Neighbours Star Stefan Dennis Condemns AI-Assisted Plan to Recut Episodes into Vertical Videos

Stefan Dennis, best known for playing villain Paul Robinson in the Australian soap Neighbours, has publicly spoken out against a plan to use artificial intelligence to reformat existing episodes into short-form vertical micro-dramas. RoseBerry Media, the company behind the Epis platform, will use its proprietary AI workflow RedSnapper to re-edit two storylines featuring Margot Robbie's character Donna Freedman — a role she held from 2008 to 2011 — into vertical micro-episodes totalling 150 minutes combined. Series producer Fremantle has partnered with RoseBerry on the project.

Dennis told the Herald Sun the scheme was "unbelievably invasive, morally and legally wrong," adding that his agent was working to challenge it and that he expected the MEAA and the Australian Writers Guild were doing the same. He also expressed wider alarm about AI's advance into the entertainment industry, saying "the avalanche is happening now, and it will swallow us all."

Adam Portelli, acting chief executive of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), called on the Australian federal government to legislate protections for creative workers, arguing that performers and others whose work is repurposed by AI deserve both consent and compensation. He also warned that the specialist skills of TV and digital editors risk being devalued as AI use across the creative industry grows.

Fans of the show weighed in too, with users in the r/Neighbours Reddit community labelling the vertical revival "absolute garbage" and "slop." Margot Robbie, who owns production company LuckyChamp Entertainment, has not yet responded to the plans.