Voice actors can breathe a sigh of relief as SAG-AFTRA has approved new protections after ratifying the 2023 Television Animation Agreements. As the television and movie industry continues to get back up to speed following last year’s strikes, it is clear that the guild’s perseverance and commitment to its members are strong. The expanded protections are wide-ranging in addressing concerns from guild members, include multiple timed wage increases, and are retroactively effective as of July 1, 2023, and last through June 30, 2026. Final voting for the new agreements was completed yesterday.
Per the official announcement:
- “The foundation of this agreement was based on the feedback we got from members who work these contracts, and that remained the negotiating committee’s focus throughout bargaining. We are proud to have delivered an agreement that offers big wins in those areas,” said TV Animation Negotiating Committee Co-Chairs Bob Bergen and David Jolliffe.
- “This contract represents a meaningful step forward in expanding our A.I. protections. The contract provides important new terms in the areas of foreign residuals, high-budget SVOD productions, late payments and much more. I am gratified we were able to achieve these significant gains without the need for a work stoppage, and want to express my appreciation to our outstanding negotiating committee chairs and members, as well as lead negotiator Ray Rodriguez and the dedicated negotiating staff,” said National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
From defining voice actors as human only to expanding upon the rights of performers, the following summary list from the contract shows just how much SAG-AFTRA has approved in the new agreements.
List of improved protections from AI Misuse (per contract summary pdf):
A. Voice Actor as Human: The Animation Agreements A.I. language expressly acknowledges that the term “voice actor” includes only humans.
B. Recognizability: The 2023 Television Agreement A.I. provisions specify performer rights regarding their digital replication when the digital replica is recognizable as the performer. This applies very differently to animation, where voice actors typically perform in character voices that are not necessarily recognizable as the voice actor. The recognizability criteria have therefore been adjusted as follows:
- For an Employment-Based Digital Replica, the requirement of recognizability has been modified to require instead that the digital replica be readily identifiable and attributable to the voice actor through contracts or other regular business records. Accordingly, the digital replica need not sound like the voice actor as long as it can be shown that the digital replica was made using the voice actor’s voice.
- For an Independently Created Digital Replica, the requirement of recognizability has been modified to
require instead that the digital replica be readily identifiable and attributable to the “role.” Accordingly, the
digital replica need not sound like the voice actor as long as it sounds like the character voice in which the
voice actor is performing.
C. Foreign Residuals: The Producers confirmed on the record that if a voice actor’s performance is digitally altered into a foreign language and the digitally altered performance is exhibited, the voice actor shall be eligible for all applicable residuals based on that exhibition.
D. Rateable Distribution: When a voice actor’s Employment-Based Digital Replica is the only performance by that voice actor used in an animated program, the calculation of the voice actor’s residuals shall take into account how much the voice actor was paid (unlike under the 2023 Television Agreement) in addition to how much time the voice actor spent performing.
E. The requirement to notify and bargain with the Union over the use of “synthetic performers in a human role” was expanded by removing the “human role” criterion. Producers must therefore notify the union and bargain over any appropriate consideration whenever they use a “synthetic voice” instead of a voice actor.
Summary of the Tentative 2023 Television Animation Agreement and 2023 Basic Cable Animation Agreement The following summarizes the tentative agreements reached for the 2023 Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Television Animation Agreement (“TV Animation Agreement”) and 2023 Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Basic Cable Agreement for Animated Motion Pictures (“Basic Cable Animation Agreement”) collectively, “Animation Agreements.”
F. Prompting with Performer Names: When a Producer uses a performer name or multiple performer names to generate a synthetic voice by prompting a Generative Artificial Intelligence system, the Producer must obtain the consent of the performer or performers. (Unlike under the 2023 Television Agreement, there is no requirement that the prompt include a “major facial feature” of the voice actor, nor is there any substitute for that criterion.)
G. Importance of Voice Acting: The Generative Artificial Intelligence language specifically acknowledges the
importance of “voice acting” as part of acknowledging the role of “human performance.”
H. Inclusion of Tracking in Producer A.I. Meetings: The semi-annual meetings that the Union may demand on the subject of A.I. will include addressing systems for tracking the use of digital replicas.