AI in Hollywood, with Toonstar's John Attanasio and Luisa Huang
AI's role in Hollywood animation production and ethical considerations during industry strikes.
Guests
John Attanasio
Co-founder and CEO, Toonstar
John Attanasio is co-founder and CEO of Toonstar, an animation and entertainment studio using software and AI-assisted production to develop interactive franchises. He has worked in film and digital media, with a focus on lowering production barriers and building audience communities around animated projects.
Luisa Huang
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Toonstar
Luisa Huang is co-founder and COO of Toonstar, an animation studio that uses technology to make production and audience participation more accessible. She has helped develop AI-assisted animated projects and franchise experiments, including StEvEn & Parker, while working through the creative, labor, and business questions surrounding AI in Hollywood.
Watch on YouTube ▶About this conversation
Welcome to AI-Curious, a podcast that explores the good, the bad, and the creepy of artificial intelligence.
For the debut episode, I'll introduce the conceit of the show, and then we'll speak to some Hollywood producers who are pioneers of using AI: the cofounders of Toonstar Studios, CEO John Attanasio and COO Luisa Huang.
John and Luisa bring a somewhat unique perspective of AI in Hollywood. For years, they've used AI *not* to replace writers and actors... but instead to speed up production and build communities.
They share first how AI helped lower the barriers to entry for animation (5:30), then how their shows and franchises (The Gimmicks, Space Junk, Fortun3) have embraced AI (11:10), how they think about using AI ethically and responsibly (30:00), their thoughts on the writers and actors strike and a possible way forward (37:30), and finally some ideas of what AI in Hollywood could look like in the future (44:30).