There’s a category of writing called “cookie-cutter” copy. And no one has that market cornered better than the Lifetime Movie brand.
You know about them, don’t you? The channel for women that has made Christmas movies synonymous with small town holiday romance .
If you get sucked into watching any of it from November to December, you could probably write the scripts yourself.
Here goes.
Big city girl moves back home. She’s conflicted about the small town which holds a bucket full of memories, good and bad.
She meets her past love who had stayed behind. Sparks fly. Conflict happens. It’s resolved. She decides the small town is where she belongs
Boy and girl kiss under the dust of fake, falling snow and bright twinkle lights
Writing Without Soul
Watching these movies has become the hallmark of the holidays . ****See what I did there, with Hallmark being the other culprit? 
But come on! Be honest. Don’t you find the scriptwriting stale? Flat. Formulaic, not all that interesting.
As I said so cookie cutter, even ChatGPT could have written it. In fact, according to those in the TV writing profession, the AI language based model probably could.
So you know what I say to that? Let it.
Let AI take over all of the writing that lacks soul, intimate perspectives, stand out plot twists, real emotional connections, keen personal observations, even wit.
Because the writers at Lifetime have been thinking and churning out scripts like machines anyway. So forgive me if as a copywriter, I don’t go in, guns ablaze, taking shots at ChatGPT.
In fact, I find ChatGPT very useful.
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- The technology has negated me searching through a bunch of links on Google
- It gives me "facts", helps me frame my thoughts by offering different perspectives. It responds to my frameworks and contextualising and speeds up my writing process.
- Also, if you're not a natural writer then I am thrilled beyond thrilled that you finally have a tool to help you write better.
***BUT the real reason I’m so open to these language based models (Google is next); the truth behind why I embrace ChatGPT and don’t fear it is because I know:***
AI cannot, will not, and will never be able to give me what I actually want to read which is always a human perspective.
My father, a former journalist, used to call it, “the story behind the story.” In most instances, these stories are guided by empathy, wit and a precise skill for human observation and questioning.
- Why does your husband’s perfume remind you of your grandfather? What secret have you only told to your sister and know she will never share?
- What happened when you found out you were adopted and how did that shape your thinking about family at home and at work? Who was your grandmother? What was it like to grow up pre-independence? What stories came through oral traditions?
- Why does your mother always call you by your home name?
- How did you feel when you delivered a speech for the first time? Tell me the story about when your CEO had to deliver the news that 500 employees would lose their jons and you found out that one of them was in fact you ?
- What was it like to be on the cover of Entrepreneur's Magazine? Who did you tell first?
There are a million questions a machine will never be able to answer because…
ChatGPT cannot intimately understand or communicate your work. Ask it to do so and it will probably sound like a machine trying to be human.
It can’t do a one-on- one interview your client or boss and capture the mood of that meeting.
It cannot understand the tiny, unseen moments and it cannot capture with words the abandoned joy of your personal win.
When the war with Ukraine ends, I’d be the first to ask ChatGPT to write me a book about the war and its outcome. Once it can read information after 2021, of course.
But I’d much prefer to read one about the woman in Kyiv. She is that 34-year-old mother who stayed in a basement with her 2 children.
I’d want to know why and how she got milk and food, how she handled her children’s trauma and her own. Where did she get her courage? How she felt when her two year screamed for three nights straight.
AI will never be scary once you write with heart and conviction and intimate knowledge of what your audience needs and wants.
It’s your words that form a common coin of communion with your readers, something AI can never do.
I am grateful that ChatGPT will help provide copy frameworks that can increase sales in your business. Use it well, train it and it can help you get more profits, better customers, bigger audiences, and more donations
But losing our central idea about what makes our writing special is not worthy of debate. Not if we refuse to become ‘cookie cutters’ anyway.
P.S. I am currently rolling out my training modules on how to use ChatGPT in your business and communications + admin team.
