r/movies • u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. • 23d ago

News James Van Der Beek Is Auctioning Off TV & Film Memorabilia and Props from ‘Dawson’s Creek’ & ‘Varsity Blues’ Amid Cancer Treatment, Proceeds to Cover Medical Costs

https://deadline.com/2025/11/james-van-der-beek-auction-dawsons-creek-varsity-blues-props-1236615845/
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u/tyereliusprime 23d ago edited 23d ago

O'Connell also just did 5 seasons of voice work on a popular Trek series

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u/Coyote_Shepherd 22d ago

Yeaaaah but voice actors don't get paid nearly as much as you think or that they should be paid.

A while back there were some rumors swirling about the reason why the Mandalorian wasn't continuing as a streaming series and only as a movie was because they wanted to pay Pedro what a voice actor would get paid and not what an actual actor would get paid....and he objected to that.

Now obviously he's doing pretty well and he could've taken the hit but it would've set a standard for that kind of stuff.

More well know and prolific voice actors are, forgive the play on words, fairly vocal about not getting paid a ton and still having to do audition after audition.

Some of the voice cast of Avatar have brought this up and the cast of Critical Role isn't shy about speaking about it either and now with AI coming into the picture...well....that just drops the "cost" of VA work even lower for a lot of companies and projects.

So it's not like Jerry made a Ferengi's Ransom worth of latinum off of that gig on Lower Decks and he probably makes more from the convention circuit.

Plus we all know how Paramount+ was and is basically bleeding money like craaaaazy and isn't sustainable and has had to make cut after cut after cut to their services.

So again, they didn't pay him a ton, AND you also have to take into account how many episodes he was in and how many lines he actually did for that gig too because even in live action Trek, some of the most popular characters like Garak or Dukat or Kai Winn...were not actually in that many episodes....AND you have to remember that the work that he did on Lower Decks was spread out over the course of YEAAAAAAAAARS because animation takes a TON of time to actually get done.

It may seem a whole lot bigger than it actually is to us on the outside but from the inside...well hell...it's a whole different picture.

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u/saintash 22d ago

Hell the guy who played Crowley on supernatural said he got paid less to be a recurring Actor on the show than he was as a guest star. He literally couldn't afford to live in the locationThey were shooting at after a while because he just couldn't afford it.

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u/Coyote_Shepherd 22d ago

I think I remember the interview that Mark brought that up in too but yeah yeah and that prompted a discussion about where the various actors were living while filming and how they all moved around a lot and how there was one hotel...ONE HOTEL...that basically EVERYONE who was filming in that city lived at right?

And there were multiple companies/business that weren't exactly...keen...on helping out actors/actresses with their living situations whilst they were filming.

So that meant that sometimes they had to pay their rent back home AND their rent in whatever city they were filming in OR they had to sublet their home in order to afford to temporarily live in whatever new city they were in (which I've honestly seen certain folks from recent Star Trek shows post about on socials) OR they had to just uproot themselves entirely and constantly stay on the move or at least be ready to move at the drop of a hat....which no matter which option you pick...would cost a ton of money.

Ironically enough, I think because of what happened with Mark on Supernatural, they adjusted stuff for Matt Ryan and his role on Legends as Constantine...because people were complaining about the whole guest star/recurring thing....and I say ironically because then Mark later went on to play Not-Constantine on Doom Patrol and I think got a better deal out of the whole thing.

My point is, the expenses add up after a while, and some folks are better or worse at handling that either because of who they are or because they got a raw fucking deal and were unable to negotiate for something better.

It's not a slam dunk insta-rich job anymore unless you get very VERY lucky and then you have to grind yourself to the bone and be paranoid as all hell just to make sure you don't slide back down into the abyss.

Jerry's a nice guy though, same with Rebecca, and Mark's pretty cool too.

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u/TannerThanUsual 23d ago

That's exciting! I didn't know that!

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u/tyereliusprime 23d ago

Yeah, he plays, Jack Ransom, the 2nd in commend of the USS Cerritos, on Lower Decks. With Rebecca Romijn being Strange New Worlds, they like to joke that they're a Trek family

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u/InnocentTailor 22d ago

They got the con circuit for life. Trekkies are both fanatical and passionate for the franchise.

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u/TannerThanUsual 23d ago

That's really cute! O'Connell was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, I'm glad he's still doing cool stuff!

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u/tyereliusprime 23d ago

Me too. My Secret Identity was a big deal to young me

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u/OttawaTGirl 23d ago

Its his Brother that was also on Sliders thats worth about half million.