The Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Hollywood trade association, accused ByteDance of “unauthorised use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale”.

Fuck 'em.

Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised to see people in the industry sit up and take notice. This was always the most promising use-case for video models: obviating the insane cost of putting a good script onscreen. A lot of trunk projects that would otherwise never get made - for better or for worse - will become actual movies. At least insofar as the deluge of streaming exclusives are "actual movies."

The trick is not doing what this specific clip did. If you don't need real actors then they don't need to be fake real people. Your characters do not have to look or sound like anyone living. If some fanfiction author coaxes Mission Impossible 12 out of an online model, Ethan Hunt should look like nobody in particular. The franchise is just an idea, but Tom Cruise is a real human being, probably.