I’m kind of on the fence about the actors striking thing. Some of their demands makes good sense, and I’m all for them getting good pay for good work. But I do feel some actors/actresses are overpaid, because they’re in a position to screw over the studio if they decided to quit; because their “character” in the movie or TV Show has become too important for that particular movie or tv show. So they have the studio raked over the coals and they’re going to make them pay through the nose for you. I don’t think that’s very fair. Not all actors/actresses are like this, but you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think this is done on a regular basis by some actors/actresses. Probably enough to form a bad taste in the mouth of the studios. To possibly form a somewhat negative biase towards actors/actresses.

Some actors/actresses though, heck yeah, they’re awesome. Good people to work with, easy going, great people all around. These actors/actresses deserve all the credit they can get. I always thought IMDB should have a section about actors/actresses dedicated to what fellow coworkers felt about that actor/actress, they could write it in publicly or anonymously (but it would need to still be verified behind the scenes). But a way to give the world an idea of what that actor/actress was really like, off camera. Were they nice? Were they friendly? Or were they a real piece of high maintenance work… but I digress. Good actors/actresses are awesome, we need more of them.

I’ve also seen some good shows or movies go terribly bad because one of the actors gets caught doing hard drugs somewhere, or they get a DUI while driving 90mph through a school zone, etc. seriously, just google for how many actors have let their fame and fortune go to their head and how badly they screwed up not only their lives, but their careers. Also, in today’s world (Looking at you 2020-2023), all it takes is a post on social media that somebody doesn’t like (seriously world, or USA, get over it; we’re human and we all have differences of opinion). So the actor/actress screws up and suddenly the TV show, or movie (through no real fault of their own) finds themselves without an actor/actress, and that production ends up suffering. Possibly critically. I could cite a few examples, but a quick google search is all you need to find them. As a person who watches a lot of TV and movies, I hate to see a good TV Show, or movie, go bad or get canceled, etc. because of something some actor/actress did. Also, many writers and directors just lost their jobs as well. Suckage all around.

I’ve also seen it where writers and directors are re-visiting some older awesome tv show or movie, and willing to write and direct for it once again, but the actors have either all gotten too busy to do it, want too much money, or simply put, they’ve gotten too old. They look too different than when they did in the original movie or show and it’d be hard for the audience to accept it.

AI / “Deep Fakes”

So yeah, maybe using AI (“Deep Fakes”) to digitally impose a persons likeness onto another person isn’t such a terrible idea. Bear with me, there’s good all around I think.

Good for us (the audience): I mean, imagine if a GOOD tv show could go on a lot longer because the “actors” didn’t age, or get tired of doing it, or get greedy and ask for too much money, or do something stupid and get themselves blacklisted? Imagine if a GOOD sequel to a movie could be made and there be no issues with finding actors/actresses for the main characters once again.

Good for talented actors/actresses: Also, imagine if you’re a good actor, you’ve got talent, you’re amazing with your body movements and facial expressions etc. but you just don’t have the face, or maybe even the body, for whatever parts you audition for. You just don’t have the look. But you’ve got skill. With “Deep Fakes” it could be about the talent of the actor or actress themselves and not about what they look like. Imagine being and actor or actress being hired based on your talent, not because of your looks.

Good for Studios/Directors/Writers: If that talented actor or actress is no longer available, for whatever reasons, the writers are not forced to kill off their character or do something radical with them. The studios aren’t forced to cancel the series if it was a main character. The studios and director is just forced to find another actor with great talent and have them continue playing the character, and Deep Fakes would continue to make the character look the same so that the audience is none the wiser. Nobody has to lose their jobs, nobody has to lose money. Directors are still needed to direct those talented actors, writers are still needed to write the episodes or scripts. AI can help writers, especially with writers block; but I still think there’s the human touch that only a good writer can add. I think it’s actually nice if a talented writer doesn’t need to spend a lot of time on filler content and mundane scenes that an AI could write and instead a writer could focus on the more critical moments, the big scenes, the important events. While also perusing what the AI wrote for the filler / non-important scenes and touching it up here and there as needed. Robots were supposed to do the jobs that humans didn’t want to do, the mundane. I imagine that there’s also jobs that writers don’t like to do, the mundane, and AI can help.

Good for models and popular actors: Imagine you’re a model, or even a popular actor/actress, with in-demand looks, but you’re just too high in demand and just too busy. Imagine you can license out your digital likeness, allow them to get complete detailed 3d renderings of you, and you can license that likeness out. Maybe put in stipulations that you or your people or family get to approve any and every time your digital likeness is used. Make sure that you aren’t being used in a way that you would never agree to. But now you can earn revenue without even having to fly out somewhere and spend weeks or months on some project, etc. you can make money without lifting a finger. You could have 2 or 3 incomes coming in at the same time as you do what you normally do and your digital likeness is out there earning for you as well. And imagine as you get older, and your looks start to fade (sorry, that’s life, you can slow it, do surgery, etc. but age will eventually catch up to you) and you find yourself with less and less gigs; but there is still some very popular tv show out there with your digital likeness being used on some main character, so you’re still generating income from that, even as you’ve gotten older and less popular. It’s a sad reality for some actors/actresses that they won’t always be able to make what they made in their prime, but if done right, you will have prepared for that eventuality and made sure your digital likeness is used on some very popular tv shows and movies and you will continue to earn income. Or maybe you just want to retire early and spend more time with your family, some actors/actresses are forced to continue working because they need the income, now with “Deep Fakes” you’re not forced into a corner.

Filed under: Personal - @ 2023-07-18 4:54 pm