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spamac · 2 years

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You know you really do live in a post logic, late stage capitalistic dystopian hellscape when people bend over backwards as hard as they are right now hate a damn near impoverished voice actor who just wanted higher pay so she could keep a roof over her head to defend a company backed by one of the richest companies in the world who thought her contribution to their franchise for a decade was only worth $4000 on their third installment, especially when she plays the main character for one of the main languages the game is released in.

Like, how dare she want to be paid what her contribution was worth, right?

Am I saying that Hellena Taylor is perfect? Hell no. I don't like some of the things she said about the new voice actor at all. But what I am saying is I understand her anger and sadness and pain and I don't think $4000 is acceptable pay for ANY voice actor in a non indie game, regardless of how few hours it takes. Especially with how expensive everything is these days. Period. That's like two months rent in most places, and voice work is intermittent and many times sparce. And she's playing the main character, too? That's utterly disrespectful. I would never have the nerve to try something like that.

I actually saw someone complaining that she broke an NDA. Do you know how much good had been done by whistleblowers who broke NDAs? Please. Some NDAs are good and protect innocent people, but corporate ones? Nah. They are mostly just gag orders used to keep people quiet about something the company is trying to sweep under the rug. Break that shit. Sometimes you have to in order to do what's right. And if breaking this one gets us to finally talk about the shit pay that voice actors make, then I'm all for it.

That's all I've got to say, really. I feel bad for voice actors. They bring us so much joy, and so many of them are barely making ends meet. The voice acting industry needs to do better because I can't even say they are doing the bare minimum right now. Hell, the entire game industry needs change as well. None of this is okay.

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spamac · 2 years

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I’m pretty sure everyone is probably sick of hearing about this Hellena Taylor/Bayonetta 3 situation. And quite honestly I wasn’t planning on talking about it in depth because well, I had thought that everyone agreed that what happened to Taylor was an injustice and that the industry should do better when it comes to treating their workers like human beings.

Well that doesn’t appear to be the case, as I apparently found out that there were people trying to discredit Taylor’s claims. Now granted, they’re a vocal minority but it’s still jarring nonetheless.

The lengths some people will go to to defend Platinum and Nintendo are mind boggling in all honesty, some of my favorite arguments include.

“Taylor said this awful thing back in 2019, therefore I’m glad she’s not coming back.”

“This is a non issue for me because I play the game in Japanese.”

“4k doesn’t seem that bad of an offer.”

“4k is the industry standard. She’s mad about nothing.”

“She was only brought in to voice a cameo. And that’s why she was only offered 4k.”

“She talked shit about her replacement, which is unprofessional.”

Now, I’m not asking you to boycott the game, I mean if anything the game is gonna sell way more copies because of this controversy. My problem is that everyone knows the entertainment industry is notorious for pulling this kind of shit on a daily basis, but nobody with any major influence is willing to speak out against it because quote “That’s just how things are.”

Regardless of what you think of Hellena Taylor as a person, you can’t deny that it took a lot of fucking guts to do what she did. Not a lot of people in this industry are willing to break an NDA to speak out against an injustice because they know they’ll get blacklisted, but Taylor didn’t care. She already got fired and replaced, so it’s not like she has anything else left to lose at this point.

I guarantee you that what happened to Taylor happens all the fucking time, but again, you don’t hear about it because everyone is scared of being blacklisted for breaking NDA’s. And honestly, this type of shit needs to stop being the norm.

How do I know everyone is scared of being blacklisted? Take a look at Jennifer Hale’s response to the situation.

Now, at first glad it seems like a pretty reasonable response, but then you realize it’s not saying much. It doesn’t address anything, nor does it go into any detail over what happened when Hale was cast as Bayonetta.

It’s basically just a PR statement.

“Don’t boycott this game because a lot of people worked really hard on it.”

Okay, that’s cool but, why was Hellena Taylor only offered 4k to reprise her role? Why did Platinum lie and say that “various overlapping circumstances” were the reason why she didn’t come back? Were you offered the same rate?

And before anyone says anything, no I’m not saying it’s okay to harass Jennifer Hale over this whole thing nor am I accusing her of covering her own ass, I’m just pointing out that the statement she released only raises more questions.

I’m really hoping that when the game comes out and Hale is no longer NDA that she gives her side of the story, because I feel like there’s a lot more stuff that went on behind the scenes that has yet to come to light.

Also, the fact that Platinum and Nintendo have yet to put out an official statement at the time of writing speaks volumes to how little they value the English voice actors who bring a lot of these iconic characters to life.

Oh yeah, before I forget, fuck every single reactionary asshole on YouTube who is trying to profit off of this whole thing. You mother fuckers don’t give a shit about a lot of the stuff you talk about, so get the fuck out of here with all this clickbait nonsense.

At the end of the day, this is just an overall shitty situation and I do hope that more people end up speaking out against the injustices of the entertainment industry, because this type of shit needs to fucking stop.

#honestly this

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spamac · 2 years

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people are being so astronomically stupid about voice actors and specifically the bayonetta recast, like these Twitter losers are calculating out "oh well she would have made $25/hr which is actually pretty good, so, she shouldn't complain"

1) that's an absolute shit wage for going to school for 5+ years perfecting a skill and working in a field for over a decade, it's barely a livable wage for a sole earner where these industries are based

2) NOBODY BATS AN EYE at live action actors getting millions in residuals, even bit actors or one-off cameos where somebody's on screen for 10 minutes they get paid bank, but somehow a voice actor whose job it is to breathe life into an iconic character only deserves pennies in comparison?

it reminds me so much of that post about how people bitch about graphic artists charging "so much" for a logo "that takes an hour to make" without considering the YEARS of unpaid training and practice that went into getting there (and paying your way through school)---people truly think that anybody can scribble out something in MS paint, they think they could walk into a studio and talk into a microphone and it would be as good as a trained voice actor. there is no respect for artists or their skills. fuck.

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spamac · 2 years

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Since it’s not trending (at least not for me)

Hellena Taylor, Voice of Bayonetta, has spoken out about why she has not reprised her role for Bayonetta 3.

She was only offered $4,000 USD. For the entirety of Bayonetta 3.

Here’s a link to her Twitter thread.

More voice actors are coming forward about how much they were paid for certain roles.

Like how Sean Chiplock made more money from his 2 off-screen lines in Detective Pikachu than all of Breath of the Wild.

These people breathe life into these characters. They should be paid accordingly.

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spamac · 2 years

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spamac · 2 years

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https://twitter.com/TheSphereHunter/status/1581300017863618560?t=00qkB7svG-GxYR81DKGakw&s=19

I hadn't been keeping up with the news, so I didn't even know yet that Bayonetta's original VA wasn't returning, but long story short - Hellena Taylor was offered a pittance to return to a role she made iconic, and when she turned it down, they lied and said she couldn't return due to scheduling conflicts.

If you click through, she has 3 short videos explaining the situation and imploring fans to boycott Bayonetta 3, and instead asks to give that money to charity instead.

This is absolutely emblematic of ongoing issues with voice actors being disregarded and disrespected and not being paid a living wage. $4,000 USD for an entire game, a game that's made millions, no residuals. A single flat fee that comes out to less than what I make at a desk job in two months, for a role she shaped and made real.

I don't have anything smart or eloquent to say about it - please watch her videos and support her by boycotting this game.

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spamac · 2 years

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