Former Protein editorial executive producer/partner Tim Jacobs has joined production and post house Optimus in a new position as director of sales. In this role, Jacobs will be dedicated to all of Optimus in Chicago and Santa Monica, including production arm One at Optimus, as well as editorial, design, graphics, audio, color and finish. Optimus sales reps Sean Sullivan and Doug Sherin will work with Jacobs on sales efforts across the country. Prior to his Protein tenure, Jacobs was a producer at Whitehouse Post in Chicago. Before then, he was a producer at Filmcore in Los Angeles, where he worked with Therese Hunsberger, Optimus LA’s executive producer/managing director. He started his career on the advertising agency side of the business, working with clients such as Gatorade, Coors Light, Visa, Pioneer, Mattel and Motorola at Draftfcb, BBDO and Ogilvy…Los Angeles-based The Cavalry Productions has signed independent firm Saxon + Partners to handle representation on the West Coast. Headed by executive producers Ross Grogan and Chris Wedding, The Cavalry Productions is active in both the commercial and digital realms, and maintains a directorial roster that includes Gil Green, Bryce Gubler and the recently signed Woodhead, a directing team which consists of director/writer Tony Yacenda, writer/comedian/actor Dan Perrault and comedian/actor/producer Sean Carrigan…..Cinematographer Peter Eastgate has joined The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation for commercials, television and feature films. Production designer Kevin Kavanaugh has recently completed work on the pilot Ballers starring Dwayne Johnson and Omar Miller, written by Stephen Levinson and directed by Peter Berg. Kavanaugh is available for commercials, TV and features through The Skouras Agency…..
AI-Assisted Works Can Get Copyright With Enough Human Creativity, According To U.S. Copyright Office
Artists can copyright works they made with the help of artificial intelligence, according to a new report by the U.S. Copyright Office that could further clear the way for the use of AI tools in Hollywood, the music industry and other creative fields.
The nation's copyright office, which sits in the Library of Congress and is not part of the executive branch, receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of individual works. It has increasingly been asked to register works that are AI-generated.
And while many of those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, the report issued Wednesday clarifies the office's approach as one based on what the top U.S. copyright official describes as the "centrality of human creativity" in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections.
"Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection," said a statement from Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter, who directs the office.
An AI-assisted work could be copyrightable if an artist's handiwork is perceptible. A human adapting an AI-generated output with "creative arrangements or modifications" could also make it fall under copyright protections.
The report follows a review that began in 2023 and fielded opinions from thousands of people that ranged from AI developers, to actors and country singers.
It shows the copyright office will continue to reject copyright claims for fully machine-generated content. A person simply prompting a chatbot or AI image generator to produce a work doesn't give that person the ability to copyright that work, according to the report. "Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine ...... Read More