FOX screws the show again UPDATE: Everybody's signed

[Reply #160 on:]

Was he saying that, if Fox was really planning to pay them that much, Katey would be all over the offer?  Kind of a weird statement, though.

It sounds weird.. I thought perhaps since my main language is not English, I was not understanding something.. but it says is that the $75,000 is a lot more than what 20th Century Fox TV is really offering.. right?

But now according to Voice Actors in the News 20th Century Fox TV is soliciting auditions via Craigslist Classified: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/tlg/1275134631.html

Date: 2009-07-17, 12:51PM PDT
Reply to: jcd@jcdandridge.com

This is an IMMEDIATE NEED for ANIMATED Voice Over Talent. FUTURAMA is now Casting for these Famous Voices:

IF YOU HAVE REPRESENTATION - DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS AD
--------------------------------------
PHILIP J. FRY
TURANGA LEELA
BENDER BENDING RODRIQUEZ
PROFESSOR HUBERT FARNSWORTH
DR. JOHN ZOIDBERG
MOM
ZAPP BRANNIGAN
KIF KROKER
--------------------------------------

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ONLY!

-SAG ONLY
-SUBMISSIONS MUST BE FROM UNREPRESENTED SAG ACTORS ONLY (OTHERWISE, SEE YOUR AGENT)
-SUBMIT TO VO_AUDITIONS@JCDANDRIDGE.COM
-MP3 AUDIO ONLY - LESS THAN 5MB
-DUE: NOW!

    * Location: WLA
    * it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
    * Compensation: no pay    
   
PostingID: 1275134631

I also say that the No Pay is kinda weird.. and the contact of the ad is from Dandridge Entertainment.. it seems to me that they (Dandridge Entertainment) put this ad at Craigslist

[Reply #161 on:]

They handle Howard Stern.
This whole thing is a cruel joke.

[Reply #162 on:]

They handle Howard Stern.
This whole thing is a cruel joke.

It could be a strategy prior the SDCC 2009 Futurama Panel, I added my reasons yesterday over here (50/50): http://slurmed.com/?p=news&date=2009/07/18_02

But as usual, we all have to wait.. and wait..

[Reply #163 on:]

My interpretation of Phil's statement is that if Fox had offered the voice actors anything even close to $75k an episode they would have accepted and they'd be back to work. 

And that craiglist ad has got to be a joke.

[Reply #164 on:]

Since when do serious talent agencies advertise on craigslist, unless they want an actor to watch them jerk off or something.

[Reply #165 on:]

I'm fairly sure that Phil meant that if such an offer were made they would take on even more duties than they currently do. Basically, the number reported was far above what they requested.

[Reply #166 on:]

They handle Howard Stern.
This whole thing is a cruel joke.

I think you're dead on, Coldy.   First off, there's no way they would solicit for non-represented talent; everyone MUST have an agent or agency representing them.  Also, the no pay thing is a key giveaway.  This is a sick joke.

[Reply #167 on:]

its on craigslist?!  Yeah, no way Fox is serious about changing the cast.  It's either a poorly-timed bargaining tactic or a (super effective) joke at the fans' expense to get us worked up for comiccon.  My vote is still joke.

[Reply #168 on:]

I'm slightly relieved to hear Phil refute the $75K/episode number, because some rough calculations I did indicate that that'd be a ridiculous figure (if anybody *really* wants to see them, let me know, but it doesn't seem anybody is all that interested).

[Reply #169 on:]

They handle Howard Stern.
This whole thing is a cruel joke.

I think you're dead on, Coldy.   First off, there's no way they would solicit for non-represented talent; everyone MUST have an agent or agency representing them.  Also, the no pay thing is a key giveaway.  This is a sick joke.

Either that, or Fox is just getting lazier with their call-our-bluff negotiations. I mean, if they want to convince the acting community and the media at large that this is something they sincerely plan on persuing, they should try a bit harder to make it look legit.

I don't doubt that they're trying to scare the actors into accepting smaller salaries...but I also don't think they're actually scaring--or convincing--anyone. Like I said, I refuse to believe Fox is stupid enough to think that a re-cast Futurama could actually work. All these casting-calls, all this media attention--they must think it's a win-win situation. On one front, they get to threaten talented, underpaid actors; on another front, they get to bask in free (albeit, negative) publicity.

[Reply #170 on:]

I'm slightly relieved to hear Phil refute the $75K/episode number, because some rough calculations I did indicate that that'd be a ridiculous figure (if anybody *really* wants to see them, let me know, but it doesn't seem anybody is all that interested).

Go for it.

[Reply #171 on:]

Oh, fine.  I'm going to treat TCFT and CC as one entity here because I don't know how their agreement works.

EDIT:  Sorry to erase a post, but I have to.

[Reply #172 on:]

I am furious about this, and will boycott the new episodes if they replace the original voice actors.  The images are one thing, but for me, it's truly the voices that make the characters come alive when I watch the show. 

It was those voice actors that made me love the originals, and it was those voice actors that made me open my wallet and buy all those seasons on DVD and four movies.  It would be totally unfair to me, the viewer, to give me a new season without the voice actors that I love, and it is totally unfair to them to not pay them what they are asking for.  I'd pay double the price of the current DVD's, to retain the original voice actors..

[Reply #173 on:]

If everybody paid double the price on the current DVD's, that'd give an extra $15MM in profits! They could pay for the raise in VA's wages easily!

Actually, that's one issue I saw with your estimate, speedracer: the cost to buy a season DVD set will likely be more than $20. I remember paying possibly $35 originally for the seasons, and Amazon lists them as originally $30. Let's say it's $30, that would bring in an extra $7.5MM, which could also help with paying VA's. So, if we went with the $25K/episode wage for the actors, we're talking about a ROI between 25 and 30%, which, from what I understand of ROI, seems like little risk.


Oh, and very important edit, so listen up! I've been tipped by a certain anonymous cast member pointing the right direction for the key contact needed at 20th Century Fox Production Company. He said to "start sniffing around for names in Business Affairs at 20th Century Fox TV". If we can get the some probable names, some guys on Facebook say they have a way to derive their email address, thus allowing us to directly email the person responsible for this folly.

[Reply #174 on:]

Let's toilet paper their house too.

[Reply #175 on:]

i_c: here's a link to 20th century TV with press contacts, but not "business affairs":

http://www.newscorp.com/management/20centfoxtv.html

I don't know if emailing these people will do any good - there's also the option of writing some "snail" mail and sending it to the address listed.  But it seems like deriving an email address just comes down to: firstname.lastname@fox.com.  Super complicated, I know.  So yeah if we could find the names we needed we'd be all set for an all out assault on their inboxes.

EDIT: Does anyone have a subscription to IMDb Pro?  I tried searching for 20th century fox TV and it looks like you could get the proper contact info if you have a subscription...

[Reply #176 on:]

We could kidnap a fox exec's child and start sending fingers in the mail.

[Reply #177 on:]

Don't tempt me...

[Reply #178 on:]

That's a bit too extreme.

[Reply #179 on:]

Alright then, spouse instead of child.

[Reply #180 on:]

Nah, I like the child idea better than the spouse idea.

[Reply #181 on:]

http://www.hollywoodtoday.net/2009/07/21/editorial-%E2%80%98futurama%E2%80%99-redux-destined-for-failure/

I have to say, the caption on the image amused me.

We put up this photo of Rebbie Jackson in her 1984 music video for "Centipede," because we thought it would make more sense than Fox recasting every voice actor on "Futurama"

A remark on the Phil LaMarr comment; just to summarise:  He is saying that 75 000 dollars per episode is far more than the voice actors are actually asking for.  And, if they were, Katey Sagal would voice more than just one voice for that kind of money.

[Reply #182 on:]

"Tell your friend that the thing his computations don't take into account is this: The current order of 26 episodes will put the series over the top of the magic number of 100 episodes, and make the show a viable syndication package, forever. Picture, if you will, the Mother Alien in "Aliens", birthing those gooey alien egg-things every few seconds, and you've got a somewhat accurate image of what a syndication package is to a studio, if you just imagine those gooey egg-things as filled with cash. Millions upon millions in cash for the studio; self-generating, without the studio ever again having to do... anything. The show just sits there, spewing ridiculous gobs of wealth at the corporation, possibly for decades.

These actors have been the most underpaid cast in primetime animation since it became a genre again. They have, up to now, made less per episode than the King Of The Hill actors, less than the Family Guy or American Dad actors, and certainly less than the Simpsons actors. By a lot. This is the magic season, and they are actually asking for less than their fair share, considering their contribution, and considering what this show is about to become, in terms of earning power, for so many much higher on the totem pole than they. And BTW, $75,000.00 per episode is a made-up figure. And who would be surprised if it was made up by 20th Century Fox TV to make the actors appear greedy, when in fact, the almost entire *lack* of balking at that amount in comment threads all over the Web seems to indicate the actors' real demand is probably, again, not high enough to garner the outrage the 20th Century Fox TV spinmeisters desire from the general public, so they had to tweak it. And it is probably closer to what they should have demanded. The irony is, they underestimated their own value yet again.

P.S. - It is also a very poorly veiled stunt (played on the actors) that this show is going to be carried only on Comedy Central. You can bet that the second a deal is signed, an announcement will fortuitously be made that the show will be returning to the FOX Network, thereby pumping millions more, with its higher ad revenue stream, into the show.

P.P.S. - Please ask your PEEL friend to do the math on 50K per ep, and also 40K, to see the profit margin for FOX. That's more in the region of what they're asking. I have it on the best authority"

I am not a liberty to reveal who told me this whatsoever. Emphasis is mine.

[Reply #183 on:]

Whoever it is.  He is right though.  And you know it.

[Reply #184 on:]

I promise to get back to this after I get home from work, but here are a few points:

1.  If a DVD set sells for $30 on the shelf, TCFT will only pocket $20-22 or so of that; the rest will be eaten up by vendors/overhead/etc.  And if the DVDs are overpriced, there will certainly be fewer buyers.  Not everyone is going to write a blank check for the DVDs like we are.  Also, keep in mind that DVRs are becoming more popular, and not everyone values the extras/voice commentaries so highly.

2.  If the cast's previous deal was below fair value, the business is not going to turn around and sign their new deal for an amount above fair value.  Publicly held companies can't give away money like that.

To draw an analogy -- Major League Baseball has this horrendously anti-capitalistic system where new players can't be free agents until they've played 7 years and can only negotiate with their current teams during that time.  Baseball has lots of figures that do a pretty good job of establishing fair value of a player, so often you see a young player who's worth about $10MM/year stuck with a crappy contract for $1MM/year.  But once he hits the free agent market, if he insists on signing a deal for $9MM/year above fair value because he got underpaid during his early years, the team's going to laugh at him and invest their dollars elsewhere.  (However, in this case Fox's better option may well be not to invest their money in new actors, but in a new movie/show/etc.)

3.  Regarding syndication:  Fox can already just sit on their ass and let Futurama run during syndication -- there's nothing magical about 100 episodes, considering that CC currently has a rerun deal.  It's a commonly thrown-around figure, but plenty of shows hit syndication with fewer episodes.  The question is, how much value would two seasons add to the prospective syndication deals?  I could be wrong, but I really don't think it'd be that much (and syndication will certainly not generate value for the show "forever", given rapid changes in technology).

[Reply #185 on:]

i_c: it's too bad your anonymous source can't leak the true facts to Variety...it's funny how some people (I assume this is one of the voice actors) are taking the high road in this, while others (FOX) are doing their best to supply misinformation.

speedracer: I agree with you on point 1 of your argument, but on point 2 I don't think free agency (in baseball or any sport) is the best analogy here.  If a free agent insists on getting paid fair value after getting underpaid for so long, he has the option of going to another team if his current team laughs in his face.  This happens all the time - a player becomes an unrestricted free agent and then jumps to the team that's the highest bidder.  In this case the Futurama actors don't really have the option of going to another "team", since the show is really a unique entity.  Also, Fox can't just replace the "shortstop" of this team with another "shortstop" of equal skill - they can try but they're gonna end up with one of the worst teams of all time, as well as a rather crowded dugout, as they'll have to trade someone like Billy West for several guys.

[Reply #186 on:]

Only Fox would treat a multi-award winning show like this.  Not part of the master plan to lower the standards and dumb down the human race.

[Reply #187 on:]

im done with futurama it always gets screwed over, without the original cast its gonna suck nd i couldnt care less now if its coming bck!!!!! my screen name is not how i feel now futurama R.I.P

[Reply #188 on:]

if this happens i will find an amputated leg and smack myself in the head with it a lot and say a fox exec did it.

[Reply #189 on:]

if this happens i will find an amputated leg and smack myself in the head with it a lot and say a fox exec did it.

Wouldn't smacking yourself in the head with your own leg be a lot easier? Y'know, eliminate the middle-man?

[Reply #190 on:]

im done with futurama it always gets screwed over, without the original cast its gonna suck nd i couldnt care less now if its coming bck!!!!! my screen name is not how i feel now futurama R.I.P

What is it with you people?  Are you fucking dumb?  Do you not read these threads before posting?

They are not going to replace the Futurama cast.  It is just a negotiation tactic or some sort of joke.

[Reply #191 on:]

What is it with you people?

  who knows?

Are you fucking dumb?

most likely

Do you not read these threads before posting?

  Hey, the internet is about expressing my uninformed opinion to the world, not reading other peoples'.

They are not going to replace the Futurama cast.  It is just a negotiation tactic or some sort of joke.

  exactly

[Reply #192 on:]

What is it with you people?  Are you fucking dumb?  Do you not read these threads before posting?

They are not going to replace the Futurama cast.  It is just a negotiation tactic or some sort of joke.

Precisely.

I love hating on the Big F as much as the next Futurama/Firefly/Briscoe County Jr./Greg the Bunny/Titus/the Tick fan, but executives are born to make money.  It's what they do.  They're good at it.  They suck, but they're integral to making just about anything, and as much money as they might save by screwing over the cast initially pales in comparison to what's going to happen when the show comes back for ad revenue, more DVDs to sell, and most importantly, when the series hits the magic number of episodes, 100, to syndicate it, and keep making money off a product that cost nothing to make every time they re-air it.

They're trying to scare the cast, and as more news comes out, it's becoming more apparent they're messing with us or trying to get the cast to come down on price.

[Reply #193 on:]

i cant believe it!  only found out today, this better not be true, love futurama its my favourite show but i wont watch it if they go ahead without the voice actors because it wont be the same show.  damn this sucks 

[Reply #194 on:]

Come on people, it most likely won't happen. The way they advertised seemed like something a kid could throw together, and the call for casting ends in a few days. It is a ploy for money, as Svip said so clearly, and in bold.

@Nixons Head, yes it would suck, but really, you are just proving Svip's point even more.

[Reply #195 on:]

I don't believe any of this news for a second, either. In fact, I'd sooner believe that this is a ploy set up for the Comic-Con panel in order to drum up more drama. Which would actually be kind of funny.

However, realistically speaking, this could very well be another instance of the whole Simpsons "recasting" thing.

[Reply #196 on:]

What is it with you people?  Are you fucking dumb?  Do you not read these threads before posting?

They are not going to replace the Futurama cast.  It is just a negotiation tactic or some sort of joke.

Calm down. Nothing's "official". Until this matter is resolved, there is nothing wrong with a general feeling of hostility all over the internet towards the people trying to screw over the cast. We need them to come to the overwhelming conclusion that the show will fail without the original cast... just as long as werebackbaby and everybody else becomes aware when they do work out a deal.
And there's always a possibility, hopefully very small, that they don't work out a deal. It's certainly more plausible than it being some sort of joke.

[Reply #197 on:]

Like I said, I refuse to believe Fox is stupid enough to think that a re-cast Futurama could actually work. All these casting-calls, all this media attention--they must think it's a win-win situation. On one front, they get to threaten talented, underpaid actors; on another front, they get to bask in free (albeit, negative) publicity.

Fox has done stupid things before.  Trying the "recast" ploy with their cash cow show, The Simpsons.  Cancelling Married With Children (which, with The Simpsons, helped save Fox from going into bankruptcy at the beginning) without telling the actors directly (Ed o'Neill has said he found out by not being able to get on the fox studios lot; this is totally dishonorable & disrespectful), etc.  I'm hoping this is all a big joke or publicity grab, but, given their actions in the past, I wouldn't put it past them...

[Reply #198 on:]

Yes i agree that it is unlikely that all the voices will be replaced because most fans just wont accept it, but i dont want fox to pull the plug on futurama (again) because as we all know fox arent the biggest fans of futurama, its too smart for them, theyre only interested in the money and if making futurama is economicily viable for them then forget about it.

[Reply #199 on:]

heres my call: no matter how this plays out, whether it be an elaborate joke to be revealed at Comic-Con in a few days (which is my bet) OR truly a pay/budget struggle between the big wigs at Fox and the actors, i truly believe that there is no way in Robot Hell that by the time of the first table read for the new episodes, that the original cast will not be there.

No matter how this ends, the original cast is going to be voicing their characters for the new series. Groening and Cohen are not morons, in fact you could say that Cohen, with his Harvard degree in 'Wanton Burrito Meals' is about as far from that as is possible. They understand the true value of voice talent, and they would not make this show without those people who are pivotal members of a group that made Futurama one of the best animated programs ever to hit the airwaves.