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JTVG · Backstage Pass Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 433

Anyone else noticing more financial extremes these days? Netflix hiking rates by as much as 60%. VO actors being asked to take a 45% pay cut. Wonder what it all means.

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/-the-simpsons--no-more--voice-actors--studio-have-a-cow-over-salaries.html
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cyclometh · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 8:23 pm Post subject:

I saw that article. Fox wants them to take a 45% pay cut from 8 million a year on a franchise that earns literally billions.
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Yonie · CM Joined: 31 Aug 2011 Posts: 906

Same thing as with the Futurama actors a few years back. They're playing financial games. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced another supposed re-casting.

Bruce · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:07 am Post subject:

Ay carumba, this is déjà vu all over again. Both sides have a cow, and then they make peace and have a barbecue.

D'oh.

B
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Bailey · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:45 pm Post subject:

Then...

Yonie · CM Joined: 31 Aug 2011 Posts: 906

I think FOX is looking at the decline in viewers and comparing it to the series' top notations. It still is a massive franchise, raking in cash for the company. The voice actors are probably the most notable and prolific VOs in modern history. They are the icons of the show and should be compensated for it, just like stars of other shows make big bucks. Not to mention that they've been there since the start, probably outliving more than one Fox exec.

anthonyVO · 14th Avenue Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 1470 Location: NYC

I think it boils down to what is the value of the person and what are they contributing to the work that is, in turn, generating revenue for a corporation. If there is a direct link between the work that they put in and the money that is generated, then they deserve their fair share (whether we see it as "insane" or not.)

A series that has become as iconic as the this one and that has such a core of fans, will undoubtedly be negatively affected should the voices be changed.

-Anthony

Scott Pollak · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:13 am Post subject:

JTVG · Backstage Pass Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 433

Update: http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/10/05/simpsons-pay-cuts/
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Bruce · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 6:44 am Post subject:

But if were an actor on that show and I saw this article in the L.A. Times three weeks ago that says Fox is considering an All-Simpson-All-the-Time Channel so they can bring in even more revenue, would I be entertaining a big pay cut?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/09/could-homer-simpson-get-his-own-channel.html

Not for a second.

B
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I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

Okay, here comes my pragmatic, bone-cold reality perspective:
(keep in mind I know very little about the inner workings of network TV/animation)
IMO It will boil down to,....

can they be replaced without the show suffering?

If they could, then FOX IMO would do it in a second.

However, I doubt that they can.
(Darn me for not working harder on my Homer Simpson imitation....d'oh!) Ninja

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 4:44 pm Post subject:

I dunno, Rob. The Muppets were never the same once Jim Henson died and Frank Oz left....
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Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

Yes, what I'm saying is if the network COULD replace the actors
w/out the show suffering, they would---in a heartbeat.

But I DOUBT that they could.

For example the replacement voices for
Bugs Bunny, etc., to my ear still don't match up exactly to Mel Blanc,
though they are very close.

It also could be a question of, do you hire a new cast of voices and hope
that the younger end of your audience grows up with the "replacement"
voices and then as young adults considers the replacement voices as
the legitimate Simpsons characters.....and on and on......

Bailey · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 7:33 pm Post subject:

A question about replacement.

Does anyone own the voices of Homer... Bart... and others in the show?
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Mike Sommer · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 1:22 am Post subject:

Though the pay seems on the excessive side, I do believe people tend to be paid exactly what they are worth. Now it seems Fox has decided they are not worth the $400,000 per episode that they willingly agreed to in 2008.

From what I'm understanding the cast has agreed to a 30% cut which would put them in the $280,000 range- this wound be about their per episode earnings form 2004 to 2008. Fox want's a 45% cut, which would be about $220,000 per episode - still, not chump change.

From what I can figure out is that in the past 23 years each actor has earned about $42,257,000±: for a grand total of $253,542,000± for all six actors, for the 23 seasons. This salary could have been paid for by little more than half of the box office for The Simpson's Movie ($527,071,022 ($12.50 of which is regretfully mine)).

For a franchies that has earned billions I say, get all that you can guys. And can I get my $12.50 back?
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