SAG-AFTRA on video game strike negotiations
Plus, the Monty Pythonesque absurdity of Thank Goodness You're Here
My week began with Thank Goodness You’re Here, an absurdist romp through a British town filled with more sight gags than I could shake a smiling flower at. Blessed by a range of Northern accents (and the voice talents of Matt Berry, no less), the game had me scratching my head and hooting with delight. It took me just about three hours to blast through and had perhaps the funniest musical finale I’ve ever experienced.
Also, I published an interview with SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator in the ongoing video game actor strike on WBUR.org.:
“When you go to work, your likeness, your movement, your performance can be alienated from you and used to program a computer that can now perform in your stead,” says SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Ray Rodriguez. “That jeopardizes the whole rest of your career and the future of your employability.” […]
“You could be a voice actor that is just providing the voice for a character where that character is then moving based on the performance of another actor,” explains Rodriguez.
That’s why the union has focused on protections for motion capture artists, arguing that the physical movements they record aren’t simply data for programmers to extract and manipulate. “If it was just data, they could put an animator or a developer in a motion capture suit and have them do it,” says Rodriguez.
“But the fact is, they want professional performers, because when professional performers do it, it is more than just data,” Rodriguez says. "What they're getting out of that is a performance that is part of what sells the game and part of what makes the experience immersive for the fan.”
Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the impacted video game companies, told NPR’s Mandalit del Barco that negotiators had nearly closed a deal before the strike: “We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions,” Cooling said in a statement. “Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA’s concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation.”
Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA hopes to rally the public. It called the strike just before San Diego Comic-Con kicked off, where unionized actors appealed directly to fans for support. More than 11,000 people have since signed an online petition to “add your voice to the chorus of those who support SAG-AFTRA video game performers.”
Plenty cooking for next week! Talk soon.