SAG-AFTRA President Receives SOVAS Backstage Vanguard Award in Recognition of Leadership

Fran Drescher, in recognition of her leadership as president of SAG-AFTRA, became the 2024 Society of Voice Arts and Sciences’s Backstage Vanguard Award recipient on Dec. 6, 2024.

The Vanguard Award, presented by SOVAS and sponsored by Backstage magazine, is considered a prestigious honor within the voice acting industry. In addition to being a celebration of the achievements made in the field, it recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the profession itself through pioneering work, innovative practices or exceptional leadership. The award ceremony took place during The Voiceover! Career Expo in Los Angeles. In a pre-recorded message, Drescher excitedly thanked SOVAS for the honor and later showed herself holding the award on her Instagram page.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President Linda Powell and National Director, Entertainment Contracts Jessica Johnson. Together, they gave a special presentation that included remarks about the union’s commitment to address issues facing voiceover actors. The Q&A session that followed offered opportunities to answer frequently asked questions and outline the union’s efforts in creating protections surrounding artificial intelligence through its collective bargaining agreements, partnerships with A.I.-based voiceover companies and significant work with state and federal lawmakers.

“Our main strategy is a three-pronged approach: contracts that put stricter guardrails and protections around A.I. and require consent and fair compensation for any use of a performer’s voice, likeness or performance via A.I. technology; legislation that regulates A.I. and protects everyone — not just performers — from [its] dangers; and education to make sure everyone understands the importance of protecting their intellectual property, likeness and voice by only agreeing to contracts that establish consent, compensation and control,” said Johnson.

She continued, “We want this technology to create opportunities for you — not rob you of them. We don’t want synthetic voices to replace professional performers. That’s why we are pursuing fair protective terms for the creation and use of a performer’s digital voice replica in our contracts; we want to make it more enticing to use and pay a human performer rather than a synthetic voice.”

SOVAS’s mission is to provide education, training and other resources to the global voiceover community. The 2024 The Voiceover! Career Expo, held Dec. 5–7, was hosted by voiceover actor and SOVAS Vice President Joan Baker and voice actor Brian Stivale.

All photos by Greg Doherty/SOVAS.