SAG-AFTRA introduced the Pre-Funding Pitch Interactive Media Agreement earlier this week, a contract designed for game developers who are building interactive pitch projects to win production funding.
The agreement covers demos, vertical slices, trailers, teasers, sizzle reels, and playable prototypes made for the exclusive purpose of soliciting funding for prospective projects. In practice, it lets studios bring professional union voice and motion performers into the process earlier than they might otherwise.
That early stage is where money is tightest. Pitch material often gets built before a project has any backing, and developers working on a shoestring have to make hard choices about who they can afford to hire. The union is betting that a cleaner, cheaper path to union talent will make that choice easier.
“This 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,” said SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin.
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and CEO Duncan Crabtree-Ireland focused on the hiring process and the competitive landscape. “The Pre-Funding Pitch Interactive Media Agreement 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,” he said.
Who qualifies
The agreement comes with three eligibility requirements:
- The project must not currently have more than 30% of its initial production funding secured.
- The 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 gameplay.
Projects that meet some, but not all, of those criteria may be eligible to seek a waiver from the union by emailing [email protected]. That could matter for teams that are partway through funding or that want to show their work more widely than the agreement allows.
The deal arrives as developers face a difficult funding climate, with layoffs and studio closures pushing many teams to lean on pitches to secure backing.
Developers interested in the agreement can find application details on the SAG-AFTRA website. SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, broadcasters, voiceover artists, and other media professionals.