The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike has been about the fight for better pay and job security. While principal actors and writers are seeking contracts that prevent AI from interfering with their careers, movie extras are next.
NPR reported that Alexandria Rubalcaba worked as a background actor for Disney Plus’s WandaVision for four weeks before the production crew asked her to report to a tractor trailer. She and dozens of other movie extras stepped in front of a series of cameras on metal rigs behind glasses, performing various facial expressions. The production crew scanned their faces and bodies for 15 minutes in preparation to create digital replicas. Little did Rubalcaba know how or if her digital avatar would be used on screen. No matter what happens, she apparently won’t get paid for it.
This background actor, making $187 a day, said that no one ever gave her permission to become a digital avatar. “What if I don’t want to be on MarioVision, or SarahVision?” said Rubalcaba. “I fear that AI is eventually going to weed out movie extras. They won’t have any use for us anymore.” Disney declined to comment.
A union negotiator has made claims that studios have offered to give these background actors one day’s pay once scanned. Five background actors interviewed by NPR expressed their shock when told by studios to endure body scans. But with the actors forced to sign non-disclosure agreements, they felt they had to go along with it in fear of unemployment by anyone else in the business. With the amount saved on meals, costuming, and an actor’s paycheck, AI could be the new future for movie extras.
Succession’s Brian Cox has said AI is “the worst aspect” of the actors’ dispute, though SAG-AFTRA is not necessarily saying no to the usage of AI. Union officials said they found benefits for actors being in two shoots simultaneously or taking on another project. Nonetheless, union officials are still fighting to ensure that background actors receive adequate compensation for the use of their faces. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said they’ll offer “fair compensation” and only use an actor’s AI with their permission.
The problem that still persists is what consent means. Studios are seemingly asking movie extras just once for digital body scan permission after hiring them. However, union officials prefer that background actors receive permission each time. Film extras may not have on-camera speaking roles, but they’re using their voices now to express these career-changing Hollywood methods.