In the middle of a heated labor dispute between the unions for writers and actors versus the studios and networks about the reasonable usage of artificial intelligence during the content-production process, Netflix has posted a new Product Manager role for the streamer’s AI Machine Learning Program.
“The overall market range for roles in this area of Netflix is typically $300,000 – $900,000,” the job description on the platform’s career page states.
Listing such a role during the ongoing strikes may put further pressure on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is accused of not adequately addressing use of AI during the scriptwriting stage of project development and using AI as a replacement for human talents behind the scenes and on camera. AMPTP has also come under scrutiny over residual, royalty and wage pay disparities.
Recently, several cast members of Netflix’s über-popular flagship series Orange Is The New Black admitted to having to keep their day jobs and fly themselves out to film because they were paid the bare minimum in contractural rates (about $900 per day while filming). Kimiko Glenn, who played Brook Soso on the prison dramedy, admitted in a TikTok in 2020 that she had earned a total of $27.30 in overseas royalties that year.
13 Reasons Why alum Tommy Dorfman revealed on Threads that she earned $29,953.24 (minus 20% agent/manager fees and taxes) for the first season of the Netflix series, which garnered a total of 476 million view hours within its first 28 days of release.
“I did all of the promo and had KEY ART for this show, flew round trip from NYC to SF to shoot for every episode, was kept for days without pay/working,” she wrote. “I barely qualified for insurance.”
“So $900k/yr per soldier in their godless AI army when that amount of earnings could qualify thirty-five actors and their families for SAG-AFTRA health insurance is just ghoulish,” actor Rob Delaney, who recently starred in an episode of the latest season of Black Mirror that was (ironically) all about a streamer using AI against the will of its actors and audience members, commented to The Intercept. “Having been poor and rich in this business, I can assure you there’s enough money to go around; it’s just about priorities.”
Per the job description, the Product Manager will: “… shape the future of entertainment around the world. Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence is powering innovation in all areas of the business. From helping us buy and create great content, helping members choose the right title for them through personalization, to optimizing our payment processing and other revenue-focused initiatives.”
Netflix is also seeking a Technical Director for its game studio’s new research and development lab, which will “lead our investments in building new kinds of games not previously possible without ongoing advances AI/ML technologies,” the position’s description states. (That gig pays anywhere from $450,000 – 650,000.)
