RamblingSimon Rants About: Michael Hollick

In the New York Times yesterday, they had this article about Michael Hollick, the voice actor for Niko Bellic, the lead character in the new Grand Theft Auto 4 video game by Rockstar Games.

Because I know nobody and their nonexistent grandmother's are going to click that link and read it for themselves, let me just summarize it. In a nutshell, Michael Hollick got paid $100,000 for his role for 20 weeks of work. Now that the game has grossed over $600 million in the last three weeks, Hollick and other voice actors from the game are coming out to express how upset they are over the fact that they are getting no residuals or royalties from this boom.

For once, I'm not siding with the little guy here. I'm fearing the worst: I might be becoming conservative and pro-big business.

There was no way of determining the commercial success of the game over a year ago when contracts were drawn up. Had the game sales been mediocre, Hollick probably wouldn't have his panties up in a bunch about this. Instead, he's like every other greedy bastard out there who wants another buck. The guy got ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS for talking! I make $7.50 an hour serving food to the general public! No sympathies here. They all signed contracts saying they'd get paid this much a day and not make royalties or residuals. It should have been negotiated beforehand.

Yes, the game is worth much more than $100,000 and had they predicted such huge turnouts he should've been paid more, but that's just it: that's indeterminable! Now that it's a huge success, you can't expect Rockstar Games to willingly pass out free money to voice actors. Yes, some of the money goes into undeserving corporate pockets, but most of that money goes into research and development, to make bigger and better games so corporate pockets can be filled again LATER! Gotta think long-run in that industry...

I'm aware that voice actors do get screwed over in their business, but I also enjoyed Grand Theft Auto 3, when the main protagonist was SILENT. I have yet to play GTA4, but unless his voice is like a gift from the heaven's, I'm doubting it was extremely important to have it, minus making it easier to progress through the game's main storyline. Voice actors are good to have, but they DO NOT play as integral of role to the game as elements such as gameplay and graphics.

This is NOT a personal attack on Michael Hollick or any of the other voice actors. I agree they got screwed over, considering the success of the game, but their contract said nothing about residuals. It sucks, but you guys signed it. Even if it couldn't be negotiated, do you REALLY need more than $100,000, Mr. Hollick?