• Business Insider spoke to up-and-coming filmmakers and professors as OpenAI's Sora debuted.
• AI video generation could open the door for indie filmmakers — and more blockbusters.
• Fear of job losses looms, but one professor called AI text tools a bigger threat.

Up-and-coming filmmakers and professors at some of the nation's top film schools say the arrival of OpenAI video generators like Sora signals a democratization of the industry may be afoot, even though the tech is still limited.

Sora rolled out widely on Monday following a February pilot program. The tool generates short video clips — 20 seconds max — from users' text prompts. Sora can also modify existing clips.

For example, say a user wants to create a scene with green monsters in a thunderstorm. To do that, she'd type a prompt, and Sora would spit out a file.

While bold-faced creators are already bracing for impact, early Sora testers told Business Insider it gave them new ways to think about their work — even as others also complained the platform appeared to regurgitate content from a limited database.

Michaela Ternasky-Holland was one of the first directors to create and premiere a short film using Sora. It screened at Tribeca in 2024. She said she's excited about Sora's potential to cut filmmaking's development costs by creating things like sizzle reels, but she's aware of its limitations.

These things are giving you an illusion of control. And no matter how good the generations are, there's still someone behind them prompting it," she said. "Just because someone has a 4K camera, it doesn't make them a Steven Spielberg."

Dana Polan, a professor of cinema studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, said AI image generators aren't stoking the same fears as their text-based counterparts.

That's because many in Hollywood see the screenplay as "the first act of creativity," said Polan, who noted that other people in the filmmaking process, including cinematographers, are already seen as "adapters into images of words."

While he remains optimistic about AI in film, George Huang, a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television — who has experimented with AI tools in his own moviemaking — concedes the technology has a bad rap in Hollywood, which has made countless movies on the topic.

"We think AI is now coming to destroy all of us, and that's a narrative that Hollywood created," he said. "It's embedded in our culture."

Sora's not quite ready for prime time — yet

Industry watchers told Business Insider that they don't foresee Sora or AI image generation appearing widely in finished films just yet given that the image quality still exists in something of an "uncanny valley."

Sora's pace of improvement has slowed down with later versions, Ternasky-Holland said. For example, it still struggles to put multiple characters in a scene no matter how many times it's prompted, she said.

But Polan told BI the tech could come in handy for the previsualization process — or animated storyboards to check pacing and flow. Huang also said he could see it being used as a "pitch reel" for screenwriters.

That said, other AI startups like Runway have created tools already used across the industry to expedite editing, with clients that include "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and the effects team behind "Everything Everywhere All At Once."

Michael Gilkison, a Lexington, Kentucky-based filmmaker whose latest project, "The Finish Line," is on Amazon's Prime Video, said a free AI app helped create a scene where a car was crushed. "That would have cost a lot more 20 years ago," he said over email. Using AI technology could also create cheaper ways to film period pieces. But it also can negate the need to hire extras, which can deprive a film of its spirit.

"As a producer, I would use it to keep the cost down, but it is all about balance," Gilkison said.

Tahsis Fairley, a creative producing student at Chapman University, said via email he envisions using Sora to expedite storyboarding and illustrate ideas to his team.

"We will be able to test out new visual ideas without investing significant amounts of money," Fairley said.

That said, Huang doesn't believe we're far off from full implementation, saying AI could appear within completed films "by the end of the next year easily."

Cost savings could boost indies and blockbusters alike

The expenses associated with filmmaking can put a damper on artistic vision, Huang said. But students are generally receptive to new technology, Polan said.

ChatGPT Plus subscribers, who pay $20 a month, get up to 50 Sora generations a month that are five seconds maximum. ChatGPT Pro users, who pay $200 a month, get unlimited generations up to 20 seconds in length.

In slashing costs, Huang said platforms like Sora are bound to "almost democratize the filmmaking process, sort of lower those barriers to entry." In addition to more tools for indie filmmakers working in the margins, this could also mean more blockbusters produced at a relative discount by major studios, he said.

Fairley, for his part, sees AI as a "double-edged sword."

While he cheered its efficiency gains, he expressed concern about job losses across the industry — particularly in fields like animation, pointing to a Coca-Cola Chrismas ad created entirely with AI.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting its linear TV business from streaming and studios.
• Comcast last month also spun off its cable networks — except Bravo — into a stand-alone company.
• The moves illustrate a cable business in decline, with both repositioning for M&A opportunities.

Warner Bros. Discovery is separating its linear television business from its streaming business and film studios.

It follows a similar move by Comcast, which announced in November it would spin off all of its NBCUniversal cable networks except Bravo into a stand-alone company.

The new corporate structure will be complete by the middle of next year, WBD said. Unlike Comcast, WBD won't spin its assets off into a separate company.

A new Global Linear Networks division will house TV properties like the Discovery Channel and CNN, while the Streaming & Studios side will be the home of Max and movie studio Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.

"Our Global Linear Networks business is well positioned to continue to drive free cash flow, while our Streaming & Studios business focuses on driving growth," WBD president and CEO David Zaslav said in a statement.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter said the move was meant to clean up the company's structure, which was formed in 2022 from the combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery. (Discovery itself was the product of its acquisition of Scripps Networks in 2017.)

This person said the company is still determining how the specific business units will be divided, and no leadership changes were planned.

The moves by both Comcast and WBD illuminate a cable business increasingly in decline. Their repositioning of properties could help them participate in potential mergers and acquisitions expected to reshape the media and entertainment industry in 2025.

Warner Bros. Discovery was supposed to create scale and value and help compete with Big Tech by mashing WarnerMedia's prestige networks like HBO and CNN with Discovery's lifestyle properties like HGTV. But its stock has sunk to about a third of its value at the time of its creation in 2022. (It was up about 14% Thursday morning on the news of the new organization.)

Industry observers say a Comcast-like spin wouldn't be favorable for WBD because it needs the cash from its linear channels to pay down the heavy debt it took on to form the company.

Still, they see WBD bulking up or shedding channels, with Paramount Global or Comcast seen as the most likely merger partners.

The announcement was met with mixed reactions from analysts. BofA Securities, which has long argued that WBD should sell assets or merge with another company, said in a note that it saw WBD's linear assets as a logical partner for the Comcast SpinCo, while its streaming and studio assets could be an attractive takeover target for multiple suitors.

Longtime ad industry advisor Brian Wieser said that as with the Comcast SpinCo, a WBD separation weakens the company on a few fronts, though. Without being tethered to the cable channels, he said, it'll be harder for WBD's streamer Max to grow its ads business, which is becoming increasingly important. The linear networks will lose leverage in distribution negotiations without Max and have trouble attracting talent if they're seen as a declining business, among other issues, he said.

In July, WBD reportedly floated the idea to investors of essentially undoing the 2022 merger to create the two separate divisions. And in August, the company said its TV assets were worth $9 billion less than it had anticipated just two years ago.

• Netflix emerged as the winner of the streaming wars this year.
• It's forecasting billions of dollars in profit, and its stock is rocketing.
• From vast ad ambitions to zeitgeisty true crime fare, here are five of its biggest achievements.

The year 2024 has been one to remember for Netflix.

Crowned the winner of the streaming wars, the streamer solidified its already huge lead in subscribers — with more than 280 million paying users around the world as of the third quarter, generating billions of dollars in profit annually and sending its stock price soaring.

Meanwhile, Netflix continued to flex its first-mover advantage over cash-hungry rivals, who retrenched and returned to licensing their shows back to Netflix, which will likely fuel its continued dominance.

Netflix continues to put out hits that keep people watching and subscribing. Lately, it's been leaning into popular fare like true crime and live events that have big advertiser — and water-cooler — appeal.

It's continued to capitalize on its password-sharing crackdown and is ramping up ad tech and measurement deals to entice more advertisers to buy on the platform.

Netflix faces questions about how much more it can grow its audience without sacrificing profits, whether it can compete for ad dollars with the likes of Amazon's Prime Video, and how it can capture younger viewers who grew up on YouTube.

But for now, here's a look back at the biggest swings Netflix took this past year:

A massive push into live sports

Netflix swung big into live programming in 2024, a format that's key to its burgeoning ad business.

The streamer hosted its most-watched live event to date in November, a glitch-ridden boxing bout between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson that drew 60 million households as live viewers. And it'll close the year with another spectacle: its first Christmas Day NFL game, which will include Beyoncé performing at half-time.

Stellar advertising growth amid an executive shake-up

Netflix has undergone leadership changes across multiple teams this year. In advertising, where the company harbors vast ambitions, Ampersand's Nicolle Pangis replaced Peter Naylor as VP of advertising.

The move came as Netflix reported stellar growth for ad-supported subscribers in 2024 — to the tune of 70 million, up from 40 million in May.

Next up for ads? Netflix is building its own ad technology to further open the spigot, which it said will roll out next year.

A leadership and strategy overhaul in film

At the beginning of the year, Netflix parted ways with longtime movie chief Scott Stuber.

The New York Times reported in April that Stuber clashed with higher-ups over what kind of movies to make. Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria told staff in a meeting that quality needed to improve as the company shifted strategy.

Incoming film boss Dan Lin entered with a streamlined vision.

Rather than big-budget action films and big-name stars, he sought to diversify the company's offering, prioritizing in-house producers and skipping theatrical releases. Lin also ended the massive upfront checks the company had been writing to movie stars.

True crime hits with real-world consequences

Netflix continued to focus on true crime this year. But while its series were enormously popular, some plunged the streamer into controversy.

The stalker saga "Baby Reindeer" and the scammer series "Inventing Anna" drew defamation suits, which Netflix said it would defend. And Netflix's two projects about the Menendez brothers — a Ryan Murphy-produced drama and an accompanying documentary — were also ensconced in controversy.

The brothers' families criticized the show, though Murphy has said the brothers should be grateful given the attention the project received. In October, Los Angeles's top prosecutor recommended the brothers be resentenced with the option of parole.

A password crackdown continued to fuel growth

Subscribers initially balked at Netflix's bid to ban password sharing, but in the end, the streamer prevailed.

The move helped to fuel impressive earnings reports this year, with subscriber growth that repeatedly surpassed expectations — and caused its stock to soar.

While Netflix has emerged as the clear victor of the streaming wars, that wasn't always a foregone conclusion given the loads of debt it previously accrued to fund its production war chest. Today, the streamer is forecasting billions of dollars in profit while competitors struggle to break even.

That said, analysts expect the effects of Netflix's password crackdown to diminish in the future.

Correction: December 3, 2024 — The Paul-Tyson fight drew 60 million households, not people, as live viewers, Netflix said. An earlier version of this story misstated that figure.

• Incoming boss Mark Lazarus addressed the CNBC newsroom Thursday.
• The day before, CNBC anchors had made bleak jokes on-air about Comcast's spinoff plans.
• Three CNBC staffers told BI the mood inside the company seemed upbeat during Lazarus' visit.

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters in New Jersey on Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish view of the future after the bombshell news that Comcast would spin off the network.

Three CNBC staffers told Business Insider they felt Lazarus' optimistic talk landed well in the newsroom. They asked for anonymity to discuss internal meetings. Their identities are known to BI.

The vibe was a bit of contrast to Wednesday, when Comcast announced plans to spin off most of its NBCUniversal cable TV networks — including CNBC — into a separate public company called SpinCo (for now). On Wednesday, CNBC anchors shared some worries and dark humor on-air, with "Squawk Box" coanchor Joe Kernan quipping, "We're going out into the cold, cruel world."

Lazarus, who will be SpinCo's CEO, addressed a packed newsroom Thursday at CNBC and didn't hold a Q&A, though he mingled with staff and took questions one-on-one afterward. While speaking with staff, Lazarus said the new company would keep the money generated by its properties and pursue other M&A targets, describing it as entrepreneurial and flexible, one CNBC staffer said.

Lazarus said SpinCO "would be a predator, not prey" and examine various targets "like digital businesses and IP," a second CNBC staffer recalled.

A third staffer said Lazarus talked about the SpinCo having the ability to invest in its cable networks, giving the example of the Golf Channel as one that's thrived digitally.

The first staffer said that after the meeting, talks in the hallway seemed upbeat. That said, CNBC has undergone several rounds of layoffs over the past year, they added.

"People felt better than they did when it first started," the third staffer said. "The plan isn't just to dress it up for PE."

In addition to CNBC, Comcast is spinning off MSNBC, E!, and Oxygen — but holding onto Bravo, whose "Real Housewives" shows and other reality fare are inexpensive to produce and integral to its Peacock streaming service.

Before his meeting with CNBC staff on Thursday, Lazarus and MSNBC president Rashida Jones spoke to execs, producers, anchors, and hosts at MSNBC on Wednesday, Vanity Fair reported.

There were also signs of optimism there, with host Rachel Maddow saying it was positive to have Lazarus there on "day one," Vanity Fair reported. Still, reporting from The Ankler described the meeting as "intense."

Comcast is going forward with the spinoff — which it says will take about a year to complete — amid sagging prospects in the cable TV business. And it's not alone. Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger previously floated the idea of spinning off its cable channels, but the company has more recently retreated.