Post by Ace on Feb 17, 2004 22:01:28 GMT -5
Variety:Stars study the rules of the games
Mon Feb 16, 7:00 PM ET
BEN FRITZ
(Variety) On a cloudy Thursday in December, a voiceover session was under way at the Marc Graue studio in Burbank. But the discussion was a little different from that at a typical recording.
"Hello target," voice actress Lori Tritel said into her microphone. "Please hold still. Otherwise, this process can be quite painful," she emphasized.
"Can you be a little more sadistic?" Donald Mustard, who wrote much of the dialogue, said back from the control room. "This is an alien bounty hunter chick, she's half-scorpion, and she's about to kill someone."
Not your typical commercial or animation dialogue, but this was no typical Hollywood project. The dialogue was being recorded for "Advent Rising," a videogame from developer GlyphX Games and publisher Majesco.
"Advent Rising" is just one of a growing number of vidgames being produced in Hollywood. Industry competition is heating up, and that means budgets are on the rise, with production costs on high-quality games exceeding $10 million on average and some blockbusters reaching as high as $40 million.
Much of that money is making its way into the entertainment economy, as vidgame companies try to make their products stand out by hiring professional Hollywood talent.
"When I started in this industry 10 years ago, Hollywood was 'the H word,' " recalled Keith Boesky, an agent at ICM, which like most tenpercenteries has set up a division to handle the booming vidgame industry. "Now they're seeing that the fit makes sense, and actors, directors, writers, production designers, costume designers and more are all getting work on videogames."
Much of the vidgame industry is still reminiscent of the direct-to-video film market, producing low-quality knockoffs of TV or film properties or simple products that cost a few dollars to download.
But the high-end publishers who dominate the bestseller charts and have been among the hottest stocks on Wall Street in the past year (despite some recent blips) are a different matter.
In the past few years, nearly every one of these big players has established or expanded its presence in Los Angeles, from Electronic Arts' new Playa Vista studio to Activision and VU Games' headquarters.
Many take these L.A. developments as a sign that the vidgame industry, which sold $5.5 billion worth of games in 2003, is looking to license properties to and from studios. That is indeed the case.
But something else is going on. Vidgame companies are coming to L.A. because competition is fierce among top publishers and, in response, they're thinking quality. Budgets and talent for top-end games are coming to resemble those of low-end studio films.
"With the industry growing so fast, retail space becomes hard to come by, so you need A-level quality and content to get attention," said Michael Pole, senior VP of product development at VU Games. "We're no longer interested in what our industry has had too much of --- mediocre games."
On top-tier film adaptations, that can mean employing creatives from the actual pic.
The Wachowski brothers, for instance, were deeply involved in last year's hit "Enter the Matrix" game from Atari, while EA's adaptation of franchise "The Lord of the Rings" has featured the voices of most of the cast and had input from helmer Peter Jackson (news).
In a growing number of cases, deals for vidgame work are included in film contracts.
But many game deals are still separate, and for top actors, such as Pierce Brosnan on the "James Bond" games or Michael Madsen on " Driv3r, " paydays range from mid-six figures all the way up to low-seven figures for use of their likeness and voice work that lasts at most a week.
The bulk of the benefit, however, is being felt by those earning SAG scale, which comes out to $556.20 for four hours of work. As more and more film production flees Hollywood for cheaper locales, vidgame work is starting to pick up some of the slack.
It's a shift not just for voice actors, but also for the vidgame industry, which just recently started to work with union talent. Many in the industry still regard "union" as a dirty word.
"Initially, publishers were definitely reluctant to work with us," admitted Pierre Debs, business representative for theatrical and interactive contracts at SAG. "But more and more of the big boys who want to compete are coming around, because for a better product, you need better talent."
Unlike SAG, the WGA doesn't yet have any minimum requirements for its members' work on games. But as more and more games are hiring professional writers to structure their stories and write dialogue, the guild has begun to offer a supplement that members can use if they choose. It makes vidgame producers contribute a standard 13.5% of writers' salaries to the WGA's pension and health fund.
Neither guild keeps official stats on members' vidgame work, although both say it's growing fast. The WGA processed between 35 and 40 of its vidgame supplements last year.
Scribes working in the vidgame industry say fees usually are around $100,000. That's significantly less than for feature work, of course, but some making a living at vidgames say the experience can be much less stressful.
"I get turnaround on my pages within 48 hours, which is amazing," said Suzanne Oshry, who is writing her second game based on NBC's "Law and Order" franchise. "And because development takes so long, you can work on several games at once."
It's not just creative talent profiting from the growing vidgame presence in L.A. Sound shops, effects houses and orchestras all are getting work making games look and sound better.
Sound supervisor Tommy Tallarico, for instance, says his company makes more money overseeing the voices and music for vidgames than for movies and TV, pulling in about $250,000 per game title.
Flying Lab Software recently hired sound editor Richard King, nominated for an Oscar for his work on "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," to design the sound for its game "Pirates of the Burning Sea."
And big-name shops are getting involved as well. THX recently launched a program to certify sound quality for vidgames as it does for films.
Despite the success of the videogame industry, one must look at the situation in context. The much-cited observation that vidgames pull in more revenue than movies includes sales of consoles, but excludes equivalent film products such as DVD players, as well as the entire homevideo, cable and pay-per-view markets.
But as John Batter, who heads EA's L.A. studio, notes, the top vidgame companies now are part of the Hollywood economy, and those who make their living in it will feel the impact soon, if they haven't already.
"I can't think of a current title of ours that doesn't employ Hollywood talent in one form or another," he observed. "As games get more sophisticated, film talent is becoming directly transferable."
Copyright © 2003 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Variety is a registered trademark of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc. and used under license. All Rights Reserved.
Mon Feb 16, 7:00 PM ET
BEN FRITZ
(Variety) On a cloudy Thursday in December, a voiceover session was under way at the Marc Graue studio in Burbank. But the discussion was a little different from that at a typical recording.
"Hello target," voice actress Lori Tritel said into her microphone. "Please hold still. Otherwise, this process can be quite painful," she emphasized.
"Can you be a little more sadistic?" Donald Mustard, who wrote much of the dialogue, said back from the control room. "This is an alien bounty hunter chick, she's half-scorpion, and she's about to kill someone."
Not your typical commercial or animation dialogue, but this was no typical Hollywood project. The dialogue was being recorded for "Advent Rising," a videogame from developer GlyphX Games and publisher Majesco.
"Advent Rising" is just one of a growing number of vidgames being produced in Hollywood. Industry competition is heating up, and that means budgets are on the rise, with production costs on high-quality games exceeding $10 million on average and some blockbusters reaching as high as $40 million.
Much of that money is making its way into the entertainment economy, as vidgame companies try to make their products stand out by hiring professional Hollywood talent.
"When I started in this industry 10 years ago, Hollywood was 'the H word,' " recalled Keith Boesky, an agent at ICM, which like most tenpercenteries has set up a division to handle the booming vidgame industry. "Now they're seeing that the fit makes sense, and actors, directors, writers, production designers, costume designers and more are all getting work on videogames."
Much of the vidgame industry is still reminiscent of the direct-to-video film market, producing low-quality knockoffs of TV or film properties or simple products that cost a few dollars to download.
But the high-end publishers who dominate the bestseller charts and have been among the hottest stocks on Wall Street in the past year (despite some recent blips) are a different matter.
In the past few years, nearly every one of these big players has established or expanded its presence in Los Angeles, from Electronic Arts' new Playa Vista studio to Activision and VU Games' headquarters.
Many take these L.A. developments as a sign that the vidgame industry, which sold $5.5 billion worth of games in 2003, is looking to license properties to and from studios. That is indeed the case.
But something else is going on. Vidgame companies are coming to L.A. because competition is fierce among top publishers and, in response, they're thinking quality. Budgets and talent for top-end games are coming to resemble those of low-end studio films.
"With the industry growing so fast, retail space becomes hard to come by, so you need A-level quality and content to get attention," said Michael Pole, senior VP of product development at VU Games. "We're no longer interested in what our industry has had too much of --- mediocre games."
On top-tier film adaptations, that can mean employing creatives from the actual pic.
The Wachowski brothers, for instance, were deeply involved in last year's hit "Enter the Matrix" game from Atari, while EA's adaptation of franchise "The Lord of the Rings" has featured the voices of most of the cast and had input from helmer Peter Jackson (news).
In a growing number of cases, deals for vidgame work are included in film contracts.
But many game deals are still separate, and for top actors, such as Pierce Brosnan on the "James Bond" games or Michael Madsen on " Driv3r, " paydays range from mid-six figures all the way up to low-seven figures for use of their likeness and voice work that lasts at most a week.
The bulk of the benefit, however, is being felt by those earning SAG scale, which comes out to $556.20 for four hours of work. As more and more film production flees Hollywood for cheaper locales, vidgame work is starting to pick up some of the slack.
It's a shift not just for voice actors, but also for the vidgame industry, which just recently started to work with union talent. Many in the industry still regard "union" as a dirty word.
"Initially, publishers were definitely reluctant to work with us," admitted Pierre Debs, business representative for theatrical and interactive contracts at SAG. "But more and more of the big boys who want to compete are coming around, because for a better product, you need better talent."
Unlike SAG, the WGA doesn't yet have any minimum requirements for its members' work on games. But as more and more games are hiring professional writers to structure their stories and write dialogue, the guild has begun to offer a supplement that members can use if they choose. It makes vidgame producers contribute a standard 13.5% of writers' salaries to the WGA's pension and health fund.
Neither guild keeps official stats on members' vidgame work, although both say it's growing fast. The WGA processed between 35 and 40 of its vidgame supplements last year.
Scribes working in the vidgame industry say fees usually are around $100,000. That's significantly less than for feature work, of course, but some making a living at vidgames say the experience can be much less stressful.
"I get turnaround on my pages within 48 hours, which is amazing," said Suzanne Oshry, who is writing her second game based on NBC's "Law and Order" franchise. "And because development takes so long, you can work on several games at once."
It's not just creative talent profiting from the growing vidgame presence in L.A. Sound shops, effects houses and orchestras all are getting work making games look and sound better.
Sound supervisor Tommy Tallarico, for instance, says his company makes more money overseeing the voices and music for vidgames than for movies and TV, pulling in about $250,000 per game title.
Flying Lab Software recently hired sound editor Richard King, nominated for an Oscar for his work on "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," to design the sound for its game "Pirates of the Burning Sea."
And big-name shops are getting involved as well. THX recently launched a program to certify sound quality for vidgames as it does for films.
Despite the success of the videogame industry, one must look at the situation in context. The much-cited observation that vidgames pull in more revenue than movies includes sales of consoles, but excludes equivalent film products such as DVD players, as well as the entire homevideo, cable and pay-per-view markets.
But as John Batter, who heads EA's L.A. studio, notes, the top vidgame companies now are part of the Hollywood economy, and those who make their living in it will feel the impact soon, if they haven't already.
"I can't think of a current title of ours that doesn't employ Hollywood talent in one form or another," he observed. "As games get more sophisticated, film talent is becoming directly transferable."
Copyright © 2003 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Variety is a registered trademark of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc. and used under license. All Rights Reserved.