• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Hellena Taylor (Voice of Bayonetta) Describes How She was Offered only $4,000 USD to Voice Her Again in Bayonetta 3.

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
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.
I dont get it either. I have no idea how common VA are getting residuals either like lets say a Hollywood star demanding a big salary and 2% of theatre sales (or some deal agreed upon).

But whomever does VA asking for residuals is simply thinking they are big enough media stars to get it. Good luck.
 

Astral Dog

Member
Is Bayonetta really a $450 million franchise? I don’t doubt it (never played it) but where does this figure come from? The framing is very strange, sure $10k is relatively low and also why show the price paid for Bayo 1 in pounds besides making the sum seem smaller when it has been in dollars in all other instances..
Its a fantasy number, throwing it around just makes her look worse
 
Last edited:

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
For those of you talking the $450M number go back a page or two. A gaffer posted a Tweet where someone thinks she got the number from VG Chartz sales charts. It correlates well to the math.

But her mistake was double counting unit sales because VG Chartz has a "Series grand total" row to go with the individual game sales. So instead of around 3.5M unit sales she got 7M units. She added it all up and then multiplied by $60 assuming every copy was at full price.
 
Last edited:

Barakov

Gold 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.
This lady is completely off her rocker. The logical thing would be to go radio silent and pretend the whole thing never happened. Instead she decided to double down on the whole thing and make it ten times worse. A "living wage"? Get the fuck out of here.
 
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.
Everybody dodged a bullet:

3d9.gif
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
For those of you talking the $450M number go back a page or two. A gaffer posted a Tweet where someone thinks she got the number from VG Chartz sales charts. It correlates well to the math.

But her mistake was double counting unit sales because VG Chartz has a "Series grand total" row to go with the individual game sales. So instead of around 3.5M unit sales she got 7M units. She added it all up and then multiplied by $60 assuming every copy was at full price.
Here's how she probably got her $450M.

7.9M copies x $60.

3.1M subtotal row (double counted)
3.1M total from rows 2 and 3
1M Bayonetta 2 Switch
700k from bottom rows
---------------------------
7.9M unit sales x $60 retail = just under $500M franchise value

wIN31Cn.jpg
 
Last edited:

Bragr

Banned
That sounds highly suspect to me.
Why? Naughty Dog puts a lot of work into their characters, and I assume they pay the best of any studio. Especially since motion capture is, I assume, a lot more lucrative. I would also wager they shoot tons of scenes and do a lot of recordings, meaning higher paydays.

I have no idea, but I would guess Nolan North and Troy Baker has done well with Naughty Dog.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Basically she wasn't happy with deal but instead of being professional about it, she went to social media and asking people to boycott the game and insulting the new voice actress.

Even if she was right about not getting payed enough, this wasn't exactly the smartest idea.

You also have YouTubes immediately jumping to bandwagon without knowing all the information and act like a victim when people call it out as if its their first time on social media.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
Looks like she's still sticking to the $450M franchise value.

Platinum be like :

2 Chainz Pockets GIF by MOST EXPENSIVEST


Why would sega abandon that smash hit? Why would Nintendo have to step in when everyone else avoided sequels? Why would platinum be at the stage of making shit tier live service games for other companies, if Bayonetta would be the answer to all their troubles?

Do we have other franchise comparatives? Like GTA is obviously way higher, but does Uncharted even break $450M after so many sequels?
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Talk about one of the most epic career suicides I have ever seen lmao. A narcissist with grand delusions and asking fans to boycott the game just for her stupid mistakes.

Bravo, very impressive self-sabotage.
200.gif
That's Twitter lovers for ya.

All she had to do is keep this work issue under wraps. Hey you never know, if she kept in good graces, maybe Nintendo or Platinum would ask for other stuff. It looks like during negotiation break down they already offered an olive branch about doing some smaller cameo work as Jennifer Hale got the main gig. But talk about burning bridges publicly. Wow.
 

Hardensoul

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.
Also would like to add. How Nintendo likes to tighten their contracts. Nintendo will have full rights to Bayonetta 2/3. Sega would not be able to use assets or port these games to any other platform without Nintendos permission.

Just like how Nintendo locked down Goldeneye and Fatal Frame as an example.

Nintendo can also be generous, an example of that recently is giving Wondeful101 back to Platinum and Rare library was given back after Microsoft took over rare. Banjo and Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Conker would’ve still been with Nintendo. Since they respected the Stamper Brothers Nintendo gave that up as a parting gift!
 
You were offered $10,000. You wrote a letter saying you deserve more and they had the audacity to offer you only another $5,000!?!?

She says this like we should be shocked and offended on her behalf. She clearly believes she was way more important to the game's success than she is.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
You were offered $10,000. You wrote a letter saying you deserve more and they had the audacity to offer you only another $5,000!?!?

She says this like we should be shocked and offended on her behalf. She clearly believes she was way more important to the game's success than she is.
Going by the info, she initially wanted $100,000 plus residuals. If anyone should be offended it's Nintendo employees needing to hear this demand.
 

BlakeofT

Member
They should pay the new actress to redo the old games.

Edit: I was only kidding btw. Just listened to a comparison and the new voice is close enough for my (admittedly terrible) ears!
 
Last edited:
Going by the info, she initially wanted $100,000 plus residuals. If anyone should be offended it's Nintendo employees needing to hear this demand.
It's hilarious, but it really seems like that's what she expected.

"I've done work in this series for two games. I know what was standard. Here's why I believe I'm worth more."

They offer her 50% more. But, she seemed to expect them to come crawling on their hands and knees begging and offer her ten times the payment or something. And goes as far as going to social media to demand a boycott for terrible treatment.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
It's hilarious, but it really seems like that's what she expected.

"I've done work in this series for two games. I know what was standard. Here's why I believe I'm worth more."

They offer her 50% more. But, she seemed to expect them to come crawling on their hands and knees begging and offer her ten times the payment or something. And goes as far as going to social media to demand a boycott for terrible treatment.
Wow what an idiot. 15K in a week not a living wage? Wtf
At $15k, she was offered about $1000/hr based on the 15-16 hours of work. The SAG chart showed $250/hr which is already high compared to the average joe.

Going by her initial demand of $100,000, she wanted the equivalent of $7000/hr (or over $100/minute).

You'd think she was a heart surgeon. Instead, she's voicing a video game character where she hasn't done it since 2014.
 

Camreezie

Member
At $15k, she was offered about $1000/hr based on the 15-16 hours of work. The SAG chart showed $250/hr which is already high compared to the average joe.

Going by her initial demand of $100,000, she wanted the equivalent of $7000/hr (or over $100/minute).

You'd think she was a heart surgeon. Instead, she's voicing a video game character where she hasn't done it since 2014.
Maybe she values herself that highly because this is the only gig she does where she gets a large amount of exposure and cash?
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Maybe she values herself that highly because this is the only gig she does where she gets a large amount of exposure and cash?
Perhaps. But I doubt she got a ton of cash in 2014 for Bayonetta 2. Also, her IMDB profile says the last time she did voice work was in 2014 for Bayonetta games.

She definitely got exposure with this debacle but considering she broke NDA, lied about the issue (in bad context) and bad mouthed the employer, I dont think any reasonable company would offer her anything. Too risky as she's a volatile worker who'll bad mouth anything.
 
Last edited:

ADiTAR

ידע זה כוח
At $15k, she was offered about $1000/hr based on the 15-16 hours of work. The SAG chart showed $250/hr which is already high compared to the average joe.

Going by her initial demand of $100,000, she wanted the equivalent of $7000/hr (or over $100/minute).

You'd think she was a heart surgeon. Instead, she's voicing a video game character where she hasn't done it since 2014.
Keep in mind she compared herself to nurses in her first videos, and said all she wanted was a living wage. Eh, 15K for let's say at most 2 weeks of work is 360K a year... that is top %1 salary.
 

dem

Member
Does anyone really give a shit about a voice actor in a video game?

SHE is not Bayonetta. She's replaceable. No one knows who she is.

Hell... does anyone even care about Bayonetta anymore?
 
Last edited:

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler

I've never seen someone expose their colorful head up the ass plumage so boldly and tone deaf before.

I FIGURED AS A CREATIVE, HE'D UNDERSTAND THAT I'M WORTH MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED ELVENTY BILLION DOLLARS

Like, bitch, you've done the "professional," (many air quotes) version of asking dad when mom said no. As a creative? Like the world is cold and mechanical, and only the deft hands of arteests are sensitive enough to understand wanting more money than you're offered.

I know what her end of the argument is. 4k a sesh is a lot, but because one job offers that it doesn't mean all do. A lead role on a big gaming IP is decently rare, I'd imagine, moreso with how expensive and long it takes to make AAA games nowadays. But, also

I'm not going to boycott anything or lose a wink of sleep because someone puts all their eggs into notoriously unstable and non guaranteed profession basket. You want to be a career actress. Either you're talented enough to get consistent gigs, you're good enough at conducting business to get what you need, or you're extremely fortunate, but failing all of these options, it's not MY moral obligation to be distraught because you're poor at evaluating and balancing your skills, assets and resources into a liveable situation.
 
Last edited:

ByWatterson

Member
I'm not going to boycott anything or lose a wink of sleep because someone puts all their eggs into notoriously unstable and non guaranteed profession basket. You want to be a career actress. Either you're talented enough to get consistent gigs, you're good enough at conducting business to get what you need, or you're extremely fortunate, but failing all of these options, it's not MY moral obligation to be distraught because you're poor at evaluating and balancing your skills, assets and resources into a liveable situation.

Nailed it. No one has a right to make a living off of literally any job they choose.
 
Last edited:

Neff

Member
Nintendo will have full rights to Bayonetta 2/3. Sega would not be able to use assets or port these games to any other platform without Nintendos permission.

Exactly. Sega and Nintendo would have to come to an agreement for this scenario to happen.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Nailed it. No one has a right to make a living off of literally any job they choose.

Right? And I'm not even saying don't aspire to your dream job or make steps toward it, either, but every career, especially ones in entertainment, take sacrifice of some sort. This chick wasn't born yesterday, she knows this. Dwayne Johnson didn't walk out the door on his 18th birthday and apply for the opening posted at "Multimillion dollar blockbuster movie careers," and BOOM.

If you want to do something, you'll do it, whether it pays great, shit, or not at all. You can't love and be dedicated 1,000% to a property and say your work comes from the soul, and it's all worth it to see the weebs smile UNTIL my bank balance gets to x number. You could be Leonardo DiCaprio and you aren't talented enough to make me swallow that logic.

I've known aspiring VAs before. They had jobs. Actually reliable, stable jobs. No one told them they were worth whatever number popped into their head. They knew that the serf doesn't get handed the keys to the kingdom.
 
Time for Hellena to do some mirror staring, I think.
Jesus, I think she's suffered enough.



Does anyone really give a shit about a voice actor in a video game?
Nope. The only ones I've ever thought were really good were Bayek and Cassandra from Ass Creed and most of the Japanese ones from Yakuza. But I wouldn't be bothered if any of them were replaced for sequels. I assume they'd get someone half decent at least, and not just do it themselves on the way back from the pub. As indeed Platinum did - they got Hale once they told Taylor to sling her hook.
 
Top Bottom