Contract template for voice actors

The disputes in voice work are almost always about use beyond the licence. A spot licensed for online use ends up on regional TV, a one-year licence runs for three, or an internal video gets posted publicly. The contract should name the media, territory and term, and say that any other use needs a new licence and a new fee.

Newer, and more serious, is synthetic voice. A clean recording of your voice is enough to train a model that sounds like you. Your contract should state plainly that the recordings may not be used to clone, train or generate your voice, and that the client passes the same restriction to anyone they share the files with.

Clauses specific to voice actors

• Usage licence. The client may use the recordings only in the media, territory and term listed in the quote. Any other use requires a new licence agreed in writing.
• Renewals. If the client wants to keep using the recordings after the term ends, it pays a renewal fee before the term expires. Continued use without renewal is billed at the renewal rate.
• No synthetic voice. The recordings may not be used to train, clone, synthesise or imitate the voice actor's voice by any technology, now or in future, without a separate written agreement.
• Pickups. Pickups caused by performance notes are included once. Pickups caused by script or direction changes after the session are billed as new sessions.
• Credit and portfolio. The voice actor may include the finished work in a demo reel after public release, unless the client marks it as confidential.
• Exclusivity. The voice actor is free to voice competing brands unless the quote includes an exclusivity fee for a named category and period.

The clauses every freelance contract needs

• Parties. Who the agreement is between: your legal name or business, the client's legal entity, and the addresses of both.
• Scope of work. What you will deliver, in what form, and what is explicitly not included. Refer to the quote or proposal by number if it lists the details.
• Fees and payment terms. The total fee or rate, the currency, any deposit, when invoices are issued and how many days the client has to pay.
• Late payment. What happens when an invoice is late: interest or a fixed fee if you want one, and your right to pause work until the account is settled.
• Changes and revisions. How many revision rounds are included, what counts as a change of scope, and how extra work is priced and approved.
• Timeline and client delays. Key dates, and that deadlines move when the client is late with feedback, content or approvals.
• Ownership and licence. Who owns the finished work and when (usually on full payment), what the client may use it for, and what you keep, such as your tools, templates and know-how.
• Confidentiality. Both sides keep the other's non-public information private, during the project and after it.
• Cancellation. How either side can end the agreement, the notice required, and payment for work done up to that point.
• Liability. A cap on what either side can claim, often the fees paid under the agreement, and no liability for indirect losses.
• Governing law. Which country's law applies and where disputes are heard. Usually where you are based.

A plain-language sample

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and cut what doesn't apply. Shorter is fine as long as the scope, the money and the rights are clear.

Questions voice actors ask

Also for voice actors: invoice template and quote template. Contract templates for related trades: music producers, video editors, animators, translators. Or browse all contract templates.