Published on MediaPost, 11 August 2023
As the Hollywood writer and actor strikes grind on, their protagonists are receiving regular reminders of why, exactly, they’re striking.
The latest example: the risk of using AI to eliminate the need for extras. And we’re not just talking non-existent people generated by AI — we’re talking AI replicas of actual actors, people who may have been paid for a day’s work to get their likenesses scanned, with the digital replicas being owned by the studios for use in perpetuity.
There’s a bit of he said / she said going on, with the producers’ union indignantly claiming they would never use someone’s likeness without the actor’s consent or without paying them properly. But the message is simple, and one that resonates across all industries: Where we can get AI to accomplish non-essential tasks, we will.
(Don’t worry: this is *not* an “AI will take all the jobs” piece. Technology will absolutely create new jobs, and already has — “prompt engineer,” anyone?)
Let’s imagine that the studios are successful in being able to create a street crowd without shelling out a union-minimum $187 a day per person plus food, wardrobe, and the hassle of dealing with actual human beings. Let’s imagine that all those background actors find other jobs, as prompt engineers or Twitch streamers or whatever the kids are doing nowadays.
Where do the stars come from?
More than half of SAG’s members have been extras at some point in their career. For many, being an extra is a starting point for the performing arts, a stepping stone, a way in. It’s where you can start to get a sense of what it’s like to be on set, how it works, what the unwritten rules are.
It’s not just the acting realm. It’s any industry where there’s a lower-paid, higher-volume way of getting in the door. All the newer photographers whose work has been replaced by Midjourney. All the aspiring journalists whose work has been replaced by ChatGPT. All the up-and-coming musicians whose work has been replaced by AudioCraft.
The problem isn’t that we’ve deprived these people of jobs. It’s that we’ve deprived these people — and, by extension, the entire industry — of a training ground. The training ground is where talent develops. How do we develop talent without a training ground?
Aotearoa New Zealand, where I live, is a training ground for rugby. It’s the national sport, and it’s played everywhere: on official fields and club grounds, in backyards and on beaches. Kids start with “rippa rugby” at age 5, tearing Velcro-attached flags off each other’s belts instead of tackling.
A national training ground like this one is fertile ground for success. The All Blacks, our men’s national team, are known worldwide; the Black Ferns, our women’s national team, are the most dominant team in all of rugby, having won six World Cup titles and becoming the first women’s team ever to be named World Rugby Team of the Year.
You don’t get the All Blacks and the Black Ferns without giving people who aren’t yet at the pinnacle of the sport the opportunity to learn, to experiment, to grow. To get their 10,000 iterations in. To get the taste and the rhythm and the feel of the game right. For a few champions to emerge, you must create space for hundreds of thousands of amateurs, as well as for those who are newer in their professional careers.
Actors need training grounds, as do photographers, journalists, musicians… as do we all. “Non-essential” roles like extras and junior reporters are where stars and legends are formed. We’re about to find out just how essential they really are.
Kaila Colbin, Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator
Founder and CEO, Boma
