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Hollywood Whitepaper: AI Filmmaking and Layer 2 Jobs

Introduction​

ACT 3 is built around a single core belief:
AI can create entirely new jobs, not just automate existing ones.

We call these “Layer 2 Jobs.”
They are careers that only exist because of AI — new forms of creative self-employment that were not economically or operationally possible before.

Most public discussion about AI focuses on “Layer 1 Jobs” — how existing roles will need fewer people as AI increases efficiency.
The blind spot is that new categories of work can emerge for:

  • Experienced professionals who are currently underemployed
  • People between jobs
  • Career switchers
  • New graduates
  • Creators who cannot find a role that matches their passion, income needs, or creative goals

For these people, building a self-owned AI filmmaking career can be a viable path to meaningful income, creative control, and long-term leverage.

This whitepaper is the written companion to the ACT 3 Hollywood AI movie.
It is also paired with a spreadsheet-based economic model that makes the business mechanics explicit and testable.

The primary audience is indie AI filmmakers building self-employment.
The secondary audience is studios and companies adapting AI film economics internally.

The Economic Model (Spreadsheet-Driven Planning)​

ACT 3 uses a spreadsheet-first approach to economic clarity.

The model is structured into three parts:

  • Founder Income Target

    • How much money you want to make per year
    • How many movies you need to produce
    • What profit per movie is required

  • Per-Movie Economics

    • Production expenses
    • Marketing costs
    • Revenue per release
    • Revenue taper over time

  • Per-Year Output Planning

    • Number of movies produced per year
    • How revenue accumulates across releases
    • How older films continue producing lower ongoing revenue

The purpose of the spreadsheet is not precision forecasting.
It is to:

  • Force clarity about assumptions
  • Make tradeoffs visible
  • Show how budget and output connect
  • Create a concrete planning framework for self-employment

Users are encouraged to:

  • Make a copy of the spreadsheet
  • Enter their own numbers
  • Adjust assumptions
  • Use it as a living planning document

Target Yearly Salary Framework​

ACT 3 frames filmmaking as a deliberate income design problem.

Key principles:

  • Target Revenue Per Founder

    • Designed around one or two full-time founders
    • Founders own most or all equity
    • Revenue goals are set per founder, not per project

  • Founder-Centric Economics

    • Non-founders (actors, voice actors, specialists) are contractors
    • Contractors are paid per project
    • Contractors do not take equity
    • All contractor costs are treated as expenses

  • Output Targets

    • A rough planning goal of multiple movies per year
    • Enough volume to:
      • Improve quality over time
      • Build audience momentum
      • Create compounding revenue

  • Community Benchmarking

    • Filmmakers are compared in quartiles:
      • Top quartile
      • Above average
      • Below average
      • Bottom quartile

The intent is not competition for its own sake.
It is to expose bottlenecks and accelerate learning through peer comparison.

Production Model​

Contractors and Parallelized Production​

ACT 3 is designed around asynchronous, parallelized collaboration.

Key ideas:

  • Filmmakers can hire:

    • Actors
    • Voice actors
    • Colorists
    • Audio experts
    • VFX specialists

  • Contributors:

    • Work remotely
    • Operate on flexible schedules
    • Submit work shot-by-shot
    • Can be swapped mid-project if quality is insufficient

  • Production parallelization reduces:

    • Risk
    • Schedule fragility
    • Production bottlenecks

This structure minimizes coordination overhead and single points of failure.

Acting into AI Film​

ACT 3 uses a hybrid acting model.

  • The script generates the first version of the movie
  • Dialogue forms the backbone of scenes
  • AI generates initial acting and visual motion
  • Filmmakers review the movie early, even at partial script completion

Once the script is locked:

  • Filmmakers mark only the shots that require human acting
  • Human acting is applied selectively
  • Budget is concentrated where it matters most

This preserves creative quality while controlling cost and accelerating production.

Voice Acting​

Voice acting follows the same principles as acting.

Key elements:

  • Voice actors work asynchronously
  • High-quality microphones and quiet environments are required
  • Voice actors can be replaced mid-project if quality is insufficient

Additional flexibility:

  • Voice translation enables consistency across actors
  • Recording can be parallelized
  • Dependence on any single voice actor is reduced

Per-Movie Economics and Market Segments​

ACT 3 prioritizes niche-first filmmaking.

Rationale:

  • Big-budget studios ignore small niches
  • Small niches can still be highly profitable
  • Niche audiences:
    • Are easier to reach
    • Are more loyal
    • Often have higher willingness to pay

Examples include:

  • Military veterans creating military-themed films
  • Nurses creating hospital dramas
  • Law enforcement professionals creating crime stories

ACT 3 emphasizes matching creator life experience to subject matter.

Monetization: PPV, Subscriptions, and ACT 3 TV​

ACT 3 challenges traditional film economics.

Key observations:

  • Traditional distribution captures most revenue
  • Indie filmmakers receive a small fraction of total value

ACT 3 prioritizes:

  • Pay-Per-View (PPV) as the initial monetization model
  • Subscriptions after PPV viability is established
  • ACT 3 TV as a creator-first distribution platform

The economic goal is to keep the mass majority of viewer payments with filmmakers.

Per-Year Economics​

ACT 3 frames success in yearly terms.

Target range:

  • $200k–$400k per founder per year
    • Net profit
    • After expenses
    • After marketing
    • After distribution

Core metrics include:

  • Movies produced per year
  • Profit per movie (first 12 months)
  • Ongoing revenue from older releases

Performance is compared through community benchmarking and peer learning.

Marketing Strategy​

ACT 3 prioritizes speed to profitability over theatrical scale.

Key channels:

  • Short-form social video
  • Advertising networks

Guideline effort allocation:

  • 25–50%: Script writing or script buying
  • ~20%: Film production
  • 25–50%: Marketing
  • ~5%: Learning

Distribution is intentionally minimized to preserve revenue and enable rapid iteration.

Legacy Filmmaking, Elevated to AI​

ACT 3 reframes traditional filmmaking workflows by removing structural inefficiencies.

The goal is to reduce time spent on:

  • Fundraising
  • Distribution negotiations
  • Legal overhead
  • Networking
  • Waiting between projects

While preserving what matters: storytelling quality and creative control.

Indie AI Filmmakers’ Unique Unfair Advantage​

Sources of advantage include:

  • Geographic uniqueness
  • Career experience
  • Personal insight into specific life stages
  • Specialized knowledge

AI amplification enables access to visuals, locations, and production speed that traditional filmmaking cannot afford.

Barbell Content Strategy (High-Level)​

ACT 3 references a Barbell Content Strategy:

  • Short-form content for reach and discovery
  • Long-form content for monetization and depth

This section remains intentionally high-level.

Community-Driven Growth​

ACT 3 is designed as:

  • A filmmaking platform
  • A creator community
  • A distribution network

Community functions include peer benchmarking, feedback loops, and shared learning that compound performance over time.

Closing Perspective​

ACT 3 exists to make independent AI filmmaking a real career path, not a hobby.

This is not about replacing Hollywood.
It is about creating a parallel economic system where creators own their IP, control their revenue, and build long-term sustainability.

End of Hollywood Whitepaper.