Elephants, Electronics & The Strike

For the last few months I have been completely absorbed in creating and producing interactive projects to be marketed as CD-ROMs. So how excited was I to learn that the Electronic Entertainment Expo (affectionately called E-3) was coming to town? This is a world-famous expo for everyone and everything (another 3E’s) connected to interactive media. So, of course, I had to be there too.

For over 20 years in LA, I've worked on the soundtracks for numerous interactive projects. Some of these projects have been released by the biggest names in the biz - Electronic Arts, Buena Vista Games (Disney), and Microsoft. And I was the soundtrack producer for the rollout of X-Box. So I understood the mindset of interactive developers and programmers.

WRONG!! I was blown away by the overt hostility between the game designers/programmers and the voice actors whose work is featured on their video games. The actors, much like Rodney Dangerfield, get NO respect from the crowd that labors over hot computers 90 hours a week to make productions deadlines. (Unlike the actors who either pre-record or show up for a few hours as the project nears completion.) And the actors, with impeccable timing, chose the E-3 venue to announce their intentions to strike the Interactive Industry for a higher basic scale and, what's worse, additional income from that dreaded concept ... Residuals.

Let's go back a few years to 1999 and 2000 - actors went on strike against producers of commercials and ad agencies. Then writers for television shows struck. As someone who has been involved with hundreds – no make that thousands - of national and regional commercials, I can definitely say that the actors strike was a disaster for our entire industry. Don't believe me? Ask any Los Angeles actor if their career is better now than it was before the strike. But I'll rant more on this topic in future blogs. 

Returning to E-3 ... The mood of the game developers was definitely anti-actor. In many of the seminars I attended, I heard CEO's of major companies saying they could easily substitute voice actors with folks working at their companies. Doing this "sound track stuff" was no big deal – not compared to the high art form of the visual design and programming.

WRONG! And I'll tell you why. But first, let me tell you a little story. A guy, let's call him Bob, works for the circus. His job is to walk behind the elephants and shovel their – well, shovel their stuff. His friend berates him saying, "How can you stay at such a terrible job – you should quit." "What!" says Bob, "And give up show business!" My point is – everyone working on a project thinks his or her job is the most vital, most crucial, most important, blah, blah, blah to the success of the project. And they're not wrong. They're just not right either. Success happens when people of different "talent-persuasions" collaborate.

Let's talk about talented voice actors for a minute. One of the best parts of being a media producer in Los Angeles is working with this phenomenal talent pool that is a vibrant part of our community. I'm going to share one of my favorite, secret techniques (you won't have to sign a NDA) for building and perfecting sound tracks. I'll use my voice or others working at my studio to "test-drive"  the script and to layer the sound design before the "real actors" come in. Many times I thought I sounded "pretty darn good" ... only to be humbled when the pro actors came in and brought our project to life. Although I'm a great producer, my voice acting chops are feeble by comparison to the real deal.

I'm ultimately on the side of talent. My job as a producer is to bring the best possible talent to every project. But ... talented people must do their part to make using their undeniable artistry feasible and possible and enjoyable. Going on strike again only will drive business away to other alternate sources or locations.

So, my talented friends, before you strike, take a moment to think about Bob and the elephants. Elephants don't forget! Even though it's "so last century" – remember the repercussions from 1999 and 2000. Don't strike if you can't win! You'll only drive your business to Vancouver or other more competitive markets.

REMEMBER THE PAST: It is far better to be an elephant than a dinosaur.