# Filmmaker James Boyd Brings AI-Assisted Shorts 404 and DEAD DRIP to Four Southern California Festivals

_Event · published 2026-08-20_

Award-winning filmmaker James Boyd is taking two generative AI-assisted short films on a Southern California festival run this August and September. His Silver Telly Award-winning sci-fi comedy 404—about an AI bot whose empathy algorithm is rejected by its creators—screens at Film Invasion Los Angeles on August 21, while horror-comedy DEAD DRIP makes its world premiere at the 14th Annual Studio City Film Festival on September 6. Both films then screen together at the Indiewood Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theatre on September 15, with 404 closing out the run at SIMI Film Fest on September 19.

Boyd frames his practice under the banner "human made with AI tools," arguing that generative technology removes production barriers for independent filmmakers much as DVD projection did when he founded the Nodance Film Festival—the world's first DVD-projected festival—in Park City, Utah in 1998. "The technology can change dramatically, but the fundamental job hasn't changed," Boyd has said, emphasizing character, emotion, and creative decision-making as constants regardless of the tools used.

## Sources
- [natlawreview.com](https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/award-winning-filmmaker-james-boyd-brings-two-ai-assisted-projects-southern)
---
Canonical: https://genbuzz.news/posts/filmmaker-james-boyd-brings-ai-assisted-shorts-404-and-dead-drip-to-four-southern-california-festivals