Pulp Fiction co-writer says it was ‘impossible’ to sell his movies until he started an AI company

Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary said he has three AI-driven films currently in active production

Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary has touted the use of AI over “traditional” methods to create his films, saying that it was “impossible” to sell his projects unless they had the word “AI” attached.

Avary, 60, who won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1994 for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, announced that his technology company, General Cinema Dynamics, currently has three AI-driven films in active production in partnership with Massive AI Studios.

“I go out there and try to get stuff made, and it’s almost impossible,” Avary said on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

“And then I built a technology company over the last year, basically making AI movies, and all of a sudden, boom, like that, money gets thrown at it. All of a sudden, just by attaching the word ‘AI’ and [the fact] that it’s a technology-based company, all of a sudden, investors came in, and we’re in production on three films now.”

The screenwriter described his three AI films as “a family Christmas movie that’ll be in theaters this holiday season,” a “faith-based movie for next Easter” and a “big romantic war epic.”

Roger Avary (pictured in 2007) said he has three AI-driven films currently in production under his General Cinema Dynamics banner (Getty)

John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson led 1994’s crime thriller ‘Pulp Fiction’ (Miramax)

“It was so easy for me to get that going and so difficult for me to get a traditional movie going through the traditional route,” he added. “Just put AI in front of it and all of a sudden you’re in production on three features.”

Avary’s comments come amid widespread fear that AI will cut Hollywood jobs and permanently reshape the industry. Just last year, multiple celebrities spoke out when an actor created entirely by AI (referred to as “Tilly Norwood”) sparked interest from talent agencies.

“Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$. How gross, read the room,” Melissa Barrera wrote on her Instagram Story at the time.

“And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?” Matilda star Mara Wilson added in a separate Instagram Story.

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“So many people are against AI,” Avary acknowledged. “But all it is, is visual effects. And I have experience,” he argued. “And what used to be a million dollars a minute is now $5,000 a minute, to do it really, really well. It looks kind of amazing, actually. I think, for independent cinema, and for the future of film and television production, these are super exciting times.”

Avary is not alone in his AI endeavors. Earlier this month, Amazon publicly embraced the use of AI, revealing plans to use the technology to speed up the process for making movies and TV shows.

“The cost of creating is so high that it really is hard to make more and it really is hard to take great risk,” said Albert Cheng, the veteran entertainment executive leading the Amazon MGM Studios team tasked with developing new AI tools. “We fundamentally believe that AI can accelerate, but it won’t replace, the innovation and the unique aspects that (humans) bring to create the work.”