SAG-AFTRA opens game contract for pre-funding pitches

SAG-AFTRA opened a new video game contract on November 5 that lets developers hire union voice and motion performers for the material they use to pitch a game before it has funding, a use the union had no dedicated agreement for.

The Pre-Funding Pitch Interactive Media Agreement covers demos, vertical slices, trailers, teasers, sizzle reels and playable prototypes made "for the exclusive purpose of soliciting production funding for prospective projects." This Week in Video Games reported that wording from the union's announcement, and Game Developer noted that no specific union guidelines had previously covered using union actors in a pitch meant to land a publisher.

Eligibility is capped. A project qualifies only if it has secured no more than 30% of its initial production funding, and the pitch material "must not provide the experience or impression of a complete interactive project." The material may not be commercially released or made available for public viewing or play, and projects released through crowdfunding campaigns are not eligible, GamesIndustry.biz reported. Developers whose projects meet some but not all of the criteria can seek a waiver at interactive@sagaftra.org.

SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin said the agreement "allows developers to up their game by bringing in professional voice and motion performance talent earlier in the process to create a higher-quality product, with the goal of capturing both imaginations and funding." National executive director and chief executive Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said it "streamlines the hiring of professional union talent, and that can help give devs that extra edge to get the backing they need in an extremely competitive industry."

The union published the agreement's form and its performer acknowledgment. That document states the agreement "does not set forth any minimum terms and conditions," that performers are free to negotiate all of their own terms with the developer, that no health or retirement contributions are made unless the two sides bargain them, and that the work does not count toward SAG-AFTRA membership eligibility. It also has the performer grant the developer the right to use a name, image, likeness and voice only within the agreement's scope, and it requires the signed agreement and a list of the performers to reach the union at least two weeks before recording.

Game Developer attached an AI reading to the rules. The outlet called them possibly an effort by the guild to keep generative AI voices out of pre-production, writing that bringing actors in earlier encourages developers to avoid growing "reliant on AI voices used in early development," which it said can make synthetic performance feel like an asset that can be iterated on without the actors. The union's own announcement does not describe AI terms, so the reading is the outlet's. The protections game performers did win on generative AI sit in the Interactive Media Agreement that ended the 2024-25 strike, which GamesIndustry.biz reported includes "AI safety guardrails" alongside pay increases and health and retirement contributions.

For an independent studio, the agreement covers one narrow job. It lets a developer book union performers for a vertical slice or a sizzle reel without signing the full Interactive Media Agreement, as long as the demo stays under the funding line and is not shown publicly. The performance's second life is still governed elsewhere: Hitmarker reported that if a pitch performance moves into the finished game, the Interactive Media Agreement's own terms, minimum session fees and secondary payments apply.

For a project that misses a criterion, the next step is a waiver request to interactive@sagaftra.org, the address the union gives as the agreement's business representative contact.