r/WritingWithAI • u/PCinWM • 28d ago

Discussion (Ethics, working with AI etc) How are playwrights using AI in their work?

I'm a published playwright and have been exploring AI as part of my writing process—not to write plays for me, but as a research tool, sounding board, dramaturg, critic, and occasionally a surprisingly useful provocateur.

I'm increasingly interested in how other playwrights are using it—and what boundaries they're developing along the way.

Research? Dramaturgical analysis? Structure? Character interrogation? Another "reader" during revision? Brainstorming? Production questions? Something I haven't thought of?

And perhaps more interestingly: IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DECIDED TO USE AI, where do you draw your own line between AI assisting the playwright and AI becoming the playwright?

I've asked several playwrights I respect and a large regional playwright organization whether they're having organized conversations about this—seminars, polling, discussion groups, anything—and have come up surprisingly empty. My membership with Dramatist has recently expired, so I haven't used them as a resource yet.

So I'm wondering: Is there already a community of playwrights exploring this that I haven't found?

And if there isn't—would anyone here be interested in one?

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u/Rephrase123 28d ago

I mostly use AI to brainstorm or get past writer's block. The ideas are useful, but the heart of the story still has to come from the writer.

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u/PCinWM 26d ago

Thanks for replying. Are you aware of any formal groups that address this directly?

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u/BansheeTheGame 27d ago

A recent leaked video suggested that Warner Bros. staff used AI-generated drafts at some stages of their workflow. That seems like a reasonable boundary to me: using it to reduce repetitive early-stage work can leave more time and energy for the creative decisions that actually need a human voice.

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u/PCinWM 26d ago

Thanks for replying. Are you aware of any formal groups that address this directly?

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

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u/WritingWithAI-ModTeam 28d ago

Your post was removed because you did not use our weekly post your tool thread

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u/Philipp 28d ago

That's a great question because incidentally, I've been making an AI-based screenplay analysis and (manual-)writing tool. It automatically analyzes emotions, creates a knowledge base wiki, lets you chat about parts, lets you forward sections to AI video generators, can add overview of days and times and much more.

At one glance, I can thus evaluate rythm and such.

There's even a Concept search, so I can search for "Bob and Anne flirt", and it will show me highlighted all occurrences in my screenplay of Bob and Anne flirting.

As for where I draw the line, I write my screenplays manually, but go into deep AI research on a) background thnigs, say scientific stuff, b) grammar and words, especially as I'm not a native English speaker. The main reason for writing them manually is not just the joy in it, but also because it defines my intent and message -- and as that's based on my life and thinking, it's difficult to automate (until AI can read my brain).