Are High Priced Actors Even Needed?

No

That's what I was gonna say.

-Fred

As long as the actor is good, I don't care if I recognize them.

For relatively cheap credibility, I'd tap into the pool of tv actors. There's some pretty good underused talent to be found, which could keep the bar at an acceptable level for a chunk of the price.

Direction is going to be the biggest issue, to make the most out of your limited sets.

There is also Unfounded Talent out there, like with CJ... He hadn't done any Acting that I know of before UAKM and he was Great...

I think Blair is referring to a post I made... I wasn't trying to imply that High Priced actors were Needed to make the next Tex game a Great game... If need be, we could probably use the people from this community and come out with a Great Game... I'm sure there are plenty of us who could get out there and play a part rather well... We'd be saving the production some money and those of us used would get a great sense of honor having been involved in the project... Along with the Technical talent here that some have already offered their services...

I imagine that when it boiled down to price, most of us would ask for only expenses, such as travel, hotel accommodations, food, etc, the basics for the most part... And those that would miss work and rely on a paycheck to paycheck situation, they would need to be slightly compensated for that...
After all that is the reason we are here, we believe in Tex Murphy and most of us would do anything to see the series brought back and finished...

I'd be willing to participate for nothing more than expenses...
If the game sales are extremely well and Big Finished Games feels like handing out small bonuses later on to those involved, then that's an added pleasure for those who were chosen to participate...



But to answer the base question of High Priced Actors... No their not needed... Sometimes in certain projects they are a help to get people interested, but needed No...

New Tallent all the way, unless you're going for a specific characteristic.

No one can argue here than James Earl Jones was unnecessary for playing God, HE WAS! without him UAKM would loose a lot of its charm and legitimacy as one of the first interactive movies.

Same goes with Wing commander, Mark Hamil essential!

It all depends on what you're trying to do.

In the case of Fallout 3 or Oblivion, they screwed up because these Celebrities weren't actual important/interactive characters and only existed for a very short amount of time in game, in the case of both Oblivion and Fallout 3 these characters were both killed very early in the game because the developers were too cheap to pay them for a REAL role.

It comes down to what you want them for and how far you want to push them in the role- but also how "over used" are they. I'll admit that James Earl Jones will never loose his Darth Vader/CNN/SnakeLordfromConanness of himself when playing GOD in UAKM- his voice is iconic obviously.

I'll argue that JEJ was unnecessary, though much loved. He added something to the game, but nothing crucial.

Depends on the cost of the audition process. Would be harder to audition people in an open audition process which could take longer and cost more or would it be cheaper to find actors you know can pull off the job already knowing their price? Another thing is that their financial backers may WANT a name to recoup the money they invested into the game. I'm sure there's other factors but to answer the original question no I don't think they NEED them. As long as everyone is believable in their parts I'm happy.

I think Blair is referring to a post I made... (Bafitis)

You got it. I was also thinking how everyone from the communtiy could volunteer to do some acting to help reduce the budget but I felt my post had enough material as it was and didn't want to make it too long-winded.

As far as James Earl Jones I'd love to have him back just to do the deaths. I think they could have someone else be the shadow, assuming he was even the shadow in UAKM, have James say a few lines and just dub the audio back in.

The problem is once you've seen people in the role, it's hard to imagine anyone else doing... Are there other Unique voices out there that could have played the PI GOD, of course there are... But now that we are use to James Earl doing it, would we be comfortable if there was another in the next Tex Game, probably not...

Take Jackson Cross for example... Could anyone have played that part??? Of course... But now that the game is already made and we are use to Barry Corbin as Jackson Cross, would we be comfortable if a remake were made and they used say Michael Caine??? Probably not... We would play the remake and then we would end up on here debating and picking apart Caine's roll as Jackson Cross, saying Corbin's attitude about the Box was just better and more believable, while Caine might have the Secret Agent look, Corbin just gave the character what it needed... {I just picked a name, Caine happen to be on TV at the time of this post}

And it would be an endless debate... As long as the Actor is playing a New Character I don't think there will be that big of a problem with how the character comes across...


Though I also have to agree with a post above about how the Audition process can be a lengthy and costly process when looking for new fresh talent... It's a lot of people to go through and you still may not end up liking what comes through the door and be forced to resort to a known actor that you know will be able to pull off the character needed...

In terms of enhancing gameplay and making the experience more cutting edge? Then no, I'd agree that they're hardly essential. But, given that the Interactive Movie is a genre of gaming that came under heavy fire as it got worse, I think the high priced actors are what redeemed it and gave the genre its last few gasps of air.

I also think that hiring top ranking actors also may add to its lasting appeal. Remember, it's an Interactive Movie, the acting talent needs to come into it somewhere. But that's not to say you need to pay millions just for the actors alone, there are many talented actors who don't appear on the A and B lists.

Are actors even high priced these days? There has been so much of reality shows that most tv channels aren´t spending budgets on dramas anymore, so surely the price actors charge has gone down.

Yes Chris is very good and very distinctive, but I think even he has said along the way that he´s been helped and guided by both help from actors who have worked on Tex and also from getting the practice to do it all.

Demonlawyer wrote:Are actors even high priced these days? There has been so much of reality shows that most tv channels aren´t spending budgets on dramas anymore, so surely the price actors charge has gone down.

Yes Chris is very good and very distinctive, but I think even he has said along the way that he´s been helped and guided by both help from actors who have worked on Tex and also from getting the practice to do it all.

First off, people like Barry Corbin and James Earl Jones aren't regular TV Actors, so actors like that would have about the same price... But I do agree if you dip into the TV shows that have just been canceled recently or a long time character that was just written off, you might find some good talent that is willing to work for a cheaper price...

Oh I have no doubt that Chris has gotten advice and guidance... Even veteran actors still get advice from fellow actors... Doesn't matter what advice he has been given, the part of Tex Murphy has come out golden...
Though we've discussed potential replacement in the ungodly circumstance of Chris being unavailable, could anyone here really imagine someone else playing Tex Murphy??? I know I can't...