Is AI a Tool? w/Sarah May Bates and Susan Song - Just Shoot It 516

Sarah May Bates / is an AI director, and she’s been getting lots of work! And Matt and Oren dive deep into how she makes that happen. She’s joined by actor Susan Song. Sarah has a clear line for AI usage. And it comes down to what are you in this for? Do you love the organic aspect of filmmaking and discovery, where what you plan isn’t always what you get? Like, in a good way. Because if you’re not, you might prefer the robotic precision of AI. But be careful of being tricked into believing that’s what brands want, especially the top brands you want to work for. At the end of the day, Sarah believes human oversight is at the core of what creatives do. Like, why would you want to have AI write your script, or even your email? That’s what you do, and that’s what makes you who you are! Here’s the golden rule: if the medium is leading, then you are failing. What does that mean? Don’t fall into the trap of creating AI for the sake of filling the request. Instead, Sarah recommends letting the creative work find what it wants to be! This is the episode you want to hear as an actor, filmmaker, or anyone in the industry looking for some sense of purpose, foundation, and compass for what’s happening in AI! Connect with Sarah at Connect with Susan on IG @sujjang012 --- Help Matts' film: Help our Patreon! Matt's Endorsement: Send Help Nick Lutsko's song for the Manscaped Super Bowl Commercial Sarah's Endorsement: The UPA Cartoon "Rooty Toot Toot" The documentary on the animation company UPA The book "Bird by Bird", by Anne Lamott Susan's Endorsement: See the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere, in Las Vegas Oren's Endorsement: @stuffaboutadvertising on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Is AI a Tool? w/Sarah May Bates and Susan Song - Just Shoot It 516 online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Is AI a Tool? w/Sarah May Bates and Susan Song - Just Shoot It 516 is an episode from Just Shoot It: A Podcast about Filmmaking, Screenwriting and Directing by Filmmakers Matt Enlow & Oren Kaplan.

This episode is 1:21:09 long.

This episode was published on Feb 26, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Just Shoot It: A Podcast about Filmmaking, Screenwriting and Directing when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.