News

It’s always a delight to get down and dirty with driven visionaries. Guerrilla Games are such a team. The way they’ve pulled out the stops to make this sequel shine is testament to their utter dedication to not compromise even under under the most trying of circumstances.

We’re deeply proud of our involvement casting, voice recording and face capturing the magic. It is always a dream come true when developers have a clear vision, are deeply committed to producing the best they possibly can, push the boundaries, have a passionate expert team with a great script. May Guerrilla’s success long continue. 🙂

Clucking Chicken Police are on a roll… The idea, then the writing is where the magic lies and that credit goes to Balint Bank Varga and The Wild Gentlemen. The task of casting, recording and directing was our contribution. Mark Estdale discovered the game on the indie floor at Reboot Blue and helped the developer on the journey from dream, to publisher, to here. We’re very proud of the results.

” it’s perhaps the videogame voice work of the year.” fingerguns
“Superbly voice acted” TheXboxHub
“remarkable voice acting” Forbes
“… honestly. This shit is fantastic. ” Player2
“Exquisite voice acting.” GamingBoulevard
“brilliantly voiced” BonusStage
“The voiceacting is just superb.” 3rd-strike.com

We wanted to help Falling Squirrel with this ground breaking micro indie title that had a blind audience in mind so we were delighted when Dave Evans reached out wanting us to help them find and record a sight impaired actor for one of the roles.

Since the game came out it has rightly received accolades for its innovation and accessibility and we are delighted that it was in the final five for the 2021 Game Award for innovation in accessibility The placing is significant when you see that the other four contestants were all well known significant IPs with significant backing. The shadow of the crown being in the shadow of the crown is in no way in the shadows!

We’re deeply proud of you Falling Squirrel Well done! Thank you for inviting us to play a small part in your achievement. Onward and upward!

Another episode of Shadow Tactics gets a blinding review from IGN. Hat’s off to Mimimi for their stirling work and the tight well crafted script. It’s always heartening to get “great voice acting” mention but as always it is strong character design and writing that make casting and recording a delight. Big thanks to cast and crew for all the great work.

We’re delighted to announce that after 25 years we have, at last, an Equity Agreement for voice actors working with video games. The agreement, which runs until April 2023, includes fees and commitments to providing information to voice actors prior to, or at the time of, the audition or offer.

FEES

Minimum fees are set according to the budget of the production, with a minimum of:
£300 per hour paid to voice artists when recording for a ‘Standard’ game (budget of over £5m),
£200 per hour for an ‘Indie’ game (£0.5m to £5m), and
£175 per hour for a ‘Micro’ game (under £0.5m). 

In addition, the first hour on any game will be paid at twice the hourly rate. For a standard game this would be £600, for an indie it would be £400, and for a micro £350.

REMAINING TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT

Include:
Disclosure regarding content of a religious, sexual, racially sensitive, gender sensitive, or potentially violent nature.​
Disclosure regarding profanity or offensive language.
Disclosure regarding a role requiring vocal stress. A minimum of five-minute rest times per hour are mandated, to help protect the artists’ voice, and there will also be best practice employed to keep to a maximum of two hours of vocal stress per day.
Disclosure regarding any accent(s) that might be required.
Disclosure regarding the working title of the game, the publisher/developer, budget classification (see fees), hours of engagement, and recording dates.

Overtime to be paid at 30 minute pro rata increments.
Integration rights are the inclusion of material in one or more interactive programs for which the artist has not been specifically employed to render services. The studio can purchase integration rights and the artist will receive a payment of one two-hour session.
Rates within the agreement will be re-examined 2 years form the date of the signing of the agreement and any increase in the minimum fees will be measured by inflation. 
Within 6 months of the signing of the agreement the parties will endeavour to create a clause, which expressly deals with the recording of promotional material not contained within the game itself with accompanying compensation paid to the artist.​

COMMENT

Mark Estdale, Voice Director and Managing Director of OMUK, says: “I am deeply grateful for the dedication of the actors who took the initiative and did the legwork that kickstarted the necessary consultation between industry producers, Equity and the agents. Without their work this agreement would not exist. This agreement is significant for all those working within and for the games industry. Like the TV, Stage and Film agreements it gives clarity regarding pay and best practice. Without taking this step, the games industry would remain the ‘Wild West’ of media even though it’s now probably the biggest employer of talent.  

“I am hopeful that this agreement will now become broadly endorsed and adopted. The terms of the agreement will be publicly available as I believe that broader scrutiny and transparency regarding good practice and pay are beneficial for a healthy creative industry. UK game development, supported by BAFTA is renowned for leading creative innovation and nurturing new talent, so I am particularly delighted that we have an agreement that is tiered in a way that supports and encourages micro and indie budget game development.”

Tim Gale, Recorded Media Organiser at Equity, says: “We are very pleased to have agreed for the first time in the UK a simple agreement for the engagement of our members in voice work for video games. Despite the games industry having become one of the largest parts of the entertainment sector, it did not have a standard contract for the engagement of artists until Equity and OMUK agreed this ground-breaking contract. With the considerable help of Equity members working in the sector, Equity and OMUK have provided the games industry with an agreement that offers clarity and simplicity in contracting, which will be a great asset to the industry as a whole.”

Laurence Bouvard, voice actor and Chair of Equity’s Screen & New Media Committee, says: “We are delighted to share with our colleagues in the games industry the news that the long-awaited Equity UK Agreement for Voice Artists in Videogames is now official, with its first signatory Mark Estdale of OMUK, a leading studio in games audio. This ground-breaking agreement, drawn up as the result of months of consultations with UK-based actors, agents, and studios alike, reflects best practice and a mutual desire to achieve excellence in a safe and supportive working environment. This document has long been urgently needed to navigate the opportunities provided to performers in the rapidly expanding games industry, and we are grateful to everyone who has worked hard with us to make it happen. We have no doubt that other studios will soon follow Mark’s lead in signing up to this agreement, helping to further raise the profile of the already thriving UK games industry on the global stage.”

BACKGROUND​

The UK is the leading video game market in Europe, the sixth largest gaming market worldwide and employs 27,000 people in the UK. 

It has grown rapidly from a gross added value (GVA) of £0.40bn in 2010, to £2.91bn in 2019. ​

The contribution of the video game industry to the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is £2.2bn

Equity has been in negotiations with a number of Voice Production Studios for the last year to conclude an Agreement for Voice Actors Engaged in Video Game Recording. While Equity staff and a number of voice actors conducted the progress of the negotiations, the wider acting community and their agents have been kept appraised of the negotiations. 

The voice studios are effectively engaged by video game publishers and developers for casting and recording performances. In turn the studios are the contracting entity for the individual actors.

The negotiating team have also kept in regular contact with UKIE, the trade association for the UK games industry. Outsource Media Ltd (OMUK), who are part of the studio group negotiating with Equity, reached out to Equity and have taken the lead in signing the agreement. ​

We are delighted to share our casting and recording handiwork once again. This time, in the latest Frogwares title Sherlock Holmes Chapter One. You can now dip your toes into the world of Sherlock Holmes, hone your sleuth skills and enjoy the voice acting. YouTube

We currently have an exciting Senior Game Dialogue Engineer vacancy at the central London studios.

We’re looking a for a talented, creative and self-motivated game audio engineer, with software development skills to join us at the frontier of dialogue and performance capture production for video games.

We are a voice and face capture production company with one focus: to make performance content in games magnificent. Our raison d’être is in the belief that acting in games should at least equal the very best we find elsewhere on screen and stage. Everyone and everything at OMUK are tuned to this goal.

We are looking for someone who is passionate and curious, with wide interests and hungry to learn, explore and grow. We are looking for someone who aspires to delight in adventure at the frontiers of creativity who has a deep love and understanding of games and game development, and has the courage and ability to question status quos with wisdom.

We are a close collaborative and supportive multidisciplinary team of experts from different fields. We know that our strength lies in our diversity, our united drive and our support of one another.

Our applied expertise and interests encompass film, radio, music, theatre, games, art, writing, audio and electrical engineering, systems and software design, programming, acoustics, coffee roasting, cognitive linguistics, philosophy, physiology, swords, neuroscience, statistics, a healthy future for humanity and baking bread.

Duties and Responsibilities include:

Preparing creative and technical briefs for production, post production, mastering, QA and delivery

Preparing studios, assets, software and equipment to production specifications

Testing and verifying production specifications with clients

Ensuring production processes and delivery are complied with

Provide client technical liaison and delivery sign off

Participate at a high level with systems and software development

Contribute to studio and technical R&D, keeping abreast of trends and developments in the industry

Keeping up to date with and reporting on all technical and practice advances in performance capture, post production and mastering for video games

Ensuring technical maintenance of the recording studios, their equipment, software and computers

Recording dialogue in the studios and on location

Briefing and managing engineers and Quality Assurance staff that report to you during production

Oversee, develop, and document project pipelines and onboard new team members

Manage production audio teams, providing guidance, training and feedback on audio quality, consistency, and implementation.

Collaborate with creative and technical directors, and other key stakeholders in the development of the studios, services and production software

Qualifications and Experience

Professional level experience with ProTools, Reaper, Audition, iZotope, Nuendo

Comprehensive understanding and practical experience in every facet of game audio production, including experience with Wwise, Fmod, Unity and Unreal with at least 6 published titles.

Knowledgeable of and familiar with the use and care of Class A audio outboard, Neve, RME etc

Experience managing game dialogue production teams

Flexible, resourceful and enjoy the creative realities and the challenges of production.

Educated to degree level

Other useful experience:
Interest in project management and pipelines
A love and knowledge of video games
Component level expertise with PCs, Apple Computers, networking and Microsoft Software suites
Knowledge of more than one language
Programming skills

After Chicken Police ended 2020 with a review stating “PERHAPS THE VIDEOGAME VOICE WORK OF THE YEAR.” We’re dancing into 2021 with The Medium getting a flood of accolades for the performances. And we utterly adore the paradox of ‘the most charming, grounded lead female‘ – for a horror game.

Great reviews that recognise our contribution to a game are always received with joy. However, our work in casting, directing and recording is always a collaboration with the developer. Without the vision, without great writing and without the dedication of the development team our work would be all for nothing. So a huge hats off to Bloober Team for being visionary and dedicated to the core.

Quotes from some of the reviews:

The Gamer: The heroine is a beacon of light in The Medium’s dark landscapes, as her sarcastic asides and cheeky observations lend a glib joy to what’s otherwise an upsetting experience. She’s a realistic depiction of trauma in that she has a personality beyond being hurt, and her use of meds to cope with that hurt is never presented in a way that stigmatizes mental illness. Marianne’s actress, Kelly Burke, is put in a position where her performance could make or break the game, as so much of the script’s weight is placed on being endeared to her character. She nails it, though, and sells Marianne with one of the most charming, grounded lead female performances in gaming to date.

Worth Playing: The voice acting is excellent, but Kelly Burke’s performance as Marianne is stellar.

IGN: While I certainly enjoyed the strong performances from Marianne and the small supporting cast (both human and spiritual) it’s Troy Baker’s uncharacteristic and entirely unsettling turn as The Medium’s chief antagonist that really steals the show.

Game Grin: The vocal performances are equally impressive, with the whole cast doing an admirable job of imbuing their lines with the kind of emotional gravitas the story needs. Kelly Burke captures Marianne’s slowly crumbling mental state perfectly, starting off stoic and self-deprecating but becoming increasingly desperate and weary as the story continues. Troy Baker steps outside his everyman comfort zone to deliver a squirm-inducing performance as The Maw (the game’s main antagonist) and even the supporting cast of characters are voiced well (especially Sadness, a young girl Marianne spends much of the game interacting with).

BBC: The Medium’s dialogue is a strong point. The voice acting is superb all the way through from Marianne’s monologues to the short audio clips that give life to ghostly characters. One performance that clearly stands out is The Last of Us’ Troy Baker as the terrifying villain The Maw.

Game Spot: I’m not sure what well of horrific creativity that Troy Baker found in order to inform his performance, but we must ensure he never finds it again–he does way too good a job of making The Maw sound creepy as hell. I’m not even really sure how to describe the voice; it’s as if a toddler that’s struggling for air is cooing in your ear about being a serial killer. You just feel unclean listening to it. The Maw is a deeply unsettling antagonist, made all the more so because you go a great deal of the game not knowing why it wants to be inside you, but knowing that it can appear at almost any time.

We are deeply grateful to all.

We want to thank everyone who applied for applying! You were an amazing bunch of talented and passionate people. It was tough shortlisting and selecting as there were so many truly great applicants. We wish we could have hired more of you!

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We found two creative, bold, free thinking, curious, and talented individuals to join us in changing the videogaming world, one word at a time.

We’re a casting and voice recording team that is utterly dedicated to making performance in games extraordinary.

We are small, independent and collaborative. We focus on working with experimental and pioneering game developers who have strong stories to tell. Our expertise in casting and recording actors for games is unrivalled. 24 years, 1,000+ titles provide us with deep data that underpins every ounce of what we offer.

Collaboration for us means getting dirty together along with developers. It’s being innovative, breaking rules, questioning and having ideas. It’s being utterly honest at the same time as being completely supportive. We don’t take anything for granted.

We want our brains alive and engaged together. In practical terms, we think of all ‘status quos’ as potential black holes that may stifle creativity as they tend towards making compliant followers instead of shapers and leaders. We sometimes get labelled as maverick outsiders but that is the price of being independent and innovating. We’re proud of it. Our work speaks for itself.

Come join us if you love adventure.

Production Manager (London, UK)

Wanted: An experienced, supremely well organised and creative herder of cats. The cats are mostly wild and come in the form of actors, writers, directors, producers, audio lunatics, people who like shooting people and game designers.

Your job is simple: juggle them all, love them all and make magic happen. Your world is bringing words to life which will involve hunting down actors and sometimes changing the words to improve the lives they create.

Skills required: Great management, communication and negotiation skills, and a ruthless attention to detail. You’ll hopefully have a deep love of videogames, game developers, scripts, actors and all things performance. You have proven mastery of the English language and a high skill level with Excel, PCs, Slack and Google.

To find out more and to apply send your CV/Resume to production@omuk.com with the subject ‘Job Application – Production Manager’ – Good luck!

Casting Assistant (London, UK)

Joining in and supporting the above. This role is an entry level position. You’ll help with preparing and writing casting briefs, organising casting submissions and casting sessions. You’ll help with QA and script management, with maintaining the actors’ database, and liaising with agents and clients.

You’ll be self motivated, able to take initiative and know how to use Windows and Office, especially Excel. You’ll be at home with the Google suite and have strong writing skills. You’ll be well organised, articulate and flexible. You’ll love video games, film, theatre, and actors.

So you know where we stand. Trump stated that the black live matter movement was “treason, sedition, insurrection”. We say bring it on. Defending, sustaining and profiting from what is human injustice is unacceptable to us. We choose to be accountable and proactive in supporting positive change.