Ask John: How Much Does it Cost to Dub Anime?

Question:
Just curious to know roughly how much it costs to produce an English adaptation of an anime feature – sort of gives me an insight as to whether a particular feature may one day become available to viewers in the West.

Answer:
The costs associated with distributing anime in North America are commonly considered elements of proprietary information, kept strictly private and internal to each distributor. The anime industry simply isn’t that big, so every domestic distributor does whatever it can to ensure its own success by limiting the amount of competition it has to rival for sales. In fact, sales statistics, acquisition fees, profits, and production costs aren’t even shared between industry professionals. No one in America outside of AD Vision knows how much AD Vision paid for title X. No one in America besides Bandai Entertainment executives know how much Bandai spent on title Y. This sort of intense security and secrecy is absolutely vital to the continued existence, growth and success of individual American anime distribution companies.

As a matter of professional confidentiality, no distributor or producer in America will reveal exactly how much it costs to dub an anime feature or series with English language dialogue. Because English dubbing is so common in domestically released anime American anime fans may have a vague presentiment that English dubbing is reasonably affordable. On the contrary, English language dubbing is actually very costly, and can in fact be the most expensive step in the entire process of transferring an anime title from store shelves in Japan to store shelves in America. AD Vision, one of America’s most prolific producers of English dubbed anime, originally began dubbing anime by frequently using its own employees as voice actors to cut down on expenses. AD Vision was the first domestic anime exclusive distributor to form its own dubbing studio just to produce English language adaptations of AD Vision anime releases. The motivation behind this move was partly inspired by a desire to produce English dialogue adaptations as quickly and efficiently as possible. Doubtlessly the second reason was an attempt to minimize expenses. A house staff of voice actors can be paid a standardized house wage. Freelance voice actors working for external production companies can be worth quite a bit of money depending on their talent and fame.

Many voice actors in the American anime industry are members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and/or American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). Membership guarantees minimum wages and opens up opportunities to jobs that may not be open to non-union workers. The official AFTRA website lists base fees guaranteed to union employees. For example, a primary voice actor working on a half hour program of broadcast television suitability must be paid a minimum of $581 per day of work. A single off-camera vocalist singing an opening or ending theme song must be paid a minimum of $963. A single actor performing original material, such as a stand-up comedian doing a routine, must be paid no less than $1,039. Pay rates increase based on the profile of the program. Recognized or famous actors may demand greater than minimum wages and/or additional royalties. These fees may not be exactly those paid to performers in the anime industry, and non-union voices may not earn as much. But if we consider that an average anime series will require several actors and may take weeks to fully record, it’s easy to estimate dubbing costs totaling well into the thousands of dollars.

And with these dubbing expenses accounting for only one element of anime localization, leaving acquisition fees, translation expenses, physical production costs, advertising expenses and distribution percentages unaccounted for, it’s easy to see why domestic anime distributors are so protective over any trade secrets and small advantages. Furthermore, it’s also possible to speculate from this knowledge why certain anime series do and don’t see American release. A long series may costs hundreds of thousands of dollars just to dub into English. If the series isn’t expected to sell very well, its licensing and production costs may easily total up to more than the finished product will earn back in commercial sales. So as much as professional anime fans may like a particular show, there’s just no way to remain a professional anime distributor when you loose money by bringing a particular title to America.