Video Game Actors Strike

SeantheMan

I couldn't find a thread on this here, there may be a small reference to it in 'gaming news' ...but I think it warrants it's own discussion.

Basically

Effective Friday, SAG-AFTRA has declared a strike against 11 video game publishers over games that went into production after Feb. 17, 2015. The companies in question include some of the biggest heavyweights of the industry, such as Electronic Arts Productions, or EA, Insomniac Games, Activision and Disney.

They are striking over pay and compensation related to sales etc.
All their demands seem quite reasonable.

1. For Mo-cap or other dangerous work, they want a stunt co-ordinator on set.
2. Strenuous voice sessions e.g. Fight scenes, screams etc be limited to 2 hours Max. (some actors have bled from their throats, lost their voice for weeks etc)
3.To know what project they will work on (in some cases actors arrive on set and are immediately told they have to do 'racial slurs' or a 'mo-cap sex scene'
4.Secondary compensation, aka residuals. Bonus payment after a certain amount of success (atm it's 2million sales...they get $200 or something trivial)

This could/will affect a lot of upcoming games and games being worked on atm.

From what I understand, the Big companies are willing to give them the extra starting money, but their gripe is with the residual payments.
NOT because they can't afford it...but because IF they were to cave in to the voice artists.....the developers could then potentially unionize and strike for the same thing.

To put it in perspective how little they earn....Steve Bloom (Guiness World Record Holder for appearances in games) ....400+ games....has earned a total of 330k !!

Troy Baker ..for Uncharted 4...only got $850 per session.
Same as most actors. But doesn't get residuals or extra money after.

My understand comes from the Easy Allies Podcast.
Watch from 52:36 where they discuss it.
They have good insight into it...because the main guy Brandon..his wife is a voice actor, and one of the guy's 'Ian' ...his friends are voice actors and developers.

super_furry

Austin Walker and Patrick Klepek have covered this a good bit on their Vice podcast and I have to say, I'd be entirely on the side of the voice actors. Half the problem is that so many videogame companies get away with treating their own employees so poorly, that they're scared of anything that could give them leverage to improve their working conditions.

5uspect

I'd be completely in favour of everyone who's talents give us the games we love getting treated fairly. Everyone from the software developers, artists and musicians to the voice and mo-cap actors.

As an industry it seems that this one is particularly nasty to those who do the hard work.

Retr0gamer

Have heard a lot from these voice actors and even spoken to the friendlier ones. They really get paid badly for the work they do and it's not just games, a lot of them do anime and cartoons and it's the same deal there. They're at risk of damaging their voices permanently with some of the demands and long hours that they are put under and I know of at least one Japanese voice actress that damaged her voice permanently and thus lost her job.

Well now I know Troy Baker, Nolan North and Laura Bailey are in so many games, they can't afford to say no because the sh1tty wages.

SeantheMan

Deleted User wrote: »

Well now I know Troy Baker, Nolan North and Laura Bailey are in so many games, they can't afford to say no because the sh1tty wages.

I thought they were the superstars and were able to negotiate huge deals for themselves. I guess it's not the case.

K.O.Kiki

They just need Nolan North to strike, every AAA-game would cave once they realise they can't use him

I hope they get the first 3 demands at least.
They just sound like common-sense things, I'm surprised they didn't have them already.

SeantheMan

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

They just need Nolan North to strike, every AAA-game would cave once they realise they can't use him

I hope they get the first 3 demands at least.
They just sound like common-sense things, I'm surprised they didn't have them already.

I think the sticking point is the 4th one.
Thinking about it, games like Uncharted 3 and 4...couldn't really have been made without Nolan North.
I was gonna say Metal Gear wouldn't work without Hayter..but..it kind of did...but it's still not the same.

Great voice acting adds so much to games, I can remember the uproar from Dinklage's poor performance.

But...I'm not sure they'll cave on no.4 for fear of the developers unionising and striking for the same thing. (which they should be entitled to)

Dyr

Do writers not get percentages for their scripts?

Or artists/devs for their work?

Would have thought writers at least get some form of royalties

Retr0gamer

SeantheMan wrote: »

Great voice acting adds so much to games, I can remember the uproar from Dinklage's poor performance.

Dinklage was doing the best he could reading absolute nonsense. The scriptwriters were the one sat fault there.

Sephiroth_dude

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Have heard a lot from these voice actors and even spoken to the friendlier ones. They really get paid badly for the work they do and it's not just games, a lot of them do anime and cartoons and it's the same deal there. They're at risk of damaging their voices permanently with some of the demands and long hours that they are put under and I know of at least one Japanese voice actress that damaged her voice permanently and thus lost her job.

How bad is badly paid?

K.O.Kiki

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Dinklage was doing the best he could reading absolute nonsense. The scriptwriters were the one sat fault there.

Which, going back to money, is the fault of the developers/publishers.

You can't attract good talent if every writer knows that, even if they produce a great script for a multi-million seller, they'll get paid dirt.

Retr0gamer

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

How bad is badly paid?

Usually get paid by the line which ends up with them doing hours/days of work while getting close to or even below minimum wage for the hours they put in.

Also it's not like they have constant employment and also have agent fees to find them work.

SeantheMan

I think the going rate is 850 a session, but I don't know if that's the max or standard pay for everyone

degrassinoel

SeantheMan wrote: »

I think the going rate is 850 a session, but I don't know if that's the max or standard pay for everyone

that's what i read too, though that figure doesn't seem to be in dispute, it's the long hours and mocap being extremely physically demanding that is.

Long hours of saying the same stuff over and over, or even screaming it, can and is damaging to the voice, they want this recognised.

They also get a ridiculously low royalty cheque if the game does very well, like 200 dollars or something for X amount of sales or +85-90 metacriticed game. Which is a bit of a kick in the face, especially for the quality of the game, and games highly reliant on voice acting like Mass Effect and so on.

SeantheMan

degrassinoel wrote: »

They also get a ridiculously low royalty cheque if the game does very well, like 200 dollars or something for X amount of sales or +85-90 metacriticed game. Which is a bit of a kick in the face, especially for the quality of the game, and games highly reliant on voice acting like Mass Effect and so on.

Yes, this is the sticking point.
The big companies have offered them more money up front as a pay rise...but are in dispute over royalties.

From what I gather it's not just because of these voice actors and mocap...but the fact that if they cave in to their demands...then the developers could/will be next to unionize and hold them to ransom over royalties (which they should ! )

They should definitely be paid more, since video games more and more require their voice actors to perform mo-cap.