How a Writer and Producer Uses AI to Prototype High-Budget Film Ideas Fast

**Jagger Waters** (0:00)
And now, I think because I spent about two years learning things that did feel difficult, and at times my self-esteem was low because I felt dumb when I couldn't pick something up as fast as other people. And I am now reaping the rewards of having pushed through that shame or that self-consciousness, that insecurity that absolutely shadowed the first year of adoption. It took time to build a foundation mentally that I could then have the building blocks to understand how new models work or how to grasp something that I haven't worked with before. But now that I broke through that foundation, there's just a sense of curiosity and play.

**Brooke Gramer** (0:39)
Welcome to How I AI, the podcast featuring real people, real stories, and real AI in action. I'm Brooke Gramer, your host and guide on this journey into the real world impact of artificial intelligence.
For over 15 years, I've worked in creative marketing, events, and business strategy, wearing all the hats. I know the struggle of trying to scale and manage all things without burning out. But here's the game changer, AI. This isn't just a podcast. How I AI is a community, a space where curious minds like you come together, share ideas because AI isn't just a trend, it's a shift. And the sooner we embrace it, the more freedom, creativity, and opportunities we'll unlock. Hello and welcome back. Today we're talking creator economy meets AI filmmaking with Jagger Waters. She's a multidisciplinary AI creator, writer, and producer. Her work sits right at the edge of what's possible in AI-driven video. And it's been recognized by Adobe, the Sundance Institute, the PGA, and the Television Academy. In today's episode, Jagger shares her origin story coming from a film and TV writing background. How she's used AI as a bridge into tools that used to feel intimidating, and how that opened the door to a whole new level of skill building from editing to sound design to node-based systems. Plus, we get into her current tech stack for AI video production and the bigger conversation about authenticity, building in public, and choosing how you want to relate to technology in this era. If you're a creative who's curious about AI, but doesn't come from a technical background, or maybe you're a storyteller trying to understand where film, social platforms, and the creator economy are headed next, this episode is for you. All right, let's dive in. Jagger, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to How I AI.

**Jagger Waters** (2:41)
Thank you for having me.

**Brooke Gramer** (2:42)
And you're joining us from California today, yes?

**Jagger Waters** (2:45)
From LA.

**Brooke Gramer** (2:46)
Awesome. If you could please share a little bit about yourself. I'd love to just open the floor for you to share all about how you're at the intersection of AI and creative strategy today.

**Jagger Waters** (3:00)
That's a great question. Well, it's important to start off by saying that I don't have a technical background. I was a pretty basic MacBook user about three years ago.
Things like node-based systems or working with AI or LLMs, that would have been really intimidating to the person I was a few years ago. So just the way that I AI and as it connects to my work now with AI for video production and working the creator economy, it comes from a perspective that's not quite technical. So I have a humanities brain and I'm a writer, producer. I came from the world of theater, saw them on TV, basically like entertainment, media, but not digitally. So most of my work and experiences revolved around live events, getting people in the same room to experience theatrical productions that were intentionally not very technical and didn't rely heavily on tech. For about 10 years, I worked in entertainment for having scripts in development and getting optioned and that really was coming to a head in 2023 right before the writer's strike. And I had a lot of work that was in progress and it kind of felt like I was going to have a breakthrough moment. And the writer's strike shut everything down. And that was the summer that everyone here in LA was, you know, protesting AI and there was a lot of fear around it. And that's when I just decided to dive in headfirst and like start educating myself and learning and getting curious about what it is. So like, what is this thing that everyone is so afraid of, especially in the creative industries? And the rest is history. The last three years has been wildly intense professionally. So many opportunities have opened up. And yeah, I carved out a community here here in LA and globally in the AI film community.