Striking Actor Says He Has Cautionary Tale About How Companies Might Use Performers’ Digital Replicas

Striking actors on the picket lines are demanding studios ask for consent and compensate them fairly when it comes to digital replicas.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is the chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union supporting the strike. During a press conference last week, he said actors faced “an existential threat to their livelihoods, with the rise of generative AI technology.”

It all sounds a little bit like the Black Mirror’s “Joan is Awful” episode, but actor Erik Passoja told LAist he has a real-life cautionary tale from his experience working in the video game industry.

Passoja said he did motion capture work back in 2014 for the video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. He said he got a daily rate to play a Belgian geneticist, one of the bad guy’s henchmen.

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But after the game was released, Passoja got an unexpected call from a friend. “He said ‘Hey Erik, my son just shot you!,’” Passoja recalled.

Turns out Passoja’s digital likeness was also used in a multiplayer version of the game, something he said he didn’t consent to.

“I found out that someone had plastered my face on a playable character, so now you can shoot me, blow me up, burn me, throw me off a cliff,” Passoja said.

Passoja said he never saw a penny of residuals, which actors don’t typically receive on video games.

The SAG-AFTRA strike order does not include work under its Interactive Media Agreement, which covers video game work.

But Passoja said he’s concerned Hollywood studios could do the same thing.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said in a statement that its contract offer includes a “groundbreaking” requirement to ask for a performer’s consent before using a digital replica.

But according to Crabtree-Ireland, the AMPTP had proposed “that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness and to be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation.”

“If you think that’s a ‘groundbreaking’ proposal, I suggest you think again,” Crabtree-Ireland added.

“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said at the press conference announcing the strike.

For his part, Passoja said he believes in the power of AI and technology if it’s used ethically, but he feels exploited by the situation, especially when you consider that Call of Duty is a multi-billion dollar franchise. Passoja said he's running to be a SAG-AFTRA local union delegate, in part because of this very issue.

Call of Duty developer Activision did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Timeline: SAG-AFTRA strike

Some things to note: This is the first SAG strike since 1980. The 1960 strike, which took place while the WGA was also striking, was led by Ronald Reagan, then the president of SAG. Current events:

• May 17: Union leaders ask for and receive a strike authorization vote ahead of contract talks.
• June 7: SAG-AFTRA begins negotiations with the AMPTP; contract due to end June 30.
• June 30: Both sides agree to extend talks through July 12.
• July 12: Federal negotiator is brought in.
• July 13: The national board of SAG-AFTRA authorizes its 160,000 members to go on strike.
• July 14: Picketing begins at 9 a.m. at major studios and streamer HQ’s across the city.

The issue: Actors

Minimum earnings: SAG is asking for an 11% general wage increase to reflect inflation. The AMPTP is countering with 5%.

Share of revenue: Actors feel they haven’t received their fair share of revenue from hit streaming shows.

• Traditionally compensation has been linked to ratings. Streamers like Netflix, however, don’t release how many people watch their shows, so it’s difficult to know which ones are major hits. SAG-AFTRA proposed bringing in a third-party company to measure ratings and devise residuals. The AMPTP rejected this. 
• Executives at studios and streamers maintain they’re still recovering from pandemic losses and have spent billions of dollars creating and buying content for new streaming platforms, some of which are far from profitable.
• While some streamers are thriving (Netflix recently reported $1.71 billion of quarterly operating income), The Walt Disney Co. has announced the firing of 7,000 employees to save money, having lost close to $10 billion to date on its streaming platforms. Warner Bros. Discovery is making deep cuts because of its $50 billion in debt. 

Artificial intelligence: There is deep concern about how artificial intelligence will be used, with particular anxiety about the use of a performer’s image and likeness. The union wants to prevent studios from training AI programs on actors’ work without permission, and for actors to consent and be paid if AI is used to replicate them. The AMPTP offered what it called a "groundbreaking" proposal that it said “protects performers’ digital likenesses." The union rejected this.

Self-taped auditions: Since the pandemic, self-produced audition tapes have become the norm — meaning actors light and film themselves. It’s labor intensive, with no pay, and widens an already competitive pool of performers. The union says it understands self-taped auditions can be useful, but wants to put restrictions around them.

• Read SAG-AFTRA’s summary of negotiation points 
• And what the AMPTP has to say about the negotiations

Go deeper

• TV And Movie Writers Strike Over 'Gig Economy' Conditions. What’s At Stake In The WGA Walkout
• From Gas Stations to Restaurants: How The WGA Strike Will Hit The LA Economy
• This Hollywood Writers Strike Could Have Massive Economic Impact. An Economist Explains What We Can Learn From 2007
• How The WGA Strike Of 2007 Strike Brought Donald Trump To Power
• A History Of Strikes: How The WGA Has Played Catch-Up As Emerging Technologies Made Others Richer