How a Hollywood Sculptor Turned AI Filmmaker Is Reimagining Cinema

Author: Brooke Gramer
Published: Tue 22 Jul 2025
Episode Link: None

This week on How I AI I’m joined by James Jones, a Hollywood sculptor turned award-winning AI filmmaker and the creative force behind Satire AI. With credits on X-Men, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man, and Into the Wild, James brings decades of practical effects and storytelling experience to the world of generative cinema.

Now, he’s using AI to create surreal shorts, reconstruct childhood memories, and explore social commentary through tools like Runway, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion. His projects have been recognized at Berlin Independent Film Festival and beyond..and he’s just getting started.

If you’ve ever wondered what AI filmmaking actually looks like behind the scenes, or how to get started, this episode will give you a whole new perspective.

🔥 Topics We Cover:

How James transitioned from big-budget Hollywood sets to solo AI filmmaking
Why he used Stable Diffusion to recreate a childhood trauma, and how it became unexpectedly therapeutic
Behind the scenes of Runway’s AI Film Festival and how it's reshaping independent storytelling
His approach to character consistency using tools like Photoshop and reference prompts
What it means to "greenlight your own work" and why AI makes it more possible than ever

🛠️ AI Tools & Workflow James Uses:

Image Generation: Midjourney (style refs, omni refs), Stable Diffusion, Krea
Video Generation: Runway, Veo, Luma Ray 2, Kling, Minimax, Higgsfield
Editing & VFX: Photoshop (for character isolation), CapCut, Premiere, Filmora, DaVinci Resolve
Voice & Sound Design: 11 Labs, Udio, Sono.ai, BBC Sound Effects, YouTube Audio
Language & Accessibility: Translate Mom, Subtitles in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and French
Writing & Conceptualizing: Claude, ChatGPT

🎥 Links & Resources Mentioned: