SAG-AFTRA announced Friday that its members approved new three-year contracts for voice actors working on animated television shows.
The agreement addressed the same concerns that fueled the actors’ 118-day strike last year, particularly that many actors fear that artificial intelligence will replace their jobs.
Like live-action contracts, animation contracts do not prohibit the use of AI. However, it will prevent the actor’s voice from being copied without permission.
Although the animation terminology is primarily patterned after deals that ended strikes, there are some differences. SAG-AFTRA negotiated language declaring that anime voice actors must be human. This definition was not included in the television and theater contracts.
“We have it in writing,” the union said on X (formerly known as Twitter) earlier this month. “Under the new TV Animation Agreement, ‘voice actors’ only include humans!”
The television and theater agreement’s lack of definition was a source of controversy during the ratification process. At the time, the union’s lead negotiator, Ireland Secretary Duncan Crabtree, argued that defining actors as humans was not an effective safeguard against misuse of AI.
“What we need is real protection against the actions of these companies,” he said last fall. “Just because it sounds good doesn’t mean it’s actually going to protect you.”
Similar to television and theater contracts, animation contracts provide for consent and compensation for the use of “digital replicas” to reproduce an actor’s voice. The deal doesn’t prevent studios from training his AI model based on past performances to create “synthetic” voices, but if that voice sounds like an actual voice actor or his character. That’s different.
Studios must also obtain actors’ consent before using their names in prompts to create synthetic voices. The agreement also requires studios to notify the union each time they create synthetic audio. And unions will have the opportunity to argue that actors should be compensated for their contributions, even if the end result isn’t what they deserve.
The deal otherwise largely follows the pattern set out in the Television/Theatrical Agreement, with scale pay increases of 7% retroactive to July 1 and 4% for subsequent years of the agreement. and an increase of 3.5%.
The animation deal also includes similar “success bonuses” for the most-watched shows on streaming.
The agreement was ratified with 95.5% support, significantly higher than the 78% approval rating for the TV and Theater Agreement in December.
