Just as animation and CGI expanded storytelling possibilities in the 1990s and early 2000s and helped launch Pixar properties, superheroes and The Lord of the Rings to the forefront of movie culture, Eric Shamlin believes that AI will bring about the next great boon of major film franchises.
Shamlin, the CEO of Secret Level, a leading AI-native entertainment studio, has worked at many media and technology jobs—including as a producer and journalist at ABC News, a program director at Apple and an emerging tech and entertainment executive at Monks marketing company. He’s served on the board at SXSW and the Producers Guild and is currently on the Board of Governors and chair of the AI Task Force of the Television Academy.
Secret Level is an “AI-first” but “not AI-only” studio that creates content across advertising, television, film, gaming and immersive platforms, Shamlin said. The company recently created ads and content for Girls Inc, Coca-Cola and the Black Eyed Peas, but it has its sights set on Hollywood.
“As much as we’re seen as disruptors, just because we’re playing with AI, we actually don’t like that idea,” Shamlin said. “We want to be bridge builders. We want to work with studios and legacy creatives. We want to supply AI superpowers to the Spielbergs and the Wes Andersons of the world. We want to play at the very premium end of the spectrum, so we’re not just chasing creator economy.”
The film and television industry has undergone a significant shift in the past decade, with the rise of streamers and dominance of IP-driven content. Now, with talks of AI integration becoming increasingly common in film and TV production, people are worried about the impact these new tools will have on the industry.
Shamlin, however, said the current “collapse” of Hollywood has nothing to do with AI.
“Production is down by half, it’s fleeing Hollywood—that has to do with the collapse of the streamer economy,” he said. “Netflix [is] spending way too much and inflating the market and now that’s a course-correction collapse and so there’s less production.”
Film and television production have also been slow to bounce back after the COVID-19 shutdowns and the actors and writers guild strikes in 2023. According to permitting office FilmLA, overall shoot days in Los Angeles, including film, television and commercials, fell from 36,792 in 2022 to 23,480 in 2024. This makes 2024 the second-least productive year observed by the nonprofit, beat only by the pandemic disruptions in 2020.
FilmLA president Paul Audley told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024 that the industry hoped for a gain following the strikes, but instead, “We saw a pullback and loss of forward momentum.”
Shamlin said AI will facilitate more productions by helping to mitigate hefty costs, and change the industry for the better—allowing more people to produce content with fewer resources.
“The iPhone, or really digital video, democratized capture and then YouTube democratized distribution, social media democratized marketing,” he said. “We think AI democratizes production value.”
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And if Shamlin’s expectation bears out, then AI could potentially allow creators to make large-scale films without having to depend upon funding or help from large studios.
“If you wanted a Tom Cruise space epic on Mars, Cruise and the locations would be really expensive and the only people that had pockets to do that were the studios—independent creators couldn’t do that,” Shamlin said.
Shamlin is nostalgic for the boom of independent films of the 1990s, when filmmakers could make low- or mid-budget films that both performed at the box office and developed cult followings. He believes that with AI tools, filmmakers will be able to create blockbuster-scale content without bloat—instead of a $250 million film, there could be more $20 to $40 million films. This will lead to “bigger swings” and independent films that look like studio films, he said.
“You’re going to see small teams doing amazing things over the next few years,” Shamlin said. “You’re going to see an explosion of creativity. We’ve got talent from all over the world, people [who] previously would not have been able to do premium-level content now having a seat at the table and getting to explore the mind’s eye. I think everyone has their one piece of art in them and I think AI allows a wider circle of people to express that art.”
Not everyone is so enthusiastic about AI, though. Since studios and media companies began integrating AI into their operations, there has been pushback from consumers and those working in Hollywood about how the emerging technology will be used in pre- and post-production.
Concern over AI factored heavily into the aforementioned actors’ and writers’ guild strikes. Much of the apprehension centered on—and continues to center on—the potential job loss and the legal and copyright issues related to AI’s use of actors’ likenesses, as well as protecting screenwriters’ work against AI writing tools.
One of Secret Level’s own projects caused a stir last year. Coca-Cola’s annual Christmas advertisement campaign, which paid homage to its 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” campaign, was made with AI. This led to backlash online, with viewers calling the product “soulless” and lacking the creativity of human-made content.
Shamlin said he is proud of the work they did with the quality of AI technology that was available a year ago.
“The limitations of AI were understood and we moved forward regardless to test the limits,” he said. “If we were to do it again today, just a year later, many of the quality concerns would be avoided.”
He added that every frame of AI content that Secret Level produces goes through “significant human retouching and a finishing pass.”
“Our AI projects have as much soul and craft as any animation or VFX project,” he said.
Shamlin said he doesn’t want to “sugarcoat” the impact of AI on the film and television industries, but he also doesn’t want to cause panic.
“I try to be nuanced and balanced in this—I think it’s ultimately a net positive for creativity,” Shamlin said. “The problem is specific jobs are going to go away or change very rapidly. It’s not my phrase, but there is a common phrase out there that AI is not going to take your job, it’s the person that adopts AI [who] will take your job.”
As the chair of the Television Academy AI Task Force, Shamlin said he tries to push the conversation in a positive direction while being honest with members about the effects that AI will likely have. He said he wants his members to adopt AI so they are the ones taking and retaining the jobs.
“I’m trying to be a voice of proactive, informed adoption of these tools,” he said. “This year with the task force, we’re trying to shift from a purely informational resource to an advocacy resource in terms like best practices.”
At the Television Academy AI Summit in March, Shamlin said now is the time to lead.
“We can’t afford to sit back and wait for others to shape how AI is implemented into our industry,” he told members.
He added at the event that he is focused on advocating for responsible, ethical AI policies that empower creative, collaboration with guilds, unions and studios and ensuring academy members “aren’t left behind in the transition.”
Shamlin believes 2025 is going to be a “watershed year” as apprehension surrounding the use of AI eases and more active conversations about projects take place.
“I both brace for it, but also engage it with it,” he said. “I think it’s really about learning the tools. They’re not the enemy you think they are.”
Shamlin is one of the judges for Newsweek’s AI Impact Awards, which recognize unique and innovative AI solutions that solve critical issues or advance capabilities across various industries. The awards highlight measurable impacts that AI delivers in various business operations, including marketing, customer experience, product development and supply chain optimization.
Entries are open until April 25, and finalists and winners will be announced in late May ahead of the AI Impact Summit in June. The panel of expert judges is led by Newsweek Contributing Editor Marcus Weldon, an AI scientist and former president of Bell Labs.
For more information on the event and entry guidelines, please visit the AI Impact Awards homepage.