'Like cutting up a Picasso': AI microdrama edit of Neighbours worries actors and crew

'Like cutting up a Picasso': AI microdrama edit of Neighbours worries actors and crew

The new micro-drama will focus on Margot Robbie's character

Former Neighbours actors and crew have voiced concern over plans to use AI to re-edit old footage into mini episodes for mobile viewers.

Fremantle, the producer of the now-defunct Australian TV soap opera, has teamed up with US-based RoseBerry Media on a project that will use AI to "scan decades of episodes" and help create short vertical videos.

The first material to be used will be footage of Margot Robbie, who played Donna Freedman from 2008 to 2011.

Both companies say the project will introduce the show - which aired its final episode last year - to new audiences. But some actors and crew say they did not consent to their images, voices or work being repurposed.

Robbie has not yet commented publicly.

In a statement, the companies behind the project said the AI-assisted technology will "scan decades of episodes to map character arcs, storylines and standout moments, helping editors quickly identify the strongest material".

According to a Fremantle spokesman, the micro-drama episodes will use "original, previously broadcast footage, dialogue and performances".

"It does not generate new scenes or performances, alter actors' faces or likenesses, or use synthetic voices," he said, adding that a human editor would be "reviewing and approving every stage of the editing process".

The mini episodes are likely to feature Matt Werkmeister, 34, who joined Neighbours in 2005 when he was 13. He played regular character Zeke Kinski and shared many scenes with Robbie's character.

Now a producer and director based in Melbourne, Werkmeister says he has not been contacted by the companies behind the micro-drama and is worried about what the episodes will include.

"If they're creating a new micro-drama out of something that already exists, I feel there needs to be consent for using our image and voice as well as the writers," he said.

Robbie is "obviously a big draw card" and "it's nice to watch old clips from shows you used to watch," Werkmeister said, but when he signed his contract two decades ago, "streaming didn't even exist as a platform" so he is unsure what his rights are.

That same uncertainty is also on Sam Clark's mind. He played Ringo Brown on Neighbours from 2006 to 2010, a character who later marries Robbie's fictional character.

Speaking from Los Angeles, Clark – now a producer and voice actor - said he had not heard about the micro-drama until a friend sent him an article.

"I don't have a negative view of the work that we did all those years ago getting a second life as long as it's not being manipulated into new storylines," Clark, 39, said.

"AI and social media obviously wasn't a thing when I signed my contract 20 years ago so I'm still trying to understand exactly what those parameters are."

Sound recordist Bruce Findlay, 68, has spent close to five decades in the TV industry and says Neighbours has a "special place" in his heart, having worked on the show from episode one.

He said using AI to help make short episodes from old footage was "like cutting up a Picasso and rebuilding it".

"We worked so hard to get this product out… and now they're chopping it up into little tiny pieces, throwing it up in the air and putting it back together again using AI - it belittles the process".

Guy Hameiri, head of RoseBerry Media, said this is the first time the company will use its in-house AI tool to sift through Neighbours footage - more than 9,300 episodes - to create "premium vertical television".

He said the project will "reimagine" the material, giving it "new audiences, new relevance and new value".

Jens Richter, head of Fremantle's commercial and international arm, has described the project as "an exciting example of how technology and creative thinking can unlock new value" from their catalogue.

It is understood that Fremantle is in talks with two unions about the issue and that residuals - ongoing payments for actors and writers when their work is re-aired or syndicated - will be paid, though this does not apply to crew.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, one of the unions, confirmed the discussions.

"Workers should be consulted before their likeness or expertise is used in a way they could never had envisioned when they signed contracts decades ago," said MEAA's acting CEO Adam Portelli.