Voiceover Q&A #003: The SAG-AFTRA Strike

This is the transcript for Voiceover Q&A with Brian Wiggins #003.

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Hello, we are back to answering questions here. Here, let me pull up our Quest. You know. You think I'd actually show up like Prepared for this but question this one's coming on this one's coming from my backyard Philadelphia PA. Ginnie Mae. So asks is a really good question? How do you think that the SAG after strike is going to affect voiceover? I'm not in the union but I want to be and I'm worried that if I take a job that I'll be listed as a scab and be blacklisted from the Union Yes, good question, Jenny. That is something I'm sure it's on a lot of people's minds. as far as far as the, what the As far as the you as far as sag after being on strike. So for those who aren't necessarily aware sag-aftra is the union that represents Screen, Actors Screen Actors Guild, and it also represents voice over radio personalities, they were two separate unions. They ended up merging years ago and they they're on strike. At least as As of the time that I recorded this, this could change the strike could end at any moment. You never know. So if so yeah if you're not in the union, this still could affect you though. So it's good. It's good to always keep keep abreast of the things that are happening in our industry. So the question was, how does this affect voiceover? Well, so the thing is, and I look this up because I wanted to make sure I was giving the right information because I was curious about it too because I do through some of my agents. I do get work. That is listed as Union work and I do get work. That's non-union work. I am SAG eligible. I'm Union eligible. I am not in the union yet. I haven't booked enough union work. That makes it financially.

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It's not a good financial decision right now. I would love to join the union but it has to also make Financial sense, the advantage of being in sag-aftra. Just from a shorter just from purely making an income standpoint is that usually Union work pays better. It's going to be it uses the collective bargaining agreement. So there's like some minimums that someone would have to pay for it to be a union project. Great resource for that is the global voice as the gva, a raid guide and I'll put a link into the into the Scription that kind of, it's a great resource for figuring out what should your own rates be because that way you'll be in line with what's already out there and negotiated by the union. But yeah but I do get Union

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auditions for Union work in part of my concern was that what I take an audition and it be in violation of what I be crossing the picket line in other words because I don't want to do that. So when I looked this up actors, it Basically, you can't if you don't want to buy, if you don't want to cross the picket line, you cannot be involved in a project that is part of the alliance of motion picture and television producers, which is the a mptp, which is specifically the group that sag-aftra is striking against. It's also, at least as of the time that I'm recording this. It's also the, it's the same group that The Writers Guild is striking against. And if I ever remember, it's also the On that the Directors, Guild is going to be going on strike against if they have to end up going on strike and last, I saw it seems like it's going to be heading that direction. So basically if it's a project that's involved with that specific group, The a mptp

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right now because of the strike, if you're in the union you cannot work on the project. You can't do promotion for the project if you are not in the Union. Yes. Technically, you could work on a project but what you would be doing then is called, it's called scab work. scav work is when you're basically, doing Union work but not in the union specifically, when you're when the union is striking, if you do scab work You will not be allowed to join sag. You will now be allowed to join sag-aftra. I'm so if being in the union is something that's something you would like to do one day. And if you're interested in getting the high-paying commercial jobs of being able to do narration for television programs or movies, being able to do a lot of Animation work, you would need to be in the union. And if you're not eligible to even join the union, you would

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not be allowed to do the work. Because you cross the picket line that way. So now, what does that mean commercials? And I'm looking at when I looked at, when I look this up, commercials are not affected by the strike, sponsored content content, from influencers is not again, it is not in violation of the strike sound recordings music, videos, video games, corporate educational, content, Broadcast, News, television animation, and audiobooks accordion. This is according to the actually official sag After a guidance on the subject. So that means that if you're involved in certain projects, you're probably okay. The best thing for you to do is to actually go to the SAG after website. I will put that link in the description as well and see what see what's what. So as of right now it seems like it would not affect a lot of voiceover work at this time. Now, that's directly in that.

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If you were to and that if there's commercials that are being made and you get booked for doing that commercial, you're not in violation of the strike so directly. No, but here's how we could be affected by the strike. Those commercials are meant to be sponsorship. They are they are there they are aired. That, you know, they sell advertising against against those television programs, right? So if you're watching television, then you go to the commercial break. Well, that's what pays for the television program. If you're on Hulu watching Hulu or some of the lower tiered streaming services where you don't have the premium service and you're seeing some commercials Right? So, the commercial itself you could have, you could voice a commercial and it would not be affected by the strike. You would not be Crossing and again, make sure you're

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checking the website to make sure our don't don't just take my word for it, be doubly careful. But if it if according to Sag after guidance, if it's okay for you to do it, yes, you could do it. But as long as the strike is happening, that means that television shows and movies aren't going to be made This work has stopped. It means that it could absolutely and very likely will affect the Fall television schedule. It's probably going to affect the the mid-season, the the the winter, you know, in January when they when they launched, new shows is going to affect that television season. So there's going to be shows that we're going to start, that are not going to be start showing, or they haven't finished shooting, or they're going to have a brief eiated, they're gonna have a brief eiated season, so, If there's a lack of content to sell against, that means that they're not going to be able to sell as much as many commercials. So there might actually be less work in the long tail of it.

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When we look down the road, we may not see the impact right now but over the course of the next six to 12 months, we might just because eventually it's going to catch up. And without there being the premium content that is making money for the Network's for the streaming services. There there, it's gonna be harder for them to sell ad space. Because they're going to have to sell it against either reruns, which doesn't always sell as well or they're going to have their have to figure out a way to find new content and that's gonna be really difficult because now you have the writers and the actors on strike, possibly the directors coming up and then in September, the teamsters contract is up, and if they go on strike, man. That's I don't even think I could even tell you what that's going to do. So that is how at least in my opinion, how that could affect us in the long run or at least in the next year. In terms of just their being Fewer jobs in this very specific realm, but as far as you being able to take work, it looks like

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right now that we're not going to be terribly affected by it. As far as being afraid of crossing the line again, just go to their site, check it out. Make sure that you're not doing anything that would put. You put your career In Harm's Way. Make good decisions. And I for one, if I am still keeping an eye out, I would not be crossing the picket line. If there was picketing near me, I would be participating, but there's not so But there is I will. Now I will share a solidarity with my brothers and sisters in the union that I hope to be part of one day. That is that's that. So that's the question with the least. Again my opinion on what I think is going to happen.

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