{"id":79968,"date":"2026-06-20T00:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/79968\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T00:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:52:09","slug":"obsession-the-pitt-and-hacks-breakout-stars-on-industry-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/79968\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Obsession,’ ‘The Pitt’ and ‘Hacks’ Breakout Stars on Industry, AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA group of rising stars from \u201cObsession<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe Pitt<\/a>,\u201d \u201cEuphoria\u201d and more gathered Thursday to talk about the Gen Z effect on entertainment and navigating careers in Hollywood as part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation<\/a>\u2018s inaugural First Act: Summer Soiree event.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe participants \u2014 Patrick Ball (\u201cThe Pitt\u201d), Megan Lawless (\u201cObsession\u201d), Tonatiuh (\u201cKiss of the Spider Woman\u201d), Caitlin Reilly (\u201cHacks\u201d), Darrell Britt-Gibson (\u201cEuphoria\u201d) and Courtney Taylor (\u201cBallard\u201d) \u2014 shared their career stories and advice with a crowd of fellow young performers at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation\u2019s Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists at the union\u2019s headquarters in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe panel discussion comes on the heels of box officer sleeper hits such as Curry Barker\u2019s \u201cObsession\u201d igniting the zeitgeist and growing appetite among Gen Z, who are the most active moviegoing demographic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAraya Doheny\/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are in this state where it feels kind of exciting because I think we\u2019re starting to see a lot of original stories again, which I think we are so starved for,\u201d Taylor said during the panel moderated by Rochelle Rose, SAG-AFTRA Foundation\u2019s national director of performers programs. \u201cStuff like \u2018I Love Boosters,\u2019 \u2018Backrooms,\u2019 \u2018Obsession,\u2019 we are so hungry for something new. We\u2019re starting to see that and I think the opportunity that we have there is to lean on that and lean on every story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLawless, who plays Sarah in \u201cObsession,\u201d explained that she has been waiting for this moment since she was 13. \u201cThis is just my dream come true. For me, I finally met the moment where I feel like people want to work with me and are choosing me, and there is a new thing \u2014 I have choice now,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been very involved with my team, I talk to them constantly. Most everything, if I can make it, like press-related, I say yes to. This moment\u2019s not going to last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBritt-Gibson, who has also been afforded choice in his career after landing a recurring role on Season 4 of HBO\u2019s acclaimed drama series \u201cThe Wire,\u201d is intentional about everything.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have sacrificed a lot of money in this industry in terms of projects that I\u2019ve said no to,\u201d he said. \u201cI always think about, \u2018Will I be able to sit my future children down and show them something and say I\u2019m proud of it, not that it made this amount of money, not that this many people saw it?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBall, who won an Actor Award as part of the ensemble of HBO Max\u2019s hit medical drama \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d has a unique story. He did theater for 15 years before landing the role of Dr. Frank Langdon, while many of the other panelists worked their way up more traditionally through various films and shows.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing when you see Season 1 of \u2018The Pitt\u2019 is you\u2019re watching an educational process for me. You\u2019re figuring out how cameras work, how a set works,\u201d Ball said. \u201cYou just got to do, there\u2019s no way to prepare for it. And I\u2019m honestly not the best at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the end of the panel, Rose brought up AI, which has quickly become one of the industry\u2019s most controversial and hot-button issues.<\/p>\n

\n\tReilly encouraged her fellow actors to be \u201cvery against\u201d AI: \u201cEveryone keeps telling us that AI is coming for us, it\u2019s happening whether we like it or not. The truth of the matter is that\u2019s a lie. These corporations and billionaires are trying to shove it into our lives, and if we band together and say no, then we can push back. You don\u2019t need to engage with it, you have autonomy. There is community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the topic of AI, Tonatiuh concluded by giving some practical advice to the room.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou need to learn how to read a contract, quickly, and get a good lawyer, quickly,\u201d he said when it comes to actors signing away their likeness. \u201cIt\u2019s really important that you\u2019re not just an artist, you are running a business. And you cannot sign away by accidentally reading it . Your agent is not going to watch your back, your manager is not going to watch your back. They are looking at the dollar because they want the percent. You need to watch your back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t(Pictured top: Megan Lawless, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Caitlin Reilly and Tonatiuh at SAG-AFTRA Foundation\u2019s First Act: Summer Soiree event on June 18)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of rising stars from \u201cObsession,\u201d \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d \u201cEuphoria\u201d and more gathered Thursday to talk about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,43500,23935,43501,43502],"class_list":["post-79968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-first-act-summer-soiree","tag-obsession","tag-sag-aftra-foundation","tag-the-pitt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}