None
Despite offering a tentative agreement a few weeks earlier, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) rejected a permanent Interactive Media Agreement (IMA) with the gaming industry on Tuesday June 22, 2005. SAG’s current IMA ended on May 13, 2005.
Many were disappointed with this outcome. SAG National Executive Director and CEO Greg Hessinger commented, “The video game market has grown to be enormously profitable and our members have played a tremendous role in generating those profits. The bargaining committee and staff of Screen Actors Guild worked extremely hard over the course of many months to negotiate fairer terms and conditions for the actors who do this work. While the tentative agreement they reached included several key gains, the Guild’s National Executive Committee has made the final determination that this proposal was not enough.”
Yet after pressure, SAG chose to revisit the issue. Hessinger stated, “When the NEC rejected the tentative contract earlier this week, we said we’d explore all our remaining options. Since then, we have received feedback from enough of our membership to conclude that this matter must be brought before the full board for its consideration.”
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has already approved the IMA with a contract that will start on July 1, 2005. The issue will be brought up again for SAG’s national board in a special meeting on Wednesday June 29, 2005.