AI, Netflix in Focus for Venice Head Alberto Barbera, Tarak Ben Ammar in THR Roma Roundtable
The 2024 Venice Film Festival is a good time for a discussion of hot entertainment industry topics between sector players and experts with THR Roma.
So, the Venice festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera, Eagle Pictures owner Tarak Ben Ammar and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti sat down with me to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence, the predominance of Netflix and the prospects of a lengthy crisis for Hollywood.
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“It is quite clear that AI will change the rules of film production,” argued Barbera. “It is an extremely innovative tool, and it could be very useful to improve the way we write, shoot and post-produce a film, but there are a lot of concerns. The screenwriters are worried, the actors are worried about being replaced by AI, and I think that their concerns are valid.”
Ben Ammar said that writers and directors will remain invaluable and cannot be easily replaced. “I am not convinced that AI will replace the genius of writers or directors,” he argued. “I agree that it could be a tool in some areas, but I don’t believe the European governments are going to authorize a halt to dubbing. If you stop the dubbing of movies in Italy, or France or Germany you put thousands of people out of work, and most of the Italian actors don’t even work in films; they work in dubbing. There will be a European industry discussion about what is good and what is bad. Meanwhile, in America the unions will protect their members, actors, producers, directors and technicians.”
And Occhipinti stressed that “this is why it is important that there will be an updating of regulations” for the age of AI.
Below are some of the other highlights from the wide-ranging discussion.
Netflix has won. Game over.
On the ever-sticky question of streamers versus studios, Ben Ammar pronounced the battle over. “Netflix has won. Game over. Apple is selling phones and iPads. Amazon is selling food. Netflix controls the world in terms of streaming. They have won. By the way, Alberto was the first person to bring the streamers to Venice, long before Cannes. He is the man who legitimized the streamers at Venice.”
Barbera smiled and explained: “I realized some time ago that since the streamers were making some of the most interesting films, we should welcome them to Venice. There is no need to build a wall between the streamers and studios. Netflix and Amazon have produced some of the biggest films that Hollywood was not itself able to.”
An extended crisis in the industry?
During the roundtable, I asked the panel about industry consolidation, the tens of thousands of lay-offs, the race to get rid of unprofitable assets at studios like Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. How long will this period of upheaval and consolidation last, and what is the effect on filmmaking?
Ben Ammar said a lot would depend on geopolitical factors like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, on the state of the world economy, and on whether interest rates will go down soon. “Remember,” said Ben Ammar, “that all of these companies are publicly traded. I believe there are simply too many films being made right now, and therefore there are too many bad films around.”
Barbera noted that Venice received two thousand submissions this year.
It was at this point that the owner of Eagle Pictures made a gloomy prediction. “I think we will see a long crisis, and across the industry, and for three reasons: Firstly, the cost of money; secondly people don’t really want to go out and spend money; and thirdly, the taste of audiences has been lowered by the amount of bad movies. That is why festivals are essential.” He and Occhipinti added however, that talent will always survive, and content is still the driver.
Censorship
Barbera said he was worried about a lack of freedom for filmmakers: “More and more this is a real and growing problem, in places like China, India, Turkey and Argentina. I was accused of not having enough films from Latin America or Asia, but the problem is there are no films. They are not allowed to express themselves freely in these countries.”
Occhipinti agreed: ”This is unfortunately happening in more and more countries. That’s why I believe governments should not decide what is produced.”
When asked what advice he would have for Italian producers and directors, Ben Ammar said: “I was blessed to have learned the business from Roberto Rossellini and Franco Zeffirelli. My view is that scripts are fundamental. If it is not on the page, then it is not on the screen, and the writers don’t have to be directors and directors don’t have to be writers.”
Queer: The Long Version
Barbera closed the Round Table by heaping high praise on the new Daniel Craig film, Queer, directed by Luca Guadagnino. “Queer is the best film made by Guadagnino so far. I had the chance to see three different versions. The first was three hours and twenty minutes, the next one was cut down to two and a half hours, and then, just fifteen days before the opening of the festival, it was cut again, this time down to two hours and fifteen minutes. But I loved the long version the best.”
Watch the full roundtable below.
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