David M. Crabtree

Creative director & creative technologist · London

I direct, I write, and now I build the tools.

I spent fifteen years directing commercials and music films for Sony, Honda, Disney, and DC, and writing features for Sony, Screen Gems, and Lionsgate. Two years ago I started building a generative AI system for my own work. I use it every day. It’s good at some jobs and bad at others, and I now know which are which.

Now

Most creative teams already pay for AI tools. Few have them working on real jobs.

When it doesn’t work, the software is rarely to blame. Nobody has decided which jobs go to the machine and which stay with a person, what each step should cost, or who checks the output before the client sees it.

That’s what I do. I sit with a creative team, watch how they actually make things, and build the workflow around that, so the tools are still in use six months later.

AI will give you forty versions by lunch. It won’t tell you which one is good.

The system

The system I use on my own work.

I built it because the off-the-shelf tools kept making my writing sound like everyone else’s.

01The pipeline

Twenty-odd tools I built for research, ideation, drafting, critique, and revision, running on Claude and local models. Plus two databases of my own, served over MCP: one tracks the spec market, the other my industry contacts.

02Routing

Grunt work—versioning, retrieval, formatting—goes to cheap or local models. The expensive models only touch work where the voice matters. Every job has a budget before it starts.

03Adversarial review

Several agents argue over a concept from opposing creative positions, and a separate agent judges. I see more options before I commit, and I still make the call.

04Quality gates

Automated checks for voice and substance. They flag work that reads smoothly and says nothing, which is what clients worry about most when AI is involved.

Directing

Commercials, branded films, and music films.

I’ve taken work from concept to final cut, including the Sony spot with John Legend that won a Clio, documentary-style branded films for DC Comics and Honda, short-form for Disney, and music films with the artists below. I was executive producer of VEVO’s Go Shows (forty episodes, Webby honoree) and produced and edited NBC’s online Olympics coverage from Rio and PyeongChang.

Artists

Nas · Kendrick Lamar · Trent Reznor · John Legend · Ellie Goulding · Florence and the Machine · J. Cole · Kid Cudi · Big Sean · Miguel · Selena Gomez · ScHoolboy Q · Foster the People · Weezer · One Direction

Brands

Sony · Honda · Disney · DC Comics · Chevy · Adidas · Jeep · Allstate · Coors · Corona · Dr Pepper · Vitaminwater · Sperry · Starburst · YouTube

Writing

Features for Sony, Screen Gems, Lionsgate, and Mandalay.

I’m a WGA screenwriter. Each of these scripts took notes from a studio, a producer, and a director at the same time. Turning three sets of notes into one draft is most of the job.

  • LEFT SEATSurvival thriller starring Michelle Rodriguez and Richard Gere, now in post-production. Developed at Screen Gems/Sony with directors John Moore and Timur Bekmambetov.
  • OMEGAScience-fiction spec for Sony and Mandalay Pictures, with Simon McQuoid attached to direct.
  • INHERIT THE EARTHSony/Columbia. Adaptation of the graphic novel Zombies vs. Robots for director Kornél Mundruczó.
  • FOR ALL TIMELionsgate, with Dan Lin producing. My first sale, originally titled Time Tweakers.
  • PHASICSold to Mandalay Pictures.
  • PHANTOM FOURTwo original screenplays for David S. Goyer’s company.

Press & recognition

Contact

I’m open to creative technologist, forward-deployed creative, and AI production roles, and to project work with agencies and studios. Available now.

contact.davidmcrabtree@gmail.com

LinkedIn London · USC School of Cinematic Arts