Artificial Intelligence in Entertainment Among Hot Topics at Focus 2023

Publish date: 2024-09-30

Focus, the end-of-year meeting place for the international production community, returns to London as a live event Dec. 5-6. With over 60 conference sessions and more than 150 expert speakers, the event’s ninth edition remains free to attend for industry professionals and embraces the increasing convergence of all screen sectors, gathering thousands of attendees across film, TV, advertising, animation, games and XR.

“From the first few months of the year, we could feel that Focus was attracting more and more interest from the makers of all the creative screen industries,” says Jean-Frederic Garcia, managing director of Focus. “There is tangible growing interest in the event and we are very excited to be about to open the biggest Focus ever by quite a margin.”

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This year’s Focus conference program, presented in association with Variety, will reflect on key industry talking points of the year, from the challenges of financing projects in turbulent times to navigating new technology, creating content sustainably and nurturing new talent.

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A prominent topic in this year’s conference program is artificial intelligence. Three sessions will focus on the subject of AI: “The Write Approach: How Can AI and Humans Hold Hands,” “AI: Who Watches the Watchmen? The Legal and Ethical Issues,” and “Revolutionizing the Art of Imagination: AI in VFX and Animation.”

“I think talking about AI is extremely important,” says Garcia. “AI is not a trend, it is a very fast-growing side of the digital world that will have such a huge impact on the industries and our lives — it is difficult to understand. Having those conversations now, at the early stages of generative AI, is crucial to integrate it into our working lives in the most helpful and productive manner.”

The AI-themed sessions will focus on the relationship between humans and tech, breaching conversations on how the new technology is impacting the writing process, the seesawing of power post-strike and ideal AI working relationships between production companies and writers. The sessions will also highlight legal and ethical issues when it comes to artificial intelligence, with experts discussing how the technology is used and how it can potentially aim to replace the human workforce, plus a deep dive into rules, guidelines and requirements in this new landscape.

Speakers on the subjects include Dominic Rees, associate professor in filmmaking and AI expert at the University of Reading, and Bob Schultz, president of ScriptFest.

Beyond AI, some of the highlights within this year’s conference sessions include a masterclass on Ridley Scott’s Apple TV+ epic “Napoleon” with producer Mark Huffam titled “Cross-Border Collaborations: A ‘Napoleon’ Case Study”; and an in-depth conversation with Harvey Weinstein’s former assistant Zelda Perkins titled “Can’t Buy My Silence.” While Huffam will discuss topics such as scouting for international locations and the participation of European film commissions in Scott’s latest, Perkins will be responsible for this year’s Sue Hayes Lecture.

The special lecture pays homage to the former Film London Commissioner and one of Focus’ developers, who died in 2021. This year, it will focus on Perkins’ ground-breaking work in bringing the systematic abuse of NDAs to the attention of the British government and international press, and the Can’t Buy My Silence global campaign, fighting for legislative and regulatory reform of NDAs.

Speaking about the main themes at this year’s Focus, Garcia says: “Most of the attention has been turned towards the strikes and what kind of future talents should expect. This puts the human aspect of the industry center stage.” With this in mind, the event will host sessions not only on how humans can work alongside new technologies, but also a discussion on mental health and well-being, in partnership with the U.K. trade union BECTU, and a series of opportunities for new talent to discuss how to navigate the market from financing to distribution.

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