Photo Credit: Jerry Metellus

26 years ago while preparing to launch a new crime drama for CBS, Anthony Zuiker asked Las Vegas crime scene investigators if he could ride along with them in order to learn more about their procedures. During one of his first nights on the job, Anthony and his criminalist mentors were called to a house where a possible sexual assault had taken place.

Anthony recalled to me that his first assignment was to “Get down on your knees, comb the carpet, and look for semen”. Zuiker obliged, and the experience he gained during those late-night ride-a-longs helped him write and produce “CSI”, a groundbreaking series which has influenced the television landscape for over a quarter century. Along the way, he also created four CSI spinoffs, four TV mini series, an animated video series for children, penned five novels, and wrote his autobiography titled, “Mr. CSI”.  

Always the pioneer, Zuiker is now developing “Cinemalistics”, an AI-generated true crime app designed to streamline and reinvent the current state of crime journalism. I first got to know Anthony back in 2000 when writing about him in my book “TV Creators: Conversations with America’s Top Producers of Television Drama, volume two”. I recently caught up with the man I still refer to as “the boy genius”, and we talked about his new venture.  

JL: Why did you create “Cinemalistics”?  

AZ:  Every morning I read seven to ten different news outlets to stay abreast of true crime -not only because I’m fascinated by the subject, but because researching crime has been part of my professional life for decades. Increasingly I found the experience cluttered. It was fraught with advertising, navigational challenges, endless swiping, and fragmented information. I began asking myself a simple question: “Is there a better way to experience a breaking crime story”. I wanted to bring my storytelling experience to the future of crime journalism by creating an outlet where consumers wouldn’t simply read about a crime – they could watch the story unfold in real time, beginning just hours after the crime breaks.  

JL: What will I see if I use the Cinemalistics app?  

AZ: At the center of it is a heads-up display containing 20 different categories of continuously evolving information. Those categories allow us to build a living archive around each case while establishing something equally important: consumer confidence that we are deeply invested in accuracy, transparency, and telling the truth. That became the essence of Cinemalistics. You don’t have to wait days, weeks, or months for someone to tell you the story. You can watch it hour by hour.  

JL:  How is this going to work?  

AZ: A story might begin as a 90-second documentary or 90-second movie. Then, as verified information emerges, that story grows. The narrative changes before your eyes. Ninety seconds becomes five minutes. Five minutes becomes twenty, and ultimately, a major case could evolve into a full- length documentary or a full-length movie. The story isn’t simply published and left behind. It lives. It evolves. And as the truth changes our understanding of what happened, the storytelling evolves with it.  

JL:  How much will the app cost?  

AZ:  Cinemalistics is designed as a “freemium” digital content ecosystem. When the app launches, consumers will be able to download it for free and immediately begin experiencing the platform. From there, users will have the option to purchase in-app coins through microtransactions allowing them to unlock deeper layers of a story, including additional evidence, information, and premium content as a case continues to unfold. As Cinemalistics grows, we also anticipate introducing a subscription model and/or premium membership that could provide exclusive content, special events, merchandise, and collectibles. So, there isn’t simply one annual fee. The front door to Cinemalistics is free. How deeply you choose to go into the experience is up to you.  

JL: When will the app be available?  

AZ:  We’ll likely launch in mid 2027, following several rounds of rigorous beta testing. But perhaps the biggest decision in the lifespan of Cinemalistics will be choosing the first crime. We need a case that rises to the level of a national obsession – a story that captures the public’s attention and continues to evolve before our eyes. Once we begin building the documentary and the movie around that crime, there’s no turning back. The story is alive. The clock is running, and that’s where the excitement begins.  

JL:  What guardrails will you have in place to deal with “facts” that turn out not to be facts? For example, will you delay including certain information that law enforcement has mentioned but not yet confirmed?  

AZ: That’s a very good question, and one we’ve discussed internally ad nauseam because trust is the lifeblood of Cinemalistics. Our storytelling begins when information becomes public, but the platform is designed to distinguish between what is known, what is being reported, and what has actually been confirmed. The foundation underneath both the documentary and the movie is our 20-button heads-up display, where the live files supporting the evolving story reside. If credible public information indicates that Suspect “A” is in play, for example, we may incorporate that development into the documentary and dramatize it within the motion picture. But if the following day Suspect “A” is cleared, Cinemalistics won’t hide from that change -we change with it. The underlying live files evolve to reflect the latest information. That is part of what makes the concept so exciting. Unlike a traditional documentary or motion picture where the narrative is essentially frozen once it is released, Cinemalisitcs is never frozen. It is a living narrative. As facts change the story shapeshifts with them, keeping the experience fresh, topical, relevant, and, most importantly, accountable to the truth.     

JL: How will the app be sensitive to the families of victims?  

AZ:  This is perhaps the question I think about most because we are straddling two very different responsibilities: the power of storytelling and the sensitivity required when dealing with a crime that may still be incredibly fresh in the minds of victims’ family, friends, and survivors. The short answer is Cinemalistics is not an app built around gore or exploitation, nor are we interested in shocking an audience simply to drive consumption. The buck ultimately stops with me as the lead storyteller, and my responsibility is to make sure our storytelling is factual and accurate, but equally important, that it is handled with humanity and sensitivity. I have to approach every one of these stories by asking myself a very personal question: “How would I tell this story if the victim were my own child or someone in my own family?” It’s not an easy line to walk but maintaining that balance between compelling storytelling and genuine human sensitivity will be one of our highest priorities as we attempt to build what we believe can become the future of crime consumption.  

Today’s leading tech pundits warn that Artificial Intelligence could go rogue and destroy the human race, but I’m not worried because Anthony Zuiker, the pioneer, will always be one step ahead of AI. He can harness it and he can control it for the good of mankind. And if necessary, he’ll get down on his hands and knees to look for semen samples. Let’s see a robot do that.  

To view the Cinemalistics trailer and for more information, visit www.cinemalistics.com.  

Jim Longworth is a columnist for YESWeekly.com, and author of the "TV Creators" series of books. He also serves as judge for the primetime EMMYs, and hosts a weekly TV show for Sinclair stations.

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