Legal Niches

SAG Voiceover Deal Still at a Standstill

By pete_gallagher

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) still hasn't ratified a deal with the videogame industry for voiceover work, which could mean more opportunities for actors in the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA) camp.

Variety reports that current SAG talks are still stalled, with little chance of any forward movement in the near future. Akin Gump attorney Scott Witlin, who is handling the game industry side of the negotiations, said, 'We're still in a state of assessment.'

Videogame earnings for SAG members plummeted 56% last year to $2.77 million notes the article, an extremely small slice of the $2.0 billion earned by SAG members overall. It's also estimated that 75.0% of all videogame voiceover work is done by non-union workers. In light of no SAG contract, it is expected that more AFTRA members will be utilized within the 25.0% of those unionized.

As detailed earlier, SAG's rejection of a deal has hinged on pay levels for those providing 'atmospheric' voices in games. A proposal called for allowing actors to voice up to 20 atmospheric (or non-main character) voices with up to 300 words per voice in return for pay of around $800 per day. The opposition claims that this would lead to actors doing more work for less money.

AFTRA okayed its deal with game companies back in October.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on December 18, 2009 (boomark / email).