Forum - View topic4 voice acting questions and happy Thanksgiving.
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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First of all, happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrate it.
Questions: 1. Excluding doing other animated projects, why don't dub seiyuu (I feel it's inappropriate to discriminate that people feel only Japanese earn that right to called) often get to see their finished work? 2. In a Lia Sargent interview, http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=Columns&article_no=2173&page=3, she mentions something known as "financial core". That's what? 3. Crystalacids mentions the titles of released DVD/VHS whether union or nonunion. However, what's the third, right to work, mean? 4. The one I've been wondering for months: does anyone know approximately how much the crappy yearly income of a voice actor is? All I know is that you can earn up to $1000 for a four hour recording session. Thanks! [/i] |
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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$1,000? For 4 hours of work? Not so crappy to a person who earns $300 a week! Of course, I do understand that union rules may be involved not to mention seniority and TALENT! |
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indrik
 Posts: 365 Location: yonder |
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"Right to work" means that membership in a union can't be a requirement of employment, by state law. That means (for this particular argument) that a dubbing studio could employ both union and non-union actors on the same gig, and the non-union actors can't be forced to join the union to get the gig. Obviously, the non-union actors don't have the benefit of a union contract, and the union actors have to pay dues. Most companies have policies that after a certain period of time, union membership is required: this is still legal. People who hire musicians and actors tend to get around that by employing them on short contracts. But this is also sometimes why you'll see voice actors under three or four different names: sometimes they'll do non-equity work under a different name to avoid trouble with the union, sometimes they'll do it to get around an exclusivity contract with a company, sometimes they just think it's fun...
There are some other issues in regards to the relative strength of the company or union involved as well, but that's maybe not on topic or interesting. I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a good portion of anime dubbing done in the us is done in Texas (specifically Houston) which is a right to work state. The "financial core" basically means that the bottom line is the bottom line: the union exists as a financial contract among individuals, and you can't get kicked out of the union for pursuing non-union work, adn they can't use your money (ie, dues) for things you don't want to support that you don't htink will help you get and keep a job. It's got some political implications; I believe it came into being over some objections to union dues being used for political contributions. But FC members are dues paying members of the union, but have effectively said they don't agree with the policies of the union, so they are not bound by union work rules. This goes back to right-to-work: if you go to Texas (which is right to work) and want to take a non-union job, you can, because you're not bound by work rules. But if you want to go to California, which is not right to work, you're a dues-paying union member. If you're a full-fledged union member, the work rules say you can't take non-union jobs. I have heard some varied and very strong opinions on FC members of a handful of unions; check with your local before you even think seriously about following up on that. Like, your local membership. I'm not sure how dub contracts are set up, but the actor and musician contracts I've seen are typically set up for a minimum- if you show up, you get paid X dollars. It might be $250, but I would be stunned if the dubbing companies could afford to pay actors $250 an hour, or even $1000 a session. I've got a friend who plays for a major opera- he gets an hourly rate of about $20/hr, but it's a $180 minimum for him to walk in the door. So for a four hour opera, he gets the minimum plus 3 hours, or $240- or, $60/hr if you want to figure it that way. It works the same way for the folks in the pit or the chorus, any of the musical or acting talent. But anyway- I'd be really surprised if $1000 over four hours is accurate. |
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hentai4me
 Posts: 1313 Location: England. Robin is so Cute! |
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Ah it's that time of year again is it? I guess I'll have to send some Marmite again... |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18480 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Three years ago I sat in on a panel discussion by Amanda Winn Lee (a prolific English VA who has also done ADR directing and production work) where she discussed this issue. IIRC, she said the minimum union rate at that time for voice work was in the high $60s per hour, and while she (and other producers) tried to arrange higher pay rates when possible, work was usually done at the minimum rate - or sometimes even lower, for non-union projects. While this may sound high, she also pointed out that most English VAs for anime only average a few hours of voice work a week, which is why most of them do anime as only a secondary gig to stage or commercial acting. I've heard from other panel discussions that there are a few English VAs who consistently stay busy enough with just anime voice work to earn a good living off of just that (Chris Patton, Monica Rial, and Greg Ayres all claimed that, and I'd certainly assume it applies to Johnny Yong Bosch and a few others, too), but a lot of them also tend to get involved in writing, directing, or other behind-the-scenes work, which doubtless also earns them extra pay. Although I don't have any numbers to back this up, I'd be very surprised if even the busiest English VAs make much more than the mid-five-digits per year just on on anime. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I was talking with Tiffany Grant of ADV films at AnimeNebraskon recently and I brought up how VAs typically have part time jobs in addition to their voice acting and she added that voice acting, just like all acting, is part time. Even though it may be a career, acting is really a part time job because every show you work on is like an individual job and every show or movie has a beginning and an end. Tiffany Grant does much more at ADV than voice acting so yes she has made the anime industry her one and only primary career.
I would be happy with voice acting, I would probably be able to make more than I currently make with my office job but there might be long periods of no work and it's hard to find a flexible job to fill in lapses of income. I like working at night too, so a night job would be good if all my voice acting work was during the day. |
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Ktimene's Lover
Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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I guess a better understanding of their is to look at Chris Patton's MySpace account. It says his income is $40-60k.
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CGord
 Posts: 163 Location: Phoenix, AZ suburbs |
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ADV: Houston Funimation: Dallas Viz: Vancouver B.C., L.A. Geneon: L.A., ? Bandai: L.A., ? I believe. |
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The Frankman
 Posts: 1160 Location: Binary Culture HQ |
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A not-so-recent article I read stated 70% of dubbing for Japanese anime is done in Canada, and less than 5% done in NY. I've been interested in the field for a long time, and the NY number still surprises me to this day. All the companies here and only FIVE PERCENT??
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LydiaDianne
Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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Daaang! Everything entertaimentish is going to Canada!  
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Rªdì¢âl_£Ð
 Posts: 112 |
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Correction. With the exception of ADV and FUNimations who have their own in-house studio, all licensers commission the dubbing to a separate recording studio. This list is what I observed as who the licenser goes to most often recently. Viz: - STUDIOPOLIS: Los Angeles, CA - The Ocean Group: Vancouver, BC Geneon/Bandai: - Bang Zoom! Entertainment: Los Angeles, CA - New Generation Pictures: Los Angeles, CA - The Ocean Group: Vancouver, BC Media Blasters: - NYAV Post: New York, NY - Bang Zoom! Entertainment: Los Angeles, CA (No longer being commissioned since 2003) I should point out that I have observed that in the case of Geneon, Bandai, and, since 2005, Viz is that they tend to commission their lower profile or least profitable projects to the Ocean Group while the LA studios get the more popular and profitable projects. |
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