Recently Hulu and 20th Century Fox have decided they would do a 20 episode continuation of Futurama and reasonably we were all excited. This is awesome because Futurama is one of my favorite shows. That being said there has been some buzz around the voice actors returning for their iconic roles.  

Now I will give you a little rundown on what is going on, but if you would like to learn more about what’s going on you can check out the article talking all about it on SYFY. Now Hulu announced that they would be doing this 20 episode continuation, and they revealed that all the original voice actors would be coming back except for one. This doesn’t seem like such a big deal until you find out that the one actor they couldn’t get is John Dimaggio who you may better know as Bender Rodriguez the lovable scamp. The reason for this stalemate is due to John Dimaggio and Hulu not being able to come to a contractual agreement. Now what I want to talk about is the fact that John Dimaggio is asking for a fair wage and Hulu doesn’t want to pay him. Now that is obviously an oversimplification of the situation, and if you want to know more I recommend checking out the article. 

 The reason I am bringing this up is because wages in the voice acting industry can be a tricky thing. Most companies nowadays try to recoup some of their cost when in production by forcing voice actors to take pay cuts or paying them much less than what they should be making. It can be a very nerve racking thing having to stand up for yourself when it comes to your livelihood, but it is important that we stand our ground. Most companies will say “well we have someone willing to do it for XYZ amount” or they’ll say “well we can find someone else to do it”. It is really easy to bend to what they want just to get some work, but you have to remember that your talents shouldn’t be something you’re giving away at a discount. If you take one major pay cut then they know they can get away with it everytime. First off they probably don’t have someone else lined up because if they did they would just go with them. Secondly If someone is willing to replace you then maybe it is a good idea to cast your net somewhere else.

In closing just remember to know your worth and learn how to accurately monetize that worth. Just because it is a bigger company that does not necessarily mean you should lower your standards to accommodate them. Lastly, find a way to make yourself irreplaceable so that it is impossible to be replaced at all. As always you can check out my Twitter for up to date posts and any more interesting info.