A contract the Screen Actor's Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have with a group of video games publishers concerning movie actors supplying their talents for games will expire today, and negotiations are still underway to renew it.
Because the system of employing top actors for games is still fairly new, the guild members have been receiving a once-off fee for their work without residual earnings, which is the main stumbling block for the movie business.
With the reality of hugely successful games like Halo 2 capable of earning more on its day of release than the opening day of any movie in history, the actors may even start demanding royalties as well.
According to a Variety magazine source, the negotiations could go either way:
The current contract has no provision for any residuals, just a set of minimum pay rates.
Even that was a major concession for vidgame manufacturers, which are accustomed to having their creative talent -- developers -- work inhouse as employees.
An equally important stumbling block has been simple disorganization. There is no equivalent to the Assn. of Motion Picture & Television Producers in the vidgame industry. Instead, SAG has had to negotiate with a small group of publishers who came together on an ad hoc basis and don't represent the whole industry.
Variety.com - Gamers' SAG snag (Free trial subscription required)
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