Hollywood creatives are training AI to do their jobs—and digging their own graves

Digging the grave of my skills: Hollywood creatives training AI to do their jobs

Amid a severe jobs slump, award-winning Hollywood writers, directors, and producers are taking temp work training AI models to replicate their own skills, from screenwriting to production scheduling. Paid $12 to $200 an hour by agencies like Mercor and Micro1, which contract with AI giants such as Anthropic and OpenAI, these creatives teach AI the intricacies of their craft, often with a sense of fatalism. One documentary director likened it to being 'handed a shovel and asked to dig the grave of my profession.' The trend highlights AI's growing role in an industry already shedding jobs, with Netflix using AI in 300 of its 1,000 titles in 2026.