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Background Actor Agreement

For productions and background actors agreeing on their work, delivery, and compensation.

Drafted by a Harvard Law attorney.

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About this contract

For productions and background actors agreeing on their work, delivery, and compensation. Speaking lines, featured performance, stunts, nudity, intimacy, hazardous activity, and specialty skills are excluded without separate express agreement and required protections or compensation. A category change also requires any applicable upgrade.

Key points covered in this contract

  • Performance and dates: scheduled dates and the agreed nonspeaking background performance.
  • Role boundaries: boundaries for dialogue, featured work, specialty skills, and hazardous activity.
  • Additional work: additional sessions or days versus work already included in the performance fee.
  • Performance rights: the permitted recorded performance and separately agreed additional uses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the background actor is asked to speak or perform a stunt?
A speaking part or stunt can change the nature of the booking and the pay or protections that apply. Union rules may require a role upgrade, and hazardous work may need specialist performers. Being booked as a background actor is not blanket consent to any performance requested.
Can a production use an actor's performance to create an AI replica?
Permission to film an actor does not automatically authorize a digital replica or new synthetic performances. Those uses can involve separate consent and compensation. Law and union rules may also restrict what a production can do, even when it owns the original footage.
Do union terms still apply when an actor signs a separate contract?
Yes, when the engagement is subject to them. A separate contract does not override applicable employment law or binding collective bargaining obligations. Required forms, minimum payments, and any required category upgrades still apply.