Video Game Voice Actors Vote To Strike Over Pay
Video game voice actors have almost unanimously voted to allow strike action through union SAG-AFTRA after 96.52% voted in favor. Actors including Jennifer Hale, Wil Wheaton, David Hayter, Ashly Burch and Tara Strong all voted to allow the union to order voice actors to go on strike as they negotiate with publishers on better deals for its memers.
The SAG-AFTRA union wants a number of things to change in the gaming industry to give voice actors better remuneration for their roles, more protection and better conditions to work in. One of the biggest issues has to do with the fact that voice actors don’t usually benefit from the success of a game, despite the fact that actors in other media generally do have a profit sharing term in their contracts. The union is arguing that workers should get bonuses depending on how many copies a game sells, starting at 2 million copies.
They also want voice actors to be given more information about the jobs they are auditioning for and what they are expected to contribute if they win the role. “We propose that the actual title of the project should be made available to at least our representatives before we are asked to audition,” the union stated. “You wouldn’t work on a TV show, commercial or film without knowing what part you’re playing and how it fits into the story, yet we are asked over and over again to do just that in interactive media.”
Additionally, the union is also looking to get more protection for its members. At the moment there is no requirement for developers to have stunt co-ordinators on hand when voice actors have to do motion capture, even if the movement being captured is physically demanding. They are also trying to negotiate stunt pay when roles are vocally stressful, causing pain to the voice actor.
“Our proposal also asks for the following information whenever reasonably possible: How many sessions are you expecting to book? What rating are you planning to get? Why? Is there offensive content? Will the sessions be vocally stressful? Transparency is key. We deserve to clearly know what we’re getting into before we commit to a role in a game.”