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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.

Isa

Gold Member
I always wondered if people doing voiceovers in games get royalties of any kind after that up front payment? That's a really low number
I'm assuming that might be part of the lowball offer. I know games and movies are different, but Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito's highest paying film so far has been the movie Twins, because they opted for the long-term delayed gratification royalties, and the film not only grossed well it had legs. A very good investment.

I get where she's coming from and it sucks, but this also seems petty and like some primadonna attitude especially in regards to her own worth and value. Take for example Nolan North who when receiving his award for performance went out and said he was just the voice, it was the super talented artists, coders and animators that were the real unsung stars that made the character. I appreciate the effort and style she put into the character but acting like she exclusively has the rights to play the part reeks of arrogance and asking fans to boycott on her financial behalf is quite funny. We are only hearing one side of the story here, and I'm sure there are other negotiating factors that weren't mentioned. Plus as others have mentioned the amount of work being offered. From what I've seen of the adult vid/game scene, plenty of VA ladies are making bank doing roughly the same amount of work or less(often the latter) with more impressive... acting and emotion. But I digress...

Like girl do you know how many voice actors lost their roles over the years!? Bayonetta is not some household name despite my love of it, its super niche. I'm glad its still around and I'm sorry for your loss(that's how many days recording work? For a game like this with little story I assume not much) but you chose not to accept. Who hasn't been lowballed in life? You suck it up and move on. I didn't ask friends and family to boycott or stop doing business anywhere because my dignity was insulted.
 

AetherZX

Member
They flat out lowballed the voice of the iconic character, and then brought in a big name in the industry when she said no. Sounds to me like nintendo got what they were hoping for, which is a damn shame. I’m betting they didn’t want her to return to begin with.

That's exactly what it was. There's no chance in hell Jennifer Hale is being paid similarly.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member


That's no joke btw.

Ice Cube Friday GIF by HBO Max


Nintendo is pulling a fast one, lol.
 

Dane

Member
How you massive lowball one VA and you instead hire a more famous VA (Jennifer Hale) which would 100% sure cost way more than simply paying what the original actor asked?

I wonder if they were planning to kick her out anyways and decided to pull that one to shoo her away, or they decided that Taylor was asking the same as a much bigger VA and replaced it.
 
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TexMex

Member
How many lines?



Very petty.

Pretty much where I’m at. It feels low, but I have no idea what industry standard for this kind of job would be and insulting your replacement is low class bullshit. I especially love that she considers it betrayal because she voiced her mom in the game adaptation of the golden compass lol.
 

Nautilus

Banned
I do have to start saying that she thinking that's her RIGHT to be bayonetta, and that the new actress doesn't deserve to play her is very petty, to say the least. I get that she is frustrated and angry, but still.

Having said that, 4k for the role of the main protagonist, in a game that Bayonetta personality carries alot of the plot and atmosphere, is nothing. Like, 4k in that situation is a begger's pittance. I'm completely out of the loop on how much these things cost, but someone of her talents, and the role(and ammount of lines) she plays should have to cost at least 100k.

I imagine Nintendo knew they could hire someone else to do a job at least as good as her, and I honestly can barely tell the difference between the voices(so congrats to the new actress), so Nintendo went for it. Its a business at the end of the day.


And this boycott thing will fall on deaf ears. Who in their right minds would boycott a seemingly fantastic game just because a person, albeit an important one, didn't land a gig?
 

Nautilus

Banned
She was quite good but nobody is boycotting this.

This does raise questions about the budget for the overall project tho.
Yeah. The game had AT LEAST 5 years of dev. With planninh, this is probably closer to 6 years. I bet Nintendo and Platinum spent waaaaay more than they expected in the game dev, and started cuting costs where they could. It sucks that shes not back, but the new voice actress is really good, so in the end fans won't mind that much(meaning Nintendo made the right choice)
 

solidus12

Member
Maybe, but she's right.

You know maybe if the VA community had followed Guy Cihi's example instead of throwing him under the bus this wouldn't have happened.

Good on Taylor for actually taking a stand. I was already boycotting it anyway but I like the donate to charity idea.
What’s the story with Guy Cihi? He’s James Sunderland’s voice actor right?
 

dugdug

Banned
I absolutely can’t believe some people here are diminishing Hellena’s voice acting here.

Her performance is iconic and is a *major* reason why anyone even fucking remembers these games enough to get a third game. The gall to say she’s being petty after giving this industry one of its most memorable icons is embarrassing.

Fuck Platinum Games. Overrated-ass company doesn’t deserve her anyway.
 
lol this is kinda embarrassing . she should just quit, stop crying, and get over it lol. I loved her voice acting but this is pathetic 😎😅 obviously she doesn't know how to bargain or negotiate . they didn't value her. she's probably super annoying lol. as proven in this video. I will not donate to charity, instead I'll be getting 3 copies 😎
 
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I absolutely can’t believe some people here are diminishing Hellena’s voice acting here.

Her performance is iconic and is a *major* reason why anyone even fucking remembers these games enough to get a third game. The gall to say she’s being petty after giving this industry one of its most memorable icons is embarrassing.

Fuck Platinum Games. Overrated-ass company doesn’t deserve her anyway.

Studios rarely get involved with the pay and contractual agreements with voice talent. It's mostly the publisher.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
$4K is pathetic. Standard industry rates + her value as an established and identifiable returning character should be recognized.

Compensating her even only 5X that is a drop in the bucket.
 

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
I believe this is a Platinum decision not a Nintendo one. Does she say how much she were paid for the previous entries?
 

Fbh

Member
I don't know how many work hours voicing a game like Bayonetta takes, nor what the industry standard is, nor what she was paid for the previous games, so it's hard to rally have an opinion on it.
From the way she describes it it sounds like they were offering very little compared to the previous games so that sucks. And yeah not wanting to pay for the original actress but then going an getting a famous one that's probably a lot more expensive seems weird. Maybe there's some other reason they didn't want to work with her?

But asking people to boycott the game, come on, lets be real, it isn't going to happen, these people waiting for the next bayonetta game, have been waiting years.

I'd get it if it was a very story heavy game but at least for me the plot is always the worst part.
I'm there for the cool gameplay, if anything if they announced this was going to have 90% fewer cutscenes I'd see it as a positive.
 
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Mister Wolf

Member
lol this is kinda embarrassing . she should just quit, stop crying, and get over it lol. I loved her voice acting but this is pathetic 😎😅 obviously she doesn't know how to bargain or negotiate . they didn't value her. she's probably super annoying lol. as proven in this video. I will not donate to charity, instead I'll be getting 3 copies 😎

Weaponizing social media over not being hired for a job says a lot about her character. Reeks of entitlement.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
That sucks. I love the franchise. It raises so many questions. Work culture is very different in Japan. There’s honor in staying at your employer for a very long time if I remember correctly. I bet that doesn’t mean anything for a contract position.

I wish stuff like this didn’t happen. I’m getting that big edition too. It’s also something that happened years ago?
 
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Topher

Gold Member
Maybe there's some other reason they didn't want to work with her?

That's what I'm wondering. You would think the voice of Bayonetta would be offered all kinds of jobs in the industry, but over the last 10 years she has performed in five games. All as Bayonetta. Something seems off.
 
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Beechos

Member
That's what I'm wondering. You would think the voice of Bayonetta would be offered all kinds of jobs in the industry, but over the last 10 years she has performed in five games. All as Bayonetta. Something seems off.
Maybe shes a pain in the ass to work with and if shes not happy and gets her way something like this happens, trying to shame and create outrage without providing all the details.
 

Fbh

Member
That's what I'm wondering. You would think the voice of Bayonetta would be offered all kinds of jobs in the industry, but over the last 10 years she has performed in five games. All as Bayonetta. Something seems off.

Yeah, I mean tinfoil hats on and of course I don't want to accuse her of anything without having insight into the situation. But the whole deal just seems weird.
If they had replaced her with some unknown actress I'd just asume they are trying to be cheap and save money on the voice cast. But them going with Jennifer Hale seems to indicate money wasn't the issue.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Maybe shes a pain in the ass to work with and if shes not happy and gets her way something like this happens, trying to shame and create outrage without providing all the details.

No idea. I'd say I think we all know this isn't outside the realm of possibility when it comes to celebrities and their egos. The fact that they hired Jennifer Hale in her place is significant. I can't imagine Hale received the same offer. If this offer was truly insulting then they must have paid her a lot more in the previous games. That tells me Platinum was ready to part ways for whatever reason.

Yeah, I mean tinfoil hats on and of course I don't want to accuse her of anything without having insight into the situation. But the whole deal just seems weird.
If they had replaced her with some unknown actress I'd just asume they are trying to be cheap and save money on the voice cast. But them going with Jennifer Hale seems to indicate money wasn't the issue.

Exactly. This wasn't about money, I don't think.
 
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ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
That's what I'm wondering. You would think the voice of Bayonetta would be offered all kinds of jobs in the industry, but over the last 10 years she has performed in five games. All as Bayonetta. Something seems off.
It won't matter if she's the issue. I'm sure people on other forums are already giddy for this corporation bad drama.

Though it could boost sales, there's no bad publicity controversy is always good.
 

KingT731

Member
Doesn't bayonetta have a Japanese voice actress? Cause I'm assuming that's where this game sells the most so that'll also come into play when seeing the profit margins of the game series.

Not that I'm saying 4,000$ is even remotely okay for the work I'm just saying.

EDIT: apparently 2 bombed in Japan, huh.
Yeah B2 bombed on the Wii U and had a resurgence with the Switch port.
 

Dane

Member
What’s the story with Guy Cihi? He’s James Sunderland’s voice actor right?
When Konami was doing Silent Hill 2 remaster for the HD Collection, it was only promised a new voice acting because they had to contact the original voice actors to make a new contract for their original work. Guy Cihi asked for residuals over the Xbox and PC versions released after the PS2 version which dragged the issue for a bit, Troy Baker (who voiced James in the new voice option) responded to Cihi's claims as non existent in the industry, but in the end it was all resolved and he signed the contract.

Years later in an interview with a Silent Hill fan youtube channel, Cihi explained that he didn't know that it was different in the videogame industry because it was his only work in the field and was actually his daughter who was casting for Laura (didn't get cast), he was only accompanying her, but the developers took notice of him and made a few tests and gave him the role of James. He said that Konami didn't make proper contracts with the voice actors back then, one of them even raised the issues when it came to sign the HD Collection contract.
 
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Fbh

Member
Exactly. This wasn't about money, I don't think.

Honestly her reaction says a lot. She could have just answered questions saying she couldn't reach a financial agreement with Platinum/Nintendo or just been direct and said they were offering way less than in previous games (I'm assuming) and she felt offended by the offer.

But making it a video where she asks people to Boycott the game? Who will want to work with her now? "Yes let's hire the actress that will go ask people to boycott our product if we ever have a falling out".
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
I can understand her walking away but I would have still done it because I wouldn’t want anyone else to voice the character lol
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
4K for what 2 days of work? That’s pretty good
This is really at the heart of it all. How much work is it? If it was months of time then that's low. If it's a couple of days then seems fair. Not enough context to know either way.

By the way, how long you study to do something dictate the value of doing it. If so there wouldn't be so many people with master's degrees in the humanities serving coffee.
 

Bragr

Banned
Ridicules, no wonder they didn't hire her.

Who asks people to boycott a game and tells the new voice actors that they are "not the real Bayonetta" and posts videos of it online to start a hate campaign?

She needs to provide context for how much work it is, if it's like a week then 4K is great money.

Does she really think that since Bayonetta has sold for 450k, that means the developers are swimming in money? Ridicules.
 
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