[Television] Futurama

They might only be paid $50,000 per episode instead of $60,000. Oh no!

Originally Posted by Kairi Li

Whether or not this is for real, or some tactic by FOX to force the voice actors to accept a lower salary, it still pisses me off.

Oy gevalt. If Adonai can hear you, he's surely plotzed

This is a negotiating tactic by Fox, definitely.

Originally Posted by Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg

They might only be paid $50,000 per episode instead of $60,000. Oh no!

Voice actors never get paid that much, unless you're a Simpsons VO, and even then I am skeptical. Anime voice overs DEFINITELY do not get paid that much, and the million dollar contracts go to people who say "Tonight at 8, on Fox." "This, is CNN." Advertising pays more than voice acting, despite the recording sessions wrapping up in less than half and hour. The VAs have stated that its not a fair system.

My source? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_in_Voice_Acting

I highly recommend this documentary for people who wanna be a voice actor. Pretty much the majority of them, even the famous ones, say it is difficult to make a living off of it, and that is from actors who are popular and well known. One VA stated that he was usually broke by the end of each month. Broke meaning negative dollars, not "Oh, I have about 100 bucks left."

Remember, a voice actors pay =/= Live Action Actor's pay.

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According to Phil LaMarr voice of Hermes, Fox made up the salary figures, probably to make the cast look bad and hope the fans will chew them up?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phil-LaMarr/96103376147

http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=96103376147

Quote:

From Phil LaMarr (via Facebook): "[20th Century Fox] just dis-invited the cast members who were supposed to appear [at the Futurama Comic-Con panel] so it may not be entertaining but it’ll certainly be interesting."

Furthermore, LaMarr has refuted the previously-reported claim by Variety that the cast was asking for $75,000 per episode: "Apparently Fox has decided to just make up numbers. The $75,000 figure they cite is not even close to what the cast is asking for. If it was, Katey Sagal would be there now during character designs!"

Variety says 20th Century Fox has "no plans" to continue talks with the cast.

Source:Toon Zone - Your Source for Toon News!

Its a little hard to defend FOX right now after hearing this.

There are more Phil LarMarr quotes, along with various ridiculous BS Fox is pulling on this blog entry. Its LONG cause he keeps updating it with new info, so start out by scrolling down and work your way up.

http://voiceactors.wordpress.com/200...cast-futurama/

Putting audition callouts on CRAIGLIST?! Really, Fox?!

Quote:

It has been brought to my attention that there is speculation that the Craigslist ad is nothing more than a prank.

I just got off the phone with a representative from Dandridge Entertainment who stated that the ad “is not a prank,” and added that the same notice has been forwarded by a number of other agencies to their voice talents.

And on the same topic Phil LaMarr says, “[This] is not a joke for Comic-Con, it is not a ‘new direction’ for the show, it is not an imaginary story – it’s an attempt by the studio to increase their profit on the show by getting the voice actors to agree to less money.”

Update 7.20.2009 is probably the one that gets me the most. Click on the blog link and read that particular one.

To summarise, anyone who replaces the cast is not gonna get paid according to Craigslist.

Quote:

Phil LaMarr adds on this subject, “No working voice actor will touch [this]. 1) Because why would any actor take the side of a corporation trying to crush fellow creative people and 2) If you’re hired as part of a negotiating tactic – which this is – odds are you’ll do one episode, they’ll rehire the original actor, erase your voice and you’ll walk away with one day’s pay and a reputation forever as the guy who tried to help Fox wreck Futurama. Is it really worth it?”

Also regarding whether or not the cast is at the Con, they are, but they are no longer part of the Futurama Panel. All they can do is sign stuff and talk to fans in the lines.

Looks like good news.

Quote:

LOS ANGELES–The Star has learned exclusively that the entire voice cast of Futurama has just signed a new contract with Fox after weeks of intense salary negotiations.

As late as last week, the network was threatening to replace the original voices of Matt Groening's cult-hit cartoon, to the point of actually announcing a casting call for voice actors to replace them.

The Futurama voice cast includes John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.

The compromise agreement, with the studio paying more and the actors accepting less, comes after the announcement of a 26-episode pick-up here by Comedy Central. Futurama also airs internationally in syndication, has produced four bestselling straight-to-DVD movies (later cut into episodes) and an upcoming feature film.

"We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back. The call has already `gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters," Futurama creators Groening and David X. Cohen said in a joint statement.

TheStar.com | entertainment | Futurama cast members ink new deal with Fox

There's an upcoming feature film?

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

There's an upcoming feature film?

This, but sounds great that the original cast is back. Might be worth watching when new episodes pop out.

IGN: Futurama Voice Cast Returning!

IGN also confirmed this, though did point out STAR jumped a gun a bit as it wasn't completely done when they reported this.

I just hope the VAs didn't get a huge cut from their pay. Like I said before, voice actors don't get paid as much as people believe.

Quote:

And now we're completely in the clear! We just got this word from 20th Century Fox: "Just wanted you to know that we now have deals with the entire Futurama voice cast to return: John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal."

Futurama creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen released this statement: "We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back. The call has already gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters."

Who wants to bet there is at least one reference to all of this madness in an upcoming episode?

Also, Voice Actors in the News has this to say on the "lack of research" on Variety and The Hollywood Reporter's part in the fake salary number the cast were supposedly asking:

Quote:

I’d like to point out that Variety reporter Michael Schneider is attempting to gloss over his previous misreporting. Yes, that’s correct. Mr. Schneider was also responsible for Variety’s previous article which included the gross exaggeration that the cast was demanding $75K per episode.

Here is Schneider’s weak attempt to backtrack on his earlier statement:

"It was believed that the “Futurama” cast were asking for around $75,000 per episode, although the actors have said their request was actually much lower than that. It was not clear what 20th was offering."

So because Schneider “believed” the cast was asking that amount, instead of doing thorough investigative reporting before publishing, he still felt it necessary to grossly mis-speculate and report his assumptions as facts, thus making the cast look like greedy a-holes?

Such lazy, subjective journalism is pathetic, unnecessary, unprofessional, and damaging to the cast.

Furthermore, The Hollywood Reporter’s Nellie Andreeva was the one responsible for writing the original article which stated that the actors were asking for a “tenfold increase” — an even greater exaggeration and misrepresentation of the facts which again portrayed the cast in a very negative manner. And get this — THR edited their article! And without a retraction!

It now reads:

"The cast of “Futurama,” which ran on Fox from 1999-2002, are said to have been offered modest pay increases but have insisted for bumps of several times what they used to make.

(Scroll down to read THR’s statement as it originally appeared.)

And in THR’s latest article (linked above), reporter Andreeva has now dramatically altered the statement she originally published:

"Financial terms of the agreements were not released but it is understood that both sides have made compromises to bridge the initial salary gap, in which the actors were said to have asked for several times what the studio was offering. "

Andreeva went from saying a “tenfold increase” to “several times,” and tries to remove blame for her earlier misstatement by ignoring what she reported previously — throwing a third-person past tense spin on it as if she didn’t write it (”were said”).

It goes without saying that this is wrong, but there… I said it. Such behavior has no place in journalism, and Variety and The Hollywood Reporter should both be ashamed for such shotty reporting.

It’s understood here that this is a blog, so commentary and subjectivity are to be expected. And yet I still generally just report the news objectively, and occasionally interject a little commentary. (That’s just my style.) But I’m appalled at the reporters of both of these industry publications for making the cast look bad by publishing assumptions as fact.

Updated: Futurama Recasting Full Coverage — It’s Over! Futurama Cast FTW! Voice Actors in the News

For now, just take "feature film" as people who misunderstood, and then forgot to follow up on it for confirmation.