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A Studio Production Exec on AI, Production Challenges and the Cost of Making TV
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood media preview at Warner Bros. Tour Center in 2021.
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Topline:
In an exclusive interview with The Ankler, an anonymous production executive with over 30 years of experience opens up about how worker protections could lead to unwelcome cuts and why AI won’t lead to a reduction in jobs.
Why it matters: With a shortage of creative executive roles, a reduction in production crews, and overall questionable job security in the industry right now, one might think that Hollywood just isn’t the right business to be in, especially if you listen to the echo chamber of sky-is-falling rhetoric around town. But one production executive with more than three decades of experience at a number of studios thinks that no one should give up on their entertainment careers just yet.
AI is a tool, not a replacement: This executive acknowledges there are potential issues with AI, but argues that technological advances are nothing new for the industry and we ultimately have to adapt and use them as a tool to improve productivity. “We have to remember that technological changes have always been a part of the industry. We're using digital cameras today where we used to use film,” says this person. “We're no longer cutting negatives, we're no longer processing film, we're no longer editing audio tape. All of these things have gone away, for the most part, but we haven't really had any reduction in jobs.”
The outlook on the industry: “This is a great business, and it will always be a great business,” this exec says, believing that we’ll make it to the other side fully intact. They add: “For those people that are getting started in the business at this point, they’ll hopefully have big and successful careers. They'll just be different than the careers that we have. Things are different, but you have to adjust to the new world.”
For more . . . read the full story on The Ankler.
This story is published in partnership with The Ankler, a paid subscription publication about the entertainment industry.
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