How AI Is Changing Stunt Work in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New Mexico

How AI Is Changing Stunt Work in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New Mexico.

The conversation about AI in the film industry has been happening for years. In 2026, it stopped being a conversation and started being a job requirement. Digital doubles, AI-generated stunt sequences, studio body scan demands, and a SAG-AFTRA contract negotiation with AI at the center of everything: if you work as a stunt performer or stunt coordinator in Los Angeles, Atlanta, or New Mexico, this is the environment you are operating in right now.

Here is what is actually happening in each of these three markets, and what it means for the people doing the work.

Los Angeles: Ground Zero for the Digital Double Debate

Los Angeles is where this fight is being fought most visibly. Studios there have been requiring stunt and background performers to submit to high-tech 3D body scans on set, often with minimal explanation of how and when those scans will be used downstream. AI advancements mean a single scan can generate a digital replica capable of performing any action the studio needs, indefinitely, without residuals.

The technology is not hypothetical. Companies like Digital Domain and ILM have built AI-enhanced digital human pipelines capable of producing highly realistic stunt sequences without a human performer on set. Synthetic performers are already taking over the work that is easiest to replicate: background action, stock-style sequences, and scenes that would otherwise require a stunt double in a controlled environment.

SAG-AFTRA has moved to close some of these gaps. The Interactive Media Agreement ratified in July 2025 requires informed consent and disclosure before a studio can create or reuse a digital replica of a performer. But the leverage is uneven. For stunt performers working in the middle tier of television and commercial production, the protections are present on paper, but enforcement is the harder problem.

Looking toward the fall 2026 contract negotiations, SAG-AFTRA has proposed what is internally being called the "Tilly Tax": a royalty that studios would pay the guild any time they use an AI-generated performer in place of a real human being. The intent is to create a financial disincentive for wholesale replacement and generate a revenue stream that flows back to working performers. Whether that gets into the final contract is still an open question.

What stunt performers in LA need right now is an understanding of what they are consenting to on set and what their rights are under current SAG agreements. That is not optional knowledge anymore. It is professional self-defense.

Atlanta: Georgia's Legislature Is Already in the Room

Atlanta's film industry has been paying close attention to what is happening in Los Angeles, and the Georgia state legislature has been in those conversations. Studio executives briefed Georgia lawmakers on AI's potential role in film production, including the use of synthetic or digital doubles as stand-ins for stunt performers in scenes that carry injury risk.

The argument studios are making is efficiency and safety: AI doubles do not get hurt. The counterargument from the stunt community is that safety on a physical film set is not a solved problem just because one performer's digital likeness is substituted in post-production. Practical set safety, coordination of physical action, and the judgment calls that happen in real time on a stunt set still require a human coordinator who knows what they're doing.

Georgia has been considering legislation that would require productions using synthetic or digital doubles in place of real performers to license those likenesses through a formal process that keeps revenue in-state. That framing is specifically designed to balance the studios' interest in efficiency with the state's interest in protecting its film workforce, which has become one of the most significant economic engines in Georgia. Atlanta alone accounts for a substantial share of that, driven by productions at Tyler Perry Studios, Trilith, and the surrounding infrastructure that has made Georgia the third-largest film production market in the United States.

For stunt coordinators working in Atlanta, the immediate practical reality is that the volume of production has not dropped. The demand for experienced coordinators who can plan and execute complex physical action sequences is still there. What is changing is the expectation around documentation, digital asset releases, and the paper trail that follows a stunt performer through a production. Understanding what you are signing matters more than it did five years ago.

New Mexico: Netflix ABQ and the Quiet Arrival of AI Tools

New Mexico's film market is mature in a way that does not always get the credit it deserves. Netflix Studios Albuquerque has continued expanding its footprint with multiple soundstages and the infrastructure to support large-scale series and feature productions. The state's competitive incentive program keeps major productions coming back. Albuquerque has become a genuine second home for the kind of projects that require diverse terrain, experienced local crew, and the logistical capacity to handle extended shoots.

AI has arrived here too, but more quietly. The primary pressure right now is not studios replacing stunt performers with digital doubles on Albuquerque sets. It is the gradual integration of AI-assisted planning, previsualization, and virtual production tools into the prep process. What that means practically is that some of the pre-production work that used to be done by a full team of coordinators and second unit directors is being compressed, with AI tools running scenario planning and sequence visualization that used to require more hours and more personnel.

This is not a crisis, but it is a shift worth understanding. The stunt coordinators in New Mexico who are building familiarity with these pre-production tools, understanding how previz integrates with practical stunt planning, and staying current on what productions are expecting from their department leads are the ones who will have more leverage going into 2026 and beyond.

The New Mexico film labor market is also watching what happens in Los Angeles closely. Whatever SAG-AFTRA negotiates into the fall 2026 contract regarding digital replicas and AI-generated performers will set the floor for what productions operating in New Mexico are required to follow.

How to Stay Ahead of This

The stunt performers and coordinators who are going to come out of this period in the best position are not the ones waiting to see how it shakes out. They are the ones who understand what is being asked of them, know their contract rights, and are building the skills that AI cannot replicate.

A digital double can perform a scripted sequence. It cannot read a set, adapt in real time when a rigging system fails, or make the judgment calls that keep a cast and crew safe when a live-action sequence goes sideways. That expertise, built through years of practical experience, is not going away. The question is whether the people who have it are also current on the business and contractual landscape around AI.

A few things worth doing right now, regardless of which market you work in:

Know what you are signing. Any body scan release, digital likeness agreement, or consent form on a production set is a legal document. Read it. If you are SAG-AFTRA, understand the consent and disclosure requirements the union has already negotiated. If something on set does not match those requirements, that is a conversation worth having before you step in front of the scanner.

Stay connected to your market. Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New Mexico all have active professional communities working through these questions in real time. Those conversations are happening whether you are in them or not.

Keep building the skills AI cannot replace. Fight choreography, wire work, precision driving, fire effects, and the safety planning that sits underneath all of it: that is the foundation. The coordinators who know how to do all of it, and can articulate that clearly to a production that is weighing options, will stay in demand.

Bryan McCoy is a stunt coordinator and stuntman available across Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New Mexico. Reach out at realmccoystunts.com.