TLDR
RoseBerry Media is using AI to recut Neighbours archive footage into vertical microdramas for its Epis platform, starting with around 150 minutes of Margot Robbie's storylines from 2008 to 2011. Stefan Dennis condemned the project as morally and legally wrong. The actors' union says Australian copyright law gives performers no right to consent or compensation when AI reuses their recorded work.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What RoseBerry announced
RoseBerry Media announced on 29 September 2026 that it is recutting the Australian soap Neighbours into vertical microdramas for its Epis platform, using an AI workflow it calls RedSnapper.[1] The first release centres on two storylines featuring Margot Robbie's character Donna Freedman, drawn from episodes broadcast between 2008 and 2011 and totalling around 150 minutes of content.[1]
Neighbours is produced by Fremantle, which confirmed the show's return to television on Amazon Freevee in November 2022.[3] RedSnapper converts horizontal episodes into standalone vertical micro-episodes designed for mobile-first audiences. As of 2 October 2026, no statement from Margot Robbie, Fremantle or RoseBerry had been reported in response to the criticism.[2]
Dennis and MEAA: the consent argument
Stefan Dennis, who played Paul Robinson from 18 March 1985 to 2025, was direct. Dennis said, in comments reported by the Herald Sun and Now To Love, that the project was "unbelievably invasive, morally and legally wrong" and warned: "The avalanche is happening now, and it will swallow us all."[4]
Adam Portelli, Acting Chief Executive of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), said the federal government must "legislate to protect our creative and media sectors by ensuring consent and compensation for performers and other workers whose creative endeavours are exploited by AI."[5] MEAA had put this formally in its Equitable Remuneration campaign, launched on 4 May 2026, calling for copyright law to be extended so that performers are paid whenever their work is reused by AI.[6]
The legal gap performers cannot currently close
MEAA says Australian copyright law contains no equitable remuneration right covering AI reuse of performers' recorded work, the gap it has been campaigning to close since May 2026.[6] A performer who signed a contract in 2008 to appear in a soap opera episode almost certainly signed nothing that covered an AI system converting that footage into a new commercial product on a mobile platform in 2026.
Performers in Australia hold moral rights, specifically the right of integrity and the right of attribution, but those rights are hard to enforce when the AI workflow credits no individual contributors and the legal definition of what constitutes a "new work" built from archived footage remains untested at this scale. Dennis's complaint sits squarely in that silence.
Broadcasters and brands holding archive libraries
The Neighbours case puts a specific compliance question to every Australian broadcaster and brand sitting on decades of archived footage. YouTube tightened its rules around reposted clips in early October 2026, restricting channels that rely on redistributed footage from earning full Shorts reach, a simultaneous squeeze from platform gatekeepers at the same moment AI re-cut tools are becoming accessible to smaller operators.[7]
MEAA launched its Equitable Remuneration campaign months before RoseBerry's announcement, so the union already has a legislative ask on the table. Any company running a similar AI archive project now does so knowing the union is lobbying for that law and that the show's longest-serving cast member has objected in public.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
- Margot Robbie Neighbours microdrama episodes, Variety AU
- Stefan Dennis slams AI-assisted microdrama revival, Mediaweek
- Neighbours to return to television on Amazon Freevee, Fremantle
- Stefan Dennis on Neighbours AI microdrama, NowToLove
- Neighbours vertical video AI plans, Pedestrian.tv
- Media and creative workers call for new laws to enforce remuneration rights amid AI boom, MEAA
- YouTube cuts Shorts reach for channels reposting clips, Prompt the Market
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is RoseBerry Media's RedSnapper workflow?
Does Australian law give performers the right to stop AI reuse of their archived work?
Who is Stefan Dennis?
Has Fremantle or Margot Robbie responded to the criticism?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
