Voice actors union authorizes strike! - now if there is no agreement it will happen

[DivinePaladin]

czecherychestnut said:

bananaking21 said:
what are they pissy about exactly?

They want to be paid royalties based on game sales, like actors get for movies, instead of short term contracts. The problem with their argument is that actors are a significant draw for people to watch a particular movie, they are a significant part of the marketing. You get Brad Pitt to play a part, a lot of people go see it *because* it has Brad Pitt. As a result, a movies successful relies heavily on the actors used, so they get paid based on the success of the movie. Voice actors aren't the same for games, you don't buy a game because a particular voice actor was used, indeed there are many examples where different voice actors have been used for the same character across games. They play less of a role than many of the developers when it comes to a games success.

On the one hand I feel bad for them, but on the other hand....they are easily replaced. And I don't think a strike will help, because there is no shortage of junior actors/actresses trying to get a start that would jump at a chance to do voice acting for games.

I mean, if the young actors/actresses do that they're going to immediately be blacklisted by the union and will likely struggle to find work for a long time after that. Don't mess with unions, they have connections like you wouldn't believe. Plus they'd lose all credibility with any member of said union, meaning they're now hated by the crowd they wanted so very much to be a part of. 

 

Most European VAs will stand in solidarity as well, methinks. This isn't something easily avoided by publishers who don't wanna pay up, because unions tend to buddy up internationally during these things