Simpsons Pay Dispute Settled

ackthpt writes "Simpsons voice actors were receiving $125,000 per episode and considering how wildly profitable the show is for FOX, in syndication and merchandising, the actors felt they should get a bigger piece of the pie. The strike is settled with a 4 year contract for the actors, though FOX is mum about further details, so the show will go on. For a bit more on this see this article on BBC News or The Gate."

Not a show renewal... but stilll good news.

[LostCluster]

Just so everybody's clear on this... a four-year contract with the actors doesn't indicate that the show has been promised four more years. TV actor contracts always are conditional on the show going on. So, what this contract means is that the production studio and the actors have agreed on the pay rate table to be used for the next four years, assuming the show goes on that long. If The Simpsons goes five more years into a 20th season, the actors and studio will need to go back to the table to talk money again.

So, as long as the show keeps going, we can be sure that there's going to be no major cast defections over the next four years.

Re:Not a show renewal... but stilll good news.

[john5211]

But more immidiately, this contract means that we should get to see all of the episodes in this season. The actors were allready on strike, and FOX had suggested that the final few shows this season might not get made if the contract dispute was not settled soon.

Re:Is that $125k per character voice per espisode?

[Doogzee]

Maggies sucking sound was recorded once by Groening himself. It's replayed on a synthesizer.

Re:Amazing.

[ljavelin]

Oh, sorry, I forgot my <sarcasm mode="bullshit"> tags in that last one.

Re:Not a show renewal... but stilll good news.

[dinivin]

Not quite... All the episodes for this season had been made. They were saying that they might not be able to make all 22 episodes for next season, so they considered not airing a few episodes this season, to fill in the gap for next season.

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Re:Radio ad voices

[LostCluster]

That's likely because whatever radio station you were listening to has some sort of audio processing equipment in the "audio chain" between the studio switchboard and the broadcast tower. Most radio stations adjust things like bass and reverb so that their format of music sounds better than against a flat equalization.

TV stations, even though they have the same equipment available to them, don't do that because talk sounds best with a flat equalization, and that's what they're doing most of the time.

On in the post 9/11/01 days, a lot of music-format radio stations suddenly dumped their regular programming to air network news coverage of the events. A lot of FM music stations got exposed for what they were doing to the music, because there was often an AM talk station that had the same program which could be used as a reference. Several stations toned down their processing so that if they ever have go to flip to news again it would not sound as ugly.

Re:Not a show renewal... but stilll good news.

[LostCluster]

Yet since a "season" is whatever Fox makes it to be... they could simply have had an 18-month "season" to accomidate some of the episodes finishing late. Really, this was a threat by Fox to lower the episode count for next season and every season thereafter from the present count of 22 in order to cheapen the overall value of the contract. Shows like Friends, ER and NYPD Blue have started a trend of producing only 16-18 episodes a year of hit shows because hit shows tend to get expensive in their latter years because the talent demands more money.

In that context, 24 can be seen as a groundbreaking show because it forces the network to buy complete seasons of 24 episodes, they can't half-renew or partial renew the show.

Re:Is that $125k per character voice per espisode?

[Anonymous Coward]

..actually it was just "beep".

Re:Radio ad voices

[funkyjunkman]

Let's not forget that almost all modern radio stations use computers to do their ID and commercial breaks these days. These computer based audio workstations will compress or expand content slightly to work around changes in the schedule.
For example, let's say an interview goes a little long during a live show. The computer will, over the course of the program, compress pre-recorded content slightly to make up for the overage. It's exactly the same thing that happens on TV. On a lot of daytime syndicated shows like Oprah it is almost indiscernible during the show, but if you watch the credits roll at the end you will notice a little "jump" every few seconds. That's the compressor pulling out a frame of video to squeeze the show. Shorter show... more commercials!

Re:Radio ad voices

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not that it sounds better with high bass, it's that many people like it that way, because their weak stereo systems have VERY POOR bass response (especially true of most cars). The radio stations know this, so they kick up the lower frequencies a few dB.

So, in the end, what the radio stations are trying to do is do the equalization for people that don't have the equipment or the know-how to do so for themselves. Ultimately, it's futile (I think), there's too many variables on the consumer side (speakers, processors, amps, and equalizers) all have an affect on the consumer's side.

For example, I have my car speaker system tuned pretty well. Of course, I have a sound pressure level meter, a decent 12 band equalizer, and a CD with test tones, and I know how to use them (whereas most people don't, don't and don't).

The result is that most clear channel stations (who like to pump the bass redicliously high) sound like shit. They even do this to the voice programs. I like the local morning DJs on 103.5 (KRFX-Denver), but to listen to them I've got to turn down the bass--they sound like giants (with really long voice boxes). Otherwise I'll get a fucking migrane. I've met them in person, and they don't have abnormally deep voices, but their engineers like to make them sound that way. It's very aggrivating.

NPR, and the local classic channel sound absolutely perfect on my system, because their engineers have some sense. That some engineers are willing to accomidate people with squak boxes is silly, it makes their stations sound like shit on pretty much everything (even the el cheapo radios they're trying to make sound better).

Re:Sharing the D'oh

[LostCluster]

News Corp. was definitely part of the sides pushing for the ownership increases, as they were very ready to buy up stations as soon as that was allowed.

News Corp.'s position on the PTAR rule was a funny one... they were fine with it continuing to exist because Fox at the time was not programming enough primetime hours for it to have any impact on them. They just never wanted to see it modified so that it applied to their network, and as it played out it never was.

Re:Simpsons Lifecycle Ending

[BigKato]

You're kidding yourself if you think the last two seasons have been impressive. At least seasons 9-13 had the tomacco episode, the Hell's Satans, and Apu's octuplets. Last season's lame Frank Grimes Jr. revenge episode left a bad taste in my mouth and paled in comparison to the original Frank Grimes episode, one of the best episodes ever.

I truly believe South Park is funnier than The Simpsons these days.