This information is meant for education only and does not constitute legal advice from NAVA or any of its officer or members. You should always consult your own attorney or agent to review the terms of any contracts you are offered to fully protect yourselves in your particular situation.1.22.2023
A statement from NAVA regarding the current discussion surrounding a dubbing contract addendum
NAVA has been made aware of the current discussion surrounding an addendum to a dubbing contract.
After speaking with our legal team and our contract experts we have this to add:
-On the surface the use of the language “Character Simulation” has been and is common practice and generally “ok”. As it exists, the intent of this language has been to give the producer the right to have another human voice actor “voice match” if needed.
Language that is advisable to avoid is similar wording that includes the rights “for all technology currently in use and created in the future”. That language opens the door to using a synthetic model to voice match the human performance.
At this point in time, we believe that the current addendum language is vague and could potentially allow synthesized or computer generated voices to be used to voice match an actor depending on the intent of it’s addition to an existing SAG-AFTRA agreement:
We suggest these options
-Contact SAG-AFTRA at vo@sagaftra.org with a copy of the contract with the language you are concerned with highlighted.
-Contact your agent or a lawyer to discuss options.
-Strike out the concerning language in the contract.
-Add language that explicitly states “does not include synthesized or computer generated voices” or “any computer generated voice has to be of the actual actor and only used for this specific production”
