Co-founder and CEO Ellie Jamen explains how her technology helps women and non-binary writers to break through in Hollywood — and why she recently completed the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Generative AI Accelerator.
Ellie Jamen frequently sifted through piles of screenplays, specs, and writing samples while working in the independent film market in Europe. The laborious process led her to a realization: studios miss out on great writers and worthwhile projects because they simply don’t have time to read every writing submission.
It led her to team up with Marine Haziza to launch Wscripted, an AI-powered startup using machine learning technology to review scripts and generate “coverage” — a synopsis explaining storylines, character arcs, quality of writing, themes, and marketability.
“What used to take professional readers five hours can be generated in a few seconds,” said Jamen. “People currently read screenplays back-to-back. It can be difficult to really pay attention to each story the way they should. The human brain just doesn’t function that way. I should know, I’ve read a lot of screenplays.”
Wscripted is using AI to help amplify great writers and accelerate valuable connections with decision makers in entertainment. Specifically, the company is focused on helping women and non-binary writers make better inroads in Hollywood. Jamen says they are underrepresented due to lack of visibility among producers and executives. The arduous script-reading process plays a major factor, leaving studios without enough time to truly consider submissions from unsigned writers.
“Scripts that get attention tend to be recommended by professional networks — and those are typically people already in the industry,” said Jamen. “Because of this cycle, studios often don’t discover enough great new ideas.”
Wscripted has already made plenty of inroads in the industry, most notably a partnership with streaming service Mubi to release the annual Cannes Screenplay List featuring a selection of scripts by female and non-binary writers. The highly publicized list led to Jamen being invited as a Guest of Honor to the 2021 Cannes Film Market’s Producer Network.
A Dedicated Startup Lab
Wscripted completed the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Generative AI Accelerator, a six-week program focused on developing strategic partnerships with Comcast NBCUniversal. As part of the program, Jamen and her team met with Comcast executives in Philadelphia, NBCUniversal executives in Los Angeles, and investors and media in New York.
Jamen joined the accelerator for the chance to work hand-in-hand with experts in tech, entertainment, business building, and product marketing to refine Wscripted so the product hits the mark for major studios. They are developing a technology that can quickly summarize narratives and are exploring opportunities to work with NBCUniversal to understand how a tool like this can potentially be helpful in their review of writers’ materials.
“I don’t know any other company that has a dedicated startup lab that understands our niche industry,” said Jamen. “It’s a strategic alliance that surrounds us with like-minded experts who can really enable us to reach our goals.”
Using Tech to Reduce Bias
One company goal is clear — reducing bias in the industry and getting entertainment studios to tell more diverse stories.
Ellie Jamen, Co-Founder & CEO
“I wanted to feel represented on screen. I started this entrepreneurial journey from my personal experience of not seeing enough stories that I related with – and I know there are others who can relate to this even more than myself.”
— Ellie Jamen
“I started this entrepreneurial journey from my personal experience of not seeing enough stories that I related with – and I know there are others who can relate to this even more than myself.”
She believes her technology can help keep the script review-process fair. In fact, Wscripted has put tools into its AI tech to offer an objective opinion on each writing sample.
“We want to fight large language model bias by cleaning our data sets, making sure our data is more inclusive, and highlighting data that is not available in large language models,” said Jamen.
The long-term vision for the company includes adapting the technology for book publishers and other written content. As the company continues refining its product offering and helping more studios discover new writers, Jamen is focused on making Wscripted a ubiquitous part of every studio’s tech stack.
“We want to become the leading product that decision makers at studios, production companies, and publishing companies use to find great writers and great projects,” said Jamen.
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