What needs deciding before a team experiments with someone's digital likeness?
Having footage of someone doesn't mean you have agreement to create a new performance with their likeness. Ice-T imagined a synthetic version of himself that could perform differently from the real person, and a team should treat any experiment like that as its own assignment.
Describe the intended experiment before anyone builds it. Say whose appearance or voice is involved, what the replica would do, who would see it and how long the material would be kept. Include whether it could be reused for another purpose.
Have rights and legal specialists review the proposal. A general release, a public video or a vendor subscription may not answer the question, since rules and agreements depend on the use and jurisdiction.
Give the person a meaningful way to review the proposed representation and its limits. Silence isn't consent, and approval of one version doesn't cover future versions.
If permission is uncertain, use a different demonstration that doesn't imitate a real person. You can look at a production idea without creating a representation someone may later have to dispute or remove.
What to try this week
Before the next synthetic media idea moves forward, write one paragraph naming whose likeness it uses and what it would do. Send that paragraph to your rights or legal contact first.