Kotaku
While gamers might not immediately recognize the name or face of Michael Hollick, his voice might ring a bell. Hollick is the actor who gave voice to Niko Bellic, the main character in Grand Theft Auto IV, which has made over half a billion dollars since its release last month. What kind of pay does a man starring in such a blockbuster property bring home these days? According to Mr. Hollick, only around $100,000 over the course of 15 months, and residuals? Forget about it.
“Obviously I’m incredibly thankful to Rockstar for the opportunity to be in this game when I was just a nobody, an unknown quantity,” Mr. Hollick, 35, said last week...“But it’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it.
Unlike other forms of entertainment, the Screen Actor's Guild doesn't have policy in place for video games, so actors don't get royalties on each game sold, even if the game becomes one of the best selling titles of all time.
Games companies aren't exactly itching to hop on the royalties bandwagon either. While it would be easy enough to institute, they fear that soon designers, graphics artists, programmers...basically everyone involved in the production of a video game would be wanting similar agreements. Dogs and cats, living together, total anarchy.
The issue more than likely won't see a resolution anytime soon, but the more games like GTA IV that get released, the hotter the topic becomes, until eventually they start selling kitschy retro t-shirts with cartoon logos on them.
A Video Game Star and His Less-Than-Stellar Pay [The New York Times - Thanks Campion!]
Comments
**Cough** $100,000 isn't any money?
Yeah it sucks, but that's how it is when you're a voice actor.
That seems like that's him and his agent's fault. A little late to be complaining
The guy knew what he was signing up for. Besides 100,000 isn't anythign to sniff at, its not like he won't be recieving offers after his stellar work in this game.
Wait, this guy isn't Russian? Of course they only paid him $100,000!
That's the biz. Get over it. You could have made your own terms (not that R* wouldn't have just hired another voice actor), but still - you decided.
Think about this: Daniel Radcliffe was paid a couple hundred thousand for Harry Potter 1.
He is rumored to be getting $50 million for the final film (the 2 parter)
@DugDawg: Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. He seems to be getting paid fine. I'm sure the developers worked 10 times harder and didn't get that much.
I like this "screw you" attitude everyone is giving to the Voice of Niko Bellic. Its like GTA4 is teaching everyone to be a complete bastard, even to people who give a lot of effort and work to entertain you.....
*clap clap* Bravo, KOTAKUITES, Bravo
Well he is an idot...You should know that GTA games are going to sell big no matter what. Just the name alone will sell millions of games. He should have known this ahead of time and asked for more money that he knew Rockstar was going to earn with ease.
It was an amazing performance, to be sure.
He probably gets plenty of money, he didn't make the game so he doesn't get a proportion of the sales. People who made and orchestrated the design of the game will see more but they had a real hand in it.
@p_hon: It's not about that. It's about agreeing to do a job, and then complaining about the terms later.
This guy is claiming that he didn't know how big GTA IV would be? Do a little research about the product you are entering into. Or at least get your agent to do it for you!
Not to be really negative, he did a pretty good job, but did anyone notice certain moments when Nico's voice just made you cringe, because the accent would drop out on certain syllables, etc? It's not like he's a five-star voice actor and a hot commodity in the industry that they needed to overpay.
I suppose it's natural to want more, especially when you fele you could have had more
Nevertheless he got paid well for a...well easy? job
He got paid 6 figures...sit down and shut the fuck up.
He is crying and complaining now, so GTA IV Vice City will have another main character.^^ b*tch
They may earn hundreds of millions, but the game did cost a great part of it, such an idiot... Rockstar has to pay many other people besides him.
@DugDawg: Considering how much money the game will make, and that he's essentially "the star", if you could use those words...$100,000 isn't THAT much money. Also note that he said over 15 months...which is about the same as $80,000 for one year. Again, I'm not saying that's nothing, because that's good money for a year, but given the amount of success the game will see, it's actually a pretty low number...
@DugDawg:
That's not what he's saying. Yeah $100,000 IS a lot of money, but are you telling me that if you were in his shoes you wouldn't be kinda bummed that this game is selling millions(and making millions) and you only got $100,000?
Whilst the Voice acting is important to a point, nothing beats the graphic/concept artist, developers etc who I'm sure aren't being paid overly much. I'm not sure how it works but id assume they are paid a yearly wage to work on a few projects not just one.
Being a nobody and getting signed up for this is basically free publicity if others like your voice acting work. I say he doesn't really have a right to complain, if he really was hoping for millions, he should have looked up what he was signing up for and demanded a bit more. However, getting too greedy just results in you being kicked out for cheaper actors.
And yes, royalties can be a pain for companies when they spend tons over the years to make the damn game and someone feels cheated b/c they did their job (and cashed the check) and see someone making more money off the work they got paid for. I also don't believe we'll be seeing many hyped up games like GTA very often.
Am I hearing this right? Guy got paid $100,000 to talk into a microphone for 15 months and he's complaining
@Llost: That sentiment is ridiculous. You are placing higher value on one creative individual's contribution over another.
Anyone on a game project can be replaced, but if any were completely removed (voice actor, programmer, designer, artist) the game wouldn't exist.
he should have asked for percentage of sales when drawing contract....
(as if Rockstar would go for that....)
Though I think He could have been paid a little more for the success of the game, and his Voice bein a great deal the motor behind the main character; The amount of Work he can get off of that clout alone is worth very much more.
Live and learn I guess.
This is simple supply and demand. Voice acting is not nearly as skilled as regular acting. If he didn't like the pay, he didn't have to take the job. I gurantee you that if he had tried to bargain his salary, there were 10 other voice actors out there that would have worked that gig happily for the money he got paid. p_hon you are completely wrong in this case. He did a job and he got paid for it. Rockstar owes him nothing more. He was, and still is not, in any position to be complaining for more money, and if he didn't like the conditions of employment, no one forced him to take the job!
Seriously. This guy signed a contract up front and knew what he was getting, plain and simple. If he (or his agent) was smart about it, they would have asked for nothing (or just expenses) up front and like .1% of sales. Even .1% would be ~500k at this point and only go up from there. He's a moron.
Hmm, my only reaction to this post is that I should get into video game voice acting! But maybe just for Rockstar.
We eastern europeians hate the fakr accent and language used. It's a weird combination of croatian-serbian-bulgarian-russian, and a couple more slavic languages.
Residuals look it up! Also needs to get a better agent.
@p_hon: @CCCombobreaker:
I undertand what you guys are saying. But according to the article, Mr. Hollick said he had been paid about 50 percent more than the standard rate, or about $1,050 a day. I would be quite happy to make $1,050 a day.
The real issue here is royalties. Are video game actors privy to royalties from games in the same fashion as TV or Movie stars. In the current state of the industry, it appears the answer is "no." Although I'm not sure what to think about that, I still think he got paid more than the standard rate, which -- by the way -- is pretty generous.
you sign a contract you get paid what the contract states. How many musicians and actors lost out on royalties because they signed contracts that didn't include them. Tough luck, sorry. No contract renegotiations after the game comes out. You want to get paid less upfront and get royalties then negotiate your contract that way. I bet you would feel stupid if the game tanked though.
@zoz: That's basically what I was going to say...what was the percentage of the time he spent "working" on that game compared to how long the people who REALLY worked on the game spent. Hell, I was reading just recently that a lot of the time the programmers and designers don't even get residuals. Sorry dude, if the programmers aren't important enough to get residuals, you sure as HELL aren't.
At least he'll get more gigs off the back of GTA IV. It was, after all, a terrific performance for a videogame.
he got plenty, an unknown actor was paid $100k, he should be happy he got such a big paycheck.
@wild_world_girl:
A voice actor can be more easily replaced than a developer with a specific skill set and knowledge of an existing infrastructure.
All he did was talk. It's not like he programmed anything. $100,000 seems pretty steep for just lending your voice.
100k is amazing for a nobody. Especially for just voice-acting.
All I read from it was...
"Wah wah I'm only getting payed as much as the average programmer who probably does 10x the work I do"
Seriously, $100k over 15 months is a $80k/year job. How the hell is that bad?
I love how people are jumping all over him because he made 100,000. Really well thought out there. The game has made half a billion dollars and will continue to sell well.
The fact of the matter is regardless of how much he was paid he should be getting residuals. Every voice actor that lends there voice to a video game should regardless of how well it sells.
People can sit there and run this guy down, but he's got a valid complaint. He was a virtual unknown before this so he obviously didn't have any bargaining power and Rockstar probably knew that. I know 100,000 is nothing to sneeze at, but the guy also worked for 15 months. That's a lot of time. It's not like all voice actors have a steady work flow and that they get paid six figures every time they open their mouths.
@CCCombobreaker:
That's his problem.
What I can tell him is:
Research what you're getting into and then go ahead and negotiate accordingly.
And get off your high horse. It was a good performance, but it was a rather small cog in a very large machine. More so, a considerably easy to replace cog.
He's not important. He's not essential. His work, while important, is hardly at the top of the food chain. Yet he got paid more than many of the artists and programmers.
It's $100k in 15 months. That's $80k a year. It's a lot , no matter what your profession is.
Don't blame Rockstar, blame whoever signed your contract.
Oh wait, was that you? Shame.
Lesson learned, but at least with GTAIV under your belt you have some ammo to bring to the negotiating table next time.
Agent sucks.
Most actors work for peanuts. This guy made what most actors would make in 3-5 years. I'm sure it only took a couple months as well.
I don't want to piggy back on my own comment, but people obviously don't realize how lurcative voice acting is and because of that they can't see why this guy is "upset".
While I can see his point, it's sort of a way to avoid a heavy gamble.
Requestion say, 10% of the games final takings could make you very rich. It could also give you a pathetic amount for your time.
Man, no sympathy from you guys as all! Except for p_hon.
It does seem that it's just a big case of shouldawouldacoulda, but this guy made me shed a manly tear during some of the last missions. That's a lot more any male voice actor has done for me since I saw Saving Private Ryan.
I wonder how much that crying grandpa was paid...
Time to strike.
I agree with almost everyone else that 100K for the gig seems like more than enough. I'm sure he only worked maybe 160 hours over the "15 months."
@actorpull: that's what I'm sayin. Also, it was WAY worse with Roman's voice. He was only Russian for every other sentence. Why they couldn't just hire Russian voice actors who spoke English is beyond me. Too expensive, perhaps?
That's too bad. He really did a great job.
Although, I have to agree with the general sentiment that, 100 000$ over the course of 15 months isn't too shabby.
One thing's for sure, if they start paying voice actors more money, the already rising cost of games will just keep'on soarin', which isn NOT a good thing for us.
@IMarcus: All any actors dois walk around and say a few words. Yet they make millions, in less than half that 15 month period. Granted he's a "nobody", but it's still not that much money for something that sold 500 000 000 in a week. All Celine, friggin, Dion does is scream. The entertainment industry doesn't work the same way as the rest of the world.
I have two ways to go with this:
1) Whaaaah...I only got paid 50% more than the standard rate.
2) At this rate he'll never get the "Half-Million Achievement"
Yeah it sucks, but this is still the contract you signed.
Wow. I'd like to see most of you do a little voice work for a big-budget game and wonder why everyone else is making more money than you. I understand that that's the business, but seriously, most of you are talking like you're IN that business. I agree with p_hon, some of you guys are being pretty bastard-like.
The guy just did a wonderful and brought a lot of life to this character to entertain YOU, yet YOU bash him cause he wants a little more for his work. If I were Rockstar, I would've given him a little more for his work. Shit, they probably paid a lot to get people like Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen, Samuel L. Jackson, and Young Maylay (CJ) in the previous games, so why can't this guy?
@thebluick: You are wrong about that. Quality acting is not in any way as common as people think.
But I am sure you will just disagree.