Voice-Over Release

Dear Rich: You said you needed questions for Audiobook Week. Okay, I'm a voice-over artist and I get all kinds of releases and each one seems to be different. Can you post a sample release for narrators and voice-over folks? That would be helpful. Also, I agree with your assessment of Edward Hermann. He's amazing. Listen to his reading of Annie Proulx's Accordion Crimes. Hey, thanks for the tip on Accordion Crimes.  As for your narrator release, we posted a sample release for use by audiobook narrators at Scribd.com . 

Our Narrator Release

We tried to keep the release short. We added a provision that permits the voice-over artist to use snippets for their portfolio (and you may want to enhance that section). We also included a requirement for a narrator credit. Since this only applies to audiobook work, it would not be applicable for voice-overs for commercials which involve different issues (here's a look at one union's contract for commercials). As for the ADR provision, you can strike that if you're not inclined to arbitrate. This is a stripped down agreement and many reader agreements contain more contract boilerplate, more detailed grant of rights, and even nondisclosure provisions. (And on a completely different topic, the Dear Rich staff wonders if this is trademark infringement.)