“Blessed are the gatekeepers”, said no one ever. Appointees wielding the power of life or death over creative work are publicly courted, and privately resented.
“I don’t like men with beards”, “Won’t it skew a bit old?”, “I don’t really get horror.” Dumb opinions that would not matter if they were held by anyone else. But because you’re a gatekeeper, they could well be the final word.
Talent shows gamify the gatekeeping process, with panels of industry gatekeepers holding the keys to a creative career. Supplicants can appeal to these masters by singing for their suppers, and tugging the heart strings. An appropriately tragic backstory about adversities overcome, childhood trauma suffered and struggles with addiction won can compensate for many a shortcoming in the talent department.
One of the first times I ever used veo3, I decided to have a bit of a play with this scenario, and came up with this flawed but (I hope) entertainingly bonkers little film – and, of course, using AI tools to generate the shots meant that I didn’t have to ask permission from a gatekeeper:
