So... Can You Write a Movie with ChatGPT?

I’m here to tell you, as someone who's been doing this for a while now, yes, you absolutely can.

Now, before you panic: I’m not saying ChatGPT writes the movie for you. I’m saying it writes it with you. That´s how I´ve been doing it. I remember a decade ago, I had a conversation with some friends where I mentioned that one day I would love to have a writer's assistant. Someone or something that would sit with me and we could bounce ideas back and forth. Man, that was a dream back then.

Jump to today, and… well. You all know what´s happened with ChatGPT. So… over the past weeks, I’ve been creating a screenplay, a wild, funny, sarcastic sci-fi action comedy where robots are sent, by the government of course, to chase down people who have not paid their way overdue student loans. Yes, it's absurd. And at the same time, yes, it’s very plausible. The way things are going. Anyway, it’s been a blast to write. But I haven’t been doing it alone. Oh no, I’ve been writing it alongside ChatGPT. Cool, ah?

So now, let me answer a few questions that I myself had when I started using this new tool;

Does the AI come up with all the ideas?

No. The story is mine. The characters, the tone, the central themes. All of it came from my imagination, my life, my voice. What the AI does is act like a highly focused, deeply read, never-tired story partner. I give it the seed of an idea. Well, actually more than a seed; the prompt I give it is a synopsis of the whole story. After that, it throws back possibilities - some great, some too much, some hilarious, some just right and plenty of times, just too much information. You gotta be careful with that. You gotta learn how to control that.

So what’s ChatGPT’s role?

It’s like a writers’ room, research assistant, editor, and script supervisor all rolled into one. Sometimes it gives me 3 or 4 variations on a scene. Sometimes it helps me clarify a character’s backstory. Sometimes it tells me, in a soft and kind voice, that maybe this or that moment doesn’t land the way I think it does. It never tells me what to do, but it gives me options. And that, my brothers and sisters, is gold.

Is it ever overwhelming?

Yes. Like I mentioned before, sometimes it throws too much at you. It over explains, it adds backstory I didn’t ask for. Offers five endings when I was hoping for one clean rewrite. But here’s the thing: that’s what real people do in writers’ rooms too. The secret is learning how to ask better questions. The clearer I get about what I need the more helpful ChatGPT becomes. It reflects the clarity (or chaos) of my own thinking. It also depends on you and your writing style. Some people are methodical, others are more freewheeling. It's up to you and what you feel is right.

Does it make the process easier?

Yes and no. It makes the mechanics faster, the brainstorming more dynamic, the structure more flexible. But I still have to know what I want to say. I still have to shape the emotional arc, the character's truth, and the ending. For me, AI is there to keep pitching until you get a nice hit or a full blown homerun.

So what’s the verdict?

It is already possible to write a movie with ChatGPT. I haven´t finished mine yet, but I am pretty close to doing so. 

What is it about it that I like? It listens, it learns, it asks questions and it builds with you. And if you’re a writer who’s ever stared too long at a blank page, you know how valuable it is to just have someone in the room, even if that someone is made of code. Know what I mean? It is the personal assistant I always wanted, and maybe even more.

Thanks for reading. Abrazos.

Diego Rojas