"As part of the main cast I got paid 15,000 yen, while a celebrity guest actor got paid a million yen."

Voice actor Gōsuke Hatakeyama ( Hagane Orchestra ) wrote a series of tweets on Tuesday highlighting the difference in pay a professional voice actor in film dubbing receives compared to a celebrity guest actor. Responding to an article about a reduction in prize money for professional e-sports players at Tokyo Game Show, Hatakeyama wrote: "It makes you wonder: what is a pro? I remember a film dub where I, a professional voice actor , was part of the main cast and got paid 15,000 yen, while a celebrity guest actor got paid a million yen."

Hatakeyama clarified in a followup tweet that he wasn't necessarily insisting that he get paid more, and that he is well aware that celebrity dub roles are considered part of a film's advertising budget. He simply found himself wondering what the definition of a "pro" is in light of the e-sports prize money story. If being a pro can be quantified with money, he reasoned, then how does one think about the pay gap between pro and non-pro (celebrity guest) voice actors? He also asked commenters on his tweets not to respond with "heartless" comments like "You're a no-name voice actor , so of course your pay is going to be low."

Hatakeyama played Yanagi in the anime short Hagane Orchestra .

[Via Otakomu]