How Text-to-Video Apps May Impact the Entertainment & Stock Content Industries

Imagine if James Cameron only needed to give a short text prompt to an AI to create one of the most emotional scenes in the movie Titanic. The team could have saved millions of dollars instead of building huge water tanks at Baja Studios.

If the filmmakers had waited around 25 more years, they would have seen the rise of text-to-video apps. These tools use AI to turn written text into videos.

One of the apps, called Sora, takes things much further. Its videos look very real and could change how people make films and online content.

For example, when someone gave Sora the prompt, “photorealistic closeup video of two pirate ships battling each other as they sail inside a cup of coffee,” the results were surprising and detailed.

This kind of progress has already caught the eye of big filmmakers. A few days after Sora was shared with the public, Tyler Perry announced he was putting a hold on an $800 million studio expansion in Atlanta.

Should Hollywood be worried?

Just one week after OpenAI showed what Sora can do, Tyler Perry announced he was stopping his plan to expand his film studio, a plan he had worked on for four years.

Perry knew about this kind of AI in 2023, but he didn’t expect it to be this powerful. Honestly, we didn’t either.

“If I wanted to write a scene on the moon, I could just type it out, and this AI could create it easily,” Perry said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t need to build a set. I can sit in an office and do it all on a computer. It’s shocking.”

Perry has already used AI in two of his upcoming movies. For example, he skipped hours of makeup work by using AI to digitally change how he looked.

But skipping makeup is small compared to how this could change the way big-budget films are made. Perry pointed out that many jobs in the film industry could be affected.

“It worries me for all the people working in film. I thought about the actors, camera crew, sound team, editors, everyone. This could impact every part of the industry.”

As someone who owns a studio, Perry is sure this new AI tech could lead to job losses. If studios can make a show for far less money—maybe spending just a small amount of what it used to cost, they’ll likely choose the cheaper option.

Still, he believes there’s hope if the entire entertainment industry works together to face these changes.

The Big Discussion Around Text-to-Video Apps:

A few weeks before OpenAI showed Sora to the world, a study looked at how AI tools might affect jobs in the entertainment industry. Out of 300 business leaders, 90% said AI would become a bigger part of the industry.

The study also showed that 72% of creative businesses were already using AI in their work. Because of this, many people now worry that AI could take over some jobs.

This new technology can be used in almost every step of movie-making, which has caused a lot of debate among studio owners and creative workers.

Back in 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike for 148 days. One reason was that writers weren’t getting paid fairly for their work, and they feared studios would let AI do their jobs. So, they asked for rules on how studios could use AI.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) also joined the strike for similar reasons. Some companies were already able to scan an actor’s face and body, and then reuse that image again and again without asking or paying the actor. SAG-AFTRA’s lead negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, warned this could happen without any control.

Now, with tools like Sora, many people are wondering, will AI help us or replace us?

Artist and filmmaker Paul Trillo said it best: “This is the first time things feel shaky, like what happened to illustrators a few years ago. It’s a strange feeling.”

Justine Bateman, a director and former actress, even called AI in movies a real threat. She warned that creative people could be replaced by bits and pieces of their own past work.

Still, Trillo admitted that it’s hard not to be amazed by what AI can do. The short videos that Sora makes look real and full of detail. It’s not just about understanding what you type, it’s also about showing it in a way that makes sense in the real world.

For example, if someone asks Sora for a video of an angry cat, the cat might narrow its eyes and give its owner a sharp look. The video understands emotions, too.

Even though the tech is impressive, most people agree that AI won’t replace human creativity.

Bindu Reddy, who runs an AI company called Abacus AI, believes that AI can help make movies and games better, but not replace the people who make them. She also says it might work well for short videos like TikTok or ads, but not for full films.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos agrees. On a podcast with Rob Lowe, he said that even if AI can copy real life, people still notice when something doesn’t feel real. “There’s no shortcut to real human experience,” he said.

Outside of Hollywood, there are more concerns, especially for the stock video industry. In 2023, OpenAI partnered with Shutterstock and got access to its huge library of videos and photo info to train its AI.

This deal shows how big media companies are trying to keep up with fast-changing technology. AI is learning how to make videos that match exactly what people want.

And since buying stock videos can cost a lot, many are now asking the same thing Jim Makos did: Will AI soon replace stock footage too?

What’s Next for Hollywood?

When the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes ended, both unions made deals with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). These deals did not fully remove AI from film and TV work.
Instead, the agreements gave more power to human creators, letting them have more control over how their work is made.

This shows that AI is not going away. It is here to stay. But as we said before, Hollywood needs to come together with one voice to protect the people working in the industry.

Hopefully, it won’t take another strike to reach this kind of agreement again.

Right now, AI may not be ready to fully create films. But the way the technology is growing so fast, it’s hard to know when that might change.