Subsector, 512

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries

374,240 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $91,840 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.

now

19%

of the paid hours. Estimate.

$7.6B

a year: 141 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.

Kinds of work

of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 15% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.

Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.

Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030

Chosen to Ceiling: the share

DateNow

NowEnd of 2030

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

How far this has come

With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 15%. Today's estimate: 19%.

Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.

Where the hours are

Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 83% of the people.

	People			Pay here
Producers and Directors	39,270	23%	19 million	$104K
Film and Video Editors	13,520	31%	8.8 million	$79K
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks	6,060	63%	8 million	$58K
Editors	7,760	46%	7.4 million	$103K
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive	8,020	43%	7.1 million	$36K
General and Operations Managers	14,700	23%	7 million	$83K
Actors	19,410	13%	5.4 million	$82K
First-Line Supervisors of Entertainment and Recreation Workers, Except Gambling Services	10,070	24%	5.1 million	$42K
Audio and Video Technicians	8,960	25%	4.6 million	$61K
Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel	4,820	43%	4.3 million	$84K
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	2,180	78%	3.5 million	$56K
Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers	52,830	3%	3.4 million	$31K

People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 134 smaller jobs (58,960 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 94% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.

The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028

Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.

Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.Actors
7.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
Cut and edit film or tape to integrate component parts into desired sequences.Producers and Directors
6.8 million hours96% of the task within reach
Schedule or manage staff, such as volunteer usher corps.Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers
6.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
Compose and edit scripts or provide screenwriters with story outlines from which scripts can be written.Producers and Directors
6.5 million hours86% of the task within reach
Arrange financing for productions.Producers and Directors
4.4 million hours79% of the task within reach
Research production topics using the internet, video archives, and other informational sources.Producers and Directors
4.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
Edit video for broadcast productions, including non-linear editing.Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
3.9 million hours99% of the task within reach
Perform management activities, such as budgeting, scheduling, planning, and marketing.Producers and Directors
3.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
Hold auditions for parts or negotiate contracts with actors determined suitable for specific roles.Producers and Directors
3.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
Collect and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand.Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
3.5 million hours90% of the task within reach

Scan a typical company in this industry

The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.

People

Scan a typical company Or paste your own roles

Inside this industry

Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works