Legal Niches

SAG Still Wrestling with Videogame Deal

By John Keefer

As pointed out last week, The Screen Actors Guild and its members are still without a contract with the videogame industry for voiceover work. SAG membership rejected an identical contract approved by the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists in October.

However, an article in The National takes a closer look at the dispute, asking in its headline if the videogame industry is playing fair.

From one SAG member:

'Before, you were doing three characters dying a horrible death. Now you're doing 20 characters dying a horrible death,' Dee Baker, a veteran voice actor, told the Los Angeles Times this month. 'Not only will this mean less money for more work it's also going to be a lot more vocally difficult.'

The story delves into how much money videogames have raked in over the last few years and also looks at the writing that goes into the stories of the games: a "very, very long screenplay," in the words of Heavenly Sword story writer Rhianna Prachett.

The article points out that SAG is at somewhat of a disadvantage in the talks, which have been relatively non-existent since the deal was rejected:

Actors say the proposed contract means they will have to do more voices for the same money, but the Screen Actors Guild appear comprehensively outflanked. Currently 89 per cent of actors in games aren't SAG members, while SAG's sister union the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has cut a separate deal with the game manufacturers.

Based on the headline, the article obviously takes a pro-SAG viewpoint, one highlighted by this:

In the video-game industry, which grew out of the computer software business, most workers are employees who don't receive residuals – additional fees for the reuse of their work – as is common in the movie and TV business. And video gamers don't think actors are worth the extra cash.

'If you look at the total contribution either in terms of hours that go into the creation of a game or the earnings of the people who make the games, voice talent represents a minute percentage,' the lawyer Scott Witlin, who represented video-game publishers in the recent labour negotiations, told the Los Angeles Times.

With AFTRA on board, it will be interesting to see if the videogame industry tries to work with SAG to iron out a contract.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).