Carol Spinney a 'Muppeteer'?

[minor muppetz]

Screen Actors Guild rules allow one performer to do two voices for the same fee.

I was wondering if voice actors get paid a certain amount just for working or if they get paid based on the number of characters they play. Does this rule also apply to live actors playing multiple on-screen roles? What about live actors who play multiple roles in the same production but not roles who interact with each other, such as in a variety show?

 

[Was Once Ernie]

I was wondering if voice actors get paid a certain amount just for working or if they get paid based on the number of characters they play. Does this rule also apply to live actors playing multiple on-screen roles? What about live actors who play multiple roles in the same production but not roles who interact with each other, such as in a variety show?

The answer to your first question is: both! Voice actors get paid for a four hour call, for which they can do 2 characters and a third one for a 10% bump. If they do a fourth character, they get another whole check, but then they can do a fifth character, too.

In on camera, it doesn't work the same way because they are basically paid for the time they are there. There is a Day Player rate, which is what it sounds like, a certain scale for working one day. There is a rate for three days, and another weekly rate. Since they can never really play more than one character at a time, the same rules don't apply. Even if they are playing two characters in the same scene, they have to be filmed separately. In voice over, actors often have conversations with themselves as another character. You can't do that on camera.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

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(whew)


Okay. If that's an answer, I'll except it as one. Alright.

So here comes the big $64,000.00 question.




If they're his Main Characters, WHY WRITE THEM TOGETHER ALL THE TIME?????

Does a-n-y-o-n-e here know what I'm talking about???

I don't know, maybe they're just showing off?

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Please let me know if I'm wrong here, but aren't thoes Carol Spinney's ONLY characters. I don't recall him ever doing the voice of any other Muppet ever.

He has played a few anything Muppet's here and there in the early years, but as far as Big Bird and Oscar being his main characters, they are the only ones he has.

 

[Marky]

I know that it was more common for Caroll Spinney to perform other characters during the first season, but shortly after that, it seems like he pretty much stuck to just performing Big Bird and Oscar.

Some of his roles as one-shot characters include the nerdy boy in Everyone Likes Ice Cream, the two brothers in Five people in My family, Scourge and Baby Monster in the First and last skit, and the engineer in Goin' For a Ride.

By the way, Bruno did occassionally talk. There was a song called Put It In The Trash Can, where Bruno sang some lines, and he had a line at the end of Follow That Bird, and I've read somewhere that he spoke in Here Come The Puppets.

And Bruno didn't put an end to Oscar walking with his feet sticking out of his trash can. bruno was introduced in 1978, and Oscar walked with his legs out of the can in the 1983 special Don't Eat The Pictures. he also walked like this in the opening from 1992-1998. I also recall Oscar walking with his legs out of his can alot when I was a kid, and I was born in 1984. Also, that's the only way that Oscar walked in Sesame Street Live, which had it's first show in 1980, two years after Bruno was introduced.

He also walked like thisfor 'Christmas Eve on Sesame Street' (my fave SS Special. I was five. Hooper. No Elmo. Brilliant).

 

[Marky]

The answer to your first question is: both! Voice actors get paid for a four hour call, for which they can do 2 characters and a third one for a 10% bump. If they do a fourth character, they get another whole check, but then they can do a fifth character, too.

In on camera, it doesn't work the same way because they are basically paid for the time they are there. There is a Day Player rate, which is what it sounds like, a certain scale for working one day. There is a rate for three days, and another weekly rate. Since they can never really play more than one character at a time, the same rules don't apply. Even if they are playing two characters in the same scene, they have to be filmed separately. In voice over, actors often have conversations with themselves as another character. You can't do that on camera.

With ACTRA (Canadian SAG) you get paid on a by-episode basis, too. I did cartoon voices - 20min. worth of my time. It was for 3 characters spread out over 3 episodes. I got paid thrice as much than had I worked for the same time, same # of characters - but if they were in the same episode. These technicalities also depend on how good your agent is!

 

[Ilikemuppets]

You're overthinking this. One reason is money. They get two main characters for the price of one. Second, in the beginning of Sesame Street, there weren't alot of Muppeteers, so as minor muppetz pointed out, they all doubled and tripled and quadrupled on characters. That's the way voices are cast in animation as well. Screen Actors Guild rules allow one performer to do two voices for the same fee. Plus, if you've read any of Carroll's writings, he was afraid he was going to wash out as a Muppeteer in the beginning. I doubt Jim would want to be training two people from scratch for this important show.

Next, it's not that complicated technically. I'd guess they have someone else performing Oscar, while Carroll just changes his voice in the Bird suit. They're not ad libbing. The Oscar puppeteer would know what he was going to say to move the mouth.

And finally, scheduling. Jim and his core group basically worked one month a year on Sesame Street, taping all their bits so they were free to do other things the rest of the time. But Carroll had to be available for all the street segments. Why not have him do the two main characters that interacted with the humans? It makes perfect sense.

Also, It has been said by Steve Whitmire that whenever they were doing a
scene with a lot of characters and Frank was preforming a major character like piggy, that if ever one of his other characters had another line, he would just throw his voice and someone like Steve, who was the fill in for Fozzie would do the lip sin.

I would Imagine that Caroll would have done the same thing many times.

Also, Caroll said in his book that he used to be the only performer on the street scenes for many year.

 

[Marky]

Also, It has been said by Steve Whitmire that whenever they were doing a
scene with a lot of characters and Frank was preforming a major character like piggy, that if ever one of his other characters had another line, he would just throw his voice and someone like Steve, who was the fill in for Fozzie would do the lip sin.

I would Imagine that Caroll would have done the same thing many times.

Also, Caroll said in his book that he used to be the only performer on the street scenes for many year.

That sounds lonely. What if the camera-guy did shadow-puppets? Would he have felt better?

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I suppose not, but of course, now, there are other puppeteers on the street with Caroll.

 

[Marky]

I suppose not, but of course, now, there are other puppeteers on the street with Caroll.

Ah well. Guess the shadow-puppet dude w/ the turbin will just have to park behind the lenses then.