Digital Replica Agreement (Digital Double / AI Likeness Consent)

What Is Digital Replica Agreement (Digital Double / AI Likeness Consent)?

A digital replica agreement is the written consent and compensation contract that authorizes a producer, advertiser, studio, or game developer to create, store, and use a computer-generated double of a real performer's voice or visual likeness. In plain terms, it is the paperwork that turns a face scan, a body capture session, or a voice sample into something a company is legally allowed to reproduce on screen without the performer being physically present for that shot. The term covers two overlapping ideas that the industry uses loosely. A "digital double" usually means a production-grade CGI or scanned model of an actor used inside a single project, often for stunts, de-aging, or crowd fills. A "digital replica" is the broader statutory term, defined by California, New York, and the SAG-AFTRA contracts as a highly realistic synthetic version of a person's voice or likeness that an average viewer could not tell apart from the real thing.

What makes this document different from an ordinary appearance release is that it governs a performance the human never actually gave. A standard model release lets a company use footage you shot. A digital replica agreement lets a company generate new footage of you that you never performed, and possibly perform you in scenes, products, or campaigns you never agreed to individually. Because of that, the law now treats vague or perpetual replica grants with suspicion, and in two of the largest entertainment markets in the country a sloppy clause is simply unenforceable rather than merely unfavorable.

Why This Matters Now

The current rules came out of a fight, not a committee. SAG-AFTRA struck on July 14, 2023, and named the absence of AI and digital replica protections as a core reason alongside wages and pension funding. The strike ran 118 days, ending at 12:01 a.m. PST on November 9, 2023 after a tentative agreement the day before. Members ratified the deal on December 5, 2023 with 78% approval, and the package carried more than $1 billion in new wages and benefit-plan funding. For the first time, a major entertainment union required consent and minimum compensation before a studio could conjure a performer digitally.

Legislators moved fast on the same problem. On a single day, September 17, 2024, California Governor Newsom signed both AB 2602 (living performers, now Labor Code 927) and AB 1836 (deceased performers, now Probate Code 3344.1), with both effective January 1, 2025. New York followed: S7676B passed the Senate unanimously on June 6, 2024 and the Assembly the next day, Governor Hochul signed it on December 13, 2024, and it took effect January 1, 2025 as General Obligations Law 5-302. Tennessee had already gone further for music with the ELVIS Act, reaching beyond contracts to impose secondary liability on the AI tool developers themselves. By the time the 2025 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract took effect on April 1, 2025 with its standardized Digital Replica Rider, anyone scanning a performer in 2026 was operating inside a real, enforceable, multi-state framework rather than a gentleman's agreement.

The Legal Backbone

Digital double versus digital replica, and why your agreement has to name which one it is

The terms get used interchangeably in production meetings, but for drafting purposes the difference matters. A digital double, in the way visual-effects houses use the phrase, is a scanned or modeled version of an actor built to do something the actor cannot safely or practically do on set: a high fall, a de-aged flashback, a fully digital wide shot of a crowd. The performer is typically on the project, present for the capture session, and the double lives inside that one production. A digital replica, in the statutory sense, is wider. It is any synthetic version of the voice or likeness realistic enough that an average viewer cannot tell it from the real person, and it can be used to generate performances the human never gave, possibly long after the shoot and possibly in projects the human never saw. California and New York wrote their laws around the replica definition, not the visual-effects workflow, so a contract that only talks about a digital double for stunt work can still trigger the full consent-and-compensation regime the moment that asset is reused to make the performer say or do something new.

Most non-union and indie deals go wrong here. A producer copies an old appearance release, adds a line about capturing the actor's likeness for use in connection with the production and any derivatives, and assumes that covers AI. It does not. Under Labor Code 927 and GOL 5-302 that derivatives language is the opposite of a reasonably specific description of intended use, and because it was probably signed without counsel and outside any CBA, the replica portion is unenforceable. The performer can be scanned, the producer can build the asset, and then the producer discovers the right to use it for anything beyond the one production is hollow. Worse, reusing it anyway exposes the producer to a right-of-publicity claim, and for a deceased performer that means the estate's statutory damages under Probate Code 3344.1 or New York Civil Rights Law 50-f.

A clean digital replica agreement does the unglamorous work of separating the layers. It identifies whether the asset is an employment-based replica built from on-project capture or an independently created one, because the union framework and the compensation math differ. It enumerates uses one at a time, with each use carrying its own fee, rather than bundling them into a single perpetual grant. It states a term and a territory and says what happens to the underlying scan data when the term ends. And for anything touching California or New York performers, it documents the representation prong on the face of the document, naming the performer's counsel or the governing CBA, so that the validity test is satisfied in writing rather than argued about later. None of that is exotic. It is the same discipline a good license agreement has always required, applied to an asset that happens to be a synthetic human.

When You Need This

A studio or VFX vendor needs to scan an actor to build a digital double for de-aging, stunt work, or a fully digital shot inside a film or series.

An advertiser or agency wants to reuse a performer's likeness across additional spots, markets, or campaign cycles using an AI-generated version rather than reshooting.

A video game or interactive media developer is capturing an actor's voice and face to generate dialogue, animations, or in-game performances beyond what was recorded live.

A music label or producer plans to create or release a recording that uses a synthetic version of a performer's voice.

An estate or successor-in-interest is licensing the post-mortem right to digitally recreate a deceased performer for a new project under California Probate Code 3344.1 or New York Civil Rights Law 50-f.

A non-union production wants enforceable AI likeness rights and needs to satisfy California Labor Code 927 or New York GOL 5-302 without a CBA, which means routing the performer through independent counsel.

A performer or their representative is reviewing a likeness or appearance contract and needs the replica provisions narrowed, priced per use, and time-limited before signing.

How to Fill Out Digital Replica Agreement (Digital Double / AI Likeness Consent)

1. 1. Identify the parties and the performer's representation status

   Name the performer, the producer or licensee, and any agency or estate involved. Then record how the validity test will be met: state whether the performer is covered by a SAG-AFTRA or other CBA that addresses digital replicas, or whether they are represented by named independent legal counsel. For non-union deals in California or New York this field is load-bearing. Without it, Labor Code 927 and GOL 5-302 void the replica clause regardless of how good the rest of the contract is.

2. 2. Classify the replica and define it precisely

   State whether the asset is an employment-based digital replica created from capture during the performer's work on this project, or an independently created digital replica generated without the performer's participation. Then define the replica itself: voice, visual likeness, or both, and the capture method (3D scan, body capture, voice sampling). Use a definition that matches the statutory language so the document is unambiguous about what is being licensed.

3. 3. Write a reasonably specific description of intended use

   This is the field that satisfies the specificity requirement in both states and the SAG-AFTRA framework. Do not write 'all media now known or later devised.' Enumerate each intended use: the specific project or campaign, the medium (theatrical, streaming, broadcast, in-game, advertising), the territory, and the duration. If a future use is contemplated but not yet defined, say it requires a separate written consent and fee rather than trying to pre-grant it.

4. 4. Separate the creation grant from each use license

   Structure the consent in distinct parts: one granting the right to create and store the replica, and separate grants for each enumerated use. Mirror the 2025 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Rider's three-part approach. Make clear that authorizing the scan does not authorize any particular use, and that each new use outside the enumerated list requires fresh consent.

5. 5. Set compensation per use and tie it to a rate

   Build a compensation schedule rather than a single fee. For union work, peg pay to the performer's pro rata daily rate or the applicable minimum, whichever is higher, and document the good-faith estimate of days the performer would have worked. For background-actor scans done exclusively to build a replica, pay a full day. For non-union deals, set an upfront creation fee plus per-use fees for each enumerated use, and address residuals or renewal fees for term extensions.

6. 6. State the term, territory, and post-term treatment of the asset

   Give the license a defined term and territory rather than perpetuity. Specify what happens to the underlying scan and replica data when the term ends: deletion, return, or a renewal that requires renegotiated consent and compensation. For deceased-performer licenses, align the term with the 70-year window under California Probate Code 3344.1 or the 40-year right of action under New York Civil Rights Law 50-f, and identify who holds the post-mortem right.

7. 7. Add notice, approvals, and conspicuous-consent formatting

   Where a CBA applies, build in the required advance notice (48 hours under the 2025 Commercials Contract) before each new use. Decide whether the performer gets approval or consultation rights over how the replica is depicted. Format the consent so it is clear and conspicuous: bold all-capitals language or a separate signature page with specific initials, as the SAG-AFTRA framework requires, so the consent is not buried in boilerplate.

8. 8. Add carve-outs, warranties, and a governing-law clause

   Exclude uses the parties never intend, such as pornographic, defamatory, or political content, and any use that would falsely imply endorsement. Have the producer warrant it will not use the replica to replace work the performer would otherwise be hired to perform, which directly addresses the first prong of the validity test. Choose a governing law deliberately: if the performer is a California or New York resident, those statutes will likely apply regardless of the clause, so draft to comply rather than to contract around them, and have both parties confirm current law with counsel before signing.

Key Terms Defined

Digital replica

A computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation of a real person's voice or visual likeness that is readily identifiable as that person, in which the individual either did not actually perform or whose performance was materially altered. This is the operative statutory term in California Labor Code 927 and, in slightly different words, New York GOL 5-302.

Digital double

Production and visual-effects shorthand for a scanned or modeled version of a performer used inside a single project for stunts, de-aging, or digital shots. A digital double is one kind of digital replica, but a contract that only describes a digital double can still trigger the broader statutory regime if the asset is reused.

Employment-based digital replica

Under the SAG-AFTRA framework, a replica created from material captured while the performer is employed on a project. It is distinguished from an independently created digital replica and carries its own consent and compensation rules.

Independently created digital replica

A replica generated without the performer's participation in the project at hand, for example built from publicly available material or older captures. The SAG-AFTRA agreements treat it differently from an employment-based replica because the performer was not on the job when it was made.

Reasonably specific description of intended use

The statutory requirement, in both California and New York, that a digital replica contract spell out how the replica will actually be used (project, medium, territory, term) rather than granting open-ended rights. A clause that fails this test is void as to the replica, not merely narrowed.

Post-mortem right of publicity

The right of a deceased person's estate or successors to control commercial use of their likeness after death. For digital replicas, California Probate Code 3344.1 sets a 70-year window with statutory damages of the greater of $10,000 or actual damages, while New York Civil Rights Law 50-f provides a right of action expiring 40 years after death.

Related Documents

Legal Authorities & Sources

This page is grounded in primary law. The statutes and official resources below are the authorities behind the guidance above. Verify the current text of any statute before relying on it.

• California Labor Code 927 / AB 2602 bill text (CA Legislature)
• Governor Newsom signs bills to protect digital likeness of performers (gov.ca.gov)
• New York Senate Bill 2023-S7676B (nysenate.gov)
• New York Civil Rights Law 50-f (Justia)
• Digital Replicas 101 (SAG-AFTRA)
• 2025 Commercials Contract Digital Replica Rider (Joint Policy Committee)
• New York's Digital Replicas Law: An Evaluation (Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy)

Frequently Asked Questions