How a Hollywood Director Uses AI to Make Movies - Ep. 12 with Dave Clark

AI & I

You can break into Hollywood with a movie you made alone in your room without using a single camera. Dave Clark showed me how live on this show.

Dave Clark is a film director and commercial director with experience working with brands like HP and Intel who is now experimenting with cutting-edge AI technology. He recently produced a popular sci-fi short Borrowing Time, which has over 110,000 views on X and was mentioned in Forbes. Dave made this film only using AI tools like Midjourney, text-to-video model Runway, and generative voice AI platform ElevenLabs.

Dave told me that he couldn’t have made Borrowing Time without AI—it’s an expensive project that traditional Hollywood studios would never bankroll. But after Dave’s short went viral, major production houses approached him to make it a full-length movie. I think this is an excellent example of how AI is changing the art of filmmaking, and I came out of this interview convinced that we are on the brink of a new creative age.

We dive deep into the world of AI tools for image and video generation, discussing how aspiring filmmakers can use them to validate their ideas, and potentially even secure funding if they get traction. Dave walks me through how he has integrated AI into his movie-making process, and as we talk, we make a short film featuring Nicolas Cage using a haunted roulette ball to resurrect his dead movie career, live on the show.

This episode is a must-watch for creative people interested in bringing their stories to life, movie buffs, and anyone curious about the future of creativity.

If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!

Want even more?

Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.

To hear more from Dan Shipper:

Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe

Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper

Links to resources mentioned in the episode:

Follow Dave Clark

Borrowing Time, Dave’s viral sci-fi short

Forbes article that mentions Borrowing Time

Dan’s article on how AI is changing filmmaking

Nathan Labenz’s podcast, The Cognitive Revolution