SAG-AFTRA has ratified new contracts for voice actors working in television animation after member votes surpassed 95 percent in favor of the terms. The three-year agreements establish new protections around the use of ai, including a requirement that producers obtain an actor's consent before using her name as a prompt to create an ai-generated voice. SAG-AFTRA announced the approval of the contracts Friday night. They will be effective until June 30, 2026.
for the new contracts, “the term 'voice actor' only includes humans.” The contracts also outline voice actors' rights over studios' use of their digital replicas and require producers to notify and negotiate with the union whenever they use ai-generated voices instead of voice actors. “This is the first SAG-AFTRA animation voice-over contract with protections against the misuse of artificial intelligence,” TV Animation Negotiating Committee co-chairs Bob Bergen and David Jolliffe said in a statement.
SAG-AFTRA CEO and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the agreement “represents an important step forward in expanding our ai protections,” as well as providing “important new terms in the areas of foreign waste, “Big-budget SVOD (subscription video).” on-demand productions), late payments and much more.” The contracts set out a series of pay increases, starting with a 7 percent increase dating back to July 1, 2023, for which actors will receive retroactive pay. This will be followed by a 4 per cent increase on July 1 this year and a 3.5 per cent increase the following year.
The union announced earlier this year that it had reached an agreement with ai voice generation company Replica Studios to offer voice actors a way to “securely” license their digital voice replicas for video games. . ai protection was also a crucial component of the deal to end the strike that SAG-AFTRA reached with Hollywood studios late last year.
