Keeping the Drama OUT of your Podcast's actor contracts

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Keeping the drama out of your podcast actors contracts.

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How to protect and keep your audio drama.

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Podcast Legal Actors Contracts edition.

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Well, there's our new quicker, shorter intro.

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I hope you like it and just try to punch things up here.

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Welcome to another episode of Legit Podcast Pro, where I share tips and

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strategies and information to help creative folks like you make your have

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your impact and achieve influence without fear or worry about the legal stuff.

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I'm your host Gordon Fire mark of the podcast lawyer, and this week we are

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continuing our series of episodes about how to protect and keep your audio drama.

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Narrative fiction or other scripted type podcast legal.

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And in this episode I'm going to be explaining the why, the what and

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the how of your actor's contract.

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But before I get started with that, I just want to invite you to my free workshop.

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Coming up.

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It's called Business and Legal Fundamentals for

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Podcast Growth and Profit.

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And listen, I only do this workshop a few times each year,

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and you don't wanna miss it.

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If you're serious about podcasting and about doing things the smart, safe,

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profitable way, join me for the next workshop coming up very soon, June 5th,

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if you're listening to this in real time.

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So register now over@event.podcastlaw.net.

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Okay, so you're doing a an audio drama kind of a podcast, and this genre is a

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bit different than many of the others where, you know, you're just having

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a host or a couple of co-hosts or, or a guest or something like that.

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When you're doing audio drama or any kind of narrative project that means

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having actors performing and then other people are involved to help out

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with the production, editing, design, directing the project, and so forth.

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And listen, I just want to emphasize how important it is to have a contract with

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each person involved in a production for reasons that I'll get into.

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Here in just a few seconds.

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So today we're talking about the actors.

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These are your frontline troops, the most visible people involved

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with the dramatic podcast, right?

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And well like the other situations where you have people on mic

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for your podcast, you need their consent for a whole bunch of things.

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To record their voice and performance, to use their name and their performance

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in connection with this dramatic show.

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And to con and their, you need their consent to edit their performances and to

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publish and distribute the performance.

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And, you know, you might think, yeah, that's all implicit when

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they show up to record, isn't it?

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Well, Not really.

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I mean, how much, how little or how long?

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What are you allowed and not allowed to do with their performances?

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Can you use it commercially?

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What if you get a TV project deal or it turns into a movie project or

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something else out of the, the podcast and implicit agreement to show up

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and record really just ends there.

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It's just so much better to get the full scope of the consents you need.

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And get them handled right up front.

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And listen, like any creative endeavor, people who are not your employees, that is

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not under contract and who create original contributions to a creative project.

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Well, things like their interpretations that the actors do, they are

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the owners of those things.

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Unless you have a contract between the actor and the producer that says

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the producer owns the results and proceeds of their efforts, you need

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that work made for hire in writing.

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Otherwise, you might not be able to do anything with the show once it's finished

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or worse, that actor comes back later and demands that it get taken down or

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they demand more money or money at all.

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There are a bunch of other possible problems and not having full ownership

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and or control of the project, well, that can be a real problem.

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So you really, really, really, Want to have a written contract.

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So what I thought I'd do now is break down a model or a template

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of an actor's contract for you.

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Now, this is from the form we have available over@podcastlawforms.com,

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and as I'm publishing this series, I'm going to have all of the forms I'm

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talking about available to you there.

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So you never have to guess what to include in your contracts.

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You can just get it from us and you'll have what you need.

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So here's what goes into an actor's contract.

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First off, there's the actual engagement.

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What are they agreeing to?

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What role are they gonna perform?

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When are they performing it?

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How many episodes is it?

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How many days of work is it?

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And what if it's a series?

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You need them to be available for multiple episodes, so you need them to promise

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that they will be you, so you don't have to recast things halfway through.

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So you want some options.

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Maybe you're doing a pilot and then there's an option for a season's worth.

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And then there's what if there's season two and three?

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What about ads?

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Are they gonna record some spots for you?

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Those kinds of things.

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What about promotional?

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All right, well look, exclusivity is another clause you need to think about,

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and that won't necessarily matter for everyone in a podcast, but you

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might want that actor to hold themself available to you and not do other.

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Competitive shows, or at least not to take other work that'll interfere with

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finishing what they need to do for you in, in a season or in a timely way.

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You also need representations and warranties.

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You want them to promise that they're free to do the show.

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They're not prevented by any other commitments from doing it, and that

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they're only gonna do original material.

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They're not gonna bring any outside stuff and.

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No hidden endorsements or paid mentions in the show.

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They can't, you know, there's, there's FCC and s e C rules about endorsements

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and, and paid ads and things like that.

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Now, the next big clause, of course, and this is the obvious

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one, is really compensation.

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After all, acting is work and actors should get paid, but I know often

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shows don't have a budget up front.

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So you need to address this.

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Somehow, are they going to get paid something later?

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When under what circumstances?

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Is it a fixed amount per episode or some kind of a profit sharing arrangement?

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You can't just ignore it and you can't just say, They're doing it for free.

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They're volunteering.

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There's, there's rules about minimum wage and things like that.

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So you really do need to address this and put it in writing,

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and I work with a lot of folks.

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I can help you figure out a good strategy.

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Sometimes it depends what state you or the actors are in and those kinds of things,

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but it is doable to find deferred or.

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Or profit sharing kinds of arrangements to, to work for these kinds of situations.

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You also need to address expenses.

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What if the actor has to travel or they need to go to a studio and

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maybe they need to stay overnight, maybe not, maybe, you know, whatever.

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Are they, are you gonna pay for meals while they're at a recording day?

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Those kinds of things are, you know, as a reimbursement or those kinds

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who, who's gonna pay for things.

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You also need the permission, as I said earlier, to use their name and

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likeness, what's allowed and what's not.

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Can you use their name in, in promotional material and ads?

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Can you put artwork together with their face on it to, to promote them and so on?

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And.

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Next is the credit.

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How are the actors going to be credited and be very specific and detailed

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about this so there are no later challenges and disputes and finger

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pointing and that kind of thing.

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And then, you know, do what you promise.

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That's what contracts are all about.

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Number nine, the, the clause that I wanna bring to your attention is the

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rights, those results and proceeds that ownership stuff I was talking about that.

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Work made for higher language that says everything they do under the

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contract belongs to you, the producer, the production that's important.

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Even if it's a, you know, a, a, a collaborative, what we call

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a company created work where everybody involved is a co-owner.

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You still need to make the company the owner of that material.

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Okay.

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And confidentiality now.

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This may not be something you've thought about, but you probably don't want your

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original storyline and plot twists and, and the drama getting out until the

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episodes go live in their sequence.

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So you want to get a confidentiality clause in your contract and it can

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be really important to, to do that.

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You also wanna make sure that you are in some control of how.

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The publicity for the show is handled so that the social media, the tweets and

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the, and the Instagrams and those kinds of things are all, you know, pre-approved by

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the production rather than people randomly shooting and, and you know, taking

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pictures and showing that kind of stuff.

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And then there's the boiler plate about notices and what happens if there's

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a dispute and those kinds of things.

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So, You really want to get this kind of contract for every person who

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is in your cast that way, even the one who's just coming in for a day

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player for a bit part or something.

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That way you'll have what we lawyers call a clean chain of title that'll allow

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you to do anything under the sun with the podcast without having to worry,

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without the distributors worrying.

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Because after all, distributors, and by that I mean the podcast hosting

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companies and the the platforms, they don't want to get sued because

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of your podcast anymore than you do.

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Now, I do wanna say a word or two about the union and working

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with professional actors.

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Now, fundamentally, all the same things apply that I was just

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saying, whether you're actors are members of SAG AFTRA or not.

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But if they are members, then you'll need to have a look at the

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agreements that that union has.

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Put out there for podcast use.

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Now, as of this moment, those contracts aren't just downloadable online.

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You have to ask the union to send them to you, but I'm led to believe

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that's going to change before too long.

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But they, here's, they have two different contracts that you should be aware of.

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One they call the independent agreement and the other is the micro

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or Micro monetized podcast agreement.

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That micro is for very small shows, things that aren't making much, much, if any,

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money under about $10,000, I believe.

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And.

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The compensation terms in these agreements are very flexible.

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You can negotiate almost anything and you negotiate it directly with the

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actor and there are no contributions to the benefit plans required.

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And so it's all, it's pretty good for the small shows, but if you are over

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that $10,000 in in revenue threshold, you can go with the independent

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podcast agreement and actually, you don't even have to be above the

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10,000 if you want to use that into.

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Agreement so you can pay benefits to the actors and those kinds of things, you

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can, benefits are actually fixed at 20% of whatever it is you're paying the actor.

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And that's also still totally negotiable.

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No minimums required.

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But the indie agreement does require that the production is housed under

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a company and L L C or a corporation.

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The union.

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Wants to know that they're dealing with a serious business, that it's

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a bonafide, legitimate podcast.

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So what if you wanna use the, the union agreements, but not all, or maybe

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none of your actors or union members?

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That's actually cool too.

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You can use the union agreements.

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In fact, these podcast agreements provide an alternative path to

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membership for actors who want to become members of the union.

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So this could actually be a really cool stepping stone for those kinds

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of folks as long as what they're doing is really a podcast meant for.

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Podcasting and not just a way to get in, but both agreements do

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require some vetting of the producer.

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The union's looking out for its members, so they're gonna verify.

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That you are really a podcast and not something that really should

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be under some other agreement.

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And they really want to know a bit about your finances and the content

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of the show and those kinds of things.

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Oh, and these contracts are meant for audio first podcasts, not full-blown

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video productions, incidental video that's not staged or heavily edited.

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That's okay.

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And.

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And exhibition of the recording sessions is, you know, if you're just having

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everybody in the room and you've got cameras pointed, that's, that's cool too.

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And you just need to do a little bit of reporting to the union when you're,

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when you're done with the the episodes.

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I think it's every, every week after or to within 10 days after recording,

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you have to file a quickie report.

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And you can find out more about all this at SAG aftra.

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Go on over to their website.

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They've got F FAQ documents on the site@sagaftra.org.

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Slash podcasts.

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So there you have it.

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Podcast actor contracts, both the union and the non-union variety.

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But I hope your takeaway here is that whether you decide to go union

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or non-union, it's really good for everyone to get clear expectations,

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rights, ownership, compensation.

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Benefits, those kinds of things laid out in a written contract before you

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invest all your time and resources and money in making your production

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because after all, you wanna be able to use it when you're done.

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Now, don't forget to register for my free virtual workshop,

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business and Legal Fundamentals for podcast growth and profit.

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It's coming up very, very soon.

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Visit event dot podcast law.net right now and register.

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And that's it for this episode.

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I'm Gordon Fire Mark, the podcast lawyer, and I will get back to you very, very

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soon again, when we'll be talking about the writer deals for scripted podcasts.

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And that's it for today.

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Take care.