Post by dtm on Apr 15, 2017 15:45:10 GMT -8
Hey gang,
I wasn't quite sure or not to make a thread about this here, but I think considering its about the voice acting industry and one way or another will affect future talent that may want to go union (like us) its pretty relevant. I've been following this quite closely since it started and would like to see some discussion from other aspiring VAs.
So in case you weren't aware SAG-AFTRA, the nations largest actors/performer unions in the united states has been on strike with 11 video game publishing companies for a good number of months now and there's no sign of a resolution anytime soon. The reason for the strike is that the old interative contract the union had for voice actors and the video game industry expired, was in negotiations since early 2015 to hammer out a new one with the top AAA publishers in the industry and said publishers have refused to budge on a number of key issues the union is demanding.
Those issues are:
A) Shorter shout sessions. Video games as you may know are one of the most taxing vocal jobs. Many performers have been severely injured during long shouting sessions to simulate combat, pain, death, etc Injuries include everything from loosing your voice to bleeding to vomiting to needing surgery to remove nodes or nodules. For example Courtenay Taylor, the voice actress for the female playable character in Fallout 4, had to get throat surgery after that role. The union wants to limit very stressful recording sessions to a MAX of 2 hours with no reduction in pay.
B) Stunt coordinators on motion capture sets. Voice actors are being asked to do more and more as the technology progresses, so many do lines while in motion capture or dub their lines to fit motion capture or vise versa. Unfortunately a number of these major publishers refuse the basic safety practice of having a trained stunt coordinator on set for these motion capture recordings. This has also led to a number of injuries and set backs, even though this is a basic safety practice that is standard in every other industry that uses mocap.
C) Less obfuscation on projects. These publishing companies refuse to let voice actors or their agents have any knowledge on projects they audition for or even work on. Many voice actors have no idea what the title of the game they were in is, even after the game is released. Some don't even know if they are reprising a role they did before. The publishers claim its to prevent leaks, which is understandable, but this is what Non Disclosure Agreements are for. Many voice actors also don't know if there will be any objectionable content they may not want to be a apart of, like racial slurs, excessive swearing, etc. The union is open to using NDA's, but the publishers refuse to budge on anything.
And lastly D) Secondary Payment. The union is asking for what they call a shared prosperity model. This means that when a game hits a sales threshold of 2 million copies sold, all of the actors in that game would get a small extra payment that would equal to how much they make in a session with a self imposed cap by the union at 8 million units sold. So if a $60 game sold 8 million units and made $480,000,000, a voice actor in said game would get a bonus payment of about 3 grand (I forget what the current union rate is). People keep throwing around the word "royalties" but this is actually a performance bonus.
Here's the main website for the strike and has a lot of information and resources: www.gameperformancematters.com/
There's also the Interactive section for the union that has a lot of information and bulletins: www.sagaftra.org/interactive
While negotiations with the main 11 publishers still has stagnated, the union and strike HAS made some headway with a number of other companies: www.oneangrygamer.net/2017/03/sag-aftra-signs-more-than-15-game-companies-to-new-agreement-due-to-strike/26236/
And here's an informative video I found recently: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0jik6npFY
I just find this whole thing very upsetting. This is one of the longest running acting strikes in history and yet hardly anyone seems to mention it or talk about it. I'd really like to see what everyone thinks about it because online I've only found people who misunderstand what the strike is aboutand/or are flat out against it.
I wasn't quite sure or not to make a thread about this here, but I think considering its about the voice acting industry and one way or another will affect future talent that may want to go union (like us) its pretty relevant. I've been following this quite closely since it started and would like to see some discussion from other aspiring VAs.
So in case you weren't aware SAG-AFTRA, the nations largest actors/performer unions in the united states has been on strike with 11 video game publishing companies for a good number of months now and there's no sign of a resolution anytime soon. The reason for the strike is that the old interative contract the union had for voice actors and the video game industry expired, was in negotiations since early 2015 to hammer out a new one with the top AAA publishers in the industry and said publishers have refused to budge on a number of key issues the union is demanding.
Those issues are:
A) Shorter shout sessions. Video games as you may know are one of the most taxing vocal jobs. Many performers have been severely injured during long shouting sessions to simulate combat, pain, death, etc Injuries include everything from loosing your voice to bleeding to vomiting to needing surgery to remove nodes or nodules. For example Courtenay Taylor, the voice actress for the female playable character in Fallout 4, had to get throat surgery after that role. The union wants to limit very stressful recording sessions to a MAX of 2 hours with no reduction in pay.
B) Stunt coordinators on motion capture sets. Voice actors are being asked to do more and more as the technology progresses, so many do lines while in motion capture or dub their lines to fit motion capture or vise versa. Unfortunately a number of these major publishers refuse the basic safety practice of having a trained stunt coordinator on set for these motion capture recordings. This has also led to a number of injuries and set backs, even though this is a basic safety practice that is standard in every other industry that uses mocap.
C) Less obfuscation on projects. These publishing companies refuse to let voice actors or their agents have any knowledge on projects they audition for or even work on. Many voice actors have no idea what the title of the game they were in is, even after the game is released. Some don't even know if they are reprising a role they did before. The publishers claim its to prevent leaks, which is understandable, but this is what Non Disclosure Agreements are for. Many voice actors also don't know if there will be any objectionable content they may not want to be a apart of, like racial slurs, excessive swearing, etc. The union is open to using NDA's, but the publishers refuse to budge on anything.
And lastly D) Secondary Payment. The union is asking for what they call a shared prosperity model. This means that when a game hits a sales threshold of 2 million copies sold, all of the actors in that game would get a small extra payment that would equal to how much they make in a session with a self imposed cap by the union at 8 million units sold. So if a $60 game sold 8 million units and made $480,000,000, a voice actor in said game would get a bonus payment of about 3 grand (I forget what the current union rate is). People keep throwing around the word "royalties" but this is actually a performance bonus.
Here's the main website for the strike and has a lot of information and resources: www.gameperformancematters.com/
There's also the Interactive section for the union that has a lot of information and bulletins: www.sagaftra.org/interactive
While negotiations with the main 11 publishers still has stagnated, the union and strike HAS made some headway with a number of other companies: www.oneangrygamer.net/2017/03/sag-aftra-signs-more-than-15-game-companies-to-new-agreement-due-to-strike/26236/
And here's an informative video I found recently: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0jik6npFY
I just find this whole thing very upsetting. This is one of the longest running acting strikes in history and yet hardly anyone seems to mention it or talk about it. I'd really like to see what everyone thinks about it because online I've only found people who misunderstand what the strike is aboutand/or are flat out against it.