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Video game voice actors strike

cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
edited October 2016 in Games and Technology
Starting on Friday, October 21, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced a strike against some voice-acting companies, including EA, Activision, Insomniac, Warner Bros., Disney Character Voices and Take-2 Interactive Software.
Edit: Apparently this covers mocap acting too.

Wait, what? Where did this come from?

The strike's been brewing for about 19 months now.

What are they griping about?

Pay, as you'd expect. And then there's the claim about "unsafe working conditions."

Pfft. All they're doing is just talking!

You'd be surprised. There have been reports of actors damaging their vocal chords over strenuous and long recording sessions. Will Wheaton has a pretty good account of just how much work can go into video game voices.

Okay, what do they want?

A bonus for every two million copies of a game sold, upfront conversations with producers about projects they're working on and concerns from actors about working conditions taken seriously.

And how have the targeted companies responded?

They're digging in for a long fight. They say voice actors already get paid at least $100 per hour and that only one voice actor injury has been reported since the last contract with the union.

What does this mean for video game development?

Right now it's unclear. The targeted companies have said only 25 percent of actors are covered by the union, and there are plenty more willing to work. As of now it's also not clear just how many of the big name actors are part of the union. Plus, voice acting frequently happens in numerous sessions throughout development, with last-minute changes not unheard of.

Really, we'll just have to sit back and see what happens.

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Posts

  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    Subject near and dear to my heart.

    As I recall the strike effects games from certain developers that have been in production from Febuary 2015 and on. So if the game started production before then you're in the clear.

    Pay is, as with anything, a big deal. The standard rate is about $380 for a four hour block IIRC. If you go in and only spend an hour in the booth you still get paid for that whole four hours. Which is nice, but pretty damn rare.

    Many voice actors actually have to do the mocap as well. This is where unsafe conditions come in to play. Voice actors are not trained stuntman and the extra pay is typically not worth it, but if you want the job you don't have much of a choice.

    Royalties is another big thing. All the standard fees and such for voice acting in video games was hammered out back in the mid-90s when games where still a fairly niche thing. Now AAA games are making $Texas, but the pay out for voice actors are still working under 90's terms.

    Almost every game has, uh, battle noises? Stuff like grunting, screaming in pain, etc. You'll spend hours and hours and hours just doing that and it is incredibly hard on your voice. So one of the things the strike wants is it limit those recording sessions to about 2-4 hours (or something like that.


    tl;dr

    Voice Actors want work terms and conditions to be updated from the ancient 1990s terms and conditions.

    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • EnlongEnlong Registered User regular
    I hope they get what they want/deserve. I do like my games with VA, but I'm willing to get them without until such a time as the industry pays the actors right.

  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    edited October 2016
    Video game VA in general (other than the ~10 VA that are in literally every game) are kind of in a weird spot, in terms of leverage for a strike...

    I mean, with more and more big name actors doing roles, I can see why SAG* is getting involved. But... at the same time, other than those major VA people, and the big screen actors... how many VA jobs are actually union?

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  • cB557cB557 voOOP Registered User regular
    Brolo wrote: »
    my fantasy best case scenario is that this leads to dev teams just doing voice acting themselves

    we'll get a few glorious months where AAA games all come out sounding like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdp28ve-6Aw

  • SatanIsMyMotorSatanIsMyMotor Fuck Warren Ellis Registered User regular
    Do developers (re: coders, artists, writers, etc) get bonuses like what the voice actors are asking for? How does the rate of voice actor compare to the salary of your average developer?

  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    edited October 2016
    Do developers (re: coders, artists, writers, etc) get bonuses like what the voice actors are asking for? How does the rate of voice actor compare to the salary of your average developer?

    Yes and no? Depends on the contract between them (the studio) and the publisher.

    edit: I think metacritic scores and the like play a larger role in the bonuses though. I remember there was a big thing about how Obisidian didn't get a bonus because they missed their metacritic mark.

    @cloudeagle all of the links in your OP are malformed; you have "http://http://" instead of just one http://.

    tastydonuts on
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  • PhyphorPhyphor Building Planet Busters Tasting FruitRegistered User regular
    Do developers (re: coders, artists, writers, etc) get bonuses like what the voice actors are asking for? How does the rate of voice actor compare to the salary of your average developer?

    They are typically employees so unless there's a company bonus plan, no way. VA is hourly and devs are salary so it's tough to compare, but game industry salaries suck, particularly when you account for effective hourly earnings because of unpaid overtime

  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    Most, if not all, US based AAA publisher VA jobs are union.

    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • KoopahTroopahKoopahTroopah The koopas, the troopas. Philadelphia, PARegistered User regular
    I wish em luck. Lots of games would not be as well received without full Voice Actor work. Games like Dota and Overwatch come to mind.

  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    The better working environments is certainly an agreeable thing.

    I thought that they were talking about a one off bonus though, not perpetual residuals off finished products. Can see why that's not flying. Especially given that coders/writers/etc don't get that.

    The argument that they should get them because they do in TV/etc doesn't gel either because video games don't have the same financial infrastructure. A movie/syndicated tv show gets licensed to air and ads/subscriptions/etc cover the cost... constantly. Even if a viewer doesn't watch they pay in part for it no matter what. Whereas the money from a game (not counting microtransactions and the like) hits the pot once, and no money is gained from second hand purchases?

    How would the pricing structure change for consumers to accommodate this?

    “I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
  • Martini_PhilosopherMartini_Philosopher Registered User regular
    The better working environments is certainly an agreeable thing.

    I thought that they were talking about a one off bonus though, not perpetual residuals off finished products. Can see why that's not flying. Especially given that coders/writers/etc don't get that.

    Nothing against those guys, but that's their fight to take on. I don't begrudge the VAs residuals since that can go from feast to famine fast. Also, I think the union was going for a cap at 8 mil units sold for stand-alone games. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
    The argument that they should get them because they do in TV/etc doesn't gel either because video games don't have the same financial infrastructure. A movie/syndicated tv show gets licensed to air and ads/subscriptions/etc cover the cost... constantly. Even if a viewer doesn't watch they pay in part for it no matter what. Whereas the money from a game (not counting microtransactions and the like) hits the pot once, and no money is gained from second hand purchases?

    How would the pricing structure change for consumers to accommodate this?

    Hard to say. It might produce a price floor, but given how slow prices have been falling the past couple of years on hit games I doubt we would see a difference. Used games would exhaust the royalty with first sale like with books so except for PC & digital only versions you'd see that market continue to work as normal. You might also see digital sales being pushed harder than before but with the rules in the EU being what they are, I wouldn't want to push too hard if I were a publisher.

    All opinions are my own and in no way reflect that of my employer.
  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    Is it bad to want this strike to drag on long enough that a ton of games that would otherwise be voice-acted are forced to rely more heavily on written text?

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    That's not what will happen. Game companies will just go use non-unionized VA's because they are actually the majority of the VA talent pool. As the OP says, only about 25% of VA's are part of of the union. Quality may suffer, but the games will be voice acted.

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  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    Do developers (re: coders, artists, writers, etc) get bonuses like what the voice actors are asking for? How does the rate of voice actor compare to the salary of your average developer?

    Yes and no? Depends on the contract between them (the studio) and the publisher.

    edit: I think metacritic scores and the like play a larger role in the bonuses though. I remember there was a big thing about how Obisidian didn't get a bonus because they missed their metacritic mark.

    @cloudeagle all of the links in your OP are malformed; you have "http://http://" instead of just one http://.

    Ah, stupid work Mac. Fixed.

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  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    edited October 2016
    jothki wrote: »
    Is it bad to want this strike to drag on long enough that a ton of games that would otherwise be voice-acted are forced to rely more heavily on written text?

    While I would love to see more games feature text over motion capture/voice stuff myself because the larger the name, the more distracting their other major roles tend to be, and the economics of storage also means text heavy games can offer more dialogue/story... this would not be the way I would want that to happen at all.

    And really, VA in games is still a growing thing, and there is a strong demand/expectation of it. If anything, this would give other less famous, non-union voice actors a chance*.

    edit: *to say that VA would suck because non-union talent is involved would be an insult to those people too, btw.

    tastydonuts on
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  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    Union VAs have a few legitimate beefs, but some of what they are asking for is ridiculous. You expect to get residuals for a game you worked on for a few hours to a few weeks when the people who slave away at it for years do not? You expect a better hourly pay when you already make a higher wage than the majority of other people on the project? I would kill for pay like that and the ability to bring life to game characters, curse my shitty voice.

    I think this will be a good thing for non-union voice actors, hopefully some of that talent pool will have more of a chance to shine. I like Nolan North and Tara Strong as much as the next person, but a little more variety in the industry wouldn't hurt.

    Also, on a side note, I am contractually required to post this video anytime the subject of videogame voice acting is brought up:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpRkT9JxdnE

  • Knight_Knight_ Dead Dead Dead Registered User regular
    Just because the developers of video games are horribly mistreated by their corporate overlords doesn't mean Voice Actors shouldn't try to make their own situation better.

    Maybe if the developers unionized and took the fight to the major publishers too, they could also fix the problems they have with their situation.

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  • I needed anime to post.I needed anime to post. boom Registered User regular
    The residuals is 100% being brought to the table so that when negotiations inevitably happen and they have to get rid of a request, there's an easy one to get rid of that makes the rest of their requests seem more reasonable. Pretty common union tactic. I'd be surprised if anyone asking for it actually expected it to happen.

    liEt3nH.png
  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    To argue that developers should "just unionize too" is a gross simplifcation of several sectors of an industry. It's actually much worse than the counter arguement against this strike of "VA Greed," imo. It also ignores that not every VA is in or even eligible to join SAG.

    Better conditins/hours/etc are things to fight for, totally fine. That those seem to be the rider for the demand for residuals seems to be the issue. Verbage from the strike that I can find presents it more as a matter of the VA medium not following the conventions of other medium and instead following that of what was established 20 years ago.

    Posting from my phone, will edit or post to further flesh this out later.

    “I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
  • PolaritiePolaritie Sleepy Registered User regular
    The residuals is 100% being brought to the table so that when negotiations inevitably happen and they have to get rid of a request, there's an easy one to get rid of that makes the rest of their requests seem more reasonable. Pretty common union tactic. I'd be surprised if anyone asking for it actually expected it to happen.

    No, I think they do expect to get that, since it's standard for other voice work?

    There isn't any reason games should be different there.

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  • I needed anime to post.I needed anime to post. boom Registered User regular
    Polaritie wrote: »
    The residuals is 100% being brought to the table so that when negotiations inevitably happen and they have to get rid of a request, there's an easy one to get rid of that makes the rest of their requests seem more reasonable. Pretty common union tactic. I'd be surprised if anyone asking for it actually expected it to happen.

    No, I think they do expect to get that, since it's standard for other voice work?

    There isn't any reason games should be different there.

    I agree, but were I in the union's shoes I would cynically feel that turning that around would take another decade of pushing back against cold corporate capitalism.

    liEt3nH.png
  • FawstFawst The road to awe.Registered User regular
    Limits on sessions for vocal preservation makes sense. The pay already sounds commensurate with the work being done. Throw in mocap, sure, change the terms of the deal. But nearly no one is buying a game because Nolan North voiced it. He does damn good work and that's why he's hired, but sales of Destiny didn't suddenly increase when they replaced Peter Dinklage with North. Or at least, that's not WHY they increased (I mean, come on, that was a huge expansion).

    That said, how is this going to affect Destiny 2, I wonder? Could they say that it's been in production since pre-Feb 2015?

    Anyways, I hope they get the safety stuff worked out. Pay? Meh. (And that could very well be an ignorant position I'm taking, so my opinion is open to influence.)

  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited October 2016
    I think part of the issue is that mocap is quickly replacing traditional voice acting and will continue to do so as time goes on. As a result, "traditional" voice actors who don't have motion capture or stage acting experience are starting to see their options dry up.

    As an example, the biggest reason they replaced Micheal Ironside for Splinter Cell blacklist was because they were doing all of the cutscenes with motion capture and they couldn't cast a man in his 60s when the part called for fights and action sequences.

    On the flipside though, a lot of roles that would have traditionally gone to popular voice actors are now being given to Hollywood actors, and that has VAs worried as well.

    SmokeStacks on
  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    Fawst wrote: »
    Limits on sessions for vocal preservation makes sense. The pay already sounds commensurate with the work being done. Throw in mocap, sure, change the terms of the deal. But nearly no one is buying a game because Nolan North voiced it. He does damn good work and that's why he's hired, but sales of Destiny didn't suddenly increase when they replaced Peter Dinklage with North. Or at least, that's not WHY they increased (I mean, come on, that was a huge expansion).

    That said, how is this going to affect Destiny 2, I wonder? Could they say that it's been in production since pre-Feb 2015?

    Anyways, I hope they get the safety stuff worked out. Pay? Meh. (And that could very well be an ignorant position I'm taking, so my opinion is open to influence.)

    You don't think people should be paid for the work they do?

  • taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    reVerse wrote: »
    Fawst wrote: »
    Limits on sessions for vocal preservation makes sense. The pay already sounds commensurate with the work being done. Throw in mocap, sure, change the terms of the deal. But nearly no one is buying a game because Nolan North voiced it. He does damn good work and that's why he's hired, but sales of Destiny didn't suddenly increase when they replaced Peter Dinklage with North. Or at least, that's not WHY they increased (I mean, come on, that was a huge expansion).

    That said, how is this going to affect Destiny 2, I wonder? Could they say that it's been in production since pre-Feb 2015?

    Anyways, I hope they get the safety stuff worked out. Pay? Meh. (And that could very well be an ignorant position I'm taking, so my opinion is open to influence.)

    You don't think people should be paid for the work they do?

    If the minimum 100$/hour quoted in the OP is correct, they're already getting paid pretty well, even by non salary contract standards.

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  • FawstFawst The road to awe.Registered User regular
    edited October 2016
    reVerse wrote: »
    Fawst wrote: »
    Limits on sessions for vocal preservation makes sense. The pay already sounds commensurate with the work being done. Throw in mocap, sure, change the terms of the deal. But nearly no one is buying a game because Nolan North voiced it. He does damn good work and that's why he's hired, but sales of Destiny didn't suddenly increase when they replaced Peter Dinklage with North. Or at least, that's not WHY they increased (I mean, come on, that was a huge expansion).

    That said, how is this going to affect Destiny 2, I wonder? Could they say that it's been in production since pre-Feb 2015?

    Anyways, I hope they get the safety stuff worked out. Pay? Meh. (And that could very well be an ignorant position I'm taking, so my opinion is open to influence.)

    You don't think people should be paid for the work they do?

    Where did I say they shouldn't? I'm talking about the changes to their pay. I even said, if they do more than VA, change the deal.

    Fawst on
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    reVerse wrote: »
    Fawst wrote: »
    Limits on sessions for vocal preservation makes sense. The pay already sounds commensurate with the work being done. Throw in mocap, sure, change the terms of the deal. But nearly no one is buying a game because Nolan North voiced it. He does damn good work and that's why he's hired, but sales of Destiny didn't suddenly increase when they replaced Peter Dinklage with North. Or at least, that's not WHY they increased (I mean, come on, that was a huge expansion).

    That said, how is this going to affect Destiny 2, I wonder? Could they say that it's been in production since pre-Feb 2015?

    Anyways, I hope they get the safety stuff worked out. Pay? Meh. (And that could very well be an ignorant position I'm taking, so my opinion is open to influence.)

    You don't think people should be paid for the work they do?

    If the minimum 100$/hour quoted in the OP is correct, they're already getting paid pretty well, even by non salary contract standards.

    100 per hour is not much in this context, though looking at it from the standard of a 9-5, 40 hour a week employee it seems bonkers high. Most of their recordings sessions might only be 8 hours for the project, and even with frequent projects might not be a considerable amount overall depending upon the seasons.

    They are asking for the same rights other actors get from their unions, it seems fair to me especially since their voice (and reputation) live and die by their circulation and characters. A coder can go on to code another project, a voice actor acting in a project without context that gets attached to a game that might be problematically racist, etc. could have their reputation ruined without ever seeing it show up in the script they read (as they usually only get their own lines in a vacuum and only the day they show up).

    There are some serious grievances here, and the voice acting community has been pretty heavily preyed upon by the publishers for years. Claiming they shouldn't do this because developers don't have those rights is the wrong perspective here. Developers should be protesting for the same rights as well.

  • cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    I think part of the issue is that mocap is quickly replacing traditional voice acting and will continue to do so as time goes on. As a result, "traditional" voice actors who don't have motion capture or stage acting experience are starting to see their options dry up.

    As an example, the biggest reason they replaced Micheal Ironside for Splinter Cell blacklist was because they were doing all of the cutscenes with motion capture and they couldn't cast a man in his 60s when the part called for fights and action sequences.

    On the flipside though, a lot of roles that would have traditionally gone to popular voice actors are now being given to Hollywood actors, and that has VAs worried as well.

    One of the links I mentioned indicated the strike covers mocap as well.

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  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    It should be noted that, historically, most VAs have been Hollywood actors. Not breakout stars, mind you, but most of the mainstays started out doing the same single-shot episode jobs and commercial work like everyone else in the business.

  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Enc wrote: »
    reVerse wrote: »
    Fawst wrote: »
    Limits on sessions for vocal preservation makes sense. The pay already sounds commensurate with the work being done. Throw in mocap, sure, change the terms of the deal. But nearly no one is buying a game because Nolan North voiced it. He does damn good work and that's why he's hired, but sales of Destiny didn't suddenly increase when they replaced Peter Dinklage with North. Or at least, that's not WHY they increased (I mean, come on, that was a huge expansion).

    That said, how is this going to affect Destiny 2, I wonder? Could they say that it's been in production since pre-Feb 2015?

    Anyways, I hope they get the safety stuff worked out. Pay? Meh. (And that could very well be an ignorant position I'm taking, so my opinion is open to influence.)

    You don't think people should be paid for the work they do?

    If the minimum 100$/hour quoted in the OP is correct, they're already getting paid pretty well, even by non salary contract standards.

    100 per hour is not much in this context, though looking at it from the standard of a 9-5, 40 hour a week employee it seems bonkers high. Most of their recordings sessions might only be 8 hours for the project, and even with frequent projects might not be a considerable amount overall depending upon the seasons.

    They are asking for the same rights other actors get from their unions, it seems fair to me especially since their voice (and reputation) live and die by their circulation and characters. A coder can go on to code another project, a voice actor acting in a project without context that gets attached to a game that might be problematically racist, etc. could have their reputation ruined without ever seeing it show up in the script they read (as they usually only get their own lines in a vacuum and only the day they show up).

    There are some serious grievances here, and the voice acting community has been pretty heavily preyed upon by the publishers for years. Claiming they shouldn't do this because developers don't have those rights is the wrong perspective here. Developers should be protesting for the same rights as well.

    100 per hour is over 3 times what a relatively high end salary would be. If they want to go for better working conditions, that is great. But going for more pay is just ridiculous, because you know there is no way the other positions who actually have a greater impact on the game actually getting made would be able to ask for that.

    The idea the job only has so many hours on it, so the company needs to pay them more is kind of ridiculous. It's not the companies fault that the VA can't find more work elsewhere, their time isn't being monopolized to prevent them from looking for more work.

  • Knight_Knight_ Dead Dead Dead Registered User regular
    Except you don't get paid salary. Short term contract work should always get paid more per hour than salaried since they don't get benefits from the company and they don't have the security of the salaried position.

    This is some serious crab bucketing.

    aeNqQM9.jpg
  • Nova_CNova_C I have the need The need for speedRegistered User regular
    Morkath wrote: »
    Enc wrote: »
    reVerse wrote: »
    Fawst wrote: »
    Limits on sessions for vocal preservation makes sense. The pay already sounds commensurate with the work being done. Throw in mocap, sure, change the terms of the deal. But nearly no one is buying a game because Nolan North voiced it. He does damn good work and that's why he's hired, but sales of Destiny didn't suddenly increase when they replaced Peter Dinklage with North. Or at least, that's not WHY they increased (I mean, come on, that was a huge expansion).

    That said, how is this going to affect Destiny 2, I wonder? Could they say that it's been in production since pre-Feb 2015?

    Anyways, I hope they get the safety stuff worked out. Pay? Meh. (And that could very well be an ignorant position I'm taking, so my opinion is open to influence.)

    You don't think people should be paid for the work they do?

    If the minimum 100$/hour quoted in the OP is correct, they're already getting paid pretty well, even by non salary contract standards.

    100 per hour is not much in this context, though looking at it from the standard of a 9-5, 40 hour a week employee it seems bonkers high. Most of their recordings sessions might only be 8 hours for the project, and even with frequent projects might not be a considerable amount overall depending upon the seasons.

    They are asking for the same rights other actors get from their unions, it seems fair to me especially since their voice (and reputation) live and die by their circulation and characters. A coder can go on to code another project, a voice actor acting in a project without context that gets attached to a game that might be problematically racist, etc. could have their reputation ruined without ever seeing it show up in the script they read (as they usually only get their own lines in a vacuum and only the day they show up).

    There are some serious grievances here, and the voice acting community has been pretty heavily preyed upon by the publishers for years. Claiming they shouldn't do this because developers don't have those rights is the wrong perspective here. Developers should be protesting for the same rights as well.

    100 per hour is over 3 times what a relatively high end salary would be. If they want to go for better working conditions, that is great. But going for more pay is just ridiculous, because you know there is no way the other positions who actually have a greater impact on the game actually getting made would be able to ask for that.

    The idea the job only has so many hours on it, so the company needs to pay them more is kind of ridiculous. It's not the companies fault that the VA can't find more work elsewhere, their time isn't being monopolized to prevent them from looking for more work.

    I'm pretty sure it is.

    You don't get paid for auditioning, and that can take a lot of time.

    Imagine if you had to go through the interview process for every day of work.

  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited October 2016
    $100 an hour may sound like a lot, but imagine this; you're from Houston and have to fly out to Seattle. You spend two weeks in another city and maybe only work 8 hours. That sucks and you don't know if it will be like that or not until you arrive. Or they may have you fly in a couple times a month just to do 2-4 hours of work each time. Sure they pay for the ticket and hotel, but there is a lot of time wasted. Not to mention the stress it causes your body and by extension you're lively hood.

    And let me tell ya, voice acting isn't typically the path to wealth. Not counting your Hollywood types, many voice actors (even the more prolific ones) have second jobs. It's not like a VA constantly has work lined up either. You (even the more popular VAs) can go several months without work.

    edit- Oh yeah and the auditioning! I almost forgot that! Yeah, you do a lot of auditioning and you typically do not get paid for the travel expenses (gas, plane ticket, hotel). Depending on how far you might have to go for each there is a real chance you'll be broke most of the time.

    Axen on
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  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Knight_ wrote: »
    Except you don't get paid salary. Short term contract work should always get paid more per hour than salaried since they don't get benefits from the company and they don't have the security of the salaried position.

    This is some serious crab bucketing.

    They are getting paid more.
    3x more.

    Also, not every position is salary or gets benefits, and can make a 10th or less than that, for more work and time investment.

  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    edited October 2016
    According to the WSJ, the standard baseline rate is $825 dollars for a four-hour session.

    Regardless, the VA works on a job for maybe a week or two? But once that's done, that's it. Video game VA isn't an entirely unionized field, either. And perpetual residuals are hardly a right though. Better working conditions/training? Absolutely.

    That said, according to Forbes this was the compensation offer rejected:
    The union was asking for a new compensation model that would give voice and mo-cap actors residual payments based on a video game’s sales and performance. The industry wasn’t willing to go that far, proposing instead an across-the-board 9% wage increase, as well as additional compensation up to $950 per game based on the number of sessions actors work on a title.

    Again though, that's a single payout.

    edit:

    Lastly... I think that the #performancematters hash tag they're using is pretty grating. Not winning hearts and minds with that one.

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  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    I remember hearing something from Mark Hamill some months back, where he talked about how doing VA work for games is completely awful compared to that for animated features. Hope these folks make some real headway. I make a lot less than a hundred bucks an hour, but the costs to my company for what I do (lots of travel involved) easily push the cost of my work up to hundreds of dollars an hour. For voice actors, I can entirely see how making a hundred bucks an hour isn't remotely enough to decently cover the costs of their work.

    I also hope this strike is an ongoing trend in AAA game development. The people that actually make games for these AAA publishers have been treated like crap for ages, putting in assloads of time and getting back relatively little when their projects rake in huge amounts of money. The big-budget game industry really really really needs an overhaul in general.

  • ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User regular
    Morkath wrote: »
    Knight_ wrote: »
    Except you don't get paid salary. Short term contract work should always get paid more per hour than salaried since they don't get benefits from the company and they don't have the security of the salaried position.

    This is some serious crab bucketing.

    They are getting paid more.
    3x more.

    Also, not every position is salary or gets benefits, and can make a 10th or less than that, for more work and time investment.

    This is the same thing as saying a typical plumber or drywaller lives in opulent splendour because the billable rates of the trades are often in that range.

    As a hint, they do not.

  • MorkathMorkath Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    Morkath wrote: »
    Knight_ wrote: »
    Except you don't get paid salary. Short term contract work should always get paid more per hour than salaried since they don't get benefits from the company and they don't have the security of the salaried position.

    This is some serious crab bucketing.

    They are getting paid more.
    3x more.

    Also, not every position is salary or gets benefits, and can make a 10th or less than that, for more work and time investment.

    This is the same thing as saying a typical plumber or drywaller lives in opulent splendour because the billable rates of the trades are often in that range.

    As a hint, they do not.

    No, it is saying they are already paid far better than a large number of people in the industry for the amount of work they do.

  • PhyphorPhyphor Building Planet Busters Tasting FruitRegistered User regular
    Polaritie wrote: »
    The residuals is 100% being brought to the table so that when negotiations inevitably happen and they have to get rid of a request, there's an easy one to get rid of that makes the rest of their requests seem more reasonable. Pretty common union tactic. I'd be surprised if anyone asking for it actually expected it to happen.

    No, I think they do expect to get that, since it's standard for other voice work?

    There isn't any reason games should be different there.

    Sure there is, voice acting generally plays a minor role in games, of you had to pick one broad feature to drop that would probably be it for most games

  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    $100/hour is, indeed, more than a large percentage of waged labor. But the guy making $20 to put in drywall is going to be doing it for roughly 8 hours a day, 4 or 5 days most weeks. A voice actor is going to be actually working about a dozen hours at the high end, once per project they're attached to unless they're pulled back in for a couple more hours of DLC dialogue or something.

    So, would you rather be the person making $640 a week before taxes or the one making $1200 a month if you're really lucky?

    That's the comparison. The $100/hour figure is incredibly deceptive because we think of waged labor as a steady job. Voice acting absolutely isn't.

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