Is voice acting expensive?

[tmpearson]

Some people think most of the development money was spent on the voice acting. Is voice acting relatively expensive? it's not like they got Harrison Ford. Some of them are B-list at most. Edited January 27, 2012 by tmpearson

[djsmileey]

Are actors overpayed?

 

Answer that and you've got your answer

 

Edit: oh and HEY! they got DATA(star trek), and commander shepard, and rugrats + many others!

Edited January 27, 2012 by djsmileey
addition

[Kamiosoup]

They obviously are if the rumored budget is correct and THIS is the result.

[TheMadjai]

In my market, as a voice actor I earn $300 for the first hour and $100 for every hour after that. And I'm nobody you've heard of.

[TonyACT]

Some people think most of the development money was spent on the voice acting. Is voice acting relatively expensive? it's not like they got Harrison Ford. Some of them are B-list at most.

 

Dirt cheap - I would be suprised if more than 5% of the budget went there. I suspect that a lot of money went on a company struggling with its first MMO and a new game engine and taking a long time getting basic functionality working - which is why we don't see the bells and whistles folks are asking for.

[TonyACT]

Some people think most of the development money was spent on the voice acting. Is voice acting relatively expensive? it's not like they got Harrison Ford. Some of them are B-list at most.

 

Oh - and a lot of momey would have gone to LucasaArts.

[rzrknight]

depends on each actors payment really.

But it is, if you consider how many people extra they are paying instead of just adding some small letters.

Edited January 27, 2012 by rzrknight

[MrTijger]

Oh - and a lot of momey would have gone to LucasaArts.

 

Except it didnt. Lucas gets a percentage from the profits.

 

Also, all the cost of setting up Bioware Austin and Galway is counted in the cost of the game.

[ptwonline]

I believe there's a standard, minimum rate for voice actors (if you're part of the Actor's Guild). Something like $200/hr with standard 4 hour days.

 

Bigger name actors can make more, of course.

 

How many hours does it take to get all this voice acting done? I have no clue. I wouldn't be surprised if it was around 1500 actor hours, which would mean the voice acting cost in the neighborhood of $300,000 (assuming they all made the standard rate, which is doubtful).

Edited January 27, 2012 by ptwonline

[Roodys]

They have david hater :3 (Solid Snake) Edited January 27, 2012 by Roodys

[DarkCarnage]

i think tehy also use in house voice actors that LA normla uses for some poeple.

[LyriaFrost]

Dirt cheap - I would be suprised if more than 5% of the budget went there. I suspect that a lot of money went on a company struggling with its first MMO and a new game engine and taking a long time getting basic functionality working - which is why we don't see the bells and whistles folks are asking for.

 

Dirt cheap? You know how much voice actors of any repute actually get paid?

 

The voice actors who do the voices on The Simpsons get paid over 300k per episode. That's about $1500 per minute of airtime.

 

Now, are the actors who do the voices in TOR that "big name?" No. Some of them DO have a LOT of history working in the field, though. Tara Strong, for instance, has done countless characters and shows. A number of them have been in several movies (and not just direct-to-video ones).

 

So yeah, they're not "dirt cheap". The actors who do the main characters I would guess EASILY were paid anywhere from 1-3 million each. The companions (especially the ones you get early on) VA's were probably half to a third of that. It adds up pretty fast. And I'm probably seriously lowballing it.

[ptwonline]

Dirt cheap? You know how much voice actors of any repute actually get paid?

 

The voice actors who do the voices on The Simpsons get paid over 300k per episode. That's about $1500 per minute of airtime.

 

Now, are the actors who do the voices in TOR that "big name?" No. Some of them DO have a LOT of history working in the field, though. Tara Strong, for instance, has done countless characters and shows. A number of them have been in several movies (and not just direct-to-video ones).

 

So yeah, they're not "dirt cheap". The actors who do the main characters I would guess EASILY were paid anywhere from 1-3 million each. The companions (especially the ones you get early on) VA's were probably half to a third of that. It adds up pretty fast. And I'm probably seriously lowballing it.

 

Lowballing it? I doubt the main actors got even 1/10th of what you guessed.

[Benfynyn]

Open casting calls from the SWTOR community and problem solved. I'd do it for free.

 

 

*waits by phone*

[DenimSamurai]

meh, the actors themselves aren't going to be expensive but you have a bunch of other costs in there, too. You need to rent a sound studio, hire sound techs and you need to have the animations synch with their voices.

[JerokTalram]

Dirt cheap - I would be suprised if more than 5% of the budget went there. I suspect that a lot of money went on a company struggling with its first MMO and a new game engine and taking a long time getting basic functionality working - which is why we don't see the bells and whistles folks are asking for.

 

Some of these actors, only do voice and I'm sure they don't get paid what television or movie actors get but it's probably more than 5%. For instance Lacey Chabert is not just a voice actress and I'm sure she didn't come cheap.

 

Then again maybe you could do all this voice acting for $10 mil. I don't know.

[TheMadjai]

The actors who do the main characters I would guess EASILY were paid anywhere from 1-3 million each. The companions (especially the ones you get early on) VA's were probably half to a third of that. It adds up pretty fast. And I'm probably seriously lowballing it.

 

You're not lowballing at all. There's no way that even VO's for the 16 leads earned $1M. Let's say they're paid A LOT more than I am. At $500 for the first hour, and $250 for each hour after that, to make $1M you'd need to record for 3,999 hours. That's just about 500 8-hour days. That's two years. Of recording VO every day, 5 days a week.

 

No way. You could even double the pay I've given them and still be wrong about them making a million.

[jayderyu]

Voice Acting can and often is expensive. It's similar to artists in many ways. It works based on contract oriented system.

 

Contract work is usually more expensive because it's more short term. The work is more niche and for the individual to make an effective living it requires to be more costly.

 

The primary voice actors at Bioware don't have work like the developers. They are brought in for a few days to read some lines. If there are no changes to the script Bioware doesn't see them again until the next expansion.

 

It's the trade off Contract vs Employment.

 

So yeah. Voice Acting for this game was probably extremly expensive, but I bet voice acting for most animated tv shows is not.

[ptwonline]

Some of these actors, only do voice and I'm sure they don't get paid what television or movie actors get but it's probably more than 5%. For instance Lacey Chabert is not just a voice actress and I'm sure she didn't come cheap.

 

Then again maybe you could do all this voice acting for $10 mil. I don't know.

 

Actors that aren't total unknowns still tend to have a lot of down time where their agents are looking for stuff to fill up their schedule and make them some money. That's why stuff like voice acting or commercials are so great--it may only be a day or two of work so no big commitments and they can still make some decent money. Certainly better than making no money, even if it's nowhere close to what they would get from a day's worth of tv or movie shooting.

[ninja_x]

Next game they should just save a buck and use text to speech or outsource it all to China / India.

[DarthWomprat]

Expensive in terms of too much money for too little reward.

[ToliverGrey]

It's been reported in other games that famous voice actors can earn as much as $500,000 for voice acting in a game. They base their charge not only on a per hour basis, but on how many copies the game is expected to sell.

 

Now, the ones who did SWTOR are not exactly world famous, but I would not be surprised if they made way, way more than $250/hr.

[ptwonline]

Next game they should just save a buck and use text to speech or outsource it all to China / India.

 

Just use more alien voices. Sounds like they are simply recycling the stuff we heard in the movies anyway.

[LyriaFrost]

You're not lowballing at all. There's no way that even VO's for the 16 leads earned $1M. Let's say they're paid A LOT more than I am. At $500 for the first hour, and $250 for each hour after that, to make $1M you'd need to record for 3,999 hours. That's just about 500 8-hour days. That's two years. Of recording VO every day, 5 days a week.

 

No way. You could even double the pay I've given them and still be wrong about them making a million.

 

Considering that a number of the VOs have been doing voice acting in television series', appearing in various movies, TV shows, etc, I'd expect them to be paid a bit more than your average no-name voice actor (such as yourself, no offense).

 

Look up people like Tara Strong, Lacey Chabert, Nolan North, Jennifer Hale, etc. These are people who have been doing this for YEARS, and have EXTENSIVE credits behind them doing this very thing.

 

Considering they probably spent a year or two recording, re-recording, re-writing, adjusting, and otherwise tweaking the dialogue, I don't think I'm overestimating how much "major names" in the VO business would get paid by much.

 

It's been reported in other games that famous voice actors can earn as much as $500,000 for voice acting in a game. They base their charge not only on a per hour basis, but on how many copies the game is expected to sell.

 

Now, the ones who did SWTOR are not exactly world famous, but I would not be surprised if they made way, way more than $250/hr.

 

Yup. Though I'd argue about some of them as far as their fame goes. Tara Strong is a nearly legendary voice actress. She's been in EVERYTHING.

 

Look up how much the actors who voice The Simpsons are paid sometime. $300,000 per episode. 13 episodes a season...

Edited January 27, 2012 by LyriaFrost

[Andyonme]

You don't need famous people for voices in swtor, they could of got so many people who would of done it for free! I would of done it minus travelling expenses.