22 August 2026
Hollywood writers and directors train AI systems on their own craft for survival pay
First reported
The Guardian ran this on .
- Award-winning screenwriters, directors and producers in Los Angeles are taking hourly gig work teaching AI models to replicate their skills, earning $12 to $200 per hour from training firms with contracts to Anthropic and OpenAI.
- Motion picture industry jobs have collapsed: shoot days in LA fell 48% between 2021 and 2025, and US employment in film and sound recording dropped 28% from 450,000 to 326,000 between July 2022 and May 2026.
Reported by The Guardian