With the advent of motion-capture like this, actors will be reduced to a marionette of flesh to be puppeted around as the producers see fit. Perhaps Hollywood will be going towards a future where actors no longer act in movies, instead their likeness is simply licensed to a studio for a certain number of movies. Anyway, I'm a cynic when it comes to this, the industry itself is already plenty abusive and exploitive, and this could further that.
Arguably this is the golden age for musicians. Lowest barriers to entry ever, if you have talent. You don't need anyone's permission to be a star ... just talent.
Why would it be different for actors?
I feel like you are not thinking about the full implications of this kind of democratizing tech.
Perhaps I appreciate just how much we live in "the golden age" of personal creativity because I'm >50 yrs old and lived through saving from each paycheck to afford renting a high-quality camera for a day or an edit suite for a few hours (only between 12a-6a for the reduced rate). I'll just come out and say it, "Kids these days have no idea how amazing their world is." Now, excuse me while I go outside to yell at some clouds...
Theatre wasn't killed by films and TV, live music is still going despite recording.
The next 10 years are going to be interesting. I wouldn't want to be a 16 year old trying to decide upon a career path.
I was down on the future in general, but fairly optimistic about my kids' mid-term prospects. Not so much, now. Feels like being on the Titanic just as the deck's starting to noticeably tilt.
I say it half in jest, but it'll be a long time before politicians allow 80,000lb trucks to wander our highways without a human responsible for it.
They don't control access; any production can hire any actor they want. The unions just negotiate a minimum wage for actors working on productions at major studios.
Your suggestion is horrific: you're suggesting that indie films should be allowed to profit off of someone's image without paying for them.
As I see it, a budding filmmaker could use two or three actors to fill 20 different roles in a film without needing expensive prop and makeup artists to place them in detailed fantasy/sci-fi scenes.
Both actors and producers can benefit when access to talent is not held behind the gates of a few powerful entities. We've seen the damage such gatekeepers can wield with the Weinstein case and numerous subsequent claims, where vulnerable actors have their careers held hostage to avoid upsetting predators who wield all the power. If an actor can pay the bills by doing many short-term mocap jobs for independent producers armed with sophisticated software, everyone can benefit.
In addition, motion capture opens up opportunities for very talented but otherwise less conventionally attractive actors who traditionally are relegated to type-cast bit roles.