Michael Hollick, who voiced Grand Theft Auto IV's Niko Bellic, and provided the body for the character, earned a measly $100,000 for 15 months of voice over work since late 2006. He's upset, of course, since the game has sold millions of copies and raked in over $600 million so far for Rockstar Games and parent Take-Two Interactive.
You already know whose side the New York Times Seth Schiesel is on, because he editorializes the situation in this way (emphasis ours): "Mr. Hollick was paid only about $100,000 [...] with zero royalties or residuals in sight."
To some, earning $100k for a little over a year's work – for speaking into a microphone – might not be a situation of "only" getting six-figures.
Then again, Hollick's voice and likeness have been used to reap huge profits, and had this been a film or television series, he'd be getting a much larger share of things.
Says Hollick: "But it’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it. I don’t blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games. Yes, the technology is important, but it’s the human performances within them that people really connect to, and I hope actors will get more respect for the work they do within those technologies." [NYT]
So, blame the contracts between actors guilds and video game makers, which provide little structure for compenstation requirements.
"For instance, our contracts say nothing about the use of voices for promotional purposes over the Internet," says Hollick. "The first G.T.A. IV trailer generated something like 40 million hits online, and that’s my voice all over it, and I get nothing. If that were a radio spot, I would have. Same thing for the TV ads. I recorded those lines for the game, but now they’re all over television. It’s another gray area."
Then again, nobody is buying GTA to hear Hollick speak, or see him lunge around on screen. But nobody is going to see Kung Fu Panda to see Angelina Jolie, either.
Editorial Director
What he is really saying is, no one hire me to do voice work anymore or I'll sue you if the game is a hit.
No offense to Hollick's performance, but Grand Theft Auto has been a powerful franchise already selling millions of copies. He has no excuse being surprised that it's selling as well as it is.
By the way, if the game totally flopped, do you think he'd feel bad and give some money back?
Hollick's point is just what he states. IE the Union's have some holes in the contracts that should be filled with provisions that cover ALL the usage and whatever residual structure is comparable to other types of work.
Admittedly, I would have loved to have made a hundred grand last year, or any year for that matter but I see (and agree with) him on this issue.
If Russ Crowe or some other big screen name had done the voice….100 grand wouldn't even come close to the payday they would have gotten.