Voice Actors to Face Vote

A proposed contract covering actors who voice video game characters, which appeared scuttled last week, may not be dead after all.

The national board of the Screen Actors Guild on Wednesday decided to put the contract to a vote of members. Under the proposal, actors would receive a 36% raise over 3 1/2 years, but not the residuals they had been seeking for top-selling titles.

Although the contract affects about 2,000 actors, the vote is open to all members.

The board’s decision came one week after a subgroup of the union, the National Executive Committee, rejected the tentative agreement, arguing that it did not give actors a fair share of the $25-billion industry’s profits.

That action sparked dissent within the guild because it came after SAG negotiators recommended the agreement, albeit reluctantly. In addition, voice actors had declined to authorize a strike.

The rejection also came even though SAG’s sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, approved the deal. That could mean that AFTRA, not SAG, would receive health and pension payments for actors voicing games.

Although the national board could have supported or rejected the SAG contract, it took the unusual stance of letting members decide themselves, without making a recommendation. That action underscores how politically delicate the issue is for a guild that has been plagued by infighting for years.

“This should be in the hands of the members,” said board member Kent McCord.

The referendum will be mailed out July 13 and is due back by July 28. A majority vote is required for contract approval.

As a result of Wednesday’s decision, game producers extended their contact offer to July 31.

The agreement was reached after talks with game publishers, including Electronic Arts Inc. and Activision Inc., broke down largely over whether actors should share profits.

Although union members agree on the demand for residuals they have been divided over whether to strike, with some arguing that actors lacked the kind of clout needed to financially damage the industry.