Five Hollywood writers discuss AI’s impact on their careers

Acknowledgements

I am immensely grateful to the writers who generously shared their stories: Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Leah Folta, Cheryl Guerriero, David A. Goodman, Jackie Penn, and Danny Tolli. Special thanks to Leah Folta for her connections to many of the writers, to Becca and Matt Portman, Colleen Kinder and Brian O’Connor for their helpful introductions, and to Charlie Kelly for sharing his perspectives. Thanks to Phil Cheung and David Walter Banks for their excellent photography. Thanks to Leigh Balon, Alec Friedhoff, Michael Gaynor, and Carie Muscatello for their incredible creativity, talent, and collaboration in bringing the stories to life. Thanks to Glencora Haskins for her excellent work creating the visualizations in this report, to Benjamin Swedberg for fact checking, and to Erin Raftery for her promotion of the report. Thanks to Fred Dews, Gastón Reboredo, and Kuwilileni Williams-Hauwanga for their enthusiastic support in recording and transcribing the interviews. Thanks to Leigh Balon, Alan Berube, Xavier de Souza Briggs, Walter Frick, David Goodman, Glencora Haskins, Tom Kochan, Mark Muro, and Bharat Ramamurti for helpful feedback on the report draft.

This publication is part of a series on generative AI and workers made possible by support from Omidyar Network. The views expressed in this report are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the donors, their officers, or employees. Thanks in particular to Lauren Alexander, Anmol Chaddha, Laura Chavez-Varela, Anamitra Deb, Beth Kanter, Alexis Krieg, Mike Kubzansky, Michele Jawando, and Tracy Williams for recognizing the importance of worker storytelling and for supporting this series.

These interviews were conducted between November 4, 2023 and January 16, 2024. Participants have provided permission to Brookings to use their names, likenesses, transcribed words, and audio for this series. The quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.