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ACTORS
Stokes Law Group · Actors & Performers · Legacy · Wealth · Protection
Your face. Your voice. Your performance.
Protect what only you can do.

A signature on the wrong contract can hand over your name, your likeness, and your future work in perpetuity. In a market where AI can now replicate your voice and image, every clause matters. We review, negotiate, and draft the agreements that keep your career and your identity in your control.

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The Cost of Signing Without Counsel

Four contract traps that quietly cost actors everything.

Most actors sign contracts they were told were "standard." Standard for whom? Every contract is drafted to protect the party who wrote it, and studios, production companies, agencies, and platforms have entire legal departments protecting their side. Here is what we see on the other side of the table.

Risk 01
Perpetual Worldwide Rights Grants
Indie film and short-form contracts routinely take your performance rights "in perpetuity, throughout the universe." One signature, and the producer owns the right to distribute, license, and monetize your face and voice for the rest of your life.
Risk 02
AI Likeness and Digital Double Rights
Buried in modern contracts is language that grants the right to create synthetic performances, digital doubles, and AI-generated content using your name, image, and voice. If you did not negotiate this out, you may have agreed to it.
Risk 03
Unpaid Residuals and Backend
Non-union projects often promise deferred compensation, streaming residuals, or backend points that never materialize. Without proper contract language and an enforcement mechanism, "we will pay you when the movie makes money" becomes "we will never pay you."
Risk 04
Work-for-Hire Creep
Even work you thought was collaborative can be reclassified as work-for-hire, assigning ownership of your creative contributions, character work, and even improvisation to the producer. If you contributed original material, that contribution can be lost in the fine print.

Wondering if any of these risks are in a contract you have already signed, or one you are about to? A Strategy Session is where we find out.

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Where You Are In Your Career

Five stages, five sets of legal needs.

The right legal strategy depends on where you are in your career. What emerging actors need is different from what working actors need, which is different from what established talent needs. Here is how we approach each.

01
Emerging
Booking early roles, joining SAG-AFTRA eligibility, signing your first agency agreement. Priority: understanding what you are agreeing to before the ink dries.
02
Working
Multiple projects in flight, agency and manager relationships to manage, deals of varying complexity. Priority: consistent legal counsel across a growing deal flow.
03
Established
Named credits, recognizable name, endorsement offers arriving. Priority: protecting brand, negotiating from strength, structuring loan-out corporations.
04
Career Actor
Consistent working professional across multiple decades. Priority: retainer counsel that already knows your deal history and can move fast on incoming offers.
05
Legacy Stage
Residuals, catalog licensing, biographical and documentary rights, likeness protection for post-career and estate. Priority: preserving the value of everything you built.

Not sure which stage you are in or what your priorities should be? That is exactly what a Strategy Session is for.

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LEGACY
The Counsel Relationship

The Actor Counsel Retainer.

This is not a bulk-discount package. It is a counsel relationship. When you work in an industry that moves at the speed of a phone call from your agent, you need an attorney who already knows your career, your priorities, and your red lines before the next deal lands.

What comes with the relationship

The Actor Counsel Retainer is annual counsel for working actors and career professionals. It combines contract review capacity with the kind of ongoing legal relationship that most working actors have never had access to at a boutique price point.

What the retainer includes:

  • Priority scheduling for all incoming contracts, deals, and offers
  • Quarterly career and portfolio review sessions
  • Direct attorney email access, no gatekeeping
  • Unlimited brief questions under 15 minutes each
  • Right of first review on any deal within 24 business hours
  • Five (5) full contract reviews per calendar year
  • Retainer-client rates on all additional reviews beyond the included five
  • Coordination with your agent, manager, and business manager as needed
  • Annual likeness and rights audit including any AI, digital double, or synthetic performance exposures
Annual Retainer
Actor Counsel Retainer
$18,000
Per Year · Payable Annually or Quarterly
Discuss the Retainer
What is not on this list is the part that matters most. An attorney who already knows your career when the next deal lands.
Project-Based Services

Performer packages for specific deals.

If a retainer relationship is not the right fit yet, we offer project-based reviews and negotiation services at flat-fee pricing. Every engagement begins with a Strategy Session to confirm scope.

Representation Agreements
Agency, Management, and Talent Representation
Talent Representation Review
Full review of your agency or management agreement including commission structure, exclusivity, termination rights, sunset clause, and package rights.
$2,500Flat Fee
Loan-Out Corporation Setup
Formation of your loan-out entity (typically LLC or S-corp) for tax planning, liability protection, and contract structuring. Includes formation documents and operating agreement.
$3,500Flat Fee + State Filing
Manager Agreement Negotiation
Negotiation representation for your management agreement including deal structure, term length, post-termination commission tail, and scope of authority.
$4,000Flat Fee
Project Agreements
Film, TV, Commercial, and Voiceover
Standard Talent Agreement Review
Review of a talent agreement up to 20 pages including principal role terms, rights grant, compensation, credit, and residuals language.
$2,500Up to 20 pages
Studio or Network Deal Review
Comprehensive review of a longer or more complex talent agreement, series regular contract, or studio pact.
$4,00021+ pages
Commercial or Endorsement Review
Review of commercial talent agreement, brand endorsement, or spokesperson contract including usage rights, exclusivity, and moral clauses.
$3,500Flat Fee
Voiceover Agreement Review
Review of voiceover agreement including grant of vocal rights, session terms, usage windows, and buyout vs residual structure.
$2,500Flat Fee
Motion Capture Release Review
Review of performance capture, motion capture, or synthetic performance release including likeness use, animation rights, and downstream applications.
$2,500Flat Fee
Personal Appearance Agreement
Review of contract for public appearances, conventions, meet-and-greets, or event bookings including deliverables, exclusivity, and cancellation terms.
$3,500Flat Fee
Rights Protection
Likeness, Publicity, and IP
AI or Likeness Rider Review
Review and negotiation of AI, digital double, and synthetic performance language in a proposed agreement, including scope, term, and revocation rights.
$3,500Flat Fee
Publicity Rights Audit
Audit of your existing agreements to identify what likeness, publicity, and name rights you have granted, and to whom, so you know exactly what you own going forward.
$4,500Flat Fee
Content Licensing Agreement
Drafting or reviewing agreements that license your existing performances, clips, or archival material to third parties for commercial use.
$4,500Flat Fee
Add-On Services
Available with Any Package
Negotiation Representation
We engage directly with the other party's counsel and negotiate the deal on your behalf, including counterproposals, redline exchanges, and closing.
$3,500-$5,000Scope Set in Strategy Session
Pre-Litigation Demand
Formal demand letter for unpaid residuals, deferred compensation, or breach of talent agreement terms, positioned to resolve without litigation.
$2,000Flat Fee
Pre-Litigation Resolution
Full pre-litigation resolution work including demand, negotiation, and settlement drafting, aimed at recovery without filing suit.
Starting $4,500Scope Set in Strategy Session
LIKENESS
The Fight of This Decade

AI, digital doubles, and the rights to your face.

The 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike put AI likeness on every actor's radar, but the language showing up in contracts today is often broader, more permanent, and less negotiable than most actors realize. Whether you are union or non-union, whether the project is a studio feature or an indie short, this is the language you cannot afford to sign blind.

Layer 01
Digital Replica Rights
Contracts increasingly grant the right to create digital replicas, deepfakes, or synthetic performances from your captured performance. If you agreed to this without negotiating scope, the studio may be able to generate new performances of you long after the project ends.
Layer 02
Training Data Rights
Some agreements include quiet language granting the right to use your captured performance to train AI models. Even without generating new content of you, your performance can become the source material for creating other synthetic actors, or for future AI features you never consented to.
Layer 03
Voice Cloning and Vocal Rights
Voiceover agreements and even principal talent contracts now sometimes include the right to synthesize your voice for pickups, additional lines, or entirely new content. Without proper negotiation, you may have given away the right to your own voice.
Layer 04
Post-Career and Post-Life Rights
The most concerning language grants perpetual rights that survive termination of the agreement, retirement, and even death. Estates and beneficiaries can end up fighting for control of a performer's likeness decades after the original contract was signed.

If AI likeness language is in a contract in front of you right now, do not sign until you understand what you are agreeing to.

Start with a Strategy Session →
The First Step

Start with a Strategy Session.

Before any engagement, every actor starts here. One hour. One focused conversation. You leave with clarity on where you stand, what is at risk in any deal in front of you, and which engagement structure fits your career. This is the diagnostic that gets you to the right next step.

What we cover in your hour together

This is a diagnostic session, not a contract review. We assess your career position, identify risks in any deals you are considering, and recommend the right engagement structure for what you actually need. If you have a contract on the table, we will look at it together at a high level and flag concerns, but the line-by-line negotiation work happens under a separate engagement. The Strategy Session is how we figure out what that engagement should be.

  • Diagnostic of your career position and legal exposure
  • High-level look at any contract you are considering, with red-flag identification
  • Clear recommendation on which engagement tier or retainer fits your situation
  • Coordination with your existing agent, manager, or business manager if needed
  • A written summary of our conversation sent within 48 hours
  • Confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege
Strategy Session
One Hour. Full Clarity.
$500
60 Minutes · Via Zoom
Credit Toward Engagement
If you engage the Firm within fourteen (14) days, your $500 Strategy Session fee credits in full toward your first flat-fee deliverable or annual retainer.
Book Your Strategy Session

Sessions held Monday through Thursday. Limited to ten per week.

Common Questions

What actors actually ask.

Do I need an entertainment attorney if I already have an agent or manager?+
Yes, and the roles are different. Your agent negotiates the deal. Your manager guides your career. An entertainment attorney reviews the contract for legal exposure, negotiates specific legal terms your agent may not have leverage on, and represents your interests exclusively (agents and managers earn commissions, so their financial interest is not always perfectly aligned with yours). The three roles are complementary, not redundant.
I am non-union. Do I still need contract review?+
Especially if you are non-union. SAG-AFTRA contracts have baseline protections built in. Non-union contracts do not. Everything you would rely on the union to enforce, from residuals to rights grants to compensation floors, has to be negotiated into your specific contract. Non-union actors are the most exposed to bad terms and the most in need of legal review before signing.
How is the Actor Counsel Retainer different from paying per review?+
The retainer is not a bulk-discount package. It is a relationship. It includes five full contract reviews per year plus priority scheduling, direct email access, quarterly career reviews, unlimited brief questions, and an annual likeness rights audit. Working actors with active deal flow typically hit the value of the retainer within the first two or three deals, but the real value is the relationship: an attorney who already knows your career when the next contract lands.
Can you review a contract if it is already signed?+
Yes. A post-signature review identifies your obligations, exposures, and potential exit paths. Not every bad contract is enforceable, and even enforceable contracts may have amendment or renegotiation opportunities. Bring it to the Strategy Session and we will assess your options.
What is a loan-out corporation and do I need one?+
A loan-out corporation is an entity you own (usually an LLC or S-corp) that "loans out" your services to production companies. The company signs the contract, not you personally. Benefits include tax planning, liability protection, and cleaner contract structuring. Loan-outs generally make sense once your acting income crosses a threshold that varies by state and personal tax situation. We will assess whether it is right for you during the Strategy Session.
What if a producer says the contract is "non-negotiable"?+
Almost everything is negotiable. "Non-negotiable" is a negotiating position, not a fact. Even when a producer is unwilling to change the core deal terms, they will often accept rider language, side letters, or specific carve-outs on issues like AI likeness rights, exclusivity, or credit. The question is whether you have legal representation strong enough to know what to push back on and how.
Do you handle SAG-AFTRA union matters?+
We do not represent members in internal union proceedings, which are typically handled by union counsel. We do review and negotiate SAG-AFTRA contracts (both single-project and term deals), advise on union eligibility and Taft-Hartley situations, and coordinate with union representatives when a matter has both contract and union elements.
Do you represent working actors outside Florida?+
Yes. Contract review, drafting, and negotiation for entertainment matters is transactional legal work that does not require the actor to be in Florida. Attorney Stokes is licensed in Florida, and matters governed by another state's law (California, New York, and Georgia are common) may be handled directly, may involve local co-counsel, or may be scoped to Florida-based aspects of the deal, depending on the specifics. We confirm this during the Strategy Session.
Build Across Pillars

Your career connects to everything.

Related Practice
Musicians
If you record, release music, or work as a hyphenate performer, our music industry practice runs parallel.
Visit Musicians →
Related Practice
Creators
For actors who also build content platforms, brand deals, and creator revenue.
Visit Creators →
Related Practice
Brand Protection
Trademark your stage name. Protect your brand as a performer. Own the marks that matter.
Visit Brand Protection →
Related Practice
Contract Review
For contracts outside talent representation, our general contract practice handles the rest.
Visit Contract Review →
PROTECT IT
Ready When You Are

Your career. Your terms.

Book a Strategy Session and we will walk through your current situation, look at any contracts in front of you at a high level, and recommend the exact engagement that fits. One hour. Full clarity.

Book Your Strategy Session
Legacies are created, not inherited.