Can you help me find a previous post I'm looking for?

Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Hi guys:

I'm looking for a previous post that had a youtube link in it. I've done some searches and I can't find it.

It was a video from a guy that did the voice-over for one of the characters in Grand Theft Auto or one of those insanely successful video games.... and he was saying that he made very little...even though the video sold ten gagillion copies.

Does anyone remember which thread or post that was or know the youtube link?

Thanks!

Max

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008, 03:38 (GMT) Post subject:

Bloopers: Things are tough all over. Posted by Erik.

Dave DeAndrea · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008, 03:44 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Max,

This is weird... I just saw your post and then had this linked emailed to me. It's not YouTube or a thread here but it's probably the story you're talking about.

Was this emailed to you as well?

http://www.jossip.com/15-months-of-voiceover-work-600-million-in-revenues-later-and-all-this-voice-over-guy-was-100-grand-20080521/

Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Hi David and Melba ~

Thank you so much for the info! That's exactly what I was looking for. And Dave, no, I didn't get that link but it was very interesting to read.

A travesty to think of a guy working 15 months on a v/o, and making only $100,000.00, when the game’s grossed over 600 million dollars. Bizarre, really.

Reminds me of the "super models" of the 70's earning $150,000.00 in a year for a national cosmetics campaign, and now the super models of today earn six million plus for the same work.

I guess it's a good lesson to cover our ass right from the start.

It’s one of the things I’ll be most interested to hear about at Voice2008; the new rules and regulations governing the electronic game/voice-over industry. After the GTA debacle, I’m sure the laws are going to be changing fairly fast.

Thanks again,

Max.

.

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008, 01:04 (GMT) Post subject: Baloney

I've been on both sides of this issue and I also watched as the 4 A's begged the performing arts unions back in 2000 not to raise rates because of the financial climate. Every Canadian commercial actor (as well as Australian) ought to be thanking SAG for that strike. Oddly enough, it was then that I started seeing people who couldn't get much work in v.o. go out and start teaching.

I was around and know the person who was responsible for the development of the first union interactive agreements. They simply do not speak to the unique needs of the gaming industry. They didn't then and they don't now. Adn I said it back then too. It's actually a wonder and an amazement that any game developer produces under a union contract.

There are so many layers of costs and "slices of the pie" involved in the gaming industry and realize that scale payments are the same even if the game is never produced or sells 10 copies. I work for a ton of small to midsize developers who are constantly squeezed by the large distributers and the genreal sales channel. It's interesting to note that I probably live in a nicer house than the owners of most of these gaming companies who may release a single title once every 2 - 3 years and require the revenue from that to cover their expenses, the expenses of an entire company, etc.

A $100,000 payment over the course of 15 months means that the talent probably worked on 7 or 8 sessions per month. I doubt that working on this project precluded them from auditioning or working on other things and in fact the publicity this actor (who was unknown 6 months ago) is more than I got for doing voices on 400 video games.

I'd have taken the $100,000 and have been exceedingly happy.

The major reason why the whole residual structure system cameup way way back was because an actor might get too associated with a product or a particular acting role and thus have it hurt their chances at future work. Thus someone in an erectile dysfunctional commercial should receive better compensation as should Jerry Mathers who after so strongly being associated as the Beaver, had his acting career demoted to supermarket openings and autograph conventions.

For most of Hollywood, scale payments aren't what drives boxoffice smashes. It's the mega talent that gets payments far beyond that of mortal actor.

It would make more sense for someone who had a succesful brain operation to pay their surgeon $20,000 per year they lived after the surgery than to look at this from the standpoint that this voie actor is entitled to residuals.

This is an established game franchise and one that doesn't require this particular actor to sell copies of the game. If Beverly Hills Cop didn't need Eddie Murphy and simply knew it could sell 40 million tickets based on "entertainment value alone", you would see another actor in there in a second.

This should be pretty evident to a 6th grader studying basic economics. This voie talent had no impact on sales. any competant voice would have done well. Instead of just simply saying yay for being in the right time at the right place, the unuons are going to look at this as a way to try and hijack an industry that isn't very crazy about having them involved as a player already.

As for this individual not getting money for other uses, such as broadcast commercial, that's just not true. I've had my voicelifted from a game and placed in a union commercial and ka-ching, residual checks.

Somebody is trying to rally support for the unions upcoming battle and I'm afraid the losers will once again be the average Joe actors. Also, once base rates for video games get high enough, there will be little differentail in hiring a "name brand" actor and someone from the pool. We will watch as the better roles will go to those with sitcoms and current tv shows and former reality show winners.

It will also cause even more and more titles to not be produced under union agreements. WHile it's almost impossible to tell from looking at a game box, we are still looking at only a fraction of produced games today being done under a union agreement. Most of those are cast and produced in Southern California.

Of 220 titles that I saw on a recent list that were being sold at Gamespot, less than 10% were produced with a union agreement. Instead of looking at what is necessary to get more work done under the union contracts, we simply have to muscle those who are supportive and compliant and demand even more from them.

If indeed there is billions of dollars of new voice work out there, what is SAG and AFTRA doing with all of their cut?

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

I have to agree with JS (did I just say that? Wink

) If someone wants to give me $100,000 for a year and half's worth of sessions, I'll take it, as long as we're not talking about sessions all day, every day over that entire period of time. And even then, I might consider it.
I've done a few games for a major manufacturer and each time the deal was I got a normal session fee for the recording and a considerably larger fee when the game when into production. For one game I got several session fees as they kept reinventing the game and experimenting with new concepts. Ultimately, they went in a totally different direction and somebody with a completely different style and sound got the "real" job, so I never got the big buyout but the individual sessions were jobs like any other. Another time they paid me as if the game had gone into production but it never did make it to store shelves. You win some; you lose some.