‘Is it Too Late?’: Talent Lawyers, CAA Reveal AI Behind-the-Scenes Rights Fight

They share plans for protecting clients, including CAA's 'AI vault,' and the 'Sophie's Choice' confronting Hollywood

(Photo illustration by The Ankler)

Ed note: Welcome to Dealmakers, a new newsletter about the lawyers, agents and business people that turn every handshake into reality in the industry, and manage, protect and guide countless careers. After today, subscribers will receive this newsletter under its own banner (and, as always, can choose to opt out). We’re delighted to introduce Ashley Cullins as our columnist (though other voices may contribute and join). Ashley is a former colleague of Janice’s from The Hollywood Reporter, where she oversaw its Power Lawyers franchise. Dealmakers is for paid subscribers only. You can reach Ashley at Ashley@theankler.com.

During last year’s dual strikes, Darren Trattner, a partner at the law firm Jackoway Austen who’s considered to be one of Hollywood’s top attorneys, turned what otherwise would have been downtime into an opportunity. Sidelined from brokering deals for such clients as Karen Gillan and Giancarlo Esposito, he leveraged his knowledge about one of the focal points of both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA labor negotiations: Artificial intelligence. 

Trattner, as his luck would have it, has a personal connection to AI. His son — a computer software engineer and entrepreneur whose companies include digital identity software and an AI-powered study program for students — is on the forefront of the tech, which has made for some “mind-blowing” (Trattner’s words) conversations over the years. His son has been building AI programs for years, such that the emergence of ChatGPT and other AI platforms came as no surprise. Trattner, in essence, went on a road show around Los Angeles, giving talks at talent agencies and management companies about its implications for the entertainment business. 

Now that the guild battles are over, Trattner is back to the day-to-day of talent dealmaking. But AI has entered the chat in a way that it hadn’t just one year ago.

For writers — Trattner reps multi-hyphenates Scott Cooper and Juel Taylor — the lingering questions center around how the WGA reserved the right to assert that using writers’ material to train AI might be prohibited. “Training is the big issue right now,” he tells me, “and there are lawsuits all over the country about whether underlying literary material can be used to train AI. Is it fair use? Is it infringement? And I would add: Is it too late?”

The emergence of AI has polarized and frightened Hollywood in a way that hearkens to the second Red Scare and McCarthy-era blacklists. It is the existential crisis du jour in a way that makes streaming and Covid almost seem old hat. Although some are approaching the tech with wonder, fear and resistance remain widespread and a generous reading of the current sentiment hovers somewhere between reluctant acceptance and cautious exploration.

But as Trattner hints at above, the lawyers are going to be key players in sorting out what’s acceptable and what’s not. And, looking ahead, Hollywood is beginning to realize how much of its fate will be decided outside the traditional entertainment ecosystem. Only a few ground rules for AI have been set, all while tech companies are raising billions of dollars to make advances that would have been unthinkable 18 months ago.

Along with Trattner, I spoke to several other important figures at the vanguard of protecting talent — all while understanding that AI is here and the genie that can’t be put back in the bottle.

In this issue, you’ll learn:

• What talent lawyers are most concerned about now in the AI era

• The three angles CAA is tackling and how it is already scanning and storing images of some of its talent in its Vault

• Studios’ ‘Employment-Based Digital Replica’ language in talent contracts and what it means

• Who has the actual power to enact rules and standards

• Why non-unionized creative workers are at the most risk

• Why studios may not press every advantage they have in implementing AI

• The murkiness of international rights and accountability

• Where AI could actually help multiply opportunities for creatives

• Six legislative efforts to watch in California and on the federal level