SAG-AFTRA Strike Reaches Tentative Agreement to End Soon

The SAG-AFTRA strikes that have been affecting 160,000 actors and personalities in the united states, including a sizable portion of video game voice actors like Ashly Burch and David Hayter, since October 2016 will probably be ending soon. An agreement has been reached and the union has outlined some of the benefits that actors will receive.

“The terms of the tentative agreement, which was reached early Saturday morning, include a new bonus structure that provides an additional payment to performers. The bonus payment, which is due no later than the release date of the game, is based on the number of sessions worked on each game, beginning with a $75 payment on the first session and totaling $2,100 after 10 sessions worked.”

Transparency in contracts will also be improved as per Chief Contracts Officer Ray Rodriguez, the lead negotiator who said that “members are also protected by the disclosure of whether they will be required to use unusual terminology, profanity or racial slurs, whether there will be content of a sexual or violent nature and whether stunts will be required.”

Considering the strike is the longest in the union’s history, it’s good to see progress finally being made. Several high profile companies and divisions like Electronic Arts Productions, WB Games, Take Two Interactive Software, Activision Publishing, VoiceWorks Productions, Formosa Interactive and so on were the reason for the strike.

Among the many issues it caused was Ashly Burch not being able to return for properties like Life is Strange: Before The Storm. Burch voiced Chloe in Life is Strange and served as a consultant while non-union associated Rhianna DeVries voiced the character in Before The Storm.