Brendan Bradley
SAG-AFTRA AI task force member behind the Tilly Tax royalty proposal.
Last refreshed: 30 March 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can Bradley's Tilly Tax survive Hollywood contract talks and protect working actors?
Latest on Brendan Bradley
- Who is Brendan Bradley?
- Brendan Bradley is an American actor and SAG-AFTRA AI task force member best known for devising the Tilly Tax: a proposed royalty on AI-generated performers in Hollywood that would make synthetic actors cost at least as much as real ones.Source: SAG-AFTRA
- What is the Tilly Tax?
- The Tilly Tax is a royalty mechanism proposed by Brendan Bradley and being negotiated by SAG-AFTRA in its 2026 AMPTP contract. It would require studios to pay a fee on every AI-generated performer, with proceeds directed to union healthcare and pension funds.Source: SAG-AFTRA
- What does SAG-AFTRA want for AI performers in 2026?
- In its 2026 AMPTP negotiations, SAG-AFTRA is pushing for the Tilly Tax: a royalty that makes AI-generated actors cost the same or more than real performers, removing the financial incentive to replace union members with synthetic alternatives.Source: SAG-AFTRA
- How does the Tilly Tax compare to existing AI consent clauses?
- Prior SAG-AFTRA agreements focused on consent and one-off payments for digital likenesses. The Tilly Tax goes further by equalising costs structurally, so studios face an ongoing royalty rather than a one-time fee, making AI replacement economically unattractive.Source: event
- Could studios avoid the Tilly Tax by filming outside the US?
- The Tilly Tax would only bind AMPTP signatories. Critics of the proposal note that studios could use non-union AI vendors or offshore production to avoid it, a risk Brendan Bradley and SAG-AFTRA have acknowledged as a key bargaining challenge.Source: event
Background
Brendan Bradley is an American actor and digital-media advocate who became a leading voice inside SAG-AFTRA on the threat posed by synthetic performers to working actors. He serves on the union's AI task force and has spoken extensively on the economics of digital doubles and AI-generated likenesses.
Bradley is the architect of the so-called Tilly Tax, a proposal that SAG-AFTRA is now formally advancing in its 2026 AMPTP contract negotiations. The mechanism would impose a royalty on AI-generated performers, making a synthetic actor cost the same or more than a real one, and directing that revenue into union healthcare and pension funds.
The proposal reflects a broader tension in Hollywood: studios want the flexibility to generate performers digitally at scale, while unions argue this threatens both livelihoods and the long-run funding base of benefit schemes. Bradley's leverage depends on whether the Tilly Tax survives bargaining intact, or is diluted into a voluntary opt-in that studios can sidestep.