Screenhead

You ever hear voice actor Robert Axelrod talk?  I have, after attending the anime convention Kuzuricon in Battle Creek, Michigan, over the weekend.  It was actually a pretty awesome convention, even if I spent most of my time there feeling like the creepy old guy in the room.  I swear, if it weren’t for my press pass they would’ve wound up putting me up for Carousel.

Anyway, Robert Axelrod.  You might not recognize the name, but you’ll know his work a whole lot more.  He’s the guy who voiced Lord Zedd, among a great many others, and if you don’t remember Lord Zedd then I don’t know where you were in the 1990s.

He delivered a pretty sweet panel, in which he gave the history of his voice acting career, and how it extended upward through years of work.  Interesting points:

1. Robert Axelrod owns a thirty-year-old chunk of his own hair.  It’s a huge ponytail from his musical days.

2. The band “John Castle and the Junkyard Angels” had only one Junkyard Angel.  It was Robert Axelrod.

3. There are actually several ways to get into the Screen Actors Guild.  None of them are simple.

All of these interesting facts and more were part of a terrific panel, so kudos to Robert Axelrod for putting on a great and deeply informative show.  And there’s actually a fair chance he’s reading this since I gave him the link to us, so if you are reading, sir, hello again and don’t we all wish you could’ve stuck around for the Rumble Roses tournament.  It might have even gone off that way.

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This year already saw the tole on the film and TV industry when the Writers Guild of America went on strike, forcing the delay of many a TV show, weakening the slate of film releases this year and next, and causing enough scheduling problems to sink a few worth projects. And it looks possible that after months of negotiations, another strike could happen next year, with this time the actors of the US outratged.

It’s again the same issue of concern: residuals. Actors Unions feel outraged that actors are getting little or nothing for the broadcast of their work on new media, such as online screenings, ipod downloads, etc, while the distributors and studios rake in the money. It’s a fair point, especially when actors on the bottom rung of Hollywood need everything they can get. Discussions with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down last week, and now all members of the Guild have been contacted to let them know a vote on “strike authorisation” (authorising the governing body to call a strike if necessary) will be taking place.

The AMPTP has criticised the SAG’s actions for being foolhardy, and potentially causing actors more financial damage than they would potentially gain from new media broadcasts. They also criticised the SAG for wanting a deal far beyond what other professions in the industry have, to which the SAG claim their needs are different. That’s a difficult claim to quantify, but the SAG do have the right to question residuals from DVD sales based on an agreement made over 20 years ago, before VHS became far more widespread and profitable than expected.

Hopefully both bodies can learn from the lessons of this year’s strike and prevent further losses in this precarious economic climate. For more, read here.

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