Punished Miku
Gold Member
I mean, she called for people to boycott the game. It goes well past petty. She looks unemployable.
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Hellena Taylor (Voice of Bayonetta) Describes How She was Offered only $4,000 USD to Voice Her Again in Bayonetta 3.
Rykan
Member
That's really the worst part about the entire thing, isn't it?
It's one thing to call for a boycott for something that happens to someone else, but to ask people to boycott the game just for your own sake? That's some narcissism right there.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Cant expect professionalism from loud media people. The type of industry where they wing social media quips without control.
Not every day you see people negatively rant on Linkedin against current or past employers. But when it comes to Twitter, no holds barred.
Topher
Gold Member
She seems to have been unemployable for years now for anything not Bayonetta. And now, that's gone too. Time for Hellena to do some mirror staring, I think.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Any bullet point breakdown?
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I faintly remember on this board or the purple one, someone said she does theatre work as her normal job. I dont know if thats true (or I misremembered what the poster said).
Negotiator
Member
She will live off welfare from now on, if she doesn't already.
Needlecrash
Member
If she had cleared this shit up and be upfront from the very beginning, then it wouldn't be much of a shit show. Now....it's a fucking mess.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Even worse and entitled, Jason's tweet says it was "at least" $15k and for a cameo. Cameos dont sound like full production work, but some kind of quick pop in and out contribution.
If that's all true, it sounds like the easiest $15k+ ever. And she held out out for higher demands - which Nintendo balked and moved on.
Key point to negotiations is be in the ballpark. Each side will first skew to their own interests, but when the demands from one one side is astronomical, dont expect the other side to play games going back and forth 30 times. They'll cut the cord fast and find someone else.
Given how bad she is at numbers (going by the VG Chartz math which looks logical how she got $450M franchise value), it looks like Hellena is awful at numbers and dollars.
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Bragr
Banned
It's absolutely not reasonable to demand 100K for voice work on a video game, no matter what it makes.
Voice actors in games are not actors in movies, virtually all of them are replaceable, she has almost nothing to do with how much it sells and the salary should reflect that.
I don't understand how it's possible to turn down 15K for a few voice sessions, especially since it's your biggest role and your most likely springboard to other jobs. I get the feeling she is declining "lesser" jobs, and only accepts premier offers. She wouldn't even do a fucking cameo for 4K.
That whole thing she was angry about was a gift from Platinum, that they still wanted her as part of the project, and they gave her a 4K offer for some minor role as a gift, and it made her so angry she made those videos to attack Platinum. Jesus.
There was a point where Nolan North was in every fucking video game because that's how voice work functions, you take what you can get.
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Fuz
Banned
Makes my blood boil.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Hellena Taylor doesn't know how to build up credentials.
If you look at Jennifer Hale's resume, she's been doing VA since the late 80s. Started small doing hardly any parts until her big splash in 1995 where she got hired doing tons of content. Since then it keeps growing. She consistently has around 10+ parts every year now across games or cartoons.
Jennifer Hale | Actress, Soundtrack, Music Artist
Known for: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, X-Men '97
www.imdb.com
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Fbh
Member
Lol and there's still people online defending her and saying $15k is not enough
- Original actress makes a video claiming she was only offered $4K to voice the entire game, says she felt insulted by it specially considering it's a $450 million franchise (a number which doesn't make sense given the rather low sales of both previous games) and asks for fans to boycott the game.
- Kamiya claims that to be false but gives no further detail
- J. Schreier publishes an article saying he talked to sources and was shown documents confirming that Platinum/Nintendo actually offered her between $3-4K per 4 hours recording session and they expected it to take at least 5 sessions so the actual offer was at least $15K
- The actress reportedly asked for a 6 figures sum instead (so at least $100K) and when Platinum wouldn't agree to it she declined the role.
- Platinum then made her a final offer of $4K for a cameo role that would have taken a single 4 hours session.
- Actress declines.
- A second site aside from Bloomberg (Schreier) independently confirms the claims with their own sources.
- The actress now basically confirms the Schreier report to be real (offer was indeed $15K) but insists that it's not a "living wage" and doubles down on her likely false claim that Bayonetta is a $450 million franchise.
- Original actress makes a video claiming she was only offered $4K to voice the entire game, says she felt insulted by it specially considering it's a $450 million franchise (a number which doesn't make sense given the rather low sales of both previous games) and asks for fans to boycott the game.
- Kamiya claims that to be false but gives no further detail
- J. Schreier publishes an article saying he talked to sources and was shown documents confirming that Platinum/Nintendo actually offered her between $3-4K per 4 hours recording session and they expected it to take at least 5 sessions so the actual offer was at least $15K
- The actress reportedly asked for a 6 figures sum instead (so at least $100K) and when Platinum wouldn't agree to it she declined the role.
- Platinum then made her a final offer of $4K for a cameo role that would have taken a single 4 hours session.
- Actress declines.
- A second site aside from Bloomberg (Schreier) independently confirms the claims with their own sources.
- The actress now basically confirms the Schreier report to be real (offer was indeed $15K) but insists that it's not a "living wage" and doubles down on her likely false claim that Bayonetta is a $450 million franchise.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
She'd be great to watch at a car dealership wheeling and dealing.
Hellena: Hi, I'm interested in this car
Salesman: Great, glad to see you back Hellena. It's been a long time. Our records show you bought your last car here 8 years ago
Hellena: Thanks. I see you got the new 2023 models out. How much is this car?
Salesman: The sticker price is $50,000, but let's chat we can go lower
Hellena: I'll give you $7,000 for it
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cireza
Banned
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KormaChameleon
Member
Well, someone is going to be on job seeker allowance from now on.
drotahorror
Member
Hilarious she thinks Bayo is a half billion dollar franchise.
$15k is pretty good wages considering her pedigree in voice acting (she barely has any).
A real piece of work this one is.
$15k is pretty good wages considering her pedigree in voice acting (she barely has any).
A real piece of work this one is.
MiguelItUp
Member
Yuuuuup, all while breaking NDA, throwing Jennifer Hale under the bus, etc. I think it's hilarious that after Bloomberg "confirmed details from multiple sources" that Hellena was all, "Hey, let's forget about this. I wanna put it all behind me." When she was the one that initiated everything in the first place. Then AFTER that, she comes out with MORE tweets basically snuffing what she originally said, and bloating it with other nonsense? What a mess of a situation caused by one lady. She essentially tarnished her career as a result.So she basically hid the fact she was offered 10k upsold to 15k for the role initially, got turned down, was offered a cameo for 4k, made it public lying this was their second offer for the role asked everyone to boycott the game.
That's what I'M saying. Especially when they confirmed that unionized pay for VAs and for that much work typically falls between $15K-$20K.
Topher
Gold Member
Cool. She should stick to that.
justiceiro
Marlboro: Other M
Luckily for her, this is a Sega franchise, not a Nintendo one. Otherwise, Nintendo would sue her to oblivion without blinking twice.
AJUMP23
Gold Member
Platinum franchise, paid for by Nintendo.
I think this is one of those occasions where she should have STFU. White knights and people with skin in the game(VAs and people championing VAs) will defend you to the grave(tho tbh, the latter to a lesser extent after the BLBG article). All you need is enough ambiguity, and she sort of had it. The Bloomberg article did rain on her parade, but people still had her back because:
Nintendo and Platinum won't actually say anything-maybe just a flat corporate response that says nothing
Jason can't actually provide proof for people to see(doesn't matter how well he's respected, people will hold out)
Hale and the other VAs are under NDA, so can't say anything even if they knew everything
You're not exactly home-free, but you can at least kick back, maybe say some vague statements or whatever. But apparently she just said fuck it and started digging that grave for herself.
It is sorta interesting the amount of people still doubling down on it though, or are ignoring the fact that she misrepresented the truth(Youtubers, industry vets etc). Watched a video with Cr1tikal and he seemed pretty convinced Bayo was a AAA 450 million dollar franchise. So there's a lot of ignorance and bias around to float her boat somewhat, but alas...
Nintendo and Platinum won't actually say anything-maybe just a flat corporate response that says nothing
Jason can't actually provide proof for people to see(doesn't matter how well he's respected, people will hold out)
Hale and the other VAs are under NDA, so can't say anything even if they knew everything
You're not exactly home-free, but you can at least kick back, maybe say some vague statements or whatever. But apparently she just said fuck it and started digging that grave for herself.
It is sorta interesting the amount of people still doubling down on it though, or are ignoring the fact that she misrepresented the truth(Youtubers, industry vets etc). Watched a video with Cr1tikal and he seemed pretty convinced Bayo was a AAA 450 million dollar franchise. So there's a lot of ignorance and bias around to float her boat somewhat, but alas...
The Cartographer
Member
Keep on digging, Taylor...I'm grinning like Cheshire Cat here.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Oh ya, forgot about the residuals part.
So depending on what she asked for, she thinks she's big enough (like a Hollywood star) to demand a % of sales or royalty payments as bonus payouts. Crazy.
Who knew the VA for Bayonetta would ask for such a thing.
Neff
Member
Absolutely not, she's been hugely misled and it's affected her self-value for the worse.
Platinum doesn't own a thing. It's Sega's character. Sega owns Bayo 1 and the animated movie. Nintendo co-owns Bayo 2 and 3 with Sega. Nintendo almost certainly has first option on Bayo 4. As bizarre as it might sound, if Nintendo declines to make Bayo 4, there's nothing to stop Sega knocking on Ninja Theory's door and asking them to make it. PlatinumGames would be powerless to stop them.
Absolutely. Nobody has gotten anything good out of this, least of all herself. What she was initially offered was more than reasonable. The fact that she declined an even better offer is just pure greed and ignorance on her part.
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Rykan
Member
It's a little more nuanced than that, I think.
Let's go with the hypothetical scenario that Bayonetta made 450 Million USD, right? If we take certain factors into account (Region pricing, discount on sales, etc) and the fact that there are only two games in the franchise, that would put the sales somewhere between 10 million and 15 million copies. For reference: That is Halo 1 - Halo 2 levels of success we're talking about.
That is a huge audience for a franchise, and when your audience is that big, you can't rule out that the voice acting can be important to a certain part of your audience. This also opens up all sorts of other opportunities: Spin offs, merchandising. Licensing. It makes sense to invest in the face of the game, which is the main character and voice acting is an essential characteristic. To use an extreme example: People don't purchase a Mario game for its voice acting, but you can bet that Martinet is paid millions for his performances, even when they are often little more than yelps.
AJUMP23
Gold Member
Cool, I thought Sega had given up or sold the rights. Nice that Sega and Nintendo work together now.
Shakka43
Member
Team Ninja I imagine you mean.
Portugeezer
Member
I don't want to devalue art, voice acting is important, but I think she vastly overestimated ($100k lul) the importance of voicing an OTT action game character.
She should not get more than any programmer at Platinum.
She should not get more than any programmer at Platinum.
Neff
Member
SaturnSaturn
Member
Well, one would hope
God the "Donte" and DMC slideshows where such a spit in the face to every original fan. such a taneem self insert.
Reallink
Member
Japanese game programmers at a company like Platinum only make around $40K/yr, or around $20/hr. Her "insulting" offer of $15K for 4x 4hour sessions was already 50x what any Platinum developer earns.
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DemonGamerTTT
Member
I wonder how all the dumb simps that jumped into conclusions and said that they would boycott the game are feeling right
now...
Cancel culture idiots you are the problem, Not the solution!!!
Please stay out videogames you fucks.
now...
Cancel culture idiots you are the problem, Not the solution!!!
Please stay out videogames you fucks.
feynoob
Banned
That is what attracts those idiots.
Sadly, anyone can now exploit their anger to their advantage. Which is why I never trust anyone story on the internet.
feynoob
Banned
That is my yearly college tuition. I would gladly do that job 6 times a year.
AddiF
Member
I was not really interested in buying the game but I was intrigued by it, but this boycott-lies thing has made me decide to support Platinum Games and indeed buy B3.
Mrs. Taylor really sold more Beyonetta 3 copies with her actions. "Well" done, I guess?
Cancel culture is a stain on humanity.
Mrs. Taylor really sold more Beyonetta 3 copies with her actions. "Well" done, I guess?
Cancel culture is a stain on humanity.
Bragr
Banned
Well, Bayonetta sold a lot less than that, but ok, let's say it did.
There is plenty of games that sold over 10 million where voice acting is worth very little. Where the big bucks come from, is how famous the actors are and how they levy that.
People like Charles Marinet and Troy Baker are worth millions but they are not only selling their voices, but also their fame and name. Having Troy Baker as Joel is a prestige thing. Charles Marinet voiced countless Nintendo characters for 30 years, just having him say WOOO is like a tradition.
I did a quick search and it seems Nolan North is worth 2 million, Troy Baker is worth 6 million, and Charles Marinet is worth 10 million. (don't trust these shit ass google numbers though, but still.)
2 games in the Bayonetta franchises, even if they sold 15 million copies, can never match that. She just doesn't have the name or career to be worth that. Maybe if she worked in the industry for 20 years, and her name was known by all, but it just isn't. It's a niche game and a talented but obscure voice actress, no matter the game sales.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
She got greedy. After an 8 year layoff from Bayonetta 2, she thought she had enough pull for Bayonetta 3 to demand $100,000+ wage + back end residual payments. She failed miserably.
It looks like they even threw her a bone for $4,000 for one recording session as a cameo appearance and she balked at it as a personal insult. Made worse with chain of tweets to the world that were totally out of context. She could not have handled the situation worse.
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She's not all there, for sure. I'm talking more generally about people thinking VO actors deserve residuals. If they are using your likeness like in L.A. Noire I can understand, but if you just give a voice. I don't get it.
SF Kosmo
Al Jazeera Special Reporter
If she asked for $100K plus points as a final offer and walked then there's no defending her, that's just delusional.
Plus it seems like she grossly misrepresented the situation in her initial post. She was offered $15,000, which is going rate, not an insult. And while I would still sympathize with her for wanting more than going rate to reprise a role she defined across multiple releases, it seems like she overshot by a lot.
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