Los
Angeles (May 13, 2005) - Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation
of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) announced today that talks with video
game producers for new Interactive Media Agreements have broken off, as the
final proposal presented by the companies again failed to address the
fundamental issue of profit-sharing.
After two extensions and
numerous bargaining sessions since February 15, 2005, the contracts expire at
midnight this evening. No further extensions or talks are planned at this
time. SAG and AFTRA have both sought and received strike authorization
from their members and will now hold caucuses with members in several key cities
to determine whether a work stoppage is necessary. Final strike
authorization requires the approval of each union's elected
leadership.
The key stumbling block in efforts to reach a deal was
the producers' repeated unwillingness to explore any revenue participation
options for actors in the most successful games. Their refusal to create
any form of residual structure - a concept accepted throughout the entertainment
industry and common to all other areas of both unions' jurisdiction - even
included rejection of a modest union proposal to share in profits on games that
sell more than 400,000 units, which, in 2004, would have impacted less than 30
games.
In the early 1990s, recognizing the emerging
nature of this industry, both unions agreed to contracts that included lower
rate structures for actors and no back-end obligations. But with the
industry's maturity and enormous growth - illustrated by the fact that some
games now gross well over $100 million - the unions insisted that these new
agreements include their fair share of the profits generated by their work
through a profit-based residual model.
SAG
National President Melissa Gilbert noted, "Game revenues exceed domestic box
office receipts. Producers rejected even a modest proposal of a residual
structure that would cost them less than one percent of the revenue generated on
only the highest grossing games. There is only one way to describe their
position: completely unreasonable and lacking in any appreciation of the
contributions made by actors to the enormous profits enjoyed by this industry.
If producers want their games to maintain a professional quality, they
need to offer an agreement that shows greater respect to the professional
performers who make these games come alive."
