Neighbours star Stefan Dennis slams 'unbelievably invasive' AI-assisted microdrama revival

It's without a doubt that Ramsay St has seen a bunch of revivals in its time. In a recent announcement, Neighbours was revealed to be transforming episodes, starring Australia's finest Margot Robbie, into short-form vertical videos. 

Per Variety, episodes starring Robbie will be recut into bite-sized vertical videos by RoseBerry Media for its Epis platform. The revival will be conducted by RedSnapper, RoseBerry's proprietary production workflow, which uses AI to turn content into vertical series.

Neighbours.

The publication adds that the “microdrama” will edit down two storylines that follow Robbie's character Donna Freedman — whom she played from 2008 to 2011 — into vertical micro-episodes that will add up to 150 minutes combined.

Roseberry was set to announce the edits of the vertical series alongside the series producer, Fremantle, on Monday.

“Neighbours is an iconic piece of television history, and exactly the kind of premium entertainment IP we believe can thrive in the vertical format,”  co-founder and CEO of RoseBerry Media, Guy Hameiri, said in a statement, per Variety.

“This is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to apply RedSnapper to a long-running soap with such a rich library of characters, storylines and cultural moments, and Fremantle has been a fantastic partner in helping bring that vision to life.”

Stefan Dennis.

Neighbours star Stefan Dennis slams AI use for vertical video plans 

Speaking to the Herald Sun, Stefan Dennis, who portrayed villain Paul Robinson, slammed the ‘AI version’ of the soap, stating that the microdrama is “unbelievably invasive, morally and legally wrong, and somehow it appears we can’t do anything about it".

“I’ve got my agent [on it], I imagine everyone else on Neighbours is doing the same thing, as well as the MEAA and Australian Writers Guild. Whether they can stop it is another thing. We’re dealing with a very big machine," he told the publication.

Reflecting on his career, and the future of the entertainment industry, Dennis admitted he has “fear” for “my industry, and every other industry”.

“A year ago, I made a prediction that in 10 years the world of recorded media will be predominantly AI. Well, I’m taking that back because it won’t be 10 years," he added.

“The avalanche is happening now, and it will swallow us all.”

Acting chief executive of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), Adam Portelli, says the union is calling on the Federal Government to “legislate to protect our creative and media sectors by ensuring consent and compensation for performers and other workers whose creative endeavours are exploited by AI”.

“As AI becomes more widely used across the creative industry, MEAA is concerned that the specialised skills and contributions of TV and digital editors ... risk being devalued," Portelli told the publication.

But alongside concerns voiced by Dennis, fans of the show slammed the vertical revival, with Redditors in r/Neighbours labelling it as “absolute garbage” and “slop”.

Robbie, who owns production company LuckyChamp Entertainment, has yet to respond to the Neighbours micro-drama.

This story was originally published by PEDESTRIAN TV

Pedestrian TV has reached out to Fremantle and RoseBerry for comment.