Actors’ strike will likely have no impact on your favorite actual play series
The Hollywood actors’ strike will likely have little to no impact on the most popular actual play series currently in production. Polygon reached out to several troupes, including Critical Role and Glass Cannon Network, and while some talent crosses over with the striking actors guild, the streaming shows, video-on-demand archives, and related podcasts will not be impacted.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, better known by the acronym SAG-AFTRA, is the union that represents working actors in Hollywood and elsewhere in the United States. Its strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) began at midnight on July 14 over issues such as residuals and the use of artificial intelligence. It will effectively stop production on hundreds of movie and television projects around the world.
Actual play, which has grown in popularity since well before the pandemic, has often pulled in Hollywood types to fill seats at the table. But neither SAG-AFTRA nor AMPTP is regularly involved in the productions that Polygon spoke with, and therefore they will not be affected.
“We fully support the strike and stand in solidarity with our fellow actors,” Critical Role told Polygon in an email Friday morning. “Currently, our release schedule is not impacted by the strike, but we will continue to evaluate and take the necessary steps should it be impacted in the future.”
Troy Lavalee, CEO of Glass Cannon, provided a somewhat more measured response:
We are extremely grateful that actual play podcasting and streaming does not fall under the purview of anyone as of yet and hopefully it will stay that way in perpetuum. There are enough rules in RPGs that the last thing we need
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