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

I sit with Jagger Waters, a multidisciplinary AI creator, writer, and producer, to talk about what’s changing in video right now and what it actually looks like to use AI in a real creative workflow.

Jagger shares how she thinks about AI as a creative collaborator, not a shortcut, and how creators can prototype “high-budget” ideas fast, test concepts, and build worlds that used to require an entire studio pipeline. We also get into the creative mindset shift, why learning in public matters, and what’s coming next for AI-driven storytelling.

🔥 Topics We Cover:

• What it means to be an AI creator as a writer and producer (not just “a tool user”)
• How to prototype cinematic ideas fast without losing your creative point of view
• Why node-based systems are becoming a superpower for creators
• The creative partner ecosystem and how creators are getting supported by platforms
• AI video as the new production pipeline: ideation, assets, edit, voice, sound
• What Jagger’s seeing in creator education right now and what people struggle with most
• A quick SXSW pulse and what she’s bringing to the CapCut Creator Panel

Tools & Concepts Mentioned in This Episode:

AI Image + Video

• Midjourney
• Seedance 2.0 (Video Generator): ByteDance tool for cinematic, multi-shot storytelling with audio, and the ability to upload multiple assets for more control
• Seedream (Image/Video): high-res generative images and video inside ByteDance’s broader “Seed” ecosystem
• Nano Banana (Image Generator): image-to-image/text-to-image tool known for strong character consistency across different scenes

Creator Programs + Education

• Creative Partner Program (CPP) 2.0
• College of Influence (G&B)

Workflow + Production Systems

• Node-based systems
• ComfyUI
• Spaces

Design Assets + Editing

• Freepik, CapCut

Audio + Voice

• Epidemic Sound, ElevenLabs

Connect with Jagger

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaggerwaters/
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/glamorousreptile/ 

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Transcript

Jagger 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 like pushed through that shame or that self-consciousness, that insecurity, that absolutely shadowed the first like year of adoption and it took time to build a foundation mentally that I could then like have the building blocks to understand how new models work or how to, to, to grasp something that I haven't worked with before. But now that I've worked through that foundation, there's just a sense of curiosity and play.

Brooke 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 will 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. Alright, let's dive in. Jagger, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to How I AI.

Jagger 2:41

Thank you for having me.

Brooke 2:42

And you're joining us from California today. Yes,

Jagger 2:45

from LA.

Brooke 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 3:00

That's a great question. Well, it's important to start off by saying that I don't have a technical background. Um, I was a pretty basic MacBook user about three years ago. Um, things like node-based systems or working with AI or LLMs that would've been really intimidating to the person I was a few years ago. So just the way, the way that I AI and as it connects to my work now with AI for video production 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, uh, film and tv, basically like entertainment media, but not digitally. So I, 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. And for about 10 years, I worked in entertainment having scripts in development and getting optioned, and that really was coming to a head in 2023 right before the writer strike. And I had a lot of work that was in progress and it kind of felt like I was gonna have a breakthrough moment and the writer strike, shut everything down. And that was the summer that everyone here in LA was protesting AI and there was a lot of fear around it, and that's when I just decided to dive in head first and like start educating myself and learning and getting curious about what it is. 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 I carved out a, a community here, here in LA and, and globally in the AI film community.

Brooke 4:55

Yes. I'm so excited to dive into all of the creative projects you have your hands on. But first I'd love to tap back into the initial moment when you first started using AI and exploring and self-educating. If you could share a little bit about like what was going on in your life that time within your work and how you started using it.

Jagger 5:16

That's a great question. I mean, initially, I understood that AI generated images, but my basic understanding of them was that it can take a data set and then kind of manipulate or create something that you're envisioning around that. And the reason it caught my attention is because. I have always thought that that's kind of how our consciousness works and processes reality anyway. And there's another side of my personality where I was like very in interested in things like quantum physics and consciousness, even though that's not, that's not my professional work. So I think those early earliest days in like 20 22, 20 23 when MidJourney images still looked really weird and psychedelic and I was reading, you know, articles in Wired and just magazines about like, what is the world of, of ai and like what is an LLM and. Uh, the way that I described it to myself, and the reason I embraced it is because I, in my, from my perspective, it was like, oh, we taught computers, natural language. So someone like me who doesn't understand coding, who didn't have a background in computer science, I can now communicate with, with my computer and with, technical systems of any kind on a foundational level using natural language prompting. And that was, that was just such a breakthrough moment.'cause I was like, oh, this thing that has felt out of reach because I don't have technical training or, and I don't know how to code now feels within reach for me. And then at the time, I think it was actually a very challenging time in my personal life, right when I started embracing ai, and I think that it was a bit of an escape. There were some difficult things going on I, and I needed something to get, I needed to just get lost in something and teaching myself how to use it. Learning about it was an an an escape. And I'm actually grateful, even though those, at the time it was, it was difficult. I'm actually grateful that it pushed me to understand it.

Brooke 7:28

Thank you for sharing a bit about your experience, and you mentioned you don't have a tech background or computer science background, like what really helped you when you were starting to learn and play with AI and, and, and not feel intimidated doing so?

Jagger 7:44

I was intimidated by doing so, and I think only in the last six months have I stopped feeling intimidated even by things that I don't yet understand. And that doesn't just apply to using AI or experimenting with a new model or trying something new online, like that applies to every other part of my life as well. Like now, if there's something that I need to cook or a craft, like I'm very, I can do arts and crafts, you know, like work with my hands and do sculpture and, um, mixed media art with, you know, with the physical like collaging. 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 like pushed through that shame or that self-consciousness, that insecurity, that absolutely shadowed the first like year of adoption and it took time to build a foundation mentally that I could then build, like have the building blocks to understand how new models work or how to, to, to grasp something that I haven't worked with before. But now that I've worked through that foundation, there's just a sense of curiosity and play. So when I'm experimenting with something I haven't used before, I can just tap into a place of kind of honestly mindfulness and meditation. Like someone asked the other day, like tips for working with ai and I was like, anything that I say right now is gonna get outdated so quickly that instead of trying to give that kind of advice, I just said it's a really good time to start meditating. If you, if you don't already, because you can get really overwhelmed and just cultivating a sense of like openness, mindfulness is is just really important to taking on this kind of work.

Brooke 9:41

What's coming up for me when you share it is true it takes a certain level of bravery and breaking through that intimidation to not only play and explore with ai, but build publicly and start to integrate and bring it to your, skillset and experience. There's a lot of judgment around there. People expressing,"oh, you know nothing about ai" or everybody pretends to know AI now." But you know, as someone who has a marketing degree and has worked in marketing, like when people decide to self-educate around marketing, it's not like I sit there and go, oh, you know nothing about marketing. I think it's really up to us to upskill and be okay with being an amateur for a bit. And it's so important now more than ever to really put yourself out there. And start to leverage it as your skillset. Everyone should definitely dive in and there will be naysayers always but move past that phase. So thank you for sharing a bit about your experience.

Jagger 10:46

Yeah. Yeah. I We're all building publicly now. And I think that not only just like the, the increased kind of combination of surveillance and transparency online where it's like you can't hide behind marketing, you can't hide behind anything. And the storytelling not only of your own life, but that has brought you to the point that you're at professionally now. I think that we can see through, we can see through it when that's false or when it's constructed or when it's like overly polished. Mm-hmm. I'm grateful that that's happening because I don't know, like right when I finished college was like this, this time in on social media and, and Instagram where everything had to look so perfect. Mm-hmm. And everything was very just this, like, it always felt fake to me because to, at the time, to me, social media felt like a performance, and maybe it still is, but it felt like a performance of like, this isn't real this is people pretending to be something that they're not. Which was like the early versions of, I think manipulation in the creator economy when it was like people just like, oh, I'm gonna use kind of like fake clout or manufacture my own celebrity. And that was like the early days of social media and then in the last like 10 years we've been moving towards you know, the overused word, like authenticity. But it's true because I think with the collapse of trust and power structures that we're facing right now, where we, we're pulling back the curtain on celebrity, public figures, leadership, uh, politics, government, and kind of realizing, oh wow, behind the scenes, not only is this not perfect, but like sometimes it be very dark. And I think that that plays to the advantage of the individual who can build from a place of like very intense honesty. Mm-hmm. And even me saying like coming on, you know, a podcast called How I AI and saying like, I don't have a technical background. Like this is all very new. And in a lot of ways I think that I'm, at the beginning I feel like I am just beginning. A path and in a new field, in a new career that is built upon this foundation that I have, which, which is based in storytelling and comedy and media and entertainment, and wanting to kind of contribute to how we're experiencing story, if we're gonna keep integrating ourselves into technology. So I'm relieved because that's a very long-winded way of saying. I don't feel like I have to hide behind anything in my past. I can be completely open about this is what I have experience with, this is what I don't have experience with. Mm-hmm. And the more that I am radically honest about that, the more doors open up. And that the, the world around me is responding with, like the path is, is just opening up. And I'm grateful for that.

Brooke 13:29

Yes, people wanna see those stories of their evolution. And it's incredible that you've been building in public and been able to really showcase your work. And now you've been invited in such cool spaces, speaking on panels such as South by coming up. So I'd love for you to go a little bit deeper on what it's been like to build in public. How your public work has been your resume and has been such an amazing, leverage point for you to get in the door in these spaces where you're speaking about things like the creator economy.

Jagger 14:05

Thank you. Yeah. It, yeah, it, I mean, it, it's coming back to that kind of radical honesty, where at the beginning I kind of felt the imposter syndrome that we all do, where it's like, whoa, I'm not, I'm not prepared for this. Or, you know, I'm being asked for advice or, being asked to speak about, about something that I knew I was ready to dive in on. But I have to continually keep educating myself about, so. I showed up so early with enthusiasm and being public and being vocal and being open about like, we can embrace ai. This is actually to the advantage of a lot of creative people, especially writers and directors who, have to spend more time convincing executives to give them money than actually creating film. And I think that this is gonna change that, and AI is the greatest tool of influence that. Filmmakers have ever had. And I think that it's also the piece of the puzzle that brings filmmakers into the creator economy because Hollywood, the entertainment industry has always looked really like, looked down on, on influencers, on creators, on YouTubers, um, while also. Recognizing the success and kind of inviting them in, or, you know, getting them into horror movies or optioning some of their work or wanting to work with Mr. Beast, whatever you say. But, but there's still like a, a stigma around it. Like where it's like that's, it's, it's less than, and that is a very weird judgment that I think is going to continue to collapse or already is especially we have, you know, college graduates coming outta film programs realizing that the industry doesn't even closely resemble what they were taught in school. And that ultimately as creators, filmmakers, storytellers, we have to create at scale now. Like you can't spend four years making a film. I mean, you can, but you have to build on top of that. You have to be putting things out there, releasing things, um, not overthinking it and just showing like, this is my. This is my taste, this is my general aesthetic. These, this is what I would do with a larger budget. And I think that seeing AI enable storytellers who want to work in fantasy and sci-fi, something that, that takes like a very large budget to tell, like large scale worlds with large scale IP, that they can do that now with a lower bar of entry. And that, that's actually a good thing, not a negative thing.

Brooke 16:24

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Jagger 17:10

Sure. Well, I'll just wrap up something that, that, things that I finished recently, which is a AI true crime short film that we'll have a streaming release soon with, uh, fairground tv, which has the team there has been great as producers and working to get us very legitimate, distribution. We have a season of, uh, myself and a few other AI creators have created, episodes of like true crime stories that are real but kind of retold with using ai. And that'll be really fun. I grew up with parents who worked in local news. So the kind of like true crime news package felt very natural for me. And there, a music video I finished in the fall is, um, I've been able to present workflows for it publicly with Free Pick at Upscale a LA and the recent launch for Imagine Art in San Francisco. So that's what I've finished. And then looking forward, I'm working on, um, a micro pajama series and some unscripted like AI documentary work. That'll get released in the later spring. So those are really fun. And a also a, uh, a pitch trailer for a producer who has a very interesting life story which I will protect for her sake because it's a private project. But I'm basically, I'm creating a, a, a pitch trailer for someone who wants to sell her life, the life rights to her interesting story. And I hope that that can become more of my bread and butter, because I actually really enjoy helping other people, like using these tools creatively to package it, to, to, to help sell it. Because that's, you know, when I was pitching TV or, or trying to get executives to read my scripts five years ago there was, there was no other option other than like, can you sit down and read this? And that's actually kind of a big ask. It's still happening, but I think that writers and directors, producers who want to get their stories sold can lean on this technology, and I'm just so grateful to help her tell her story in a way that is effective and emotional and also visually gonna look amazing. So, yeah. And then for, uh, I am putting together a presentation at South by Southwest with the team at Cap Cut. And that's gonna be really fantastic to talk about not only AI for video production and all of the, the suite of AI tools that Cap Cut has beyond just editing. And talk about how AI is meeting the creator economy.

Brooke 19:40

Amazing. I'd love to dive a little deeper, but before that,'cause you just shared really cool visual storyboard projects among many others. Could you share a little bit about your workflow and your technology stack? What resources are you leaning on? What have you gravitated towards?

Jagger 19:59

So it, it does change every project. There, there are enough updates or to platforms and tools about, you know, every four to six weeks there's something pretty major that happens, that changes the stack. But as of mid-February 2026, what I'm leaning on is Seedance for image generation, nano banana, and, Seedream or sorry, Seedance 2.0, which is the video generator. Seedream is the image generator, Seedance 2.0. I have access through the Dreamina CPP. And the model is, I mean, it's just, it's insane the, the examples that have gone viral are like, you know, Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise, which I hate when they use celebrity. I hate when there's like a celebrity or a likeness of a famous person used in, in AI tests. I think that you can do something without using another person's likeness. You can lean on creative writing and prompting to, to do something else, but I get that it's cool. So, that video generator is definitely helping me scale the, the pitch project that I'm working on at the moment. And then only as of last year did I start working with node based systems because I'm, I don't use comfy ui. I told myself three years ago that I was never gonna learn it because I thought that something maybe not as good, but comparable and easier with a, with a simpler UI would come along. And it sure enough it did so using Spaces and FreePik, which is, a nodes based system where you can, you know, connect LLMs to image generators, to video generators, to but just prompt at scale really. And using either Seedream 4.5 or five for coverage, nano banana for coverage, where like you could take one image and then get multiple shots of the same image or location or character for consistency. And then CapCut for, for my editing and epidemic for for sound sound and music Epidemic or, or 11 labs depending.

Brooke 21:59

Wow. It sounds like you've grown your skills a lot. So you said you, you picked up on ui. Is there anything else you feel like you've picked up on because of ai?

Jagger 22:09

Well, I mean editing. I didn't know how to edit before ai. I didn't know how to sound design or drop in sound or anything. So like, kind of like full, the full stack of video production that now I can, I can confidently complete any video project myself. And those are skills that I have all I've picked up in the last year and a half, so my, the breakthrough was actually. Let me learn how to use LLMs. The early version of Mid Journey that was still on Discord, like it started with that and then it expanded and, and came back around to like traditional skills, right? Like I could have learned editing years ago. I could have learned sound design years ago and I didn't. And it was the confidence of adopting AI that brought me back to, oh, now I, I can go back and l learn like a more traditional trade skill too, ironically. So, and that's spilled into all other parts of my life where it's like, oh, there's something I, oh, I don't know how to do it. Like that is inspiring to me instead of intimidating Now.

Brooke 23:09

I agree. I did not know how to video edit or anything about sound mixing before starting to produce this podcast a year ago. And what a blessing, right? To be able to learn to i'm so glad I didn't outsource and just hire other people because now I understand so much in the inner nuances that you know, any creative projects or pursuits I have in the future, I'll be able to actually understand and give better feedback

Jagger 23:39

And that it, you're probably faster. And faster every month. Right? Like it's, there's still moments where I'm like, oh, like how do I do this thing? And then organization is just everything too. You know? I think that's something that I almost never hear people talk about on just like conversations around, creativity, technology, working with it, it's like putting shit in folders, like categorizing as you go, or you know, like, or the way that you you know, you editing your sound or video, like just. Helping yourself out by being organized in like really basic, pretty basic ways.

Brooke 24:15

I saw this hack the other day where a woman used Claude Cowork to organize her folders and files, and I was like, oh, that's kind of genius.

Jagger 24:23

That's honestly the next, that's, that's totally the next one, which Claude, I mean, ClawdBot was a little, uh intense I did experiment with it, but some of the backdoor stuff was freaking me out and i, I want to use more agentic workflows, but the security around it mm-hmm. Is a little iffy to me, so.

24:44

Mm-hmm.

Jagger 24:45

I'm, I'm holding back a little bit on on applications like that or I hope to get a little more confidence about it.

Brooke 24:52

Yes. I'm waiting for things to flush out a bit longer. Mm-hmm. I'm, I'm not jumping to be an early adapter when it comes to that really sensitive and still not quite fully secure.

Jagger 25:07

Yeah.

Brooke 25:07

But I saw, I saw that they're, they're partnering with open AI now, so that's, that's exciting.

Jagger 25:13

That's exciting. And when we do feel secure about it, like I'll be the first one to delegate not just like organization that is still manual because then it's showing me where it's going as I'm doing it, right? But also, like, God, every time one of my films picks up a new laurel from a film festival, like downloading that, putting it in the folder, updating, updating my, updating my poster, uploading that poster to my website so that it is updated, adding it to my resume, like adding it to my website. The stack of like social media, website, LinkedIn, like I wish I had something, I wish I felt safe enough to like deploy something agentic that would update all of those things for me because that is like a part-time job. The sphere of influence that I've built in the community came down to doing that like really consistently for like two years. Just like. Presenting publicly, like, Hey, these are all the opportunities that I'm doing. But it is really, it was really time consuming and now the ball is rolling so it doesn't take as much work. But man, I wanna automate that

Brooke 26:16

Yes. I just got flashbacks to my first job in Hollywood where I was working for a documentary film, and it was a lot of film festival screenings and again, replacing those assets when it was an official film selection Yes. Of whatever new film festival, and um, so we touched on some of the benefits that you saw time, organization. What about any mistakes you experienced? or, or lesson learned along the way? AI can be a bit of a process if you wanna share about any lessons you had along the way.

Jagger 26:48

I think the biggest lessons for me were not in any kind of like technical failure of any kind, but like trying to find a, a place I think, in this community. And something that I can reflect on in hindsight is that early on I met this group of people who were like, Hey, let's adopt ai. Let's try to do filmmaking. Let's try to make films with this. When back when, you know, character consistency was barely there, and in those groups of people I felt. I felt unskilled because the only thing I had to offer was story or character. And that turned out to be really valuable because a couple of early, early AI film competitions that that I won either in a, in a group or or alone, were, because the project that I had was, was character driven. There was something emotional underneath. And even though it wasn't visually the most impressive at the time, it had a story, it, it, it, it, you could connect to it and it's like, who is this character? What are they going through? What's their conflict? And so I think I would've been more confident about that. I would've just like been secure in that, Hey, that's my skill. And that trusting that everything else in turn of, in including the technical abilities, that they would come in time. And now they, they have and, and they're here and I'll continue to build on them. But I think early on I wouldn't feel so insecure about feeling like the fish out of water. I wouldn't, I wouldn't feel like I was behind because I came from a different background and that, I think that I felt ashamed of that for a while and it colored my, the earliest experiences that I had in the space. So I don't, yeah, I don't regret anything else, but I would, I would just, if I would do it again, I would do it with more confidence and, and just be like, this is who I am and, and yeah. Like, I'm here to, to learn. And that's the perspective I take now, which is why it feels like a, a, a cool beginning.

Brooke 28:51

Thank you for sharing more on that. I think it's just an important topic to touch on you know, in case anybody might feel discouraged for, for integrating and learning. So let's jump back into the creator economy since you are speaking on a creator panel. Mm-hmm. I'd love to see what kind of trends you see coming through in this space and anything that you wanna share about it?

Jagger 29:16

Sure. Well, um, to lead into that, I'll describe the work that I'm doing with GMBs College of Influence, which is a, a digital management company that represents digital native talent, you know, on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and we're putting together educational initiatives that not only help our talent roster, like get better at what they're doing, but also the kind of broader education that exists underneath that for anyone, because we're getting into higher education programs and partnerships with universities to actually integrate creator economy curriculum into higher education because it is still being ignored. It's still being treated like this side quest. And you know, in marketing it's like, it's, it's infiltrated marketing the most because it's undeniable. It's undeniably a marketing tool, but building online, building on social isn't, it's not just, it's not just for brands, it's for anyone, whether you're trying to be a filmmaker, an entrepreneur, a small business owner, a hairstylist, even a, a real estate or an electrician. Like I have seen accounts of electricians and real estate agents who are using social and, you know, their business is, is booming because of it. And I think that there's a there's a, a chasm or like a gap in from higher education into the actual job market. And we're trying to fill that and sort of bridge, bridge that gap and help people, people learn and integrate it. But it has shown me that. I think they're, even though traditional media, entertainment, Hollywood and the creator economy, they act like they're in different camps or they can, and it really is the same thing. It it is storytelling. Um, it's using any kind of technology, any platform to tell a story, to communicate something. It's a combination of like world building and advertising, and it's all just converging into one thing where, and that's why I think we're seeing, you know, that Gap hired a Chief Entertainment officer, which is a former executive from Paramount. And there's also brands that are just hiring like Head of Story, which is like this new title that seen pop up Wow. On LinkedIn. And it's just showing you that people who have, you know, I think writers and directors in film and TV are really worried right now because it's like, where is the work? And it's like the work is is funneling towards, towards brands. But that doesn't mean, I don't think it means what it used to. That's not, it's not traditional advertising. It's not a sellout, it is literally world building and creating IP for just a whole new landscape of, of media and entertainment and massive brands are becoming production houses and they're gonna start producing large budget feature films and television. And so people with a creative storytelling background like me, I think that we're gonna be better positioned than it seems like right now. So that's kind of my prediction. And the sooner that you can embrace not just technology, but still like build on social, and when I go to classrooms and talk to students and like undergrad students who are like trying to be screenwriters, I'm like, who's, who considers themselves a content creator? Like who's using, who's using social media? Who's, who knows how to use AI tools to build, um, even build something like a deck, even if it's just proof of concept. You know, I think those are the things that are gonna help you stand out. So that's the work that I'm doing that that kind of bridges these two worlds that are much more connected than they, than they seem.

Brooke 33:00

Can you share more about when you go into classrooms? Like what else are you teaching and, and helping students learn when it comes to AI and strategy? Like what do they really need the most right now?

Jagger 33:12

Sure. Well, I mean, when I'm, when I get asked to, to come in and speak about ai, I do, I, I'll talk about like, current workflows and stacks or, you know, like the, the best video generators right now. But I also say like, that's gonna become obsolete. So like, don't be attached to that. Instead, I, I usually give a slide of like, here are major companies that you should just start rec, like when this is in the news, like read about it Nvidia open ai, Anthronpic, like, it feels like a different language at first if you don't follow them, but like. Start reading the articles when money is moving around between these companies.'cause that will like show you where things are moving in entertainment. But with the college of Influence, we go in and we usually talk to students about using social for not just like, a self-promotional shallow way, but like a really valuable storytelling skill and tool, and essentially taking, here, I'll give an example. Instagram used to be an image first platform when it first came out, right? And gradually it has become a video first platform. So creators that kind of built with the platform and and transitioned into video when reels came out are seeing more growth because that is what the platform wants you to do with the tool. And I think that knowing that versions of that will keep happening, there will be an update too a social media platform that's not, it's not fixed, it's not locked. They are evolving in real time. So can you evolve with it? Can you ask yourself, what is your, your perspective, your work, your creativity, whatever you do, how do you translate it every time there's an update or every time there's something to do, can you pivot? And that is kind of, that's the mindset that we're, that we're trying to cultivate in not just young students, but really anyone.

Brooke 35:03

Thank you for sharing I love to see what's coming on the horizon. What are students learning right now? You know, really big picture trends. One question I like to ask, especially when speaking to creatives, because there's always this push and pull. What's one part of your work that you would never outsource or hand to AI

Jagger 35:25

Writing dialogue. Never, like, you know, I still write, um, you know, like I, I just finished a, a feature writing a feature film, and I will never outsource the, the writing of the dialogue because I love that part the most. Mm-hmm. Not because I think that we're at a point where, yeah, LLMs can do that. I don't think it's very good and that's another reason why I don't use it, because even the most creative ones, they might deliver something that is technically usable, but I think there's something really missing. And I think that that's because my, my, my roots, like the, the beginning of my storytelling career was playwriting. Like I had a playwriting class in high school and I was writing monologues like by hand in a spiral notebook. And I think that that is so connected to who I am that I'm just, I'm just not gonna give that part up because it's my favorite. And even when we get to the point where it is good enough and people are using it for to write dialogue, which I think they already are, I don't, that's, it's just the part where, I don't know if you love riding a bicycle. You don't, doesn't mean you want to get on a motorcycle just'cause it's faster. It'cause you love riding a bicycle. Like, I, I just love, I love riding dialogue. I love the psych, the psychology behind why someone says what they say when they say it, um mm-hmm. How they say it. So that's something I would never outsource.

Brooke 36:49

That's beautiful. Well, we're almost at time, so what's one thing that you want listeners to remember from this episode? Maybe you could even focus on what you would tell any creatives who feel maybe behind or scared when it comes to their AI journey.

Jagger 37:07

I would validate that by acknowledging the fear, acknowledging the concern, and saying that that's real. And you need to listen to that instinct. But can you ask yourself underneath that fear, what else might that fear be about? Because we're not just living in a time where AI is changing the workplace. We're living in a very uncertain global political moment, whether you live in the US or not. And I think that there is a ton of existential dread and anxiety that is affecting every facet of our life and ai. Has or, or can be a scapegoat for these feelings that we don't, we don't know where to put them, and no one's really helping. And we feel like we can't trust power, we can't trust leaders in tech and Silicon Valley. And that's that. I, I wanna acknowledge that. Like, that's, that's real. And I, I feel that anxiety too. But can you sit with those feelings? Can you decide where you want to? Fall. Do you want to commit yourself to a life where you're minimizing your use of technology, where you are distancing yourself from screens? Because if that is calling to you, listen to that. Don't learn the image and video generators, don't do what I'm doing. If, if you really need to exist in opposition to that, into this like morally, then build a life that's true to that or lean in. And, you know, try commit yourself to trying to build it from the inside ethically. But I think that it's the refusal to, to commit to either of those things where people, a lot of people are in the middle, um, or they feel that sense of powerlessness. So I would sit with your feelings of powerlessness and decide what action can you take that is really true to the life that you want to be living? Because that is what will get you offline and prevent you from just jumping into arguments on social media. And that will push you to action and your life will fall into suit around that.

Brooke 39:18

Wow, that was incredible. That was a very poignant closing statement. You know, really leaving space to commit to your own values and, and choose which direction you wanna move forward.'Cause ultimately it's up to you.

Jagger 39:31

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And if you wanna get off grid and go tech free, do that. Like that's happening and I think that we're, we're gonna see more of it. So if that's calling to you, do it.

Brooke 39:41

Well, how can listeners connect and reach out to you? What's the best way to follow your work and all the cool things you're up to?

Jagger 39:50

Thank you. Yeah. The best way to connect with me is to find me on LinkedIn. Connect with me there. Feel free to message. Um, but that's, that's like the biggest kind of like platform, right? I, where I update what I'm doing. I'm also on Instagram, Jagger Waters should pop up, but you can also search glamorous reptile. That's my username. And yeah, those are, those are the two platforms that I'm focusing on right now. Or feel free to, yeah, just reach out to me.

Brooke 40:17

Thank you for your time today, Jagger. It was very jam packed. I'll be sure to link those social handles in the show notes so people can reach out to you as well.

Jagger 40:26

Cool.

Brooke 40:27

Thank you so much. Wow, I hope today's episode opened your mind to what's possible with AI. Do you have a cool use case on how you're using AI and want to share it? DM me. I'd love to hear more and feature you on my next podcast. Until next time, here's to working smarter, not harder. See you on the next episode of How I AI. Have you just started exploring AI and feel a bit overwhelmed? Don't worry, I've got you. Jump on a quick start audit call with me so you can walk away with a clear and personalized plan to move forward with more confidence and ease. Join my community of AI adopters like yourself. Plus, grab my free resources, including the AI Get Started Guide. Or try my How I AI companion GPT. It pulls insights from my guest interviews along with global reports, so you can stay ahead of the curve. Follow the link in the description below to get started.