Will Fox Silence "The Simpsons"?

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13932,00.html

 

Will Fox Silence "The Simpsons"?

 

by Kimberly Potts

Apr 20, 2004, 12:45 PM PT

 

No more d'oh?!

 

That may be the fate for the voice actors of The Simpsons and for fans of the long-running animated sitcom if the most recent contract dispute between the show's actors and Simpsons network Fox continues to simmer.

 

Six actors who provide the voices for dozens of Simpsons characters--Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu and Comic Book Guy), Nancy Cartwright (Bart and Nelson), Dan Castellaneta (Homer and Krusty), Julie Kavner (Marge), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns and Smithers) and Yeardley Smith (Lisa)--are asking the network for more d'oh, er, dough. Currently, the stars make $125,000 per episode, and they're looking for the powers that be to nearly triple that figure, to $360,000 per episode or almost $8 million a year for a 22-episode season.

 

Their other demand: profit participation, which is especially lucrative considering The Simpsons' potential merchandising, syndication and DVD profits.

 

Mmm...DVD profits.

 

The group, which has banded together in the past to hit their bosses up for salary increases, kicked off the current brouhaha when they recently failed to show up for table readings for the show's 16th season. Six episodes for the 2004-05 season, set to kick off post-baseball in November, are in the can, but the actors haven't gone to the office for tapings in a month.

 

Fox's response so far: no more dough. And, with negotiations still at an impasse earlier this week, Fox announced it would be forced to shorten the episode order for next season--which would definitely give fans a cow.

 

According to Yeardley Smith's agent, John Kelly, however, Fox's refusal to play ball with the actors is not just about money but is tantamount to a lack of acknowledgement of the actors' contributions to the wildly successful franchise. Fox claims the figure is high, but the actors' reps have estimated that Springfieldian saga has earned Fox and the show's executive producers more than $2.5 billion since it debuted in 1989.

 

"The issue is twofold," Kelly told the New York Times. "The personalities that the audience identifies with for each of these characters don't come from the drawings but from the personalities of the characters, which are provided by the actors. The second thing is there are 40-some regular characters on the show. They're all voiced by these six actors."

 

Says David Weber, attorney for Hank Azaria: "In contrast to numerous other successful shows, [none of the syndication and other ancillary profits] is being distributed to the actors. There's no back-end position at all.

 

"[And] the upfront fees have not been significantly raised as a recognition of past contributions to the financial success of the show," Weber told the Times. "What we're really asking for is what's customary in the television business for actors on successful shows. We're not getting it."

 

Fox's reasons for wanting to avoid the money and profit-sharing renegotiations...Duh, dough.

 

"We can't saddle the show with costs that make it uneconomical to produce," an unnamed Fox exec told the Times.

 

TV execs have also pointed out that animated shows are usually produced with a fixed budget in mind and that messing with that formula could endanger the future of the genre on the tube.

 

And, though The Simpsons actors' reps argue that their clients should receive the same level of compensations that actors on live-action hits like Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond enjoy, the argument against that comparison is that actors on live-action shows work full time on their series, and often, because of time commitments, to the exclusion of outside projects. The Simpsons voice talent, on the other hand, typically works two half days for each episode.

 

Mmm...half days.

 

Fans of the show, of course, just want the show to continue, and ultimately, despite the feet-dragging on the contract issue, so does Fox.

 

The Simpsons, the longest-running animated series in TV history, has averaged 11.5 million viewers this season. And, though that marks a drop of almost 2 million viewers from last season's average, it's still enough to make the series the cornerstone of Fox's Sunday-night lineup.

 

Still, with the May upfront season right around the corner--that's when the networks announce their schedules for next fall and begin to sell advertising time--the network will have to make a decision on the show's status and the voice actors' status on the show fairly soon. Fox is scheduled to present its fall schedule on May 20.

 

The last time the six actors went on strike for a salary increase, Fox hired a casting agent to audition replacements.

 

But the talented group proved to be irreplaceable: No suitable subs were found, and eventually the actors and Fox worked out a new contract.

 

Let's hope such an okily-dokily ending is in store this time around.

[Nighthawk 0]

I'm just sick of the d'oh/dough pun.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

They might as well just cap off the show's decline by bringing in all new actors and putting the final nail in the coffin.

 

It sucks to be the actors as their demands aren't that bad.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

If this show doesn't get a true finale... i'm going to kill someone. Possibly many people. In very disgusting gruesome ways.

 

 

After stepping on rakes.

[Guest Astro]

Since every episode is self contained, is a true finale necessary?

[Guest MikeSC]

They might as well just cap off the show's decline by bringing in all new actors and putting the final nail in the coffin.

 

It sucks to be the actors as their demands aren't that bad.

$8M/year for virtually no work?

 

It takes some serious balls to make that request.

-=Mike

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

This is nothing new - I heard after either the current series or the next, at the end of this year or the next, the film will end the legacy.

[Slayer 0]

Homer: Networks like animation 'cause they don't have to pay the actors squat!

 

Ned: Plus, they can replace them, and no one can tell the di-diddley-ifference!

[Guest wrestlingbs]

Jesus what was the deal with all those puns in the article.

 

As much as the Simpsons has gone down hill, I would still like to see how it all ends. But with Fox and how they handle their shows, who knows.

[MrRant 0]

I wonder if they would get the Married... With Children treatment.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Wny not pay them for doing the longest running and probably most mercandised show in the history of television. They haven't been making shit for 15 years, why not give them a big pay day for a final season or two?

[Nighthawk 0]

Well, it's not the longest running show in the history of television.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Sorry, comedy.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Wasn't Ozzie and Harriet on longer?

[Nighthawk 0]

O & H ran for 14 years.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Fox Exec: "8 million? We could make a Reality Show based on dogs farting that would last at least 8 weeks that would get 11.5 million people for at least the first 2 weeks..for half that.."

 

Come on FOX..cancel the Simpsons for a Reality show based on dogs farting..you know you want to.

 

If it weren't for the Simpsons and 24 I wouldn't watch a minute of FOX at all.

[nl5xsk1 0]

O & H ran for 14 years.

The Simpsons passed O&H just recently (Spring of 2004) ... The Simpsons are now credited w/15 years, so it's just passing the previous record of 14 years. The Simpsons are 4th in terms of # of episodes, though ...

 

http://homepage.smc.edu/nestler_andrew/sitcoms.htm

[Guest Razor Roman]

http://homepage.smc.edu/nestler_andrew/sitcoms.htm

Night Court was on for NINE YEARS?!?!?!!?

[Ripper 0]

They might as well just cap off the show's decline by bringing in all new actors and putting the final nail in the coffin.

 

It sucks to be the actors as their demands aren't that bad.

$8M/year for virtually no work?

 

It takes some serious balls to make that request.

-=Mike

Virtually no work?

 

 

You can't be serious? Have you HEARD what bad voice acting sounds like? Not to mention they have made the company Billions of dollars and continue to do so.

[nl5xsk1 0]

$8M/year for virtually no work?

 

It takes some serious balls to make that request.

-=Mike

That's like saying relief pitchers in baseball should get less money, since they do less work than starters. It's the quality of work, not quantity, and the voices of the Simpsons are what makes the show. The old, more crudely drawn episodes are funnier than the newer ones, so it'd be tough to say the animation is more important than the voices.

 

Writing first, voicing second, animation third.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I agree that it is a talent to do voice acting, but they can't be serious. It says that it takes them 2 half days to do one episode. So basically they want to make 8 million dollars for 22 days of work. That's fucking rediculous.

[Ripper 0]

They make billions of dollars from their work. 8 million is a laughable percentage of the amount of money that Fox makes from them.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

They make billions of dollars from their work. 8 million is a laughable percentage of the amount of money that Fox makes from them.

GREED........gotta love it.

[Tawren 0]

http://homepage.smc.edu/nestler_andrew/sitcoms.htm

Drew Carey had 207 episodes? Really?

[jimmy no nose 0]

http://homepage.smc.edu/nestler_andrew/sitcoms.htm

Drew Carey had 207 episodes? Really?

They did 8 seasons and they were all slightly longer than the usual season for what ever reason. I think I heard on TV that they filmed a season 9 that never aired, but that isnt included in the 207.

 

Back on subject, being a big fan of the show, I don't think I'd even mind if they didn't do another season on TV. I haven't enjoyed more than a few episodes each of the 3 or 4 seasons. They all say they're doing a movie, that can be used to wrap everything up.

[Guest MikeSC]

They make billions of dollars from their work. 8 million is a laughable percentage of the amount of money that Fox makes from them.

And how much do the voice actors bring? It's writing that makes a cartoon work.

 

How many people have said "WOW! That is some kick-ass voice work"?

 

They can find somebody, much cheaper, to do it just as well.

-=Mike

[Guest MikeSC]

http://homepage.smc.edu/nestler_andrew/sitcoms.htm

Night Court was on for NINE YEARS?!?!?!!?

I used to love the eps where they were trying to do a ton of cases in one night for some random reason.

 

It did seem to happen a lot, though.

-=Mike

[Guest Nanks]

They make billions of dollars from their work.  8 million is a laughable percentage of the amount of money that Fox makes from them.

And how much do the voice actors bring? It's writing that makes a cartoon work.

 

How many people have said "WOW! That is some kick-ass voice work"?

 

They can find somebody, much cheaper, to do it just as well.

-=Mike

If that were really the case, it would have happened when they auditioned for replacements last time.

 

Of course nobody ever praises voice-acting. But I'd bet if all of a sudden the next episode of the Simpsons was voiced by below-average voice-actors in semi-monotones you'd kick up a fuss.

 

Give these guys their due. Their voices have been an enormous part of our lives, entertainment-wise, for over a decade. I can't name anybody who's entertained me that much week-in-week-out for that long.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

MoleWhedon

[AndrewTS 0]

I wonder if they would get the Married... With Children treatment.

 

What's that about? As far as I know the last Mw/C episode was basically just a regular episode with a message at the end of the credits saying it was the last show.

 

I remember Foley bitching about how much work voice acting was when he did Low Brow, of course, he's far from a professional at it.

 

I think they get a pretty damn handsome salary, though. I laugh at how people are portraying this as the big bad studio screwing the makers of this show--oh wait, they aren't.

 

Although I must say I like Ripper's sig.

 

Of course nobody ever praises voice-acting. But I'd bet if all of a sudden the next episode of the Simpsons was voiced by below-average voice-actors in semi-monotones you'd kick up a fuss.

 

Like when the show started?