future.

Dramatron

Dramatron is an interactive co-authorship script writing tool which leverages large language models such as Chinchilla. It uses hierarchical generation and prompt chaining to ensure long range consistency across the entire script. As input, the user provides a log line, and from this single log line the system can generate an entire script with characters, plot, settings, and dialogue.

Didn’t use this tool, but as I read the quote below, I found it worth trying in the future.

“[...] About the potential for the script to be staged after editing. Several participants (p6, p9, p11, p13, p15) highlighted the potential for the script to be staged after editing: “a rough draft, would need to work a lot with it [but] it could be helpful and staged, definitely” (p6), “It gets me thinking about how you can make a full show with a single idea” (p11) and “You know, with a bit of editing, I could take that to Netflix: just need to finesse it a little bit” (p9). [...]”

QuillBot

It is a paid tool to help paraphrase your writing, change tone of it or improve it. It can check your grammar, make it more formal or shorten it, and many many more. It is a really useful tool to include in your daily work and I use it in my workflow to improve my work with GPT-4 or other tools, as some of Quillbot’s features are free. But I wouldn’t mind paying for using it.

Is scriptwriting doomed?

Of course it’s not. Even the Writers Guild of America is aware of it. As many tools, like Celtx just made work easier by editing the text, the same will be with GPT-4 and other tools - they made writers work easier, and let them to focus on the main thing - writing.

Tools can be used to brainstorm, get inspiration - options are limitless. They are improving your work, not replacing it.

Also we played with short forms, but if you scaled up to a feature movie script results won’t be that interesting. You have to be aware that AI can help you to leverage your potential to the next level, but it won’t replace your work. It’s not a promise nor a threat - it’s how it is. You don;t have to write everything manually, you can use a computer. You don’t have to get inspiration only by reading and researching the internet - you have an AI assistant to join you on the creative journey.

If you are interested in other AI tools which are solving problems we are facing, check out the dedicated page of Cohere apps or Whisper apps.

Maybe you will create a solution by yourself? You can find ChatGPT API to help you creating such a tool or maybe get inspired by OpenAI Whisper tutorial. Or just build cohere app.

Know more about the world, get inspired.

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