Cortana Works For Scale Wages 71
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting on local theater folks who do voice-work in videogames. One of the article's examples is that of Jen Taylor, who plays the voice of Master Chief's synthetic partner in crime, the AI Cortana. From the article: "Cortana, an artificial intelligence that is pretty much in charge of things in 'Halo' 1 and 2, is played by Book-It Repertory Theatre regular Jen Taylor. Cortana, of course, is a necessary factor in 'Halo 3,' which is in the process of development. Taylor is in Australia working in a Seattle Children's Theatre co-production ... A recurring role commands extra money. For 'Halo 1' Taylor got about $500 for a four-hour session. For 'Halo 2' she got twice that. "But the technicians had gotten so good at what they were doing," Taylor notes with some regret, 'that they got twice the amount of work done in half the time. So my actual pay was about the same.' When actors do voiceover work, they are represented by AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). The union contract stipulates a fee of $600 for most four-hour recording sessions."
That's all? (Score:2)
Re:That's all? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That's all? (Score:4, Informative)
You may think that her vocal talent was worth more, but her fee represents two things:
- Bungie were more than happy to use a different actor should they need to but were polite enough to ask her to repeat the performance.
- The actor believes that she was fairly compensated as nobody forced her to take the job. She may have wanted more (don't we all?) but she understood the weakness of her bargaining power.
If you feel that she deserved more money, maybe you could hire her yourself? Get a group of your friends together and contact her agent and offer her a gig - just think of the cool ring tones you could get for just a $500.
Personally I think $500 to $1000 is more than adequate for what was essentially half a days work. The programmers wouldn't have been on anything like that rate, nor would the script writers or the technitions. As an owner of Halo 1 and 2 I can say with some confidence that if the voice of Cortana, Master Chief or in fact any of the voices my reaction would have been similar to when I realised the the covenant would be speaking English and not their own languages throughout Halo 2, regardless of difficulty: "Hey, thats lame. Oh well", and then keep on playing. I don't think I'm alone.
Of all the people on the pay role at Bungie, why would you think that its the voice actors that need more compensation?
I wonder (Score:2)
Get a group of your friends together and contact her agent and offer her a gig - just think of the cool ring tones you could get for just a $500.
I wonder if you can get her to act as Cortana for you. My guess is that she can only act as Cortana for Bungie due to her contract. You could, of course, get her to make a message for your phone, but it would have to be without any obvious references to Halo.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Take a look at what she HAS done:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jen_Taylor [wikipedia.org]
or
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1071768/ [imdb.com]
It's not like she's new to the business, she seems to be one of the most prolific female game voices out there. I suppose that she is fairly knowledgeable about how the business works.
Re: (Score:2)
If you make twice as much, but the techs get twice as much done in half the time... doesn't that mean you end up making half as much?
Aren't AIs supposed to be good at math?
- David Stein
Re: (Score:2)
But the context makes a connection here. If there were no connection, the mention of the techs' productivity would be a complete non sequitur. Rather, her statement suggests that the techs were working with her - and together, they finished their work (
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, technicians (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I am here to help you.
Say whatever is in your mind freely,
our conversation will be kept in strictconfidence.
Memory contents will be wiped off after you leave,
So, tell me about your problems.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Character animation is acting. Vocal performance is acting.
The technology of speech synthesis may become a new means of expression for the artist but it is not the art itself.
Re: (Score:2)
As long as they don't try to synthesize an actual person's voice so they don't have to pay them. That, or their likeness if they refuse to appear on film.
Go ahead, eliminate the need for voice talent by using technology. But don't use a simulation of their voice/likeness without their permission. You have to make your own.
I can see anyone who decides to go ahead and do that getting
You are getting $125-$150 an hour to talk (Score:1, Troll)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
While it's a nice chunk of change for a day's work, it's not going to pay the rent.
-Rick
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Btw, what gave us the right to trumpet an individual's low pay for everyone to see. Anyone here want to volunteer to have an article don
Re: (Score:2)
Remember, you have to scale that not by "hours they are working" but "across all hours they work in a year".
What if that's the only job they have in a year? Their effective wage is then $500/1920, which is pathetically low ($0.26 / hour). (NOTE: using 48 weeks of 40 hours as the standard hour-base).
I'm actually disappointed by how people typically skew hourly wage numbers one way or the other - what matters isn't wage per hour, but total income per larger unit time (for instance, time period between rent
Re: (Score:2)
That can't be fit into a regular work schedule...how?
Are you saying it takes 48 weeks of 40 hours of work to prepare for a 4 hour voice acting session?
I know lots of actors who have day jobs, why should voice actors be any different?
How Much is Enough? (Score:5, Insightful)
But as to the yawning chasm between the wages of on-camera and voiceover talent, are the vocal artists paid too little or are the folks with the perfect teeth paid too much? I lean toward the latter. I’m not saying Sean Connery shouldn’t make more than I do, but should he make fifty times what I do? Five hundred? Ten thousand times my salary? (And before you respond with something involving the words “what the market will bear,” look at everything going on with Hollywood and see how well the market seems to be bearing such cost structures.)
Re: (Score:2)
On-camera talent has to both look and sound good, but I don't think 'looks' should be overcompensated by as much as they are.
Hollywood bosses are overpaid (Score:4, Insightful)
But the Hollywood bosses are definitely overpaid. Whoever it was that kept making those crappy Kevin Costner movies was overpaid.
The fact that Hollywood intentionally makes violent movies AND then tries to chop them up so that they get "ok for kids" ratings shows to me that their primary agenda is not profit (at least for the companies they work for), and thus they shouldn't be paid so much.
It's like a whisky maker making whisky and then watering it down till the law says the result can be served to minors without parental supervision. The result sure isn't going to make the whisky drinkers happy. And you think it makes parents happy?
Whenever they try that sort of crap the movie doesn't do that well, and then they blame "piracy", P2P and everyone else but themselves.
Also for some reason Hollywood (not everyone else) seems a bit surprised when stuff like "Finding Nemo" becomes a hit. If Hollywood was really interested in profit and making money, they'd be making more movies genuinely suitable or even targeted at children and families, just like McDonalds targets children and families.
Sure many of us might barf at that sort of stuff, but it sells - the evidence is there. You don't have to enjoy something to know it sells.
Just a look at:
http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross
and:
http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region
And then when you look at:
http://www.imdb.com/chart/
Which of those movies in the chart would be enjoyed by the people who enjoyed any of the top boxoffice hits? Go see later (total takings) if there's a correlation.
Also why bother making: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" AND then water it down?
"According to producer Brad Fuller, the film was given an NC-17 by the MPAA, and a total of 17 scenes had to be edited in order to get an R rating."
So either Hollywood is incompetent or they are up to no good.
Re: (Score:1)
does not compute. does not compute.
I blame Tori Spelling (Score:2)
-Eric
Re: (Score:2)
This is similar to the line of argument that groups all slashdot posters as a single monolithic group and then calls them hypocrites when they in fact act as individuals. Hollywood movies are not made in the autocratic way you imply. There are w
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Because his fees are backed by fifty years of experience in film and television? Because his voice radiates sophistication and class like none other since Cary Grant?
Producers have always known that stars are bankable. When Jenny Lind was touring the states for P.T. Barnum in the 1950s the best seats sold for $100 in gold.
Re: (Score:2)
People get paid what they are willing to get off the bench for.
Cortana is willing to show up for ~$400 and Sean Connery is not.
Same for NFL players and school teachers. And for you.
Unless you work for the government, where there is a very imperfect market, you get paid what you are worth. And, yes, Sean Connery is economically worth 5,000,000,000 times what you are.
It's not really anyones business what anyone gets paid for anything.
Re: (Score:2)
Ya know, he might be. I’m just not sure. Despite the statist image he put forth in the early Bond movies, I’ve always suspected he might be some sort of closeted liberal. Especially with that whole Penis Mightier thing. But that’s neither here nor there.
If my boss offered me $1,500/hour, I’d s
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
American stuff tends to hire alot of actors for voice parts, and where they don't, they get extremly bad work. Even these well-known movie/tv actors don't always do a good job in voice acting. It seems like there are very few american voice actors who have made it a priority to do a good job with it. The difference really is noticable, dubbing sounds just AWFUL next to original japanese voice talent.
These developers r
$60k/year -- form a union (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Performance work is VERY inconsistent, and the big numbers aren't so big when you look at it over time.
Mod parent up. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
When complaints effect change, they are not whining, they are action. If it results in a greater slice of the pie going to artists, programmers, what have you, it is a good thing. Telling people to quit whining is a submissive attitude and it actually serves to depress the salary of all of us, even those not willing to work in the game industry.
employers pay what the market will bear (Score:3, Funny)
Getting paid according to one's worth (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Getting paid according to one's worth (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Would that be a bananalogy?
New business model (Score:2)
half the time, eh? (not the accurate quote, btw) (Score:4, Funny)
"you mean 'Meep, meep'?"
"Actually they just paid for one 'meep' and doubled it up on the soundtrack. Cheap bastards."
Re:half the time, eh? (not the accurate quote, btw (Score:2)
But does she provide 'special services' for cash? (Score:2)
Thanks for calling, pathetic human. (Score:1, Funny)
Yeah. That one's gonna go down REAL well.
Re: (Score:2)
Think of the Fringe Benefits (Score:1)
There's a golden opportunity for voice actors that's not being exploited here. What about the women who do the voices for Wonder Woman o
Dan Castellaneta makes $100,000+ per episode (Score:2, Interesting)
Halo 3 (Score:1)
Cortana is hot in real life! (Score:4, Informative)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20061023/450
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
No way. She's way too opaque.
-Eric
How much did David Cross get paid? (Score:2)
Ht (Score:1)
Side note: Friend just joined Myspace.com and didn't think she could get 1000 friends in a week. Take a look.
http://www.myspace.com/ladymiraya [myspace.com]