SAG, AFTRA Extend Game Negotiations

Author: by Simon Carless, Nich Maragos

Following recent news that the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) were nearing the end of their deadline to reach a new agreement with regards to video game work, SAG has issued a statement confirming that negotiations have been extended until mid-May. In full, the statement reads: "Representatives of Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and a group of video game publishers have agreed to extend the current interactive agreements to May 13th, 2005. Discussions on successor interactive agreements are continuing." The current dispute arose when the terms of an existing Electronic Arts-negotiated contract ended on December 31st, 2004, and the actors' unions felt that scale actors were being underpaid for their work in a business that currently outgrosses the film industry. Though well-known stars were appropriately compensated, the unions argued that this came at the cost of fair budgets for lesser-known, everyday voice actors.