UK video game voice actor's union proposes new minimum rates and protections against AI and abusive NDAs

rockpapershotgun.com:

UK arts and entertainment union Equity have unveiled a raft of "best practice guidelines" for video game developers hiring voice actors, including some suggested minimum rates that are designed to address "systemic low pay" for performers. Other measures are designed to improve voice actor working conditions, and stop companies using their voices and likeness as fuel for generative AI tools without their consent. It's both a praiseworthy endeavour and an interesting breakdown of the voice-actor's trade.

"The videogames industry is a dynamic place to work but unethical practices undermine the profession," Equity explain on their official site. "Pay for UK performers has stagnated despite games being a multibillion-dollar industry with almost £200 million in tax breaks. Performers don't have the protections they need in the unregulated world of AI, the misuse of NDAs is common and health and safety is often lacking."

The best practice guidelines span fair pay, the need for voice actor consent when creating digital replicas or "training" AI software, provisions for safer workplaces (including guidance about intimacy coordinators and vocal chord stress), and stipulations about "clear, legal, enforceable, fair, proportionate and targeted" non-disclosure agreements.

As regards NDAs, Equity argues that: "At the moment, many of the NDA agreements we see reflect poorly upon the industry, often intimidating and isolating Performers from those that support them. Performers are forced to sign documents which they have no hope of understanding or amending.

"The result is that Performers often assume that they will be sued if they tell anyone anything about the production, even where they have been victims of or witnesses to a criminal offence," the page continues. "This is all the more shocking five years since the Harvey Weinstein scandal highlighted the appalling misuse of NDAs, shook the film industry, and ignited the #MeToo movement. By now, we would have expected Engagers