Will you ever work in This Town again? – SCRIPTWRITING AND A.I.
This week saw the release of writer Stephen Knight’s (Peaky Blinders, SAS Rogue Heroes) latest drama, ‘This Town‘ on BBC1/iPlayer. The title I assume is derived from The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ (1981, the year the story is set – it opens with the Handsworth riots). It may be a touch of nostalgia for that era of music that made me so receptive to the drama but I thoroughly enjoyed it, felt it had substance, and found it moving and energising.
Also this week a UK-based scriptwriter called Guy Ducker posted a thoughtful item on LinkedIn about the potential impact of AI on screenwriting. After testing ChatGPT 4.0 for various aspects of scriptwriting – from generating ideas to writing scenes – he shared his broader thoughts. His conclusion from the testing was “right now, the best it’s going to give you without a lot of help is a third-rate script for a Ron Howard movie” (which prompted a chuckle). Beyond the product test he felt that not only does it have no soul so far, it has no personality either. He punctuated his piece with a caustically amusing scene from Michael Tolkin & Robert Altman’s ‘The Player’ which spotlights the algorithmic nature of old school movie development by demonstrating the formulaic conversion of true/news stories to movie pitches. His conclusion: “AI-generated stories feel so empty because they are: no experience or emotion is being communicated, because the storyteller has none to offer.”
‘This Town’ would be extremely hard, if not impossible, for AI to write because it is driven by an intense personal sense of nostalgia for coming of age in a specific place at a particular time. It has scenes which are visually (rather than verbally) driven, especially the scenes of the Two Tone-like band (Fuck the Factory) coming together. If Stephen Knight was writing the prompts, perhaps AI could be his machine co-writer – but what would be the point? It would be easier for a writer of his calibre just to write it.
The important perspective to keep in mind is that AI applications like ChatGPT are simply tools. They help you fill the white of the blank sheet. They get the ball rolling. They can help prompt better and more original ideas – from your human brain and spirit. Looking for such tools to write ‘Citizen Kane’ or ‘Manchester by the Sea’ or ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ is missing the point. It’s a matter of thinking Pen not Manuscript.
Simple Pleasures part 4 
Perhaps not such a helpful comment from me but I watched the first one and I thought it was dreadful.
Guardian: “Steven Knight’s six-parter about the formation of an 80s new wave band is intelligent, ambitious and anarchic. But be warned: it can feel oppressive at first”
Guardian: “there is no point in resisting this bold, brilliant TV show”
Yes, I saw the review at the time. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It felt like a series of stereotypical set-pieces, with plodding dialogue and badly acted. It lost me at the very first ‘riot’ scene.