Uncharted Voice Actor Doesn't Want Royalties
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
- Start date
I am dumbfounded that people are so negative about this man choosing to be a decent human being. He said quite clearly (though not directly) that he's successful and he doesn't need the money as much as those who do far more work than him. That isn't a lack of pride in his profession; it's charity.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to downplay the contributions of game designers, but a lot of VA's are getting a really raw deal. The SAG deal was $800 for up to twenty voices at 300 words per voice. That's a lot of strain to put on your voice, especially in such a short session, and $800 isn't all that much money for a game that potentially millions of people are going to play.tkioz said:
Do designers deserve more recognition? Certainly, but that's a very different issue, and Nolan's comments are going to be quite dispiriting to the voice actors who aren't as fortunate as him and are just looking for fair treatment and a decent wage.
While I'm all in favour for decent wages, for everyone, voice actors can not expect royalties for games while the people making them don't get them, compared to a movie or a TV series the actors really are a tiny part of the game design process, a very small part.Logan Westbrook said:
Yes in the end product it's more noticeable then say the texture effects on weapons, but an actor might spend 10 hours working for his or her pay cheque for a small part, where a designer might spend months working on that "small" detail.
So, while I'm in favour of decent wages for everyone involved, I think it's the height of arrogance to expect royalties for the actors, they add to the game, they didn't make it happen, the devs did, and all they see is their standard wage.
Did the team who spent all that time working on MWF2 get royalties? did they even get a bonus? I doubt it, the publisher and company behind it pocketed huge chunks of changes, the designers likely just got a "thank you" lunch and then back to the salt mines with 'em.
So in short, decent wages yes, royalties hell no.
I think we both agree that the developers contribution is incredibly important, but with games becoming increasingly focused on narrative, the part played by voice actors will increase immensely. Where I think we disagree is which is more important, which betrays our own personal wants from a game.tkioz said:
Peronsally, I think you're actually downplaying the importance that voice acting plays in a game. Would Bioshock have been even half as good if the voice actors hadn't been top notch? Wouldn't Oblivion have been immeasurably improved with better voices? The quality of the acting can make or break a game, just as it can a film or TV show.
It's also important to remember that while development team might only have its regular pay check to look forward to - although I'm not entirely sure that's true - voice actors don't get a regular pay check. Modern Warfare 2 might have made a billion dollars, but they guy who did the voice for Soap will have been paid maybe a few thousand for his time at best.
We'll have to agree to disagree on voice acting, while I think good acting adds to a game, I've seen far too many "bleh bleh where's my pay cheque" voice acting to consider them vital to the game itself, a lot of games with narratives succeed despite the acting not because of it. Not every game is Mass Effect or Batman:AA.Logan Westbrook said:
My main point of the argument was that people are bagging on this guy for turning down royalties, not a decent wage.
Royalties are vastly different to a good wage, my main point is that actors can't expect royalties while the designers who do more of the heavy lifting so to speak, don't. I've got nothing against paying them more, they deserve it after all, but not royalties, that would be a slap in the face to the designers who put in 18 hour plus days during the last few months of development.
IMO royalties should only be paid to people who come up with the concept, such as writers, look at the piddly amount script writers get paid when compared to novelists. Wasn't there a famous case of a guy who did a script a few years back for a movie that was used almost word for word, very little revisions, in a movie that made hundreds of millions, getting something like five grand?
Actors are performers, they get paid for their performance, same as designers in a way, do the job, get the pay cheque at the end, if they want royalties perhaps they could agree to work for free based on the expeditions of money from the sales, if it breaks an agreed on point in sales.... oh no that would never happen.
It's taking two bites from the pie.
Umm, take that, Michael Hollick?
Also, that's awfully nice of him considering the ammount of work he does in the industry. I mean, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_North#Video_games. Holy crap.
Also, that's awfully nice of him considering the ammount of work he does in the industry. I mean, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_North#Video_games. Holy crap.
Well some would agree he is a fool for turning down royalties, but I don't. What makes me sick is the money instead goes to the guy who does bupkiss through the entire development. The ones who put their heart and soul into the game aren't going to see that money. What might have been better is if he arranged to funnel his royalties back to the developers he worked with and knows that earned it.
Oh well.
Oh well.
Ha, I can't figure out if he's genius or mental.
"Yeah I'm the voice of the lead characters in two of the biggest games this year, and I don't care if I get paid scale. I'm just too awesome for money." *glittering smile*
"Yeah I'm the voice of the lead characters in two of the biggest games this year, and I don't care if I get paid scale. I'm just too awesome for money." *glittering smile*
I am a professional musician. As someone who is actually eligible for (and has earned) royalties on copies of my performances, it is my opinion that royalties are bullshit. How many people have jobs where they can go in, do a day's work, and get paid for that single day of work for the rest of their lives? Why is it "unfair" for a voice actor to get $800 for a day's work on a game that makes millions if he's a voice actor, but perfectly fair for someone to get $200 for a day's work on the same game if he's a modeler or texture artist or level designer? Think about your job that you go to every day, you probably create something that gets re-used in some fashion down the line... Why don't you receive a royalty every time your work is used?
He's throwing away money... this will bite him in the arse in the future.
He could've at least taken the money and given it to some charity to boost his karma or sth.
He could've at least taken the money and given it to some charity to boost his karma or sth.
Is he insane!? Always take royalties! The guy who did the voice of Sam the snowman in Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer in 1964 is still getting royalties from that. I've never had royalties myself, but I'm betting that they can come in pretty handy sometimes.
Its a fairly cynical article. He had to actively say no to royalties, not the other way around. Is far far easier to say nothing and let the money trickle in. I doubt the guy is a millionaire.
Me? Cynical? Naaaah...factualsquirrel said:
I know, I know, I really have to knock off the knee-jerk posts, but I think you're right, the irony is that making a statement like that probably WILL get the guy more work. Not because its such a noble thing he said, but because they all stopped listening after "I don't want royalties..."
Well, I was includig myself as well, and being cynical isn't bad, it's just I meet most of them on the internet.Undercover said:
And yep, if he just accepted the royalties, he would be rich, and I could stop hearing that annoying voice.
Which means that he's not doing it for the money, so he just wants to be in even more games.
Fuck.
Yeah I kind of figured that's where you were going, but I try to be a "cover all my bases" kinda guy. Nope, there's nothing wrong with being cynical, (unless you're just a jerk) it keeps people on their toesfactualsquirrel said:
That's the thing, there has to be an angle! In a way I kind of hope we're both wrong, but I just find that North's sincerity seems to ring a little hollow considering the present economic climate, plus the shakiness of the video game industry as a whole, what with all the layoffs and cancelled projects.
But at the same time, his statements could be a stroke of genius, as getting more and more voicework could prove to be more profitable than royalties.
Lemme 'splain:
I was a "featured extra" in a crappy horror movie about 20 years ago that was in the theatre for about 15 minutes before it went on video, and when it did, my scene and a bunch of others were cut or altered so the studio wouldn't have to pay us. I talked to an entertainment lawyer about it just to see what the deal was and she told me that I wasn't missing out on much. I probably would have gotten a yearly cheque for like $11.00 or something, and thats assuming anyone was dumb enough to buy the movie.
And because you probably want to know, it was "Hello Mary Lou, Prom Night 2" and it sucked beyond compare. The original title was "The Haunting of Hamilton High" but right before they released it they decided to rename it in the hopes that it might actually make some money.
It wasn't ALL bad though, at least I got to meet Michael Ironside!
So what I'm trying to say in yet another over-written post is that my opinion isn't just based on things I've read, but on my own experience in the industry.
Maybe if North tried using an accent...