Artists and writers get this more than a little ....
“We love the ‘Futurama’ voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands,” 20th Century Fox TV said in a statement. “While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on ..."
With twenty-six episodes in the process of becoming, Fox has a need to nail down the Futurama voice cast and nail it down soon.
Question is, will Rupert's minions go the lower cost route and hire less pricey vocal talent? Or will the original cast cave? You never know exactly what your leverage is until you try to use it ...
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13 comments:
Let's see who blinks first. My guess most of the cast will be back and won't get quite the deal they were hoping for--though one of hem might have to be a sacrificial lamb to prove Rupert (arrrr matey) means business.
Well, it seems like most people are taking a hit these days.
And not just in our industry.
"...Variety and The Hollywood Reporter report that the budget for the new series has been dramatically slashed, and the cast members were less than pleased when Fox’s offers came in well below their $75,000 per episode asking price."
Is this a cost of living bump that they want? What the hell were they getting before? At $75,000 per episode, some members of the voice cast could make as much as $1,950,000 for the new season That's not taking a hit, that's pigs at the trough. Do they think people tune into Futurama to listen to their voices? It ain't a radio show. A few other people help put that show together and none of them are getting anything like $75,000 per episode.
- E.M.
"A few other people help put that show together and none of them are getting anything like $75,000 per episode."
And they wouldn't make any more or less regardless of what happens with the voice actors.
The "pigs at the trough" comment only makes sense if the producers are being reasonable with their own profit margin. Somehow I think despite the voice actor's demands, they're not the ones being "pigs at the trough."
Jeezus god almighty. Unless both producers and actors sit down and decide together to take their big fat pile they all negotiate for themselves, then take at least 20% of it and split that with the rest of the professional class that actually lifts the heavy load that makes the show work, the ones that have seen their salaries and, more importantly, SCHEDULES, decimated by the studios, then they are indeed, all of them, BIG FAT F'ING PIGS AT THE TROUGH.
Eh--getting new writers and actors is the easy part. Getting the shows done is much harder. Nobody cares about the voice actors anyway.
Yes it is true that no one cares about the voice actors. I mean absolutely no one remembers a single-line from The Simpsons or Family Guy, nor does anyone ever try to imitate those voices. I'm pretty sure when kids were saying "Cowabunga!" man in the early 90's they were clearly inspired by the mute mimings of Bart Simpson.
And when are people going to realize that compensation should be attached to profit margin? If your work generates X revenue for Y management/company, your Z payment should reflect that. Chef's at fancy restaurants don't get paid more than the kid at McDonald's merely because of skill, but because they charge 20 dollars a plate which JUSTIFIES their salary.
gee, thanks for the third grade math lesson. when are people going to realize that compensation and budget in animation should be attached to the artists that actually f'ing ANIMATE.
funny, but i don't recall ever receiving that magical simpsons 'profit margin' bank statement from rupert that i could check my paycheck against.
75k just for voice acting?Per episode? I bet there are tons of talented people that would do the same for much less. Even some animators could do it. I recall a certain Joe Ranft doing a great job on Heimlich. How about Mark Walton's job on Bolt?
r.
Animators and other production people are looking at maybe $260,000 for all 26 episodes, assuming a 5-week turnaround time, or 130 weeks x average salary of $2k. If that formula is off, it wouldn't be by much. In that same time period a voice actor gets $1,950,000? If that sounds equitable, maybe they should just film the voice actors sitting around a table reading their scripts and put that on the air.
Of course, if the animation and other production work is shotgunned out all over the world and that work is all done in one year, an animator would make $104,000 that year, but one of the voice actors would still get $1,950,000. If it took them a week to do the voice work for one episode, they'd be making $1,875 an hour.
Oink.
You guys just don't get it. Of course the pay discrepancy is out of whack, but you're still focusing on the wrong people. The fight is with the producers. Only the producers. The actors, like everyone else, simply try to get what they can. It's the producers that are in your way, not the actors or anyone else -- if the actors get less, that just means more in the producers pocket. That money would not go to you. Let me repeat that. That money would be extra profit for the producer -- it would NOT go to you. But every time like clockwork you fall for the pitting one type of worker against another and lose out on the real fight with the producers. Organize, get leverage, and fight for what you're worth. The actors pay may be crazy, but it's ultimately irrelevant to the issue of your own leverage with the producers.
'organize, get leverage, and fight.' okay, thanks for the amazing advice and yet another third grade economics lesson. you have obviously figured the entire world of animation out.
you. are. naive.
animators should be making 3k a week, at least...
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