GTA IV Actor Says He Didn’t Get Paid Enough
There’s a news item going around that a couple of the actors from GTA IV, particularly Michael Hollick, the actor that plays the lead character Niko Bellic, are complaining about their pay from their work on the game. Hollick says he spent 15 months working on the game for 100,000 bucks, but is not getting anything out of the millions upon millions the game is making, like a lead actor in a successful film would.
I don’t exactly feel sorry for him. He should have known that Grand Theft Auto games have been blockbusters in the world of videogames and GTA IV was sure to be another one. I’m also sure he was aware of the terms of his contract before he signed up. However, I’m sure it was a hard decision when taking the job when he probably had no power to negotiate for more. His problem isn’t with Rockstar, it’s with his union which which doesn’t appear to work very hard for video game voice actors.
The main problem here is the fact that video games have never been really looked at as a legitimate medium for acting and therefore it’s voice talent isn’t paid the same that voice over work would be paid in other media. The other problem is that it is only voice work. Video game voice actors will probably never be paid the same amount as a television or movie star. You only have to look at the world of animated voice acting to see that there’s always been a great divide between voice actors and traditional acting. The cast of the Simpsons doesn’t even come close to what the cast of Friends was making per episode on their last few seasons. The Simpsons cast is looking for 360,000 an episode, which might sound a lot, but the Friends cast was making a million bucks an episode. Voice actors don’t get any respect.
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