144 réponses à ce sujet

[Ahglock]

I am no doctor and I have no idea of the long term effects of doing voice acting work but I can't imagine it is quite as bad as Will makes out (certainly nowhere near as dangerous as smoking), they aren't inhaling dust particles or harmful fumes and they do get regular breaks (where they go through the emotional turmoil of having to decide whether to have chicken soup or a burrito for lunch *gasp*, and after a few breaks they start getting sick of the tea, THEY START GETTING SICK OF THE TEA DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!), there are certainly a lot of jobs with far higher risks than voice acting.

 

As for pay I am having trouble tracking down exact figures but the figure I am seeing is around $200 per hour which I am sure you will agree is not too shabby.

 

$200 a hour is awesome.  If they get that, the income side they shouldn't complain about.  But Will pretty much ignored that part of the strike. And, I suspect that is how the union negotiations work.  You ask for a lot more than you expect, so when the negotiation is over you get something close to what you want. 

[Queen Skadi]

Depends how much work they get.

$200/hour seems high. There's no way background players get that.

 

Just going by what I have managed to find

 

http://thebillfold.c...me-actors-earn/

 

Considering many background actors don't just voice the one character it isn't too far fetched to believe they could make that much

 

As Wheaton describes it, as it is now an actor might be cast for a role for which his voice is not suited or not prepared, but then must risk damaging his vouce in order to avoid being fined for non-performance.

Frankly, the developers' position seems like a negotiating tactic. They've staked out an extreme position so that they can give in on some things to make the labour regulators think they're negotiating in good faith, without having to give up amything they actually want.

 

 

As Weaton describes it that is something the developers are allegedly proposing but would have no chance of actually getting anyone to sign off on, in short it is not something that is currently in the industry but rather something developers are proposing (but would never realistically be able to get anyone to sign off on).

 

The very idea that they could even propose the possibility of fines of up to $2,500 for inattentiveness or showing up late would suggest a pretty high pay bracket to begin with, if they could be fined $2,500 for showing up late they would have to be on over $200 per hour, even at $200 if they were to show up late and get fined $2,500 not only would they not get payed but they would take a $900 loss for that day provided they worked 8 hours so in order for the fine to be enforcable they would have to be payed MORE than $200 per hour. I imagine $2,500 would be the max fine but for them to actually be able to propose fines as a method of quality control would suggest a pretty high wage to begin with.

[Cyberstrike nTo]

And when does the lip syncing or cinematography happen?

Those need to come after the voices are recorded.

 

Some of that I think is coming from motion capture VAs who aren't trained or don't have much experience in that, I recall watching when a making of video of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed where the VA for Starkiller had to be mo-caped so they could use his face for Starkiller.

 

I would highly recommend that people watch the documentary I Know That Voice executive produced by Joe DiMaggio (best known as Bender on Futurama) and what he said about doing VA for video games is quite interesting given this topic. I Know That Voice also features a ton of interviews with many other VAs including Jennifer Hale, Sumlee Montaro, Cory Burton, Tara Strong, Nolan North, Steve Blum, Mark Hamill, and many more as well show runners and casting directors and gives you a basic history of VA. It also shows what goes on in recording booth and gives you a sense of  what being a voice actor is really like and frankly $200 a hour is NOT enough for what they do, $1000 an hour would be a better start.    

[Queen Skadi]

It also shows what goes on in recording booth and gives you a sense of  what being a voice actor is really like and frankly $200 a hour is NOT enough for what they do, $1000 an hour would be a better start.    

 

You have got to be kidding me, that is an absurd amount, I get that a good voice actor can make a role come alive but they aren't that amazing, why do the voice actors deserve over 20 times the pay for the work they do than the programmers, artists and writers?

[Battlebloodmage]

Meh, voice actors are a dime a dozen, get some youtube starts who do many voices for cheaper price.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Meh, voice actors are a dime a dozen, get some youtube starts who do many voices for cheaper price.

And what incentive do those people have not to join the union?

[Battlebloodmage]

And what incentive do those people have not to join the union?

Experiences in major projects which would have taken up by more experienced voice actors. These exposures would allow them to breakout of their ceiling if the series becomes a hit.

[Panda]

You have got to be kidding me, that is an absurd amount, I get that a good voice actor can make a role come alive but they aren't that amazing, why do the voice actors deserve over 20 times the pay for the work they do than the programmers, artists and writers?

 

I guess it's bit of celebrity money or sth, actors also get ridiculous amount of money compared to people who are editing, screenwriting and so on. And if I remember right there was news couple years ago that Simpsons almost stopped cause voice actors were asking ridiculous amounts of money for their voice acting.

 

Yes checked it, they get like 300 000$ dollars for episode and got earlier more and show was almost cancelled, because of that cause company didn't want to pay 400 000$ for episode anymore. I mean that's ridiculous amount of money and not really normal salary of person, that's celebrity salary. And if gaming voice actors are demanding same no wonder that gaming companies are feeling the pressure.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Experiences in major projects which would have taken up by more experienced voice actors. These exposures would allow them to breakout of their ceiling if the series becomes a hit.

YouTube "stars" are doing quite well for themselves. Hank Green earns enough on YouTube to employ 30 people. Pewdiepie's tax filings last year reported earnings of $7 million.

You're not talking about stars. You're talking about no names.

[Battlebloodmage]

YouTube "stars" are doing quite well for themselves. Hank Green earns enough on YouTube to employ 30 people. Pewdiepie's tax filings last year reported earnings of $7 million.

You're not talking about stars. You're talking about no names.

Of course not them, smaller people. Pewdiepie is not a voice actor, so there's no point in even naming him. People doing voices on youtube who are not as popular as their peers yet as well as talented voice actors who haven't caught a break yet would jump at a chance to voice a major character in a major series. 

[pdusen]

I am no doctor and I have no idea of the long term effects of doing voice acting work but I can't imagine it is quite as bad as Will makes out (certainly nowhere near as dangerous as smoking), they aren't inhaling dust particles or harmful fumes and they do get regular breaks (where they go through the emotional turmoil of having to decide whether to have chicken soup or a burrito for lunch *gasp*, and after a few breaks they start getting sick of the tea, THEY START GETTING SICK OF THE TEA DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!), there are certainly a lot of jobs with far higher risks than voice acting.

 

You really don't get how vocal chords work, do you?

[Queen Skadi]

I guess it's bit of celebrity money or sth, actors also get ridiculous amount of money compared to people who are editing, screenwriting and so on. And if I remember right there was news couple years ago that Simpsons almost stopped cause voice actors were asking ridiculous amounts of money for their voice acting.

 

Yes checked it, they get like 300 000$ dollars for episode and got earlier more and show was almost cancelled, because of that cause company didn't want to pay 400 000$ for episode anymore. I mean that's ridiculous amount of money and not really normal salary of person, that's celebrity salary. And if gaming voice actors are demanding same no wonder that gaming companies are feeling the pressure.

 

This is why we need new blood in the industry instead of having AAA developers just hand all the roles to the same suite of union approved voice actors, as good a job as some of these voice actors are they aren't "that" talented and there are plenty who are capable of doing just as good a job and would love the opportunity to voice a character in some of these bigger budget titles.

 

I think a big part of this strike is not so much about securing better work conditions for voice actors as a whole but rather maintaining the status quo and securing extra benefits for the actors who already get the lions share of roles in the industry making it harder for non union members to get work in the industry.

[Beerfish]

Well it is not really 'not a problem' if you are in the middle of a game series and your shepard male o female is suddenly not available.  Heck there was a significant uproar over one character whose voice actor was switched in mass effect  (Mordin/Beatty).  You want good voice actors because it makes a difference, they will iron something out sooner or later.

[Queen Skadi]

You really don't get how vocal chords work, do you?

 

Do you? While I am sure excessive overuse can lead to some problems I do find it hard to believe it is quite the problem Will makes it out to be, I can't imagine the health risks faced by voice actors are any greater than those in any other industry.

[pdusen]

Do you? While I am sure excessive overuse can lead to some problems I do find it hard to believe it is quite the problem Will makes it out to be, I can't imagine the health risks faced by voice actors are any greater than those in any other industry.

 

The greatest risk isn't to your overall health, it's permanent accumulated damage to your vocal chords making it impossible to keep doing your job.

[FFZero]

I completely back them with regards to improving work conditions and such, I’m honestly surprised that some of the things they mentioned are not already a part of their contracts, but I do not back them on the residuals thing. While the wages a voice actor receives depends on a variety of things they do tend to get paid more than the average game developer. VA’s do not work on games anywhere near as long as the developers and demanding residuals be a part of their contracts could make it so that in the event a game does really well the VA’s could get priority over the dev team in getting residuals despite doing far less work.

[Queen Skadi]

The greatest risk isn't to your overall health, it's permanent accumulated damage to your vocal chords making it impossible to keep doing your job.

 

And improper lifting techniques will damage your spine making it impossible to do any job that involves heavy lifting (as well as many other things in day to day life that many take for granted).

 

Every job has it's health risks the key is knowing how to manage those risks, I assure you there are far more difficult and physically straining jobs than voice acting.

[Panda]

This is why we need new blood in the industry instead of having AAA developers just hand all the roles to the same suite of union approved voice actors, as good a job as some of these voice actors are they aren't "that" talented and there are plenty who are capable of doing just as good a job and would love the opportunity to voice a character in some of these bigger budget titles.

 

I think a big part of this strike is not so much about securing better work conditions for voice actors as a whole but rather maintaining the status quo and securing extra benefits for the actors who already get the lions share of roles in the industry making it harder for non union members to get work in the industry.

 

I become actually interested on how much seiyuu's are paid (japanese voice actors), since they are quite professional voice actors, go into voice acting schools and so on. So apparently in comparison they are very underpaid, even some veterans get like 300$ dollars per anime episode. Simpsons voice actors 300 000$ is just in another dimension compared. Information from here: http://www.kitakubu....tress-get-paid/ and here http://www.riuva.com/?p=111

 

It seems like the industry has salary problems that are opposite in both sides of globe.

 

I do agree on other things gaming voice actors are asking for, like I get that it's important to rest your voice and that some rules can be unfair. But I don't really think voice acting is something that should earn you more than game developers get (not the big corporate dudes, the smaller people who work hard).

[Fredvdp]

You have got to be kidding me, that is an absurd amount, I get that a good voice actor can make a role come alive but they aren't that amazing, why do the voice actors deserve over 20 times the pay for the work they do than the programmers, artists and writers?

 

Because the voice actors don't have job security. It's a very risky profession.

[Queen Skadi]

I become actually interested on how much seiyuu's are paid (japanese voice actors), since they are quite professional voice actors, go into voice acting schools and so on. So apparently in comparison they are very underpaid, even some veterans get like 300$ dollars per anime episode.

 

Depends how many hours of acting goes into an episode?

[LinksOcarina]

YouTube "stars" are doing quite well for themselves. Hank Green earns enough on YouTube to employ 30 people. Pewdiepie's tax filings last year reported earnings of $7 million.

You're not talking about stars. You're talking about no names.

 

Funny, I consider Felix and the rest of Youtube entertainers to be essentially no-names in the general sense of the term.

 

Good for them for making money I guess, but it's a blip in the map compared to other actors and workers out there. 

[Panda]

Depends how many hours of acting goes into an episode?

 

Well both salaries were given as per episode and the episode's in both anime and Simpsons example are 30 minutes long. So I'd say that hours put into acting would somewhat similar although of course it depends per episode how many lines they got, but overall similar hours I'd think.

[Avejajed]

Voice actors don't get paid by the hour. Its by the day. And some names, think Peter Dinklage or TI'm Curry, might be more than $10,000 a day. And now those actors want royalties above that, while actual game designers and developers work for years on games and make what most average educated people make.

I agree with some of their demands, to be sure, but some of the things they are asking for seem mighty greedy. And FPJ has been making some pretty cryptic tweets lately too towards BW. It may mean nothing.

What bothers me the most is how many people, on Twittee, blindly RT and favorite everything one of our VA tweets out, with the #PerformanceMatters hashtag and hardly any of the actors bothered to explain it until their followers were confused. Even so, hardly anyone has bothered to look at both sides.

 

If Dragon Age 4 doesn't get made because Wil Wheaton is a dick, he's going to be MY arch-nemisis.

[Panda]

Funny, I consider Felix and the rest of Youtube entertainers to be essentially no-names in the general sense of the term.

 

Good for them for making money I guess, but it's a blip in the map compared to other actors and workers out there. 

 

I wouldn't really say that, since these people in youtube have more fans than lot of actual stars and they might get more money as well, depending who you are comparing  them to. Pewdiepie has most subscribers at the moment I think, millions of people following him. Many famous youtubers also have gotten opportunities to do stuff outside of youtube like Dan and Phil host shows on radio and tv.

 

Youtube and internet aren't anymore this thing where people are nobodies, youtube stars are already here ^^

[Cyberstrike nTo]

You have got to be kidding me, that is an absurd amount, I get that a good voice actor can make a role come alive but they aren't that amazing, why do the voice actors deserve over 20 times the pay for the work they do than the programmers, artists and writers?

 

No, I'm serious.

 

Mark Meer did more voices than just the male Commander Shepard in the MET he did a lot, if not all of the voices of the vorcha. The vorcha are an entire race not a single character and he did at least 90% of them and those roles were by his own admission hard on his throat. You do a high-pitch voice and then add a performance on top of it and then be asked to do it for 2-4 hours and record multiple lines (sometimes with only the difference being a pronoun) and then have to another studio and do the same thing for another company and then tell me that $200 is worth it.