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May 19, 2005
SAG, voice-over artists, and video games...
E3 is happening in Los Angeles right now. I’ve been to many E3 conventions in my time (in Atlanta and Los Angeles). It is the place to be if you are in the electronic entertainment industry (hence the name: E3 = Electronic Entertainment Expo). At E3 you get a glimpse into the near future of electronc entertainment (gaming, media, marketing — everything). E.g., this year, one of the big draws is the unveiling of the new XBox 360.
Wired News posted a write-up about E3 today. As I was clicking through the pictures, this one caught my eye.
Actor James Cromwell makes the case that voice-over performers should get a bigger piece of the video-game profits pie.
Photo: Daniel Terdiman
Now, normally, this would just be another picture of an actor at a convention. The funny thing is that when I was working in the game industry, the company I was working for hired James Cromwell for his first-ever game voice-over job (late-1995 or so). It was for the title “Babe – Interactive MovieBook.” Since, Mr. Cromwell was one of the main stars in the movie, Babe, we thought it necessary to have him do all of the voice overs for his Farmer Hoggett character. I’m assuming we paid him scale — we usually did for that kind of work.
It amuses me that video games have become so popular and make so much money now that actors feel the need to vying for royalty rights to the games they’ve worked on. Back in 1995, when we were producing the Babe titles, it was such a new thing for actors to even think about.
Now, James Cromwell is the national secretary and treasurer of SAG (the Screen Actor’s Guild). Here is a quote from an interview he did at E3:
“What they will reduce us to is sweatshop workers,” Cromwell told Wired News. “When you stifle the creators, what you get is shitty products.”I have a hard time imagining that game producers will ever treat voice-over talent like that (we geeks are too enamored by Hollywood to ever treat an actor poorly). But, I’m sure it’s a valiant cause — actors need more money, right?
Anyway, I’ve missed attending E3 for the past six or seven years (I can’t believe it’s been that long!). Maybe someday I’ll get to go again.
Posted at 12:33 pm
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