She called for \u201cthinking about what we need to be doing as stewards of this industry \u2014 so that we don’t have somebody come in and completely upend us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sherick was one of five panelists at the State of the Industry panel, which was moderated by MovieMaker<\/em>. The main takeaway was this: Change is scary, but also brings new opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sherick is so open to AI that she used ChatCPT to choose a new place to live when she decided to move from Los Angeles. She told the AI chatbot what she was looking for in a home, and it recommended she move to Gig Harbor, Washington, where she now lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that\u2019s only one potential use of AI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Aaron David Roberts, CEO of the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex<\/a>, noted that AI can be very useful for things like shot lists and writing pitches. And actor and filmmaker James Oliver, the founder of Blckbrd Films<\/a>, noted that he\u2019s used AI to do research on historical settings while writing scripts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brian Walker sees it as an innovative way to make new contacts. He\u2019s the CEO of Picture Motion<\/a>, a Los Angeles-based social impact agency that creates socially conscious media and entertainment marketing campaigns. The company uses AI \u2014 backed by humans, of course \u2014 to find potential experts in a given field who can help promote projects connected to those fields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, for the new film American Solitaire<\/a><\/em>, about a soldier struggling with the complexities of gun violence, Picture Motion is reaching out to veterans\u2019 groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walker said Picture Motion can use AI to compile, in an hour or two, a list of up to 10,000 organizations \u2014 \u201cfrom churches to community centers to schools\u201d \u2014 that can help get the message out about a particular film. Picture Motion then narrows down the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That kind of work requires the right prompting \u2014 around audiences, geography, and other considerations. As Sherick noted, writing the correct prompts can feel like speaking a new language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One thing the panelists agreed on is that AI should not take over creative roles. Actor Joshua Close<\/a>, who stars in American Solitaire<\/em>, noted that some of his voice-actor friends are losing opportunities because of AI voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are certain things that I hope we can slap regulations on,\u201d he noted, such as making sure AI \u201ccan\u2019t manipulate performances too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oliver, meanwhile, said he welcomes the challenge of creating stories in the age of AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI’m wired for two things \u2014 optimism and battle,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I just get excited when I see the robots coming with really bad scripts that are just boring and can’t touch the human heart. \u2026 There\u2019s great art to be made that a robot cannot touch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The panelists also called for innovation in the way we view films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roberts noted that many theaters are sitting empty for lack of new films, which creates opportunities for independent filmmakers to rent out those theaters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour AMC is your art house,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need content.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Walker, meanwhile, noted that many of the films Picture Motion works on use non-traditional distribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re using theaters, we’re using churches, we’re using libraries. We had a screening tour at natural history museums for a Nat Geo series. We\u2019re looking at ways that you can leverage those spaces, as well as even create hybrid experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, he said, \u201cI’ve seen people use video game platforms to host screenings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oliver also recommended unique viewing experiences, like bringing in musicians to perform at screenings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI’ve seen people who \u2014 even if they don’t have names or international sales value attached their film, based on the people that are involved in it \u2014 they\u2019re eventizing whenever they can, and bringing a lot of people together to see it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He believes audiences are still thirsty to watch movies together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTake advantage of the fact that people are really wanting to see each other and do more interesting, fun things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can click here, if you like<\/a>, for more coverage of the Coronado Island Film Festival<\/a>, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Main image: (L-R) Aaron David Roberts, CEO of the Chula Vista Entertainment Complex; actor Joshua Close; Brian Walker, CEO of Picture Motion; James Oliver, actor and founder of BLCKBRD Films; Bettina Sherick, CEO and founder of Hollywood in Pixels. Photo by Tony Amat for the Coronado Island Film Festival. <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bettina Sherick has spent a lot of time in meetings with Hollywood executives who were, she says, \u201cincentivized to keep","protected":false},"author":1641,"featured_media":1182026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_comments":false,"cm_data":"","cpt_newsletter_id":0,"tpd_coauthor":[],"tpd_feed_delay":{"delay_type":"default"},"is_tpd_lists_single_post":false,"tpd_featured_posts_arr":"","tpd_franchise_content":"","hide_featured_img_single_post":false,"msn_featured_video":[],"_msn_custom_title":"","tpd_featured_video":[],"tpd_sponsored_post_logo":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_link":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_width":0,"tpd_sponsored_enable_nofollow":true,"tpd_disable_incontent_ads":false,"tpd_disable_right_rail_ads":false,"tpd_disable_after_content_ads":false,"tpd_disable_header_ads":false,"tpd_disable_sticky_footer_ads":false,"tpd_disable_video_ads":false,"tpd_disable_outbrain":false,"tpd_affiliate_disclaimer":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[41495],"tags":[],"coauthor":[],"feeds":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1182024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-film-festivals"},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Coronado-Island-Film-Festival-State-of-the-Industry-Panel-428x241.jpg","fimg_url_thumb":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Coronado-Island-Film-Festival-State-of-the-Industry-Panel-428x241.jpg","fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Coronado-Island-Film-Festival-State-of-the-Industry-Panel-788x444.jpg","author_name":"Tim Molloy","author_avatar":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_1078-100x100.jpg","author_link":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/author\/tim-molloy\/","coauthors":[],"primary_category":{"term_id":41495,"name":"Film Festivals","slug":"film-festivals","taxonomy":"category","url":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/category\/film-festivals\/"},"featured_img_medium":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Coronado-Island-Film-Festival-State-of-the-Industry-Panel-788x444.jpg","post_categories":["Film Festivals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1182026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182024"},{"taxonomy":"coauthor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthor?post=1182024"},{"taxonomy":"feeds","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feeds?post=1182024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Best Ways for Filmmakers to Leverage AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What AI Should Never Do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Coronado Island Film Festival State of the Industry Panelists on Distribution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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