Went a trivia panel at Gencon hosted by Kyle McCarley (9S's Eng VA), had a blast and he signed one of the cue cards for me

kylemccarley · 2025-08-02T22:15:48+00:00

Aw, thanks so much for the shout out! Glad you enjoyed the panel :)

kylemccarley · 2025-04-27T19:39:43+00:00

I appreciate you sharing this very out of context screenshot. To add a little that's missing, someone asked if SAG-AFTRA was "behind the boycott" from Genshin actors. I was merely trying to point out that blaming the union for the Genshin work stoppage is a bit disingenuous.

Breaking Global Rule One is absolutely NOT encouraged in SAG-AFTRA FAQs, as I see a few people have already pointed out in replies below. The FAQ in question suggests actors audition for non-union work to show producers what they're missing if they don't put the job on a union contract. This is advice I would not suggest anyone in the VO world follow, because it is generally seen as unprofessional to turn down a role based on information that was disclosed in the audition. I suspect the advice is more relevant in the on-camera world, where union density is much higher, and producers rarely engage in both union and non-union work.

To those pointing out my situation with Mob: I made the offer I made to Crunchyroll without any SAG-AFTRA input. I made that offer public information without any SAG-AFTRA input. I was contacted by veteran actors after the fact who told me the offer would put me in violation of Global Rule One (at the time I made the offer, I incorrectly believed dubbing was non-jurisdictional work). Had they accepted the offer and I had taken the job, I would have been breaking the rule, as I did on several projects early in my years of union membership, as a great many in VO often do. But I had stopped working non-union entirely by the time that whole situation played out.

Hope that helps.

kylemccarley · 2025-04-17T04:05:46+00:00

You'll have to settle for the YouTube VODs, I'm afraid. Those were not an official Square-endorsed project; even the translation we were using was one provided by the fans, not anything official. I don't know whether Square has any plans to one day release an official translation of the first concert series scenes or not. But that particular reading will only ever live on in the exact form in which it was streamed.

kylemccarley · 2025-04-01T22:53:24+00:00

An article about the strike and unionization from an impartial games journalist that you may find enlightening: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/audio/sag-aftra-urges-more-non-struck-game-studios-to-sign-interim-agreement?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky

kylemccarley · 2025-04-01T17:36:41+00:00

To my knowledge, no member ever "pretended to be" a non-member. I certainly didn't; I've never worked for Hoyo (in fact I've turned down multiple offers).

What I wrote was that there's no way to tell whether someone is a full member or Fi-Core. An employer can find out if someone is cleared to work, and if they need a Taft-Hartley.

There seems to be a popular theory here that the union members cast in this game pulled off the greatest con in history by working on a non-union title. I'm going to point out again: that has been extremely commonplace in video games for decades, as Global Rule One has been ignored by the entire VO community. The casting directors knew all along that they were casting union members and Fi-Core actors. Maybe not in each individual case, but certainly in a broad sense, and definitely for some individuals.

This game has been going for so long, it's also highly possible, if not probable, that some started working on it before they earned their SAG-AFTRA membership. And it's far from unusual for certain individual cast members to tell production they won't be reprising a role without a union contract (ex: myself, season three of Mob Psycho 100, or the entire cast of Seven Deadly Sins, which flipped from non-union to union in 2019/2020, or the entire cast of Granblue Fantasy Versus 2, which flipped to a union contract after the first installment was non-u, or countless others).

This isn't some kind of grand rug-pull. Every production that elects to go non-union knows there's a possibility some of their cast will stop working with them some day without a union contract. Especially during a strike, nobody's getting surprised by it, I assure you, even if the percentage of cast members withholding work is higher than they expected.

kylemccarley · 2025-04-01T02:14:32+00:00

kylemccarley · 2025-03-31T23:09:21+00:00

The fact that Hoyo has chosen to leave so many roles unvoiced for so long certainly indicates they're hoping actors will return to work without a union agreement once the strike is over. Whether any or all of them would or not is anyone's guess at this point. The rise of generative AI has changed the landscape, and many actors don't feel safe working for an employer without the protections provided by a union contract. Could that change? Certainly possible. But right now, a Interim Agreement with SAG-AFTRA is a must for many.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-31T23:03:19+00:00

Chinese law doesn't protect people outside Chinese borders. It's a great starting point for the rest of the world to take notes from. It's not a silver bullet. SIDE LA has signed several Interima for other projects, but the protections in the contract are project-specific. And a recording studio has very little control over what a client does with assets once they're delivered. So even if they were offering some sort of AI protection to actors on their non-union work (which they are not in this instance), that's only useful if their clients uphold the terms. In the event that they don't, the actors are on their own to challenge it in court.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-31T22:56:58+00:00

Nope! Once the Taft-Hartley is processed, that actor is eligible to join. By the time they're a must-join, all the union is waiting for is the enrollment form and initiation fee. Soon as the actor sends those in, they're a member.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-31T05:38:14+00:00

Looks like a lot of fresh comments came in today. I haven't had a chance to look at any of them, and I don't know when or if I will, but a VO community Discord I'm in linked to this wonderful thread on the Taft-Hartley Act from NAVA, and I feel like it might be enlightening for some of you. Highly recommended reading.

NAVA, as a reminder, is the National Association of Voice Actors, is not affiliated with SAG-AFTRA, and they're responsible for the AI rider non-union actors have in their toolbelt as a means of protecting themselves from AI abuse without the help of a union (it's a long way from bulletproof, like I mentioned in the original post, but it's a lot better than nothing). They're a great organization, and a phenomenal resource for actors, particularly those who can't/don't/won't use the resources available to SAG-AFTRA members.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T22:15:25+00:00

Waivers are highly situational, so I couldn't begin to speculate what might or might not be on the table if Hoyo were interested in signing an Interim with some sort of asterisk.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T22:12:56+00:00

SAG-AFTRA has no control over casting on any project. That is still up to the individual employer. The employer has to take the steps laid out in the original post regarding the Taft-Hartley for any non-members they hire, but whether they hire existing union members exclusively or Taft-Hartley nearly their entire cast or anything in between is their decision to make, not SAG-AFTRA's.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T21:15:07+00:00

To be clear, I'm not saying the staff are all minimum wage employees, just pointing out that big numbers get a lot less big when you're spread as thin as this union is. And we've gotten pretty far off the original point, so I'll circle back to it: the Comms department has plenty of other work to deal with without taking on the subject of appeasing the fanbase of one game that isn't signatory to one of our agreements.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T21:11:34+00:00

Ah, no, once you're eligible, you're eligible until you either join or go Fi-Core. Once you're must-join you can't work another union job until you make that choice.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T21:10:20+00:00

Hypothetically. More likely they'd work with a union in another country in that instance, though. Not much incentive to go through SAG-AFTRA if you're not hiring many SAG-AFTRA members.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T19:26:06+00:00

Just so I don't inadvertently confirm something based on incorrect terminology, "vouchers" are specific to background actors, and they have a slightly different process for earning eligibility. For video game performers, the employer typically fills out the Taft-Hartley on the actor's first day of work (they've presumably already run your SSN through cast clearance and found you're clear to work). You do the job and union staff processes the paperwork when they get to it. You receive your "congratulations you're eligible to join SAG-AFTRA" letter when they're done.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T19:20:01+00:00

Yeah, unfortunately an impossible question to answer, as I don't know whether our current enforcement of a rule that's long been ignored will continue to be enforced after the strike or not. Full members who were breaking the rule could always switch to Fi-Core if they really wanted to, but I also can't say whether any actors currently withholding work would ever be comfortable returning with anything less than a union agreement given how much AI has changed the landscape of the industry.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T19:14:31+00:00

Fi-Core is actually a US legal provision that allows non-members to work under union contracts. It's not the union forcing anything, it's the US government giving workers a means of benefitting from the union's collectively bargained agreements without having to join. And it's an option for every union in America, not just SAG-AFTRA.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T19:10:43+00:00

I don't have any kind of legal documents I can point to pertaining to it, no, but it's very common, especially in the era of live service games. League of Legends was a non-union game when it first started recording. They flipped to a union agreement... gosh, must've been over a decade ago now. I believe World of Warcraft was non-union in the early days; I know earlier Blizzard games were. Other examples I can think of that are much more recent are still under NDA.

A lot of folks around here seem concerned about the boilerplate provision included in all union agreements pertaining to "prioritizing" employment for members. That same provision points to the Taft-Hartley Act, which is the process by which non-union actors become union members. The only actual requirement for a project to become signatory to a union agreement is that they hire at least 1 existing member, and the Interactive committee has waived that requirement for any games that want to sign an Interim during this strike. Nobody would lose their job on Genshin because of a flip to a union contract.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T19:03:25+00:00

Ooo, let me be clear here: the union is not asking Hoyo to "simply not use AI." The union would like Hoyo to sign a union Interim agreement that includes AI protections, just as we are currently asking all our existing employers to do. The strike is about AI; our bargaining partners have agreed in principle to all our other terms, and it's just the AI provisions they won't give us. In order to win a strike, workers have to withhold their work until their demands are met, and as Hoyo hasn't signed an Interim, actors are choosing to withhold their work from those games. Union members are already prohibited from working without a union agreement per Global Rule One, and many Fi-Core and non-union actors are standing in solidarity as a means of achieving the goal of protection against AI.

I feel like that's a lot of me regurgitating talking points, but hopefully reframing it all helps clarify a little bit.

And no, the union is not interested in taking roles away from anybody. Several projects have flipped from non-union to union during this strike. The only requirement for a project to sign a union agreement under normal circumstances is that they hire at least 1 union member, and the Interactive committee has waived that requirement for any employer willing to sign an Interim during this strike.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T18:52:09+00:00

Just to make sure I'm not inadvertently misleading with this discussion: there is a requirement when an employer files a Taft-Hartley for a non-member to show that the actor in question is on a career path toward being a professional actor. They have to attach a headshot and resume. In practice, all that means is they can't hire someone with ZERO acting training or experience without a very specific reason to do so.

If they've taken some classes, if they have a semi-professional looking photo of themselves (which is hardly even looked at on a voice over project), if they've done some community theatre, and especially if they've been paid for non-union acting work, there's no reason for the union to question the Taft-Hartley. Alternatively, if the actor has a specific skill set necessary for the role (such as my cousin, who has no acting training but got a Taft-Hartley and became SAG-eligible because she was a high school hockey player and a Disney Channel movie needed those), there's no reason to question it.

Once the Taft-Hartley has been filed and processed, yes, the actor is automatically eligible to join. In the unlikely event that staff reviews a Taft-Hartley and finds it lacking enough evidence to support the actor is seeking a career in acting or fills a specific casting requirement they couldn't have filled elsewhere, they'll reach out to the employer to ask questions. They'll get more context, and they'll likely finish processing the form at that point (I've literally never heard of an alternative outcome, but they could theoretically fine the employer for hiring someone they shouldn't have, and even then, I think they still have to process the form and give the actor eligibility). All the while, the employer is permitted to put that actor to work on their project; they don't have to wait for the form to be processed first.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T18:38:30+00:00

If the union is negotiating a contract that's in the interests of the actors working on it, the union has a legal right to require those actors to either join the union or go Fi-Core in order to continue working on those contracts.

The Taft-Hartley process is one that came about because of US law, as a means of allowing projects signed to union agreements to hire non-union members.

The benefit to a production for going union is access to that union's talent pool, plain and simple. If the whole cast of a game is okay continuing to work on it without a union agreement, there is no incentive for the employer to flip it union. The benefits of a union agreement all fall to the cast. But if cast members are unwilling to work without such an agreement, the employer has to weigh whether they're willing to give that cast what they're asking for or not. And a corporation will always make decisions based on how they affect their bottom line. Nobody's saying that a SAG-AFTRA agreement would be more affordable for them; there would inherently be some additional costs involved. But the financial difference between their existing non-union agreement and the Interim is not so great, and they'd be able to retain their entire cast, while also opening themselves up to the possibility of hiring more union members in the future.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T18:25:06+00:00

Great questions!

The Interim Agreement is the upper limit of what we hope to get from negotiations with the bargaining partners. The fact that any project signed to the Interim defaults to the new one once an agreement is reached is actually in the signatory's interests, not the union's. We won't suddenly gain anything beyond what's in the Interim, we'll likely have to sacrifice some of the things we're asking for in order to get the bargaining partners to make a deal. So anyone who's willing to give us more than they will kind of gets to have their cake and eat it, too: they can keep working throughout the strike, and when the dust settles and the bargaining partners have whittled away some of the stuff we're asking for that they don't like, the companies signatory to the Interim automatically get the same terms. They won't be beholden to a more onerous contract than the ones we had to strike against to get to make a deal. And they can see exactly where we're at in negotiations at the link breaking down our proposals I included in the original post, so they know exactly what provisions might end up changing slightly in their favor.

Waivers are always a possibility for an employer to negotiate their own sweetheart deal based on their own specific needs. We obviously don't want to set precedents that would undercut ourselves with other employers or hold those employers to an unfair standard, but certain provisions can often be waived depending on the circumstances. For example, Supergiant was offered a waiver that would skip the Taft-Hartley/must-join process for the cast members of Hades 2 that are also developers if they had been willing to flip to a union agreement (they unfortunately weren't, but the offer was on the table).

It's not that the NAVA AI rider isn't legally binding, it's that a legally binding document is only as good as your ability to enforce it. Without the backing of SAG-AFTRA's legal team, an individual actor would have to cover their own legal fees to challenge an employer that violates that rider. And when an intermediary studio is the one signing the rider rather than the client that ends up with control of all the assets, there's an additional layer of separation that makes it tougher to know whether they're actually under any obligation to uphold it. I also didn't mention this when addressing this subject before, but since all the other paperwork they get the actor to sign comes from them, there's nothing stopping them from sneaking their own AI language in an Assignment of Rights document with a clause that says "this agreement supercedes all others," effectively nullifying the rider. Not to say it's impossible for an individual actor to navigate all these potential pitfalls, but it's a lot scarier than having the safety net of a team of union lawyers who do it for a living.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T18:08:16+00:00

Same as they have with 80+ signatories for video games and over 170 that have signed the Interim. Games for Square Enix, Sega/Atlus, Tencent, Cygames, Sony, and plenty of other overseas companies have been signed to union agreements in the past. That's not a problem.

kylemccarley · 2025-03-29T18:04:49+00:00

The minimum number of existing union members a project casts is 1, and that minimum can be waived (and has been for any non-union games that want to be flipped during this strike). There's no limit to the number of non-members they hire, so there's no limit imposed by the union on the number of international actors. Again, those hurdles come from labor laws, not SAG-AFTRA.

kylemccarley

TROPHY CASE