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This months spotlight is on voice actor JB Blanc. JB was born in Paris, France to an English mother and a French father. He moved with his mother to Yorkshire, England at the age of four, where he was raised and attended school, eventually graduating from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1990.

He worked extensively in theatre in Britain for over 15 years, including a three-year stint at London’s Royal National Theatre. His theatre work encompassed everything from avant-garde physical theater companies to world tours of Shakespeare plays and classical Greek tragedy.

His film career was essentially launched by his highly acclaimed role as Luigi Vampa in 2002’s The Count of Monte Cristo, and following that success, he moved to Los Angeles where he now lives. Film and TV roles soon followed on productions such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Iron Cross, Tristan and Isolde, Garfield, Biohazard, NYPD Blue, Prison Break, CSI: NY, The Company and The Unit. In 2006, he made his US theatre debut in iwitness at The Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles.

JB is also a highly accomplished voice actor with projects in film, animation, video games and commercials. He plays several major characters in the forthcoming Marvel/BET production, The Black Panther and is a regular on Naruto and Bleach. Recent video game work includes Alighieri in Dante’s Inferno for EA, Darksiders: Wrath of War, World of Warcraft, Red Faction Guerilla, Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Symphonia, Arcania, Silent Hill, Coraline (in which he voice-matched Ian McShane), Wanted: Weapons of Fate and many others. He has also been a dialect and acting coach for several years, is resident Dialect Coach at The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and has worked on productions in the UK and the US , including more recently, The Informers and The History Boys at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles.

Theatre: The Blue Room (The Odyssey) Shining City, Coming Home, Photograph 51, Gem of the Ocean, Accomplices, Victory, (Fountain Theatre) The Importance of Being Earnest, Summer And Smoke, Major Barbara (LA Theaterworks), The History Boys, iwitness (Mark Taper Forum, CTG) The Oedipus Plays, Mary Stuart, Chips With Everything, Flight (Royal National Theatre, London), The Duel (Lyric, London), Romeo and Juliet, Love for Love (New End Theatre, London), The Lizzie Play (London and World Tour), The Taming of the Shrew, The Phantom Lady, Julius Caesar, The Love of a Good Man (Arts Threshold, London), A Comedy of Errors (New Victoria, Stoke). Film: Iron Cross, The Informers, The Incredible Hulk, The Count of Monte Cristo, Shadowlands, Tristan & Isolde, 102 Dalmations, Moonlight Serenade, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. Television: CSI: New York, Raising The Bar, The Unit, Crash, The Company, NYPD Blue, Dr Vegas, The Bill, Vanity Fair, London’s Burning.

By Dave McNary

Members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists have approved a new deal for videogame voice work — two weeks after SAG members rejected the same pact.

AFTRA, which made the announcement Thursday, said the deal received backing from 66% of those casting ballots. The pact was sent out to AFTRA’s 2,200 members who work under the contract.

AFTRA covers the lion’s share of unionized voice work for vidgames. SAG, which has asked the companies to return to the bargaining table, had no immediate response to Thursday’s announcement.

The two performers’ unions have generally made little headway with vidgame companies; an estimated 75% of the voice work performed goes to non-union performers.

Opposition has emerged to the new deal over the “atmospheric” provisions allowing employers to use actors to perform up to 20 voices of up to 300 words at the daily base rate — provisions viewed by some as signifying a major reduction from the current pact.

SAG’s rejection may doom an effort by negotiators to synch up the expiration dates and terms of the pacts for SAG and AFTRA. Negotiators for AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild reached separate deals with similar terms with vidgame employers on Oct. 2. AFTRA’s deal is a 15-month extension of the current pact that expires on Dec. 31. New deal will expire on March 30, 2011.

The new AFTRA agreement includes a 2.5% increase in minimum session fees to $802 for a four-hour session starting on April 1.

“AFTRA members who work on videogames do so using a highly specialized set of skills and require unique protections from their union agreement,” said AFTRA president Roberta Reardon.

The pact includes an increase in the AFTRA health and retirement contribution rate by 0.2%, bringing the total producer contribution rate to 15%. It also establishes a new cap on annual health and retirement contributions to an individual performer to $125,000, and an automatic $100 payment when a producer fails to provide advance notice of vocally stressful work.

Originally posted on variety.com

German studio Spellbound leads tributes for their former founder and CEO Armin Gessert – a development veteran of twenty-five years and founder of Spellbound Entertainment – passed away on Sunday Nov 8 following a heart attack. His distraught team at German studio Spellbound is leading tributes for their friend and leader, a man who founded the successful studio back in 1994.

“For many of us Armin was a personal friend,” said Andreas Speer, Spellbound’s studio manager. “We still cannot believe that he has passed away.”Jean-Marc Haessig, the firm’s creative director who had worked with Mr Gessert for fifteen years, said: “I worked with Armin very closely for more than 15 years. He was a good friend with whom I had a lot in common. Our visions of what to do to make our games great were absolutely the same.”Mr Gessert had put plans into place in case Spellbound were to be without him. Andreas Speer will now act as CEO with Jean-Marc Haessig continuing his role as creative Director. “We will continue following Armin’s goals, as he would have wanted us to,” said Speer.“Though I will miss him bitterly I will continue to strive to create games that Armin would have been proud of,” added Haessig. Mr Gessert had built a reputation over his twenty-five years in the industry, gaining prominence with titles such as The Great Giana Sisters and The Great Courts. His first work was the action adventure Street Gang which came out under the label Rainbow Arts in 1984. He founded Spellbound in 1994 and won further success with games such as Desperados and the Airline Tycoon series.

Guild asks companies to return to bargaining table….

Screen Actors Guild thesps have thrown a wrench into the world of videogame voice work, rejecting a tentative deal for a new contract and asking employers to return to the bargaining table. The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, which covers the lion’s share of unionized voice work for vidgames, is sending out the same deal to its 2,200 members who work the contract with a Nov. 12 deadline for response. AFTRA’s national board OK’d the deal Saturday with “an overwhelming and strong” recommendation for a yes vote.

Scott Witlin, who reps vidgame employers at the negotiations, told Daily Variety that it was uncertain if the companies would be willing to return to the bargaining table to sweeten the SAG deal.

The two performers’ unions have generally made little headway with vidgame companies — an estimated 75% of the voice work performed is non-union. The SAG contract covers publishing giant Electronic Arts and about 70 other gaming companies.

The rejection, announced Wednesday, comes a week and a half after SAG’s national board approved sending out the deal — without a recommendation — to four member caucuses in Chicago, Hollywood, New York and San Francisco.

Opposition emerged at the Hollywood member caucus on Tuesday night over the “atmospheric” provisions allowing employers to use actors to perform up to 20 voices of up to 300 words at the daily base rate — viewed by some as signifying a major reduction from the current pact.

“From the actor’s point of view, this is a lousy contract — particularly in the multiple voices area,” said Peter Kwong, whose work on vidgames includes “Narc” and “GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.” “I’m encouraging AFTRA members to vote this down.”

Kwong said the question of a strike wasn’t discussed at the Hollywood meeting.

Witlin called the rejection “unfortunate,” noting that the offer would pay thesps a day rate of $782 for four hours of work. He added that the “atmospheric” provision represents a way for actors to get more work over the long run.

SAG’s rejection may doom an effort by negotiators to synch up the expiration dates and terms of the pacts for SAG and AFTRA. Negotiators for AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild reached separate deals with similar terms with vidgame employers on Oct. 2. AFTRA’s deal is a 15-month extension of the current pact that expires on Dec. 31.

SAG and AFTRA have said the deals — which had been negotiated separately during the past year — achieved parity between the AFTRA and SAG contracts. If ratified, both deals would expire on March 30, 2011.

The unions said the contracts contain a 3% wage hike for SAG to match AFTRA’s current deal and an additional 2.5% increase on April 1 for both unions.

Other key points: a 0.5% increase in the pension and health contribution rate for SAG members and an additional 0.2% next year for both unions, bringing the total rate to 15%; the establishment of a $100 liquidated damage per job for failure to give notice of vocally stressful work and agreement to develop a set of guidelines for conducting vocally stressful work; and a cap of $125,000 on contributions to the AFTRA Health and Retirement and SAG Pension and Health funds for performers paid more than $125,000 by a single producer in a single year for work done on the same game franchise.

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010505.html?categoryid=1079&cs=1

Tremendous opportunities are opening up in video games.

By Heidi Schooler

The interactive-gaming industry has rapidly grown into one of the biggest forms of entertainment today. As the public continues to crave new video-game titles with more-original ideas, voiceover actors will be expected to be on their game to meet the continual expansion. I recently had the chance to ask Todd Resnick, casting executive of Resnick Interactive Development and founder and CEO of Gamecues Corp., about this important voiceover field.