Forum - View topicNEWS: 80% of Seiyū Take Part-Time Jobs to Make Ends Meet
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Fly to Japan. You're really not going to be able to get around paying a fortune if you're anywhere besides Japan. Shipping and all is added on if you buy it from brick and mortar stores. |
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Siegel Clyne
Posts: 200 |
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As someone who has made hundreds of contributions to the Anime News Network Encyclopedia since 2006 regarding Japanese casts, Japanese staffs, Japanese companies and Japanese voice actors (seiyuu), I have noticed the much, if not most, of the voice acting credits of many successful seiyuu in Japan lie not in anime itself, but elsewhere.
They lie in video games, computer games (offline and online), arcade games, pachinko slot machines (pachislot) and the like, most of which will never see the light of day in the US. They lie in drama CDs, character CDs, voice CDs, reading/storytelling CDs and whatnot, which really have no counterpart in the US. They lie in Japanese dubs of foreign language TV shows and movies, voiceovers and singing for television and radio commercials, narration work, stage readings, and so forth. Many seiyuu host regular broadcast radio shows; some host web radio shows tied in with the anime and games they are working on. Some seiyuu host television shows. A number of seiyuu write columns for anime magazines (e.g., Newtype) and seiyuu magazines like Seiyuu Animedia, Seiyuu Grand Prix, VOiCE Newtype, and VOICHA! The list goes on... Take a look at the non-anime credits, for example, Japanese voice actress Rie Tanaka. She has done a lot of different things, such as serving as the MC/host of a live orchestral concert of famous Japanese game music in 2006, hosting an in-flight radio show on Japan's largest airline (JAL), working as a guest lecturer at seiyuu college classes strewn across Japan, and designing her own line of jewelry. Although she had no background in theater back then, in 2005 Rie Tanaka acted in a play, Kotobuki!, in Tokyo with veteran stage, TV and film actors. Kotobuki! is available as a 2-DVD set from KittyFILM (catalog number: RFD-1056), with Rie Tanaka doing double duty as a stage actress on Disc 1 and as the behind the scenes reporter on Disc 2. |
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minakichan
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Sure, Aoyama Gosho is one of Japan's most well-paid individuals. But meanwhile, the middle-lower tier ones can't always get jobs doing their "job" and definitely go out taking other jobs. It's also the same in the US-- comic artists working at Starbucks part-time.
Ooh, Interwebspeak for "You're a retard and I know what I'm talking about." It's possible to perfectly understand that something isn't really as ideal and glamorous as its image, and still project this kind of emotion. I know that being an elementary school teacher really isn't as easy and fun and rewarding as a lot of people imagine it to be, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't feel "sad" that they don't get paid well on top of that. |
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sunflowerseed
 Posts: 106 Location: South Texas |
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There used to be some prestige for many Japanese who learned a second and third language. Wouldn't the ones who did really benefit in the dub department by being able to understand where the part they get is comming from?
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2173 |
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It would have been nice if they could gave compared that to US voice actors or some sort of global numbers. Also, whats "part-time"? If you can do voice acting, which is something I think people enjoy, and support yourself by working like 10 hours a week somewhere else, thats not bad at all. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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OT: Unlike other East Asian countries (notably China, Korea, and Vietnam), Japan only had less than two centuries of Imperial Examination. Heien Period copied the exam system from Tang Dynasty of China but soon declined and replaced by the heredity system. |
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omoikane
Posts: 494 |
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I'm kind of suspicious on the statistic--seems like that voice acting is a popular part-time job as actors or performers pursue the general career track doing all kinds of other things. In other words, it's more like seiyuu is a popular part-time job for actors and others to make ends meet, and not so much seiyuu take other jobs because it doesn't pay enough by itself.
I expect this to be the case in the US as well? |
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Sam-I-Am
Posts: 121 Location: Midwest US |
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When I was in college, at least once a year the Theater Department chair would give his students a reality check by posting a news article from Actor's Equity (the union for professional stage actors) about wages. Each year, the article would point out that, for nearly 95% of the membership, their yearly wages from stage acting would place them below the poverty line for the year. Granted, this refers to stage actors, not specifically voice actors, and not every professional actor is Equity, but since Equity does have contract and dues (percentage of wages) information at hand, it can be considered an accurate portrayal of the incomes of their members. Greg Ayres, in his fansub panels and interviews, has said similar things, that very few are full time, and nobody's getting rich at it. |
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Teriyaki Terrier
 Posts: 5689 |
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I am probably the one whose thought of this but; if 80% have part time jobs, 10% are able to work full time as voice actors, what does the other 10% do?
This is one of the realities of voice actoring, unless the voice actor has been involved in big name projects or has years of experience, making a living of voice acting is quite difficult. |
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xgemina
 Posts: 15 Location: SD |
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From the article: "The remainder including actors, idols, and media talents who perform in other fields." So, IOW, 10% full timers, 80% have other part time jobs and the other 10% are those people in other fields that get a job or two as a voice actor. |
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Teriyaki Terrier
Posts: 5689 |
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I must have missed that when I was re-reading the article. That would explain what I was wondering. |
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luisedgarf
Posts: 656 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico |
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Maybe just like this guy here in Mexico: http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=7437 |
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Cait
 Posts: 503 |
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I don't get it. Is the statistic supposed to be shocking? If anything, I'm more amazed that that many VAs in Japan actually are able to make a full-time job out of it. In the US, the number is probably much much smaller for anime dubbing. The truth is that acting as a whole is like this. For every one A List actor in Hollywood who lives in a mansion and makes millions of dollars for everything they do, there are probably 10,000 others that share tiny apartments and work as waiters or temp office workers to support themselves inbetween small gigs. It is a lifestyle choice and people do it because they love the art. There is nothing to feel sad about for them. They aren't being forced into living this way; they do it because they want to. If you're going to feel anything for them, it should be admiration for being able to not only stick it out in a low-paying career, but also for being humble enough not to expect to gain all of their income doing this one thing (which while it can be admired on its own for its skill, let's be honest, isn't the world's most necessary profession).
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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Not necessarily. Most seiyuu (including the well-known ones) still audition for their roles so it's still based on talent and what the casting directors want in an actor/actress. Of course there are cases where the original creator or director have someone in mind that they want to cast, but I think in most cases casting is done by auditions. If you look at the list of actors at any big-name agency such as Aoni, 81 Produce, Arts Vision, etc, you'll see some familiar names as well as lots of unfamiliar ones. Just because you're affiliated with a well-known agency does not mean you will make it big as a seiyuu. |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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IE-5 or 6 Big Name Movie Actors in an animated flick like Shrek, the rest union scale grunts. Even our star-studded animated flicks fill out with extras.
Didn't Dave Wittenberg work in a bank writing loans or some such? I thought he also commented most American VA's have day jobs, just like most of the local garage bands in any given state. "All the stars that never were are parking cars & pumping gas", right? Think about it. Where are most of the actors from the shows that aired in 2000? Still on tv? Vanished? Look at all the "Where are they now" things one sees. Acting everywhere is a vicious field where one is only as good as one's last hit & if that's too long ago, bye bye. It's not really sad--it's the reality of the field. Anyone trying to make it in the field makes it on as much luck & perseverance as actual talent. "A pretty face may last a year or 2, but pretty soon we'll see what you can do". The hot new faces last a season or 2 & are replaced by this year's hot new faces. When I was a child voice acting was a field that was looked down on by "real" actors making their money in front of the camera or on stage. I remember Hal Lindon on a Mike Douglas talking about his starving actor days dubbing foreign flicks (this would be the late 60's or early 70's) where the really big budget ones actually hired more than 2 actors to do all the voices (often 2 guys so yeah, the guys were dubbing the chicks also). THis is the school where we saw anime in back in the old days- a handful of actors were all that was needed for 100 roles, right? Actors back then did commercials (such as voice-overs) & other such things under a different name or in another country with contracts banning the work from ever being seen in their home country. Then actors discovered it could be a quick paycheck to add their name to an animated movie or endorse a product. In all the entertainment fields (including sports) there are the names who make the bucks & the masses that make less. Why do you think actors jump around so much? I always heard (outside the big names) daytime actors make less than prime time actors who make less than movie stars so everyone's looking to move up. Once the work at one's level dries up, one moves down just to keep working. It was a year or so ANN reported the average pay for seiyu was $100 per day. AVERAGE. That means there are a lot of VA's who make less to balance out all those VA's presumably making a decent wage starring in a few titles In fact, there was a time where one read about broke stars all the time. The first hit record bought the mansion, the 2nd furnished it, but when the hits stopped, it was over. That's why most entertainers got into investing in restarants or real estate or the stock market--so they wouldn't be on skid row when the popularity went away. |
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