The IATSE Problem

A 10-Minute Midjourney Experiment

I've been saying for over a year that sometime soon, you'll be able to prompt "Mercedes S-Class driving down an autumn highway in the Adirondacks, fall colors," and filmmakers won't need B-roll anymore.

Midjourney just launched their video feature this week.

This morning, I tested it. In ten minutes, I had this video below. Smooth highway footage with autumn foliage, realistic lighting, and natural camera movement.

Prompt: "tight shot, side door view of mercedes s-class driving down autumn adirondack highway, fall colors --ar 16:9”

The Reality Check

Camera operators, gaffers, location managers, transportation coordinators—entire categories of below-the-line workers just watched their market shrink dramatically. Not completely, not yet. But the writing is on the wall, and it's written in 4K at 24fps.

As a SAG-AFTRA leader, I don't know what to tell our brother and sister unions. If this shot were in my script, I'd save $50,000 by not flying a crew out to Lake George, NY, putting them up in hotels, and spending days capturing these shots. It's B-roll—background footage that no one watches closely, but productions still need.

What This Means

Yes, it's not perfect yet…the road signs are generic. The foliage is rough. There are artifacts if you look closely, and Midjourney isn’t doing exactly what I am asking it to.

But this is draft mode on a brand-new feature. For most commercial use cases—establishing shots, background footage, social media content—this is already good enough. The cost comparison is stark.

Midjourney costs me $30/month.

The Bigger Question

I've attended numerous AI summits, from CES to the Television Academy, listening to studio executives and industry experts talk with excitement about the "democratization of creativity."

But here's my question: If I can get B-roll for $30 a month, use AI to break down a script in two minutes instead of days with producers locked in a room, use virtual sets, and dub actors’ work into 120 languages while syncing lip movements—what in the world will we need studios for? Who needs a gaggle of gatekeeper lawyers and execs who have never actually written a screenplay to demand rewrites?

And who is making all these tools? The tech companies, which comprise 8 of the top 10 valuated companies in the world. To quote Scarlett Johansson, “There is a 1000-foot wave coming.”

The tools that are supposed to "democratize creativity" are about to democratize the entire industry structure right out of existence.

The Hard Conversation

I have concerns, and I’m not sure how to give you comfort.  How do we adapt, retrain, and protect our filmmaking community?

Some roles will evolve. Others will disappear. We need to have honest conversations about what this means for our industry, our workers, and our unions.

Pretending this isn't happening won't make it go away.

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What do you think?  Let me know in the comments.