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[DeadAlienCult]

Hi,

We're looking into using voice actors in our game and have a few in mind but they're part of actors union - and I was informed by a union signator that "If a title is a registered union title, everyone in the game has to be union. The Interactive Media Agreement is a bit complicated as far as what you can and can't do."  --- Though I was also told by a friend (union actor) that "as long as you do SAG New Media Agreement, some actors can be SAG and the rest don't have to be."


I was wondering if anyone has any experience or advice on this topic.  Ideally I'd love to be able to use whoever I want for our game (union and NON-union voice actors - such as the dev team, friends, etc).

thanks in advance to anyone able to help!

-Andrew
Dead Alien Cult

[Chris Koźmik]

Ditch this union thing and use your friends as voice actors. You are an indie dev, people don't buy your games because of AAA quality. Besides, sometimes I have heard professional voice acting so devoid of any relation to the game (I would never give voice acting to someone who has not played my game) it made me wish the team did it instead no matter how incompetent voice actors they are :D

[DrDerekDoctors]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is the case. And if you're using multi-voices to do multiple characters you'll start to hit issues like them only doing 3 voices each (you'll have to look into using a "loop group" if you want loads of characters in all likelihood).

I'd look into using talented amateurs by Googling "amateur voice actors" because some are really very good, or think about recording somewhere outside the US, for instance by using Canadian actors (where the rules are different, I believe) or even using UK-based American/Canadian actors where all that union guff just goes out the window.

[DeadAlienCult]

Ditch this union thing and use your friends as voice actors. You are an indie dev, people don't buy your games because of AAA quality. Besides, sometimes I have heard professional voice acting so devoid of any relation to the game (I would never give voice acting to someone who has not played my game) it made me wish the team did it instead no matter how incompetent voice actors they are :D

I know what you mean, though the actors I have available to me are pretty top notch (and friends & also family of friends) so it'd be awesome to have them in the game if possible, without A) getting them in trouble with their unions or B) getting us in trouble/or spending too much $$ etc.   --  Also i definitely want to be able to put our own voices in the games, as well as friends/girlfriends, whoever we want.

We'll do what's best for our game and budget ultimately - just wondering if anyone has had any experience or advice on this stuff.  Thanks for your input!  Anyone else?

[DeadAlienCult]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is the case. And if you're using multi-voices to do multiple characters you'll start to hit issues like them only doing 3 voices each (you'll have to look into using a "loop group" if you want loads of characters in all likelihood).

I'd look into using talented amateurs by Googling "amateur voice actors" because some are really very good, or think about recording somewhere outside the US, for instance by using Canadian actors (where the rules are different, I believe) or even using UK-based American/Canadian actors where all that union guff just goes out the window.

Interesting ideas though ideally whoever we use for voices - we'd want/need them to be in Los Angeles, CA (where we're based).   It's pretty lame how complicated it is to just have people act into a mic for a silly game.  We'll prob end up doing all the voices ourselves and it'll be awful haha 

[DrDerekDoctors]

I've skyped into voice sessions before and it's been fine (and I've back-seat-directed voice acting for a few games). It's a bugger staying up late (or getting up early) for them, but it's never impacted on the quality of the work. As long as you've hired a VO director who actually heeds the words of the writer (assuming that they know what they're doing, too) then working remotely is fine.

But really do consider the amateur route, though. Just make sure to get samples which demonstrate their recording setup is of a decent quality (it doesn't take more than a few hundred bucks to record perfectly well).

But the most important thing, if you're going the professional route, is to leave the voice acting as LATE as possible to mitigate needless re-records due to script changes. Get scratch audio in there done by yourself and then once everything is as locked-down as is reasonable, get it all replaced with the genuine article (although this assumes you're not lip-syncing to the audio and that none of the timing is critical).

[DeadAlienCult]

I've skyped into voice sessions before and it's been fine (and I've back-seat-directed voice acting for a few games). It's a bugger staying up late (or getting up early) for them, but it's never impacted on the quality of the work. As long as you've hired a VO director who actually heeds the words of the writer (assuming that they know what they're doing, too) then working remotely is fine.

But really do consider the amateur route, though. Just make sure to get samples which demonstrate their recording setup is of a decent quality (it doesn't take more than a few hundred bucks to record perfectly well).

But the most important thing, if you're going the professional route, is to leave the voice acting as LATE as possible to mitigate needless re-records due to script changes. Get scratch audio in there done by yourself and then once everything is as locked-down as is reasonable, get it all replaced with the genuine article (although this assumes you're not lip-syncing to the audio and that none of the timing is critical).

Thanks for your input.  Very valid and helpful stuff

[TamaraRyan]

Heyo, voice actress here. From what I understand as a talent, once you are part of the union, you can only do union work. Which is why they drill into beginner voice actors to never sign with SAG or AFTRA until you are being offered several union jobs (If you are non union, you can gain a temporary union status if need be).

If you REALLY want your union talent in your game, I suppose you could do it on the sly. They would have to go under different names of course and be paid under the table.

If you are interested, I'd love to help you out if you'd like. I am located in San Francisco and am represented by the STARS agency. I have a home studio and can be directed via skype. Feel free to check out my work: http://www.tamararyanvo.com/#!untitled/c1han