Are a lot of the Funi VAs moving from Texas to LA?

M

Michele

New member
It seems like a lot of the Funi VAs (ex: Travis Willingham, Troy Baker, Laura Bailey and Kyle Hebert) have moved from Texas to LA and thus are less likely to be involved in Funi projects. Anyone else notice that?
 
There's a reason for that.

Instead of just doing anime (and in Kyle's case, being a DJ for Radio Disney as well), they can look for multiple pre-lay work in LA at once and therefore, possibly, get a higher paycheck.
 
The main issue with moving to LA is that you get a lot more work in Texas atm. Really, you do. LA's voice-over work is not doing so hot right now because of the lack of pre-lay projects going around other than well-established long runners like Spongebob and such where there isn't many new openings if at all. Anime work there has been steadily sliding too as Bandai has cut back on dubbing unless it is a necessity, Geneon's out of business, and Viz hasn't had many new projects coming down the pipeline until very very recently and one of them (Inuyasha Final Act) is guaranteed to go to Canada. And video-game work is increasingly heading to cheaper Seattle, though Squaresoft seems to be using LA still. Commercial market is still doing fine though.

FUNi dubs every project they get and they're getting a lot of stuff which means you get a lot of work with FUNi. The weakness is that everything else in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area really freaking sucks other than stage work.
 
All four of those actors are still regularly involved with FUNimation. Bailey, Baker, and Willingham were all in Darker than Black, for example.
 
There still a lot of pre-lay stuff coming down the pike, Marvel is still making cartoons all the time, series and DTVs, DC as well and those are often voiced in LA. Plus its not Nick and CN are not going to make new cartoons in the future.

And which games are being voiced in Seattle, most games I have seen are voiced in LA, past and up coming.



Still doesn't change the fact the rates are much higher in LA, on average. Its not like many VAs move from LA to Texas.



I have't seen Kyle in a lot of of Funi stuff recently. Anyway do the VAs just travel from Texas to LA a lot or do they have a recording booth set up in LA for this stuff?
 
DragonBall games are coming out in droves every year. He also did some One Piece back in January, and probably whatever else he looked into while over there.
 
One Piece could have been recorded in advance and a video game doesn't have the same commitiment as a series.

It seems like Kyle does way, way more stuff in LA, then he does with Funi.
 
Just FYI, Travis Willingham and Kyle Hebert relocated to Los Angeles several years ago and they've been based there for a while.

Willingham as far as I know isn't an exclusive FUNI voice actor. He's done other shows like GunXSword and Ergo Proxy.
 
actually there is alot of work like marvel cartoons, video games. And viz has naruto, bleach, honey and clover, Monster being dubbed here with two new shows possibly coming to L.A.
 
That hardly means he isn't going to be involved. He's been in LA for years now and continues to go back and forth doing different stuff.

Nothing wrong or anything big to be made out of it either. He's just making money.
 
Spike Spencer has also been based in LA for a while, but he's now doing the Funi dubs for the EVA movies.

Also, Funi has brought in LA people and even some Canada people before. Johnny Yong Bosch, Talieson Jaffe, Scott McNeill, etc.
 
On another interesting note, ADV people such as Brittney Karbowski moved to FUNi before ADV was suffereing a little bit.

(sigh) I wish Melissa Davis made the move.
 
Kevin M. Connolly is also in LA as of the Friday before last. Still, anyone who has a character they need to voice back in Texas will fly back there to do so. There's just more work with higher pay in LA right now.
 
At this point... if you hear a "FUNimation VA" in an LA dub unless it's a FUNimation dub recorded at least paritially in LA then that actor/actress has most likely moved to LA. They still do work for FUNimation when they are able to because they have that pre-existing relationship and bills to pay.

It's been a pretty common trend ever since Hebert and Bailey moved to LA. We've been seeing more and more of FUNimation's regulars move to LA. Most likely in hopes to get into domestic animation and local commericals and such.

It's sort of like FUNimation is a training ground where new talent pops up then they make their way to LA or New York if they feel they can find more work or better paying work there.

FUNimation tenRAB to have those VAs in minor roles in long series or sometimes major roles in very short series but as with anything it's all about who has the best voice for the job. The FUNimation VAs that moved to LA are quite good at what they do so if they're around to audition for a part there is a good chance that they'll get it.

It's much easier to start in Texas because there's no voice acting unions or the complications they bring. So new VAs start in Texas... makes a lot of sense. I know if I wanted to do VA work full time I'd try to get down to Texas because A) Not as many complications in getting work and B) FUNimation pratically owns the anime industry so if you want to be in anime dubs you should probably try to get into their studios. But I'd rather be a voice actor for domestic cartoons and I already live much closer to California so I might take my chances with LA one of these days... but the way I see it is... I'm happy with my day job and voice actors love their jobs but there's a great deal of grief that goes along with voice acting for your dinner.
 
Nothing wrong with that all, but it does seem like if you want to make voice acting a full time career, it seems like you have to move to LA.
 
Or if that VA is named Vic Mignogna.

Unless...




Yeah. Chris Sabat is the voice of FUNimation, and I'm sure voice acting is a full time career for him. I could never see him going anywhere else.
 
Because I have seen voice actor interviews, with Steve Blum for example, he said he could only make voice acting his full time job when he was mainly doing union work, especially pre-lay work.

Most voice actors seem to be saying that you need to do union voice acting to make voice acting a full time career.

I ask you, what makes you think that someone can make a career just out of non union voice acting?

It doesn't seem like voice actors that establish themselves in LA, feel the need to move to Texas. Most VAs move to LA, not from LA. Voice actors have also moved from NYC (like Megan Hollingshead) and Canada to LA.
 
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