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Video game actor strike

I have one thing to say about people defending ANYONE (actor or not) that only works 20 hours a month.

GET A JOB!

Trying to defend someone who (according to bigbadgreen's math) only works 5 hours a week making $60,000 a year is just insane. We are supposed to feel sorry for them? We are NOT supposed to think that is GREEDY?

If you only work your "voice acting job" 20 hours a month, you have PLENTY OF TIME TO WORK AT BURGER KING!!!

Matter o' fact, I hear they are looking for voice talent in the drive thru window. "Welcome to Burger King, may I take your order?"
 
^^ Last time I went through a burger king drive through, the person speaking with me had more inflection in her tone then any voice actor who worked on far cry.

Hell the new burger king guy scares me much more then any monster from doom 3 or half-life 2 .... and he doesn't even talk.
 
bonkrowave said:
^^ Last time I went through a burger king drive through, the person speaking with me had more inflection in her tone then any voice actor who worked on far cry.
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Heh....true, true.


I don't mean to sound like an ass, but holy crap man, I get up every day at 3:30am to do the news here at the [H]. I put in at least 14 hours each day...that is 70 hours a week...just doing news.

I love what I do and I wouldn't trade it OR COMPLAIN about it for anything in the world. But you just can't help but be a little jealous of people that work (talking...something I am really good at) 5 hours a month making $60k a year. HOLY CRAP.
 
Steve said:
5 hours a month making $60k a year. HOLY CRAP.
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I think you mean 5hrs per week. But that doesn't make a huge difference. Even if, as some people have stated, it takes 3hrs of prep for every 1 hour paid, that is still working half time for $60k a year. Throw a part time waiter job in their at minimum wage plus tips, and you are sitting in a pretty nice position. It is still a luxury that most cannot get.
 
MAngelo said:
Let 'em strike. I don't care if a character is voiced by Christopher Walken or an unknown voice actor.
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I gotta say that I would buy the crappiest game if Christopher Walken did a voice....hell any voice for that matter. you could have picked any other person (besides James Earl Jones, Ian Mckellan, Morgan Freeman) and that statement would have been fine.

Don't touch Walken. You'll get burned.
 
You do realize that Walken has done computer games before right? The great Privateer 2, in which he actually *acted*. It also had Clive Owen and John Hurt. Ah, those were the days.
 
Just did a reading this morning, 5.5 seconds of dialogue, 6 takes, 3 minutes of studio time. $75.

Gotta love commercials.

I should also add another nonpaid part of any type of acting, auditioning. You can end up going to 50 auditions without getting a single one, and most of those take at least an hour when factoring driving, interviews etc. Hitting a union job is finally making all of those days and wasted hours pay off.

Guess some people just don't understand the non blue-collar job. I suggest that instead of whining about it, go out and try it. Earn some of that dough yourself.
 
See I don't understand why people are so intent on vilifying voice actors in general.

If we're going to compare apples-to-oranges, why aren't people mad at the guy who works commision sales, whether in retail, or worse, in advertising sales? You know that people are getting some sort of commission or kickback, and that includes the ad sales people that work for *game publishers*. I know it's not necessarily a fair comparison, but it rings true for the art vs. science of video game creation.

One thing, people are grouching about how bad the acting is...first at fault is the voice direction in the studio (see Torgo's above comments on the Chewbacca commercial), and if the actor really does suck, then of course it's their fault, but it's an equal amount of blame to the casting director.

Folks, I'm making very little money living my dream right now, and I'm talking less than $10G a year very little. No complaints, because I was told from a very young age that if I found a job I liked, I'd never "work" a day in my life. You know, if it works out, and I start making 50G a year doing what I'm doing, I won't care what people think about my job. Because I'm spending all my time and money "paying my dues" right now just to get to that level, and people who aren't happy with their own lives and jobs will have any bearing on my self-worth.

People in the industry know what good work is worth, whether it's voice-overs, coding, artists, QA, or whatever. I only hope I'm lucky enough to get into the industry...because when I get there, I'll be happy, because I made it doing something I love, bottom line.

If anyone has a problem with that, sorry for them. I'm happy with my job...time to turn that scrutiny inward.

Regards,
Brad Venable
 
Steve said:
well, there is even MORE to the story ( http://news.com.com/Divided+Hollywo...me+deal/2100-1043_3-5757128.html?tag=nefd.top ), apparently only one actors union approved the deal (AFTRA), the big union SAG voted aginst the deal reached last week. The saga drags on.

:(
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maybe we should finally get a Computer Programmer's Union (CPU) to help us get better wages and prevent jobs from going overseas. Let's see what wages hollywood is able to extract from the publishers if there is nobody that is writing their stinking game.

I am sorry to regurgitate stuff, but voice acting does not make of break a game. The gameplay is so much more important, especially nowadays, where most games are online, multiplayer games. Most of the voice acting that I get is from my CS:S teammates (spell 10-yo kids) chatting away on their microphones, the 'fire in the hole' and 'okay let's go' 2-second voice tracks in the game are really not important at all...
 
drizzt81 said:
maybe we should finally get a Computer Programmer's Union (CPU) to help us get better wages and prevent jobs from going overseas. Let's see what wages hollywood is able to extract from the publishers if there is nobody that is writing their stinking game.
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Then they'd just outsource even more stuff. Gotta think bigger, start roping in their network admins and database engineers, see how they like it if they can't get their fricking password reset because the union's on strike.
 
Why do they need holywood actors? A lot of them can't even act anyway. :rolleyes: And we all now how useful looks are in voice-overs. I'm sure all of 3 people care weather the voice actor was from holy wood or Zimbobwe. :rolleyes:
 
Operadragon said:
See I don't understand why people are so intent on vilifying voice actors in general.

If we're going to compare apples-to-oranges, why aren't people mad at the guy who works commision sales, whether in retail, or worse, in advertising sales? You know that people are getting some sort of commission or kickback, and that includes the ad sales people that work for *game publishers*. I know it's not necessarily a fair comparison, but it rings true for the art vs. science of video game creation.

One thing, people are grouching about how bad the acting is...first at fault is the voice direction in the studio (see Torgo's above comments on the Chewbacca commercial), and if the actor really does suck, then of course it's their fault, but it's an equal amount of blame to the casting director.

Folks, I'm making very little money living my dream right now, and I'm talking less than $10G a year very little. No complaints, because I was told from a very young age that if I found a job I liked, I'd never "work" a day in my life. You know, if it works out, and I start making 50G a year doing what I'm doing, I won't care what people think about my job. Because I'm spending all my time and money "paying my dues" right now just to get to that level, and people who aren't happy with their own lives and jobs will have any bearing on my self-worth.

People in the industry know what good work is worth, whether it's voice-overs, coding, artists, QA, or whatever. I only hope I'm lucky enough to get into the industry...because when I get there, I'll be happy, because I made it doing something I love, bottom line.

If anyone has a problem with that, sorry for them. I'm happy with my job...time to turn that scrutiny inward.

Regards,
Brad Venable
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You'll end up with voice actors intentionally doing bad acting just to get the hours stretched out if the voice director did his job too well which is why we have to deal with the slew of shitty actors out there.
 
Steve said:
well, there is even MORE to the story ( http://news.com.com/Divided+Hollywo...me+deal/2100-1043_3-5757128.html?tag=nefd.top ), apparently only one actors union approved the deal (AFTRA), the big union SAG voted aginst the deal reached last week. The saga drags on.
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Most SAG members are members of AFTRA so it really doesn't matter that much. If anything the press is focusing on the rift within SAG that caused this to occur.

In the end, I honestly think and feel (and have covertly heard) that publishers really don't care. They'll make the games with or without them.
 
BoogerBomb said:
You'll end up with voice actors intentionally doing bad acting just to get the hours stretched out if the voice director did his job too well which is why we have to deal with the slew of shitty actors out there.
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The clever voice director will then use the worst takes to make the actor look bad if the actor is ripping them off. Then the actor doesn't get any more work. It's in the voice actor's best interest to do the best job possible.
 
Torgo said:
The clever voice director will then use the worst takes to make the actor look bad if the actor is ripping them off. Then the actor doesn't get any more work. It's in the voice actor's best interest to do the best job possible.
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The clever voice director would then get fired.
 
pwnx said:
The clever voice director would then get fired.
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How? For the actor being an assclown just to get more money?

I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a voice director for a game get canned for that. Remember, this is the same group of people that'll put out a game like Extreme Bullriding and somehow keep their jobs.
 
.) She started with the company 10 years ago at (fictional numbers here) $5hr b.) She was given a 10% raise every year for the last 10 years c.) She makes double what she started at. LOOKS GREAT ON PAPER...RIGHT?!?! The problem she had is this....We currently START people at $11hr now, $1 an hour more than we pay our VALUED employees. If you walk in the door today and got hired, you would make $1 an hour more than this lady.
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Here's the solution, tie all wages to sales figures. I know it sounds pretty insane in some functions, but if you made each job based on job description and their required tasks as a % of overall sales increases, and made everyone focused on the mindset that production for the betterment of the company is going to directly improve their wallet, you create a positively focused towards goals mindset. You may also unfortunately create a hostile environment where performance of ones goals overwhelms them. But I think thinning the herd is fun once in awhile :)

In other words, its like profit sharing in a sense, but your desire to work more and strive to be better and make the company better, directly reflects in your paycheck. Granted, it will also help those slackers too, but in due time those that desire to excel, will push those that desire to suck,out, and the beat goes on.

Oh by the way, my salary is tied to sales, I get 10% of all sales increases, mostly cause I took a 60% hit in wages when things were insanely bad and the company almost kissed its ass goodbye, this is my way of being paid back. But it works, I'm still semi-motivated to push for new business, even after some 14 years of doing the same tiring shitty job.
 
Torgo, you're right on with what you said about the VO directors...It would probably happen just as you said.

As for you, Boogerbomb, it can't work that way. The way the rate structure is, an actor who actually wants to work ever again would never do what you describe. It'd be just like Torgo said. They'd be made the fool with crappy takes, and then they'd be dropped like a bad habit.

You all that think that residuals are like profit-sharing, you need to read Wil Wheaton's blog. It gives a new perspective to the fight for residuals.

http://www.wilwheaton.net/mt/archives/003293.php#003293

If you look at it from the standpoint of "re-use fees" (which is what residuals *really* are), then it's still not going to affect the retail price of a game.

Torgo, one question, man. Since you're a dev guy who has worked on one of the titles that would have been affected by the proposed residual structure, without going into dollars-and-cents details, did you get a bonus of some kind for the title hitting a certain sales quota, or are there any deals that are made which kick back bonuses to the development team of *any kind*? I just wanted to know, thanks.

Brad Venable
 
Steve said:
I have one thing to say about people defending ANYONE (actor or not) that only works 20 hours a month.

GET A JOB!

Trying to defend someone who (according to bigbadgreen's math) only works 5 hours a week making $60,000 a year is just insane. We are supposed to feel sorry for them? We are NOT supposed to think that is GREEDY?

If you only work your "voice acting job" 20 hours a month, you have PLENTY OF TIME TO WORK AT BURGER KING!!!

Matter o' fact, I hear they are looking for voice talent in the drive thru window. "Welcome to Burger King, may I take your order?"
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I'm sorry, but this is a remarkably ignorant view.

Being a voice actor is no different than my 'volunteer work' teaching at the local community college.

I teach for only 3 hours a week, but it takes me minimum of four hours each week at home, reviewing my notes, and ensuring I have read the chapter(s) I will be covering in the next lesson. If I have to mark exams or papers, it takes even longer to prepare. The reason I get paid ~$40/hr when I am in class, is because I also have some knowledge, and maybe just a little bit of talent. (Maybe) (By the time I am done paying taxes on what little I make, well... you see why I call it 'volunteer work'.)

Saying that because someone does not sit at a particular desk everyday for eight hours, they are lazy; this ignores the fact that the person has to drive to various workplaces, has to be constantly looking for more work, (the life of a contractor is hardly stable), and that this person has infinitely more talent when it comes to voice acting than 90%+ of the world.

The real goons are the companies like EA who treat employees like the excrement their executives wipe from their shoes. Do you think that the president of EA or Activision concerns themselves with finding work after they're done their next project?
 
Look the vast majority of people work 40-60 hour weeks and make far less then a voice actor. Its common sence that voice actors are not going to find too much sympathy.

The majority of people work much harder and much longer, thats just the way it is. So the voice actors really need to stop crying about everyone being against them, thats just the way it is .... deal with it.
 
bonkrowave said:
Look the vast majority of people work 40-60 hour weeks and make far less then a voice actor. Its common sence that voice actors are not going to find too much sympathy.

The majority of people work much harder and much longer, thats just the way it is. So the voice actors really need to stop crying about everyone being against them, thats just the way it is .... deal with it.
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They don't make far less. Did you read Will W's article from the linky posted above?

If people are working harder, for less money, why don't we go after the fat cat executives, rather than each other? I AM one of the people who are always 'on call', 60/hr work weeks, no sleep, unreasonable deadlines, etc... why would I wish other people to be as miserable? We should wish executives (who contribute nothing to the creative process) to be miserable.

Just because some of us choose stable, predictable, work-you-into-the-ground jobs, doesn't mean other lifestyles don't exist, and aren't valid. Working as a contractor is usually MORE work than being stably employed. Trust me, (and the others on this forum who do contract work), being a contractor may mean big bucks/hour, but getting those hours is work in itself.
 
Josh_B said:
They don't make far less. Did you read Will W's article from the linky posted above?

If people are working harder, for less money, why don't we go after the fat cat executives, rather than each other? I AM one of the people who are always 'on call', 60/hr work weeks, no sleep, unreasonable deadlines, etc... why would I wish other people to be as miserable. We should wish executives (who contribute nothing to the creative process) to be miserable.
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Exectutives get to where they are through hard work and networking. Its not easy to get an executive position as anyone knows, you have to put in years of work, and go to many borring dinners, meetings etc. You dont just start your career as an executive ... you have to put in your dues first.

And the reason we are not going after executives is because they are not the ones complaining that they are not getting paid enough ... the voice actors are. The rest of us suck it up and work very hard, and make an honest wage, and living. Voice actors need to realize, they are no better then any regular joe who puts in 50 hours a week, and stop there bitching.

If you going to be vocal, in the media, about your situation, people are not going to agree with you and thus rip you a new one. Thats just the way it is.

The majority of people dont agree with voice actors current pay, perhaps they [voice actors] should take something from this ? hell different unions cannot even agree .... maybe .. just maybe ... that means that they are being unreasonable ?

If they want to make an honest attempt at getting there pay rate changed ... then find some cohesion amongst the unions .. not this current half ass attempt which looks very much like being greedy.
 
bonkrowave said:
Exectutives get to where they are through hard work and networking. Its not easy to get an executive position as anyone knows, you have to put in years of work, and go to many borring dinners, meetings etc. You dont just start your career as an executive ... you have to put in your dues first.

And the reason we are not going after executives is because they are not the ones complaining that they are not getting paid enough ... the voice actors are. The rest of us suck it up and work very hard, and make an honest wage, and living. Voice actors need to realize, they are no better then any regular joe who puts in 50 hours a week, and stop there bitching.
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No... that is not 100% true. We all know executives at our workplaces who don't deserve their positions. Hard work often means little pay in our society. By your definition of 'work', Burger King employees work harder, and are more deserving of high positions than you or I, most likely. I attend boring dinners, and spend time in pointless and irritating meetings, but I will never be an executive.

Taking the stance that 'your life sucks, so everyone else's should, too' is hardly going to improve anyone's situation.

As I've said before, we need to go after the people who are making the most, but contributing the least to the creative process. The gaming industry now makes more money than the film industry; how come the employees are more stressed and have less to show for their work than before? (Programmers and voice actors alike.)
 
If people are working harder, for less money, why don't we go after the fat cat executives, rather than each other? I AM one of the people who are always 'on call', 60/hr work weeks, no sleep, unreasonable deadlines, etc... why would I wish other people to be as miserable. We should wish executives (who contribute nothing to the creative process) to be miserable.
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If Executives contribute nothing to the creative process, why do they exist? To allocate the resources on a tree by tree level thats why. Without their guidance on a financial and sub managerial level you would not exist either. Are they always on top of every little project that goes on, no of course not, and neither is the ant worker. Most people work in divisions, and have no idea what the other hand is doing to help feed them. Workers always want to be the leaders, and they always think they can do it better than someone else. Thats a good thing, and a bad thing because most people that think they can lead, fail, and likewise most people that feel that management sucks, and would prefer to be in the shoes of the ant worker, suck at that too.

Lets look at it this way. If a voice actor makes $200-500 an hour, let him. Its the American way. I despise the fact that union based auto workers in my area make 25-60/hr and then complain when nobody buys their expensive cars to pay all their health care benefits. But if the company is stupid enough to continuously buckle to the pressures of a union, then they deserve the ass raping they get. Take GM and Ford for example, their bonds are junk, their costs are skyrocketing out of control. I guarantee you if they said you know what, screw the unions tomorrow, they'd have a line a million persons long wanting to take those jobs on a non-union basis for lesser wages, and more affordable care, and they could do the job.
The people at fault here are not the workers, its the ones that pull their strings, in this case its the union. I think we can all say we know at least one union worker who is completely mind numbed to the real world. They use the protection shield the union employees as a weapon against their own company. There is no more loyalty in union workers like there once was, they've all been trained to constantly fight the system that employs them in order to constantly better themselves (at least thats how its portrayed, when its really intended to give the union heads more due profits).

Free market economy and unions don't mesh, and thats what it boils down to, unions eliminate competition, that would help a healthy company grow and succeed.

I have a close friend who has on at least 3 occassions that I know of filed grievences against the company that employs him (union) because the supervisors that were put on his shift were 1.) A female, 2.) A black guy and 3.) "A Jerk" in his words.

Now mind you, this is the same fella that called me a few times at work while he was getting paid $50+/hr to play some euchre because they told him to work 8, he was done in 2 and instead of sending him home like a real employer would have, the union had mandated his 8 hour shift, so they paid $300 more for him to play cards than to just send him home because he did his job in 2 hours instead of 8. That cost gets passed on to the consumer, and we suffer. Thats why union employees for the most part lack the desire to excel at their jobs, at least the ones I have experienced.
 
Josh_B said:
No... that is not 100% true. We all know executives at our workplaces who don't deserve their positions. Hard work often means little pay in our society. By your definition of 'work', Burger King employees work harder, and are more deserving of high positions than you or I, most likely. I attend boring dinners, and spend time in pointless and irritating meetings, but I will never be an executive.

Taking the stance that 'your life sucks, so everyone else's should, too' is hardly going to improve anyone's situation.

As I've said before, we need to go after the people who are making the most, but contributing little to the creative process. The gaming industry now makes more money than the film industry; how come the employees are more stressed and have less to show for their work than before?
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Not everyone who goes to the meetings, and dinners has the right people skills to become an executive. If someone got the job over you ... that means they did something better then you , perhaps it was ass kissing, networking, going out drinking with the right person, maybe they just have a personality that will help the company. Thats just the way it is.

And I never said my life sucked. I said it has an honest living, and I love an honest living more then anything. Your the one saying hard workers situations suck, which makes you look like you are the typical asshat elitest, looking down on all the honest hard workers ... which in turn deflates the tires of arguing for voice actors.

Its no wonder why so many people are so against voice actors, with arguments like "just because your life sucks, doesn't mean ours has to". :rolleyes:
 
stiltner said:
If Executives contribute nothing to the creative process, why do they exist? To allocate the resources on a tree by tree level thats why. Without their guidance on a financial and sub managerial level you would not exist either. Are they always on top of every little project that goes on, no of course not, and neither is the ant worker. Most people work in divisions, and have no idea what the other hand is doing to help feed them. Workers always want to be the leaders, and they always think they can do it better than someone else. Thats a good thing, and a bad thing because most people that think they can lead, fail, and likewise most people that feel that management sucks, and would prefer to be in the shoes of the ant worker, suck at that too.

Lets look at it this way. If a voice actor makes $200-500 an hour, let him. Its the American way. I despise the fact that union based auto workers in my area make 25-60/hr and then complain when nobody buys their expensive cars to pay all their health care benefits. But if the company is stupid enough to continuously buckle to the pressures of a union, then they deserve the ass raping they get. Take GM and Ford for example, their bonds are junk, their costs are skyrocketing out of control. I guarantee you if they said you know what, screw the unions tomorrow, they'd have a line a million persons long wanting to take those jobs on a non-union basis for lesser wages, and more affordable care, and they could do the job.
The people at fault here are not the workers, its the ones that pull their strings, in this case its the union. I think we can all say we know at least one union worker who is completely mind numbed to the real world. They use the protection shield the union employees as a weapon against their own company. There is no more loyalty in union workers like there once was, they've all been trained to constantly fight the system that employs them in order to constantly better themselves (at least thats how its portrayed, when its really intended to give the union heads more due profits).

Free market economy and unions don't mesh, and thats what it boils down to, unions eliminate competition, that would help a healthy company grow and succeed.

I have a close friend who has on at least 3 occassions that I know of filed grievences against the company that employs him (union) because the supervisors that were put on his shift were 1.) A female, 2.) A black guy and 3.) "A Jerk" in his words.

Now mind you, this is the same fella that called me a few times at work while he was getting paid $50+/hr to play some euchre because they told him to work 8, he was done in 2 and instead of sending him home like a real employer would have, the union had mandated his 8 hour shift, so they paid $300 more for him to play cards than to just send him home because he did his job in 2 hours instead of 8. That cost gets passed on to the consumer, and we suffer. Thats why union employees for the most part lack the desire to excel at their jobs, at least the ones I have experienced.
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I feel I have to clarify one thing:

I do agree that LEADERS contribute to the creative process. People who are visionary, and who encourage the people who they work with to excel are surely worth their weight in gold.

Managers are not required.
 
bonkrowave said:
Not everyone who goes to the meetings, and dinners has the right people skills to become an executive. If someone got the job over you ... that means they did something better then you , perhaps it was ass kissing, networking, going out drinking with the right person, maybe they just have a personality that will help the company. Thats just the way it is.

And I never said my life sucked. I said it has an honest living, and I love an honest living more then anything. Your the one saying hard workers situations suck, which makes you look like you are the typical asshat elitest, looking down on all the honest hard workers ... which in turn deflates the tires of arguing for voice actors.
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There is nothing wrong with hard work or hard workers. What I hate are people who narrow-mindedly believe that only people who work typical 9-5 jobs are valid contributors to society. We don't need more ass-kissers, or schmoozers in society - we have enough, thanks. You have far too much faith in capitalism. (Note that I am neither for or against capitalism/communism... every system to date sucks somehow.) Not every hard-working, deserving worker gets a decent job or the renumeration they deserve. Sure, the American Dream(tm) seems like a good model, but in practice, it probably fails more people than it rewards.

Voice actors also earn 'honest' livings. I believe your definition of 'honest living' might need some revision.
 
Josh_B said:
What I hate are people who narrow-mindedly believe that only people who work typical 9-5 jobs are valid contributors to society.

Voice actors also earn 'honest' livings. I believe your definition of 'honest living' might need some revision.
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I work a "typical 9-5" job and I know I contribute more to society then most people. Just look at the arguments you are making .... like WTF is with that first statement. How can anyone honestly take you seriously with statements like that. :rolleyes:

We are not saying people with 9-5 jobs contribute more, we are saying voice actors contribute less ... which they do thats just fact. If you contribute less and work less you should expect to be paid less ... not more. It really is a very simple relationship.

My definition of honest living needs no revision, you clearly need to give your head a shake.
 
bonkrowave said:
I work a "typical 9-5" job and I know I contribute more to society then most people. Just look at the arguments you are making .... like WTF is with that first statement. How can anyone honestly take you seriously with statements like that. :rolleyes:

We are not saying people with 9-5 jobs contribute more, we are saying voice actors contribute less ... which they do thats just fact. If you contribute less and work less you should expect to be paid less ... not more. It really is a very simple relationship.

My definition of honest living needs no revision, you clearly need to give your head a shake.
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"I work a "typical 9-5" job and I know I contribute more to society then most people" ... "We are not saying people with 9-5 jobs contribute more [...] ". Which one is it?

You say voice actors don't contribute anything? Statistics regarding popular culture, (which happens to include video games), disagree. Voice actors are a part of all of the movies you view, the video games you play, and the music you listen to and appreciate.

If they were so disposable, why are there so many outlets for their work? Obviously there is a need for their talents.

Again, you fail to understand that simply because they spend less time in the studio, and more time practicing and refining their skills, they do not "contribute less".

By continuing to purchase music CDs, DVDs, and games, you are agreeing that the talents of those who created such a disc are worthwhile. Just because the 9-5 format does not apply to video game creators, doesn't mean work was not involved. If the movie or game generates tons of money, ALL of the contributors deserve to reap the dividends. (Not just the proprietors of a company and the stakeholders.)

Frankly, if you don't think the talents included in a given game are worthwhile, then don't buy it.
 
Reading comprehension for the win ... I did not say voice actors contribute nothing ... I said they contribute less .... try reading my post and understanding it. :rolleyes:

I spent five years in school practicing my skills and I got paid nothing for that ... how many years of school did these voice actors take ??? ... thats what I thought.
 
bonkrowave said:
[...] Its no wonder why so many people are so against voice actors, with arguments like "just because your life sucks, doesn't mean ours has to". :rolleyes:
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Just to clarify one point:

What I was getting at, is that studies prove people are working longer hours and spending less time in recreation and with family. Is this a trend you would like to see continue?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/046505434X/103-6001573-6562224?v=glance

http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/11/pf/q_iquit/?cnn=yes

Again, even if you mistakenly believe that voice actors perform less 'work', does that mean we 9-5ers should push to have them be as overworked as us?
 
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bonkrowave said:
Reading comprehension for the win ... I did not say voice actors contribute nothing ... I said they contribute less .... try reading my post and understanding it. :rolleyes:

I spent five years in school practicing my skills and I got paid nothing for that ... how many years of school did these voice actors take ??? ... thats what I thought.
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I understand your post just fine. You are attempting to belittle the contribution voice actors make to society. I don't believe the minute change I could make from the word "nothing", to the word "less" would make much difference to my argument.

You say you spent five years in school refining your skills? Excellent... I honestly think that you have likely worked very hard to get your degree or diploma, and that you deserve accolades. However, does that mean that none of the voice actors represented by the union have no education? Probably not. Most of them probably have (skilled) second jobs, just like yours or mine, because there is such a disparity between the pay of an executive and a voice actor.

Furthermore, prep time and release time are both socially accepted requirements for certain lines of work. Several careers make use of these methods, including groups like teachers, and voice actors. If your job were to impersonate a different character each day, surely you would require some type to adjust your voice and get into character. As is frequently the case with many people, perhaps you fail to understand that you don't simply walk into a concert hall, and play an opera with no preparation. Similarly, you don't walk into a recording studio and start impersonating a character without first preparing.

Besides, education does not always mean academics. Education also means experience, mentoring, and self-study.
 
As a note to the voice actors posting here, the largest problem that you have is really public perception. I got to thinking about this last night on why no one seems to take the voice actors side except... voice actors. There's a common view that voice actors just walk in, sit on a stool, read something in a funny voice and walk out. It's not what really happens, but it's what people think occurs.

People just take it for granted. They have no clue that the voice behind Fry from Futurerama, Stimpy J. Cat and Bugs Bunny are the same person. The thing is that I don't see SAG or AFTRA trying to change that perception in the public's mind. That's why they're going to ultimately lose this battle. If the public doesn't care, the publishers don't care, how can they win?

I'm glad that AFTRA is sticking to the agreement. That will save the bacon of many people. The way that SAG is acting, they should rename themselves the Film Actors Guild. (inside joke)
 
Torgo said:
As a note to the voice actors posting here, the largest problem that you have is really public perception. I got to thinking about this last night on why no one seems to take the voice actors side except... voice actors. There's a common view that voice actors just walk in, sit on a stool, read something in a funny voice and walk out. It's not what really happens, but it's what people think occurs.

People just take it for granted. They have no clue that the voice behind Fry from Futurerama, Stimpy J. Cat and Bugs Bunny are the same person. The thing is that I don't see SAG or AFTRA trying to change that perception in the public's mind. That's why they're going to ultimately lose this battle. If the public doesn't care, the publishers don't care, how can they win?
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Precisely.

In fact, a similar argument started in Ontario over Teachers and prep time/performance evaluations. The provincial government, in a very subtle way, suggested that teachers are lazy. I know for a fact, given that I teach, my mother is a teacher, and I work directly with teachers, that teachers are hard workers. They are generally worth every penny they make. (As always, there are SOME exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of teachers are overworked, learning-driven, and student-success focused.)

Teachers deserve to be respected, but the general populace believes teachers are lazy.

Unfortunately, as we are seeing with the voice actors current dilema, perception is reality.
 
Josh_B said:
Just to clarify one point:

What I was getting at, is that studies prove people are working longer hours and spending less time in recreation and with family. Is this a trend you would like to see continue?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/046505434X/103-6001573-6562224?v=glance

http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/11/pf/q_iquit/?cnn=yes

Again, even if you mistakenly believe that voice actors perform less 'work', does that mean we 9-5ers should push to have them be as overworked as us?
Click to expand...

I dont consider it overworked. We live in a captialistic society ... thats not going to change. So bithcing about it really isn't going to help, you just deal with it.
 
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Torgo said:
As a note to the voice actors posting here, the largest problem that you have is really public perception. I got to thinking about this last night on why no one seems to take the voice actors side except... voice actors. There's a common view that voice actors just walk in, sit on a stool, read something in a funny voice and walk out. It's not what really happens, but it's what people think occurs.

People just take it for granted. They have no clue that the voice behind Fry from Futurerama, Stimpy J. Cat and Bugs Bunny are the same person. The thing is that I don't see SAG or AFTRA trying to change that perception in the public's mind. That's why they're going to ultimately lose this battle. If the public doesn't care, the publishers don't care, how can they win?

I'm glad that AFTRA is sticking to the agreement. That will save the bacon of many people. The way that SAG is acting, they should rename themselves the Film Actors Guild. (inside joke)
Click to expand...
Voices in cartoons and games are entirely different. People who can make the voices of various cartoon characters deserve money because they actually have a fair amount of talent. The guy who recorded the voice in BF2 telling me I better get back to the combat area or I'll be shot may or may not have had a lot of talent, but the position was definitely easy (they could have just hired some retired army master sergeant).
 
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