Wesley Edits

Remember AI isn't replacing jobs. Companies are making decisions to cut the role. They are using AI as an excuse.

Thinking of opening a bar with a social media corner specifically designed to post boring, algorithm-friendly content that makes the place look "authentic" as hell. What should I call it? The Algorithm? User-Generated Content? The Lie?

AI recombines what already exists. To be genuinely surprised requires breaking the pattern, not optimizing within it.

Fun Friday: Can We Admit Love Isn't Blind? The data says no + a catchup on some books I'm reading

Love Is Blind Season 9 had a franchise first: ZERO marriages!

I analyzed all 9 seasons and the data is clear — the show's marriage success rate has collapsed by 50% since early seasons.

Full breakdown and charts on why (and how this is making the show worse) 👇

open.substack.com/pub/wesleyed...

If AI search makes all the revenue disappear from content creators, where will future AI get content from?

I also show how Netflix uses the hype of AI as marketing in clever ways and give some work updates…

Would love to hear your thoughts!

The Most Trusted Man in America Never Existed — And We’re Falling for the Same Scam with AI Plus some personal updates and showing Netflix's use of AI in marketing

New newsletter. Workshopping a book on the death of trust in media from a historical perspective & how it's pushing us to believing AI is the answer even though it's trained on the same stuff we claim to not trust.

Today's newsletter is the thesis/Intro of sorts.

open.substack.com/pub/wesleyed...

The Most Trusted Man in America Never Existed — And We’re Falling for the Same Scam with AI Cronkite’s legendary status was built on a bogus poll and desperate hope — and we’re making the same mistake with AI

Walter Cronkite — "The Most Trusted Man in America" — never actually was.

His legendary status was built on a bogus poll and CBS marketing.

We're making the exact same mistake with AI.

My @Medium piece on why the golden age of journalism never existed:

medium.com/actuallythou...

AI can recombine the known, but Montesquieu understood - true aesthetic surprise comes from the genuinely unfamiliar

You win some, you lose some. Long-time client ghosted me today. But a juicy new prospect just slid into my inbox. Such is the game in a freelancer's life.

If you want to read/listen to Joyride yourself:

amzn.to/478ezsQ

(affiliate link - supports my work at no extra cost to you)

7 Writing Tips I Learned Editing Susan Orlean’s New Audiobook From finding ideas to building confidence: Writing advice from the author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book

I edited Susan Orlean's audiobook for Joyride (out today)

Somewhere between removing the 347th mouth click, I learned more about craft than most workshops teach

7 lessons that apply whether you're writing, producing, or building anything creative.

On @medium: 👇

medium.com/books-are-ou...

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." - Plato

I was just thinking… Wild how Facebook and these other social platforms trained us to think giving them free content was the same as maintaining friendships or having real human connection.

If you're pitching right now what are you seeing? What's working and what's not?

The game changed. Most producers haven't noticed yet.

Fourth: Your sizzle is probably getting passed because of the editor, not the concept.

Networks can smell amateur assembly work in 10 seconds.

Get an editor who understands what buyers want to see—not just someone who can cut footage together.

That's the difference between a sale and a pass.

Everyone's arguing about what networks should buy.

I'm telling you what they're actually buying.

And right now? Content that won't generate a mean tweet or a lawsuit from the White House.

Welcome to development in 2025.

Third: Networks are greenlighting based on whether your show might attract government attention.

Not ratings. Not creative merit. Government pushback.

With threats to broadcast licenses and lawsuits flying, buyers are asking: "Will this put a target on our back?

Second: Bring money to the table.

Come with sponsors already attached.

You're not begging for a budget—you're showing them there's already interest with the people who matter.

Pre-attached revenue is the new pitch deck.

First: Stop pitching to networks that are about to be sold.

Media consolidation is wiping development slates overnight. Your brilliant pitch means nothing if your buyer gets fired before they can greenlight it.

Pitch to stable buyers or you're wasting your time.

My first sizzle of 2025 just sold to series. After working on multiple pitches this year, here's what's actually getting bought right now (and what's dying in development):

LLMs tell you what humans would probably say based on training data. They don't think.

Do your own thinking.

AI Social Media Is Here Whether You Like It or Not And all they want is your biometric data forever. In exchange we get deepfakes and misinformation

Just turn off your brain and let the slop keep coming. That's what #AI social media wants.

Scan your face. Give them your voice. Scroll forever.

Is this cash burn and further erosion of humanity worth the slop? I’m going with no.

Full thoughts on Medium 👇

medium.com/actuallythou...

First cut anxiety on a new series never gets easier. Tony Bennett said something while I worked on his Zen of Bennett doc that stuck with me: if you're anxious, it means you care. That pressure? Just your standards showing up.

Wesley Edits – Medium Read writing from Wesley Edits on Medium. Media veteran with Emmy/Grammy nominations investigating media and tech industry narratives.

medium.com/@wesleyedits

Spoke on a writer panel at Medium's company offsite yesterday about my experience on the site.

Rare to find a platform that tries to compensate writers + wants feedback. That's why I keep writing there & think they're one of the best in the game!

Follow me for media/tech analysis: @wesleyedits

Also the entry level job thing IS a real concern societies will have to face, and just asking people to pull their bootstraps up or whatever may not be enough.

Totally agree. It's one of the challenges teachers are going to face moving forward - how to get our kids to be genuinely curious. Seems like rote memorization may take more of a back seat just like math changed with calculators. Need the tools to verify and elevate what these systems give them.

How to Use AI Without Getting Replaced: The Workslop Problem Explained How to Use AI Without Getting Replaced: The Workslop Problem Explained How AI-generated content is making workers look incompetent and what to do about it I keep getting scripts from clients that are…

"Workslop" is the hot new term for AI-generated content flooding our workplaces.

While AI slop drowns social media, workslop is taking over offices. Here's how to stand out in both.

On Medium:

medium.com/@wesleyedits...

Shoutout to AI for being mid enough to cure my ADD. Nothing makes you slow down like knowing your writing assistant is confidently wrong 40% of the time and turns out writing in the style of a middle schooler.