Can artificial intelligence tell you in your script is the next blockbuster or fl0p? That’s the pitch by startup Quilty, which is offering AI tools that can “read” a film or TV script and provide feedback on a creative level or offer market projections for its potential success.
The idea is Quilty will be able to provide creative and financial analysis that will lead to better decision when it comes to picking the right project. Or, for writers, that the analytical feedback will allow them to shape their projects to make them more marketable.
Quilty’s launch comes amid an acceleration of Hollywood’s embrace of AI, from Netflix’s acquisition of Ben Affleck’s InterPositive to the rise of AI studios like Secret Level. Quilty’s promise of AI system offering quantitative analysis of projects speaks to the fear that many in the creative community still have about algorithms replacing instinct and institutional knowledge about the art of TV and filmmaking.
Quilty, however, pitches itself as a tool to allow humans to make “more informed decision-making,” according to Daniel Wood, chief technology officer and co-founder.
Tech entrepreneur and film producer Wood partnered with CEO Simon Horsman, a technology and entertainment lawyer turned Emmy-winning producer to start the venture, which they believe is a one-stop shop for creative and financial analysis. The focal point of the analysis comes in the form of “Quilty Score” — a number based on four areas of analysis: story & craft, commercial viability, cultural resonance and production reality.
“For decades, the industry has relied on expensive, disconnected solutions and informal networks for its decision making,” Horsman said. “Quilty connects every creative and commercial decision in one place giving filmmakers, producers, financiers, studio executives, buyers and their representatives affordable access to critical intelligence to move projects forward faster, with greater confidence and broader access to collaboration and opportunity.”
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“More informed decision-making is just the beginning,” Wood added. “The same philosophy that drives the Quilty Score – transparency, objectivity and commercial reality – applies to every dollar that flows through a production.
The AI tool will specifically consolidate creative analysis, writer development, packaging, market forecasting, production planning, industry introductions and legal intelligence.
Whether the service actually lives up to the promise remains to be seen. But users can upload their script and get a free preview analysis. But to unlock the full level of feedback, it will cost $49.99 per script, with additional services like a pitch deck costing extra.
Users can upload a script, whether its a movie, TV show or stage play, enter a title, choose the budget range and planned release date and get their analysis back in as little as 4 minutes.
The producers have a 20-year professional partnership, starting at PriceGrabber.com. Following the company’s $485 million acquisition in 2005, Horsman and Wood transitioned to the entertainment industry as producers. Horsman won an Emmy, Tony and Olivier awards, while raising over $350 million in entertainment financing.
