Artificial script readers hit Hollywood, wait, it’s just Largo

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

When an exclusive invite to try new a AI breakthrough for screenplays popped up from Largo.ai, of course we had to try this new service. Here’s an excerpt of the pitch: “You can watch our workshop in Cannes to get an idea on the usage of AI during a film development…”

“We provide an initial offering to 100 players in the industry who have been in the credits as a writer before,” the invite said. So we sent Nicholl semi-finalist screenplay “JAZZ AGE DOLL” to get the treatment.

A bit of a ringer, this script had been retitled as STRUMPET once and retooled over the years, but as JAZZ AGE DOLL had already been optioned before and floated around Hollywood prior to any of the Zelda Fitzgerald, or F. Scott Fitzgerald projects were made with Christina Ricci or Leonardo DiCaprio.

In fact this script has a provenance that dates back to 1997, the year it placed in the Nicholl Fellowship, and was shown at Cannes as part of the Filmmakers deck in 1999. In 1999, it was optioned, repped, and a deal fell through. A rep at CAA once asked if JAZZ AGE DOLL was based on a book, or copied from a book, which is actually quite a compliment.

Another agent showed it all around Hollywood and “damaged” the property. Damaged property in show business means that agent let everyone and their French bulldog read it, thumb through it, pass it around. So its value of the script for $350 – $450K range was in question after the idea had been shared so widely with the entire town. Now this same script would sell for $1 M USD.

With a WGA Reg number, and that kind of insider industry history, this screenplay seemed perfect.

Largo CEO Sami Arpa agreed to put the technology through its paces, without knowing the background of this script.

Arpa holds a PhD from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and did his undergraduate work at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, with a BA in CompSci and Masters in Computer Graphics. (Bilkent is an acronym of ‘bilim kenti’ in Turkish, which means “city of science and knowledge.”) 

As a speaker at the Royal Film Commission in Jordan, Arpa’s bio included that he had made two short films in 2014, 2015, and held past positions at 3dios, “a 3D filmmaking company,” as well as being founder of a film award show in Switzerland. So Arpa’s familiarity with entertainment and technology is certainly up to date.

Next we received a login and password for the demo to Ai-enhanced Project JAZZ AGE DOLL. 

The results looked promising, and the separate tabs on the top lead to a kind of amorphous gif that indicates the artificial intelligence is at work, or so it appears.

For “JAZZ AGE DOLL” the tipping point on production is attaching A-list talent, so the analysis does present a package to shop around.

The call sheet idea and break down by character’s names seems pretty great.

Overall, more functionality is coming as the technology learns from the process, or at least that is the goal. 

If you’re interested in Largo’s AI set of artificial eyes on your project, the basic steps are as follows:

1. Register on Largo.ai: https://largo.ai/register

2. Select the Starter package (you need to subscribe minimum for 1 month)

3. Run one analysis over Largo.ai with one of your screenplays (pdf version is required).

4. Get 30 min free consulting from their data scientists over your AI results in the coming days.

5. Get a seat reserved in our Studios&Platforms for a meet-up in November.

Let us know in the comments what you think of this technology.

Screenmancer thanks Sami, Klaudia, Anna, Javier, and the whole team at Largo.ai.

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