Acting : Virtual Influencer gets representation by Ethan Frome

Actors shouldn’t be the only ones concerned by this. All of us should be. This is so whack on a lot of levels.

Owen, I see your point. My concern is over who is behind the scenes over controlling the avatar, thinking it could be more influential to kids over a muppet or a Simpson character. But I imagine muppets and Simpson characters are pretty influential to folks as well.

I think from a storytelling POV, having this level of detailed animation is astounding; I'd love to see it being used to generate a series. Especially if quarantine lasts over a year, this is a more inexpensive, or at least as-expensive-but-more-safe alternative to filming on location, with real actors. It also gives VO actors, or actors that would not normally be cast for a cosmetic reason a chance to shine, because they don't have to look like their character.

Granted, I don't see this catching on anytime soon, because nobody enjoys looking at an uncanny valley. I think that the "signing" of a digital avatar is mainly a publicity stunt-that is working.

Duncan Star-boszko A publicity stunt? For who?

Ethan Frome I mean...Here we are, Talking about it.

Duncan Star-boszko It's something new so it'll get attention regardless of intent. I'm asking who's the benefactor. As one of the top agencies CAA doesn't "need" any publicity

Ethan Frome Well, I don't claim to know anything about casting agencies, but I could see how during a pandemic launching something like this could draw the eyes of production companies who were looking for a solution to a product commercial that had to be cancelled...Or maybe it's a way for the them to be the most recent agency on people's minds when it comes time to cast something new again. It's probably more complicated than that, but stranger things have happened. What do you think?

Duncan Star-boszko. Money was spent here but I see no marketing campaign or anything being sold alongside this announcement. I think they’re simply trying something new.