New AI-powered tool Showrunner lets you create your own TV shows

Users of a new tool, Showrunner, from Fable Studios can direct, star in, and actually earn money from their own AI-generated TV shows.

AI production company Fable Studios today announced its new app, Showrunner, currently in its Alpha stage. The company is releasing the first two episodes of a new animated series made on the platform called Exit Valley. It appears to be created in the style of South Park or Rick and Morty, evoking the same dark satirical comedy.

🚨ANNOUNCING SHOWRUNNER🚨

We believe the future is a mix of game & movie.

Simulations powering 1000s of Truman Shows populated by interactive AI characters.

🚨Welcome to Sim Francisco & Showrunner!🚨

SOUND ON!

Link to Signup in Bio pic.twitter.com/yptMocqOfW

— The Simulation (@fablesimulation) May 30, 2024

How does Showrunner work?

Viewers will be able to use prompts to generate their own episode of the series, selecting everything from the characters and storylines to the angles and shots. The best user-generated episodes could even one day become an official part of the series.

Although two episodes have been made so far, the plan is to create 20 more, following the Gold Rush-era ancestors of Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and the Winklevoss twins. Just like their descendants would one day fight over Facebook, the men fight to death over a valuable commodity.

“The next Netflix won’t be purely passive; you will be at home, describe the show you’d like to watch and within a minute or two start watching,” Fable Studios CEO Edward Saatchi said in a statement. “Finish a show that you enjoy and make new episodes, and even put yourself and your friends in episodes — fighting aliens, in your favorite sitcom, and solving crimes.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen work from Fable Studios, having grabbed people’s attention last year with a batch of AI-created South Park, used to act as an experiment and form the basis of a research paper. The show’s characters, animation style, and even some voices, despite no involvement from creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, were used – and the episodes generated a massive eight million views on X.

“Our South Park episodes were a research project that took on a life of their own,” Saatchi said. “Seeing the huge desire of people to make their own episodes of TV, we’ve built Showrunner as a Netflix of AI to power original works of art that can stand the test of time, and to let people bring their stories to life.”

Announcing our paper on Generative TV & Showrunner Agents!

Create episodes of TV shows with a prompt – SHOW-1 will write, animate, direct, voice, edit for you.

We used South Park FOR RESEARCH ONLY – we won’t be releasing ability to make your own South Park episodes -not our IP! pic.twitter.com/6P2WQd8SvY

— The Simulation (@fablesimulation) July 18, 2023

AI is becoming more and more widely available to the general public, from being able to create your own chatbots to consumer-focused devices with AI built into their design.

Featured image: Fable Studios