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Though in the case of Ashly Burch, what was she supposed to do? She had no choice but to participate in the strike since if she didnt then she'd potentially be destroying her voice acting career, just for one more shot at voicing Chloe. That's completely unfair to ask of her and not something you should be angry about.
Ashly really wanted to voice Chloe again but the strike made it impossible unless she wanted to ruin her standing with the union. She wanted to keep being a part of Chloe so much, that she assisted with the writing for Chloe and helped the new voice actress so that we would still get the same 'Ashly' styled Chloe we wanted, just with a different voice. You should be grateful that she was willing to help out at all.
Sure, now the strike seems to have ended, they could have probably just stalled the game until now but no developer wants to put a game on ice for months just because of a strike. The upside to the strike ending now, though, is that hopefully Hannah Telle can return to voice Max in the bonus Farewell episode (and maybe Ashly voices Chloe for it, but that'd be unfair to just cut the new actress out now).
I hear that often if she went against the strike, then when strike ended she'd have no jobs. I with respect disagree. They are able to hire non union voice actors. The fact they replaced her with someone else who wasn't demanding stuff. Shows that even non union people can be hired.
I with respect disagree that she would had no jobs lined up. I don't think they should cut out new voice actor. I think they should stick with her. Going fwd. I don't think they should give any jobs to old union who performed the strike. Because at any time they feel like it. They can strike and hold up years of progress.
If she had broken ranks and worked on this game her acting career would likely be over the moment the strike ended. She would be black balled and no one would be able to hire her for anything within the industry until the union relented or if there was another strike. SAG-AFTRA would simply not permit their members to do any project by Deck Nine & Square Enix that had her performing.
It wouldn't stop with her acting career, her writing career would likely be over as well. They are in the same circles as the Screen Writer's Guild.
She probably would not have won her Emmy for writing.
She walked the line so tightly in helping this production as a consultant that she could have easily been in trouble with SAG-AFTRA. (They even have a hotline for people to report members that are breaching the strike)
She helped a production that used non-union actors; Including giving performance advice on Chloe.
She tried to help in any way she possibly could while keeping her career intact. She could have simply played it safe and not been involved in the project at all. She helped and for her efforts was rewarded with a writing credit from Square Enix and Deck Nine.
You have tweets from other voice actors within the union all but stating that consumers should have boycotted this game.
https://twitter.com/blumspew/status/875378960820862977
https://twitter.com/feliciaday/status/874452892656181248
They may have been "in soldarity" with her over not performing but, I am sure they didn't know she was helping her replacement.
This is also putting aside the fallout that could occur to the union contracts she was currently fufilling such as "Horizon: Zero Dawn" and the possible affect it could have on the fans of that game.
PS: The strike has been suspended but it is unlikely that any union actor will sign a contract at this time. It is a tentative agreement that must be ratified by the members. Their first meeting to discuss the agreement is October 7th, 2017. They can however sign contracts based on the previous agreement at any time. Though, why would you strike and then not wait for the new terms before signing a contract?
I am not so convinced that her voice acting career would have been over the moment the strike ended. I think they're are some perks to being in union. I think her career was dead the moment she refused to do Chloe's role.
If the Union really held so much power to end someone's career. No one would have broken ranks to accept the job. They did. The person who is doing the voice for Chloe will likely have more jobs lined up, they wouldn't had if they refused to do this.
I think its less about unions and more so up to each gaming Dev who they want to hire. If I was sitting in they're seat. I would refuse to hire any more union voice actors going fwd. The strike went on for nearly a year.
I have read stories she helped with language for Chloe. For that I am very grateful. It just rubs me the wrong way the entire time the strike went on. We will never likely have Chloe voiced in this game again after this. After this they plan do an entire new cast of people I heard.
Part of me understands why she did it. Why she refused all role's not just life is strange. I get it. If one person broke ranks. It would weaken the entire movement. I think she could have still done it by going against the union. She decided not too. I really want embrace her with open arms. She knew how much this game meant to its fans. Leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
You cannot join SAG-AFTRA without building a portfoilo, so Rhianna and the other voice actors, that vast majority of are in their first role or first few roles are unable to even join the union at this time. Before SAG merged with AFTRA you could join AFTRA just by paying a fee. That is no longer the case.
Many companies use other companies to do the hiring process/recording for the voice actors. This is why Square Enix isn't listed on the list of video game companies that SAG-AFTRA was striking against. Square would be honouring their contract with said company.
If you are talking about a new cast after this, that is about "Life Is Strange 2" which will have a new cast of characters and you would expect there to be a new cast of voice actors.
Note: I am not debating whether or not to use union-actors or the value of a union; Simply the position Ashly Burch was in during the strike.
My mistake than. The fact that gaming Devs can bypass the union pipeline to another workers. Shows how ineffective the strike can be. The entire point of the strike is to put pressure on the corporations cave into they're demands.
I believe the person who currently voicing Chloe will have more work lined up. Work they wouldn't have had had they refused this role. Is it possible she could have went againt her union and still did the role? If she quit the Union and did the role. Would there be anything legally stopping her from doing that?
In many strikes a company can elect to find outside labour. That depends on their industry and whatever laws there are pertaining to the hiring of labour.
In this case, SAG-AFTRA's argument is that the performances will not be as a good and it could harm an otherwise great game by not having their talent on display.
In Rhianna's case she is just entering the acting industry and she is building her portfolio. In time, she may elect to join SAG-AFTRA when she is eligible for membership.
However, from 2000-2002 SAG went out of their way to ensure any non-union member who did work such as Rhianna's was never allowed to join SAG. She would probably get a pass because she is new to the industry and not simply someone who was working in parallel to the union at all times. You never know, unions can be quite punishing when they want to be.
If you are asking if Ashly could have quit the union and performed the role, she may have been able to depending on the terms in the contracts she was already fulfilling that were previously approved by SAG-AFTRA.
There are penalties for breaking ranks and she would at the very least be fined. (Even if you leave you can still be fined as she would have been a member when she broke ranks to take the role. She would not have left the moment the strike was announced as she was not told about this prequel until after the strike was announced.)
This happened once before when people broke ranks in the early 2000s from SAG to do commercials and SAG heavily fined many people. Several actors were fined upwards of $100,000 and a few of them never found work again. Others apologized publically and were still fined upwards of $100,000. And this was about simply doing advertisements and appearing in magazines, not full films or projects.
If you check her wiki page for more details can see that she did other voice acting jobs for other games, maybe those companies sign some early or hidden agreement with the union.
She shown interest into the prequel and i believe she did everything she was can to help this game come out, by getting involved into writting and tips for voice actors.
All this is so complex. I was just upset they considered not making this game. There are very very few games. That I connect to so strongly as I did with this one. Other Games like Witcher Series, Dragon Age. I love moral choices. I love the cause and effect. Making different choices to one situation and it replaying in different ways.
I am a moral choice addict. I felt so strongly against the strike. Is it possiblie that companies can refuse to hire union voice actors after this. If It was up to me to hire more voice actors. I would be walking on eggshells around union voice actors because that means at any time they can strike and mess up games that aren't fully made. Don't the companies have that right though?
Those contracts were signed prior to the strike. SAG-AFTRA listed a cut off date. Ashly was not approached about "Life Is Strange: Before The Storm" until after the strike had commenced.
The reason the game was not delayed was because they had no idea when the strike would end. It could have ended a year from now. It could have ended before the game was announced at E3. Having an entire company in a holding pattern while waiting for a strike to end is not financial viable.
I am hoping that the reason there hasn't been a large patch is that they are integrating it with the testing for Episode 2 and that the patch will come with the release of Episode 2 at the end of October/beginning of November.
It's not her fault you know , so stop acting like it's her fault
Personally, the saddest element of the strike is that the tentative agreement is almost exactly what the companies offered SAG-AFTRA in the first place. The sticking point of residual payments was abandoned in this agreement.
To answer your question in a simple form: yes, they have the right to refuse union actors.
Now to answer it with more complexity, multiple companies would have to agree not to use union actors and forfeit using their actors while dealing with interference and industrial aggression from the union. The recording companies, the game developers, and the publishers would all have to agree to deal with all these problems and reject the union while dealing with the bad publicity for doing it. Interviews, articles, journalists, lobbying, possible legal challenges, possible Government intervention, and possible picket lines to disrupt major companies. SAG-AFTRA is a powerful union with partners around the world with lobbyists at their back.
If you browse through the comment sections of many games sites, much of the support was with the union and against the video game companies. Usually phrased as the working people versus the wealthy corporations. It would be a thorn in the companies' sides to completely reject the union.
Now back to your original point about Ashly at the start of the thread. She did everything she could and put herself right on the line with the union. Square & Deck Nine certainly understood her position and were grateful for the work she did to help them. I believe if they can move past it, you can too; even while wishing she could have performed the role of Chloe Price one more time, just as they did when they were contemplating cancelling "Life Is Strange: Before The Storm."
Note: We don't know how long this new agreement is for. It could be over a decade before they are in another strike position. SAG strikes were 1988, 2000, 2016. And this is the first strike as SAG-AFTRA.
It does honestly make me feel better to know she was in a tight spot. Honestly. I think they knew the strike wasn't having the impact they wanted. I think they were looking for any reason to suspend the strike.
The strike went on for nearly a year. Unlike when the writers of hollywood went on strike. You could see the impact of that right away. Not so much with voice actors. You could see an impact it was very delayed.
I guess I can forgive her knowing what a tight spot she was in. She would risk upsetting someone. I feel so strongly they're are once in a life time roles. I feel in 10 or 20 years. People will still flock to this game for their feels. Maybe its just the bitter side of me. I would not hire union actors if I was in charge of a game following this.
I think the strike bit off more than they could chew. Then looked for any reason to suspend it. The union workers had to be losing a ton of cash on projects they didn't complete due to the strike.