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INTEREST: Animators Reveal Global Disparities in Earnings With #AnimationPaidMe Hashtag




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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 2:15 pm Reply with quote
It's interesting that the seiyuu, at least the big-name ones, would make substantially more than even high-level staff members. Then again, they tend to be managed by talent agencies that have notoriously tight control over entertainment in Japan, so it's probably a case of they either come expensive or they don't come at all.


The annual income for animators is pretty sad to see laid out like that. It's pretty obvious that people's desire to work in the industry is a big motivator since it seems like they could do just about anything else and make more money.
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AkumaChef



Joined: 10 Jan 2019
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 2:42 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
It's interesting that the seiyuu, at least the big-name ones, would make substantially more than even high-level staff members. Then again, they tend to be managed by talent agencies that have notoriously tight control over entertainment in Japan, so it's probably a case of they either come expensive or they don't come at all.


The annual income for animators is pretty sad to see laid out like that. It's pretty obvious that people's desire to work in the industry is a big motivator since it seems like they could do just about anything else and make more money.


I suspect for seiyuu it all comes down to royalties, since they get royalties but the rest of the staff appears not to. If the show flops they get paid very little, but if the show happens to be a runaway success they make a stack of money.

This is not unique to anime or even Japan. Years ago I sent a question to Answerman about the production cost differences between domestic US animated shows (the specific example I gave was The Simpsons) and Japanese ones. The angle I was trying to take was that surely the simpler art of the Simpsons would cost less to produce than the often times much more complex Japanese animation. And that seemed to be the case....but the cost of the Simpson's voice talent pushed its costs far far higher than any Anime TV show and blew the art cost out of the water. I'm sure it's the same for American television shows: the big-name actors and actresses with headline roles get 95% of the money, while the extras, the camerman, the makeup artists, wardrobe techs, set designer, etc, make nothing by comparison.

I'm very curious where the "original creator's" income falls on that graph for the Japanese animation industry!
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Telu



Joined: 08 Sep 2019
Posts: 116
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 3:55 pm Reply with quote
Well, looks like anime industry is going downhill.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4564
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 3:59 pm Reply with quote
This is goddamn criminal.
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CrypticPurpose



Joined: 15 Jan 2020
Posts: 320
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 4:33 pm Reply with quote
Telu wrote:
Well, looks like anime industry is going downhill.

Except, sadly, this isn't exactly a new development.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 5:34 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
It's interesting that the seiyuu, at least the big-name ones, would make substantially more than even high-level staff members. Then again, they tend to be managed by talent agencies that have notoriously tight control over entertainment in Japan, so it's probably a case of they either come expensive or they don't come at all.


It's a bit misleading. Seiyuu are paid salary+royalties and what not. However last time I read up on this I found that most of profit regarding a top-level seiyuu is from non-anime stuff such as meet-ups, CD sales, concerts, ect ect. But they're mostly paid a salary that I can only assume is agreed on based on how popular they are, so it looks like they take a lot of an anime's budget but that may not exactly reflect reality. They're definitely expensive. But again, this is still only the top like 5% of seiyuu anyway. The vast majority have to work 2nd jobs.
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Alexis.Anagram



Joined: 26 Jan 2011
Posts: 278
Location: Mishopshno
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 6:07 pm Reply with quote
It's always disheartening to see the harsh reality of this exploitation being brought to light, but more disheartening is how it just seems to continue unabated and unaddressed. I'd like to be hopeful that in this moment of unprecedented potential for class solidarity, there are steps taken towards real movements for wage equity and work improvements for animators-- whatever that may look like. There needs to be change.
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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1823
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:09 am Reply with quote
AkumaChef wrote:
Years ago I sent a question to Answerman about the production cost differences between domestic US animated shows (the specific example I gave was The Simpsons) and Japanese ones.


I also submitted a question to Answerman about how voice actors/actresses came to get decent wages in Japan (while animators missed out).

Even without Answerman around, this is a topic that ANN should cover.
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AkumaChef



Joined: 10 Jan 2019
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:42 am Reply with quote
omiya wrote:
AkumaChef wrote:
Years ago I sent a question to Answerman about the production cost differences between domestic US animated shows (the specific example I gave was The Simpsons) and Japanese ones.


I also submitted a question to Answerman about how voice actors/actresses came to get decent wages in Japan (while animators missed out).

Even without Answerman around, this is a topic that ANN should cover.


I might be wrong about this, but my understanding is that most voice actors & actresses do not make decent wages, while those who manage to perform a top-tier role end up earning well because of royalties, etc. Plus like Kougeru mentioned a popular seiyuu would also earn income from events, merch, CDs, etc. I don't think this is too different from musicians where most struggle to make a living but can make stacks of money if they get a big hit.

That said, I'm curious what the solution to this problem might be.
I'd be happy to pay double what I pay now for anime streaming or physical media if that extra money went into the pockets of the animation staff. I'm used to paying Japanese-region import prices for anime. But it seems like these days, with far too many people wanting to stream for free (or pirate), then the situation is indeed untenable.
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bennyl



Joined: 06 Apr 2019
Posts: 123
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 1:17 pm Reply with quote
33k to 51k per year in 4 years is decent wage growth. What is surprising to me is their self defense force apparently pays $100k per year.
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 3945
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:34 pm Reply with quote
If they haven’t done so already, they need to unionize
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 7:15 am Reply with quote
AkumaChef wrote:

I suspect for seiyuu it all comes down to royalties


Unlike SAG, seiyuu don't get royalties - they're usually work-for-hire. Unless they've unionized. Or they're an A-lister who could negotiate their own contracts.

That's why they need to do extra work in order to get more income, e.g. public appearances, meet & greets, singing the theme songs (where music do get royalties, though mostly to the writer, but at least singers get money from concert tickets), etc.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3629
PostPosted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 5:16 pm Reply with quote
I haven't seen shirobako, did that show portray salaries differently or is it just being used as a visual guide for the roles?
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