Where Did 99% of People in the Film Industry Go?

AI is eating hiring — and the hires that remain are often AI jobs

It has been reported that after the release of Seedance 2.0 this year, China’s traditional spring recruitment peak for film and TV — the industry’s so‑called “Golden March” — went flat. Zombie job posts that had long padded studio recruiting pages vanished. Where did the roles go? Many reappeared only after job seekers added an “AI” prefix to their searches. Long‑form platforms and legacy producers such as Daylight Entertainment (正午阳光) have started hiring for AI producers and AI production interns, while film groups including Bona Film Group (博纳影业), Linghe Culture (灵河文化) and Yixin Entertainment (壹心娱乐) have quietly posted AI‑related roles, it has been reported.

Two classes of work — and both are precarious

The new AI roles fall into two buckets. One is outsourced positions run by tech and internet firms — from annotation and model‑training jobs to “creative expert” and “aesthetic officer” roles that polish AI outputs. These jobs exploded after 2024’s big model pushes; applicants say early tests focused on text logic and image description, and hiring criteria have shifted from written exams to interviews that oddly recycle standard internet interview questions. The other bucket is in‑house AI roles at traditional studios, where original planners and producers are being asked to “pivot to AI” or oversee AI‑assisted scripts and virtual shoots. Both paths are fragile: outsourced posts are vulnerable to optimization and automation, and in‑house roles are being reframed as tools to cut IP development and production costs.

Short dramas, ads and the “1%” narrative

Short‑form drama has been hit first and hardest. It has been reported that some short‑drama companies are pivoting away from live action entirely, asking staff to retrain as AI supervisors, directors or writers; one viral episode of an AI short that claimed tiny costs later drew clarifications that production still required intensive human labor. Meanwhile the advertising sector is already monetising AI: BlueFocus (蓝色光标) reported AI‑driven revenue of about RMB 1.2 billion in 2024 and set a RMB 3–5 billion target for 2025, suggesting brands are moving AI from “innovation” to regular budgets. So who keeps their job? Commentators and some producers argue that the scarce, valuable skill will be human judgement — the person who can pick the one convincing frame out of a thousand AI renders.

Geopolitics matters here too. U.S. export controls on advanced chips and broader tech competition are accelerating a domestic push for homegrown models and tools, which in turn pushes studios and platforms to adopt AI faster. It has been reported that pundits predict massive displacement — some speak melodramatically of “99%” of film workers needing to change careers — while others offer rosier, partial‑replacement scenarios. The upshot for ordinary film workers is a stark choice: learn to work with AI and risk being outsourced, or resist and risk obsolescence. Which side will win? For now, the most valuable people look likely to be the small minority who can combine deep industry knowing with new AI skills.