Will “Showrunner” Kill Cinema? Amazon-Backed AI Tool Creates Video Content via Text Prompts

Filmmakers, educators, and industry veterans are sounding the alarm over a new Amazon-backed artificial intelligence tool that allows anyone to produce their own TV shows without a crew, scriptwriters, or a studio. The system, called Showrunner, comes from tech company Fable and promotes itself as the “Netflix of AI.” With only text prompts, users can build animated series from the ground up — generating characters, writing dialogue, voicing performances, and creating music scores, all without traditional production teams. Users simply input short text prompts, from a few sentences describing characters and setting to more detailed scene-by-scene scripts. The AI then generates storyboards, animates characters, voices dialogue and stitches it all together into watchable episodes.

The rollout is beginning at universities in the United Arab Emirates, where the technology is already stirring up controversy. Professor Peter Bentley, an AI and creativity expert at University College London, calls Showrunner “remarkably quick and easy” to use, but says it works best when rehashing storylines from existing films and TV shows. Creating something completely new still isn’t its strong suit.

Appropriate Scorcese meme: “Absolute Cinema”

Still, concern is spreading in the film community. Some Hollywood professionals warn that giving fans the power to rewrite or “fix” flops like Star Wars: The Last Jedi or The Matrix Resurrections could chip away at jobs and the human craft of filmmaking.

“These tools are designed to undermine traditional narrative craftsmanship,” said UAE-based filmmaker Faisal Hashmi. “What is film if not the vision of a storyteller using their own experiences to make you feel something? If you remove that process, is it really a film?” Hashmi doubts AI-produced movies will fully replace human-made works, but admits AI could be useful as a support tool for real creators.

Not all critics share that view. UAE professor Razan Takash warns that Showrunner could replace deep filmmaking education with shallow “film prompting.” She compared it to trying to become a bodybuilder by having someone else do the lifting for you.

Others see opportunity instead of danger. Mohammed Mamdouh, filmmaker and assistant professor at the American University of Sharjah, argues that AI tools can level the playing field for overlooked creators. He calls it “not the death of cinema” but “the rebirth.”

The numbers suggest the technology won’t be going away. Industry projections show the AI film market rising from $1.28 billion in 2024 to $1.6 billion in 2025, and reaching $14 billion by 2033. Mamdouh believes filmmakers who refuse to adapt risk being pushed aside entirely. His advice: get in on the ground floor, help shape the use of AI in entertainment, or prepare to be left behind.

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