Negotiating Authorship with Generative AI in Cinema Education: Attribution and Creative Decision-Making in Screenwriting

Ufuk Küçükcan

doi:10.5195/cinej.2026.1269

Negotiating Authorship with Generative AI in Cinema Education: Attribution and Creative Decision-Making in Screenwriting

Authors

Ufuk Küçükcan Anadolu University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6027-7461

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.1269

Keywords:

generative AI, AI-assisted screenwriting, screenwriting education, authorship attribution, cinematic authorship, creative agency, human–AI collaboration

Abstract

This study examines how cinema students attribute authorship during AI-assisted screenwriting and how those judgments relate to creative decisions. Drawing on a fourteen-week, design-based course, it compares logbooks with 436 student turns across twenty generative-AI conversations. In four of six co-writing cases, students selected and retained system-originated material. The clearest tension appeared when students claimed the idea as their own but assigned the text entirely to AI while repeatedly rejecting generated material, a response the instrument’s own categories leave ambiguous. Read against Livingston, Gaut and Sellors, these cases show that textual generation, creative decision-making and authorship attribution can diverge within one process. Cinema education should ask not only who authored a text, but on what basis.

References

Bender, S. M. (2023). Coexistence and creativity: Screen media education in the age of artificial intelligence content generators. Media Practice and Education, 24(4), 351–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741136.2023.2204203

Cake, S. (2025). Artificial intelligence as a collaborative tool for script development. Media Practice and Education, 26(3), 302–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741136.2025.2454074

Göksel Demiray, B. (2015). Authorship in cinema: Author & reader. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 4(1), 4–19. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2014.62

Dhillon, P. S., Molaei, S., Li, J., Golub, M., Zheng, S., & Robert, L. P. (2024). Shaping human-AI collaboration: Varied scaffolding levels in co-writing with language models. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’24). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642134

Formosa, P., Bankins, S., Matulionyte, R., & Ghasemi, O. (2025). Can ChatGPT be an author? Generative AI creative writing assistance and perceptions of authorship, creatorship, responsibility, and disclosure. AI & Society, 40(5), 3405–3417. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-02081-0

Frühmorgen, T., & Hoyer, D. (2025). The penned parrot in the writers’ room: Four stage story generation in collaborative screenwriting with AI. International Journal on Stereo & Immersive Media, 9(1), 32–47. https://doi.org/10.60543/ijsim.v9i1.9391

Gaut, B. (2002). Film authorship and collaboration. In R. Allen & M. Smith (Eds.), Film theory and philosophy (pp. 149–172). Oxford University Press.

Gibson Yates, S. (2025). Conversations with generative AI as co-writer and screen character: Scripting postdigital intimacies with the Screenwriting with AI Framework. Journal of Screenwriting, 16(3), 307–325. https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00186_1

Gürsoy, A. Ö., & Şavk, S. (2024). From scriptor to promptor: An evaluation of the status of authorship, authenticity, and creativity in light of the use of artificial intelligence in screenwriting. ARTS: Artuklu Sanat ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi, (12), 57–82. https://doi.org/10.46372/arts.1482636

Habib, S. (2026). AI-mediated creative agency: A framework for creative self-efficacy in human-AI collaboration. Possibility Studies & Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/27538699261458933

Jiang, Y., Wu, Q., Yang, Y., Jian, C., & Zhao, J. (2026). Learner agency in revising GenAI-generated statements of purpose. British Journal of Educational Technology, 57(4), 965–983. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.70041

Kerrigan, S., & Batty, C. (2016). Re-conceptualising screenwriting for the academy: The social, cultural and creative practice of developing a screenplay. New Writing, 13(1), 130–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790726.2015.1134580

Livingston, P. (2002). Cinematic authorship. In R. Allen & M. Smith (Eds.), Film theory and philosophy (pp. 132–148). Oxford University Press.

Lough, T. (2025). Artificial intelligence use in screenwriting programmes in US and UK higher education: An exploratory research report. Journal of Screenwriting, 16(2), 201–215. https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00178_7

Macdonald, I. W. (2013). Screenwriting poetics and the screen idea. Palgrave Macmillan.

Maras, S. (2009). Screenwriting: History, theory and practice. Wallflower Press.

Marshall, K., Jones, R., & Barley, S. (2025). Neither artificial nor intelligent: Applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and creative machine learning in screenwriting and screen story development in the Charismatic Consortium. Journal of Screenwriting, 16(3), 287–306. https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00188_1

Monserrat, A. L., & Srnec, N. M. (2025). Reflection-AI: Artificial intelligence as a redefining force for expressive filmmaking in film schools. Frontiers in Communication, 10, Article 1598376. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1598376

Price, S. (2010). The screenplay: Authorship, theory and criticism. Palgrave Macmillan.

Radtke, A., & Rummel, N. (2025). Generative AI in academic writing: Does information on authorship impact learners’ revision behavior? Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 8, Article 100350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100350

Şahinkaya Ermiş, A. (2026). Yapay zekâ destekli senaryo üretiminde tekrar ve fark: Sinema öğrencilerinin ChatGPT ile haptik sinema deneyimi [Repetition and difference in AI-assisted screenplay production: Cinema students’ haptic cinema experience with ChatGPT]. İlef Dergisi, 13(1), 37–65. https://doi.org/10.24955/ilef.1888067

Sellors, C. P. (2007). Collective authorship in film. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 65(3), 263–271. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-594X.2007.00257.x

Sönmez, S., & Gülay, H. G. (2026). The new threshold of creative labor: Qualitative insights from Turkish cinema professionals. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 14(1), 374–417. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.892

Spencer, A. (2025). Redefining roles: Human–AI collaboration in screenwriting. Journal of Screenwriting, 16(3), 273–286. https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00190_1

Tang, Y., Li, H., Lan, M., Ma, X., & Qu, H. (2025). Understanding screenwriters’ practices, attitudes, and future expectations in human-AI co-creation. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’25). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3714120

Turina, R. (2025). Screenwriting and AI: Emerging theories, modes and practices [Editorial]. Journal of Screenwriting, 16(3), 231–235. https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00191_2

Vainikka, E., Soronen, A., & Kallio, S.-M. (2025). Is prompt engineering the future of screenwriting? Views of professional screenwriters and commissioners about the impact of AI technologies on their profession. Critical Studies in Television, 20(1), 54–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020241269277

Viljoen, A. (2024). Scriptwriting with AI: A comparative analysis of ChatGPT and human-crafted short-film scripts: A South African perspective. Journal of African Cinemas, 15(2), 199–222. https://doi.org/10.1386/jac_00101_1

Wang, F., & Hannafin, M. J. (2005). Design-based research and technology-enhanced learning environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 5–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504682

Downloads

Published

2026-10-15

How to Cite

Küçükcan, U. (2026). Negotiating Authorship with Generative AI in Cinema Education: Attribution and Creative Decision-Making in Screenwriting. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 14(2), 499–537. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.1269

Download Citation

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2026): Fall

Section

Articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
The Author represents and warrants that:
1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
4. the Work has not previously been published;
5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.