GTA IV Star Wants More Money
Michael Hollick is the voice of the immigrant star – Niko Bellic – in Rockstar’s newest game Grand Theft Auto IV. In an interview with the Times Hollick stated that he made $100,000 for the 15 months that he worked on the game recording his role. The game itself has made over $600 million in only two weeks – but Hollick won’t see any of that money.
“It’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it,” Hollick told the Times. “I don’t blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games.”
The problem is that Hollywood has not yet made it provisions for electronic media to be paid this way. Instead, actors get paid standard Screen Actor’s Guild day wages for their work (roughly $730), leaving them out of the lucrative residual loop should a property become financially successful. When it becomes as successful as GTA IV, an actor could be out literally millions.
This is not the only thing that Hollick is upset about. He said that he did not receive any additional compensation for the company allowing him to use his voice to market the game.
“The first GTA 4 trailer generated something like 40 million hits online, and that’s my voice all over it, and I get nothing. If that were a radio spot, I would have. Same thing for the TV ads. I recorded those lines for the game, but now they’re all over television.”
This issue is being brought to attention by more than just the people who lend their voices – but also some of the creators (visual designers, etc.). We could see a problem and a strike on our hands much like the writer’s strike.
