If Stephen Russell were on CAMEO, would you pay him for lines for your FM? - by Ascobol
Ascobol on 17/2/2021 at 20:39
For those who don't know, CAMEO is a platform on which you can pay various celebrities for customized shoutout videos. The price is set by the performer and can vary wildly.
Now imagine for a moment that our well known favorite Stephen Russell were to appear on CAMEO...
Would you pay for custom Garrett lines for your FM?
ZylonBane on 17/2/2021 at 21:08
"As long as you're here, you may as well leave a message at the beep."
nicked on 18/2/2021 at 09:40
Stephen has been asked in the past about doing voice lines for fan missions, and his answer was that he wouldn't be allowed to without going through Eidos's (presumably now Square Enix's) lawyers.
prengle on 21/2/2021 at 01:45
Quote Posted by nicked
Stephen has been asked in the past about doing voice lines for fan missions, and his answer was that he wouldn't be allowed to without going through Eidos's (presumably now Square Enix's) lawyers.
i've always wondered if this was actually the case - jeff baker was paid to do new voice lines for a morrowind mod and he happily obliged, and i'm certain other fan projects have done things like this. are videogame voice actors typically prohibited from doing work for mods? is it a union thing? did eidos specifically prevent stephen from doing it at the time? i'm not sure if there are any actual legal precedents for this
Esse on 21/2/2021 at 01:46
Quote Posted by prengle
i've always wondered if this was actually the case - jeff baker was paid to do new voice lines for a morrowind mod and he happily obliged, and i'm certain other fan projects have done things like this. are videogame voice actors typically prohibited from doing work for mods? is it a union thing? did eidos specifically prevent stephen from doing it at the time? i'm not sure if there are any actual legal precedents for this
Perhaps there was a clause in his contract saying that Eidos had exclusive rights to his voice as Garrett's for their projects?
prengle on 23/2/2021 at 01:29
considering eidos's history i wouldn't be surprised if they were that ballsy and snuck that into his contract, it just doesn't sound especially likely to me
Yandros on 1/3/2021 at 04:35
Russell's response referenced above was posted here on TTLG at the time, so it really did happen. He politely refused to do custom Garrett lines for a fan work because he was prohibited from doing so.
Samantha1 on 1/3/2021 at 12:04
Quote Posted by Yandros
Russell's response referenced above was posted here on TTLG at the time, so it really did happen. He politely refused to do custom Garrett lines for a fan work because he was prohibited from doing so.
Wow seriously? :eek: I wonder why? I mean, what do the gain by prohibiting him from that?!
nicked on 1/3/2021 at 19:06
Control over an aspect of their IP. It's just business.
As for why other voice actors have done it, perhaps they had more favourable contracts. Or perhaps Stephen Russell was just trying to politely say no without any awkwardness. :cheeky:
New Horizon on 1/3/2021 at 19:54
Quote Posted by Samantha1
Wow seriously? :eek: I wonder why? I mean, what do the gain by prohibiting him from that?!
Well, Eidos does own the character of Garrett but aside from that, I would assume his Actors Union would have something to say about non union work.