In the last few years, we’ve seen AI scans come to life in movies like Rogue One, when the actors they scanned have passed away. These scans were made in private deals with the family, and you can assume money was exchanged to use the image and likeness of the people scanned for the movie.
But now, the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA have been going back and forth, negotiating a new contract. This strike has been going on since the summer. One of the major hangups in the argument, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, is the implied and assumed ownership of your image and likeness.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers wants to be allowed to scan what they classify as Schedule F actors. That’s people who earn more than the minimum as a TV series regular ($32,00 per episode) and more for feature films as well ($60,000). The idea is that they can scan those people and continue to use them for a fee or consent.
But the red flags came when SAG pointed out that the AMPTP would be able to reuse the scans of these actors even after death, without permission or consent from family members.
This fact lit social media afire, with many worrying about moral concerns, along with constitutional rights. Imagine being a small role in a TV show or movie, and then that company just uses you over and over again, even after death, for a nominal or no fee at all.
Another huge worry here is that if the door opens that they can use those scans without consent, will they then apply that to scanning actors in old movies, like a Bogart or Bacall, and then using their image and likeness in new things without consent?
It seems like the easiest fix here is that if I act in something, you have the right to scan me and use me for that project only. No one should lose their own image and likeness by being an extra or secondary character or even a star for perpetuity. And you shouldn’t lose the rights to who you are after death either.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
