Checking In On The Hollywood Reporter’s Favorite Slopcast Company

PLUS: "The Drama" of Editing

Author

Steve
April 07, 2026

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Checking In On The Hollywood Reporter’s Favorite Slopcast Company

A little over six months ago, The Hollywood Reporter published a press release {cough} sorry, “article” about the company Inception Point AI and its entirely AI-generated podcast network called “Quiet. Please.” As I’ve documented, the entertainment press in general does a terrible job covering tech companies in the entertainment space, gifting them credulous article after article. As I wrote in the post linked above:

Unfortunately, the increasingly-stupid types of these stories I’ve consumed over the past few months has led me to the conclusion that the press is at least somewhat complicit in not just enabling but actively pushing these narratives. I’m not sure if it’s simply sheer gullibility, a desire to avoid being seen as out of it or “left behind” by the next hot tech trend, or financial incentives driven by the bosses who run the publications. Or all three together!

That publications like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Rolling Stone are all Penske Media brands certainly does give credence to the latter. Regardless of the reason, it is embarrassing that you had to look outside the industry trades for any semblance of skepticism about Inception Point, such as these more accurate takes from Gizmodo, Futurism, and yours truly.

So: why am I bringing up this ridiculous company and its awful product again? Well, because I wanted to see if perhaps I had missed something important! Maybe Quiet. Please actually was able to create some of what they promised as reported by THR and I really was a “lazy Luddite” as described by the company’s CEO Jeanine Wright.

I went to their Apple Podcasts page and pulled up one of their top shows and boy do I have egg on my face. They have a partnership with Oprah Winfrey!

Wow! “Oprah’s Weight Loss Journey,” what a title for a show! Or wait, is that the title? That’s what the art says, but the podcast title listed on the page says “Oprah’s Weight Loss Dilemma: The Ozempic.” Did that get cut off there? Also why does the show description call it “The Oprah Ozempic Odyssey”?

Well, I’m sure these are just technical issues, let’s get to the meat of the show: a new Oprah podcast. You can listen to the latest episode here!

It’s really an incredible piece: two separate 30 second commercials for the grocery chains Von’s & Albertson’s and then two minutes of an AI voice reading a ChatGPT news summary on Ozempic, with a brief mention of Oprah Winfrey appearing on “CBS This Morning” on April 1. Unfortunately, “CBS This Morning” is a show that no longer exists, and Oprah’s appearance on CBS’s morning show actually took place two months ago.

So: nothing has changed in 6 months. The company still produces barrel-scraping slop and sells ads against it. Whenever one of the trades publishes another breathless article about some amazing new AI technology that is going to revolutionize some sector of the entertainment business, just think about “Oprah’s Weight Loss Dilemma.”

PS: Bloomberg has a fantastic interview with Inception Point’s CEO, which features this mind-boggling quote:

“I definitely think that there are people out there who are just almost like thoughtlessly creating content in all sorts of different mediums — written, audio, video — as quickly as possible with no intention behind it, just letting the machine run and throwing it out and seeing what happens ,” she said.

The Drama of Editing

I saw The Drama this past weekend and haven’t cringed that hard in a movie theater in ages (this is a compliment!). I very much enjoyed this SPOILER-FILLED IndieWire interview with the film’s director/co-editor Kristoffer Borgli and co-editor Joshua Raymond Lee. Again, heavy spoiler warning here, so if you have any desire to preserve it, see the movie first!

Some other interesting editing stories:

Here’s a round-up of cool and interesting links about Hollywood and technology:

How they hid hundreds of cameras on “Company Retreat.” (link)

Project Hail Mary DP Greg Fraser on how they lit those tunnel scenes. (link)

Stopping your photos from giving away your location. (link)