Week-long talks between The Animation Guild (TAG) and Hollywood studios and streamers are understood to have ended without agreement, and will continue in September.
While the Hollywood Teamsters and Basic Crafts unions agreed to new three-year deals with Alliance Of Motion Picture And Television Producers (AMPTP) at the start of the month, stumbling blocks remain before animators renew their three-year master contract.
Chief among the animators’ demands are guardrails on artificial intelligence (AI) as the entertainment industry, like all others, contemplates the potential impact on the job market.
A study commissioned by TAG, Concept Art Association, The Human Artistry Campaign, and The National Cartoonists Society Foundation reported on this subject in January.
The research, ‘Future Unscripted: The Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Entertainment Industry Jobs’, canvassed industry executives and revealed that roughly 21.4% of positions in film, television, and animation “are likely to have a sufficient number of tasks affected to be either consolidated, replaced, or eliminated by GenAI in the U.S. by 2026”. That equates to approximately 118,500 jobs
GenAI refers to generative AI, which are systems trained on existing content to create new content.
It is understood talking points in the negotiations with AMPTP covered outsourcing to companies operating outside the United States, and lay-offs. In the last year DreamWorks Animation and Netflix have laid off animation staff.
The Guild represents around 5,000 people working in animation and its master contract expired on Friday (August 16).
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