Silent Haven: Hello Monica, since Silent Hill 2 I never heard your name brought up in any other productions or games where you voice acted. Did you continue voice acting after Silent Hill 2?

Monica Taylor Horgan: Hi there. Yes, I did a lot of work after SH2. That aside, at the time it was being made, I was in the process of moving to London where (among other things including getting pregnant with my now nearly 10 year old daughter) I took my MA in Performance Studies and English from Kings College (Univ. of London) and RADA. Moved to Hawaii after that and was back and forth to Japan for work…hosted a program in Japanese about Hawaiian culture, commercials, etc. I just moved back to Mainland US and am in the LA area…..I have been approached for voice work here but frankly I’m not sure I feel inspired by the “scene” here. Who knows though….maybe SH fans will inspire me to put it out there….

Silent Haven: I want to ask you your thoughts on this whole Guy Cihi situation. Is he alone in this whole not wanting to sign over mocap and voice rights or were you and David and Donna not willing to sign any documents either? Also what is this business about no contracts?

Monica Taylor Horgan: Well… yes they contacted me within the last year asking for a waiver release for any and all future releases of the game. No there were no contracts at the time. I don’t think anyone realized what was going to come of the game…the genre was relatively new (horror) and Japan does things differently than the US with on camera and voice talent. Konami was *very* shady about the work we did. It was ONLY to be released in the US and ONLY for one game… it has gone on to be released in a dozen countries, and several re-release versions including one that contains a “making of” which actually contains our likenesses… This is a BIG no-no… We have little or no recourse since the game was created in Japan…out of jurisdiction here…which is why they wanted releases from us—because the new HD version is from Konami USA. MUCH stricter laws protecting talent of course here. So they just recast it…I don’t think they realized what a hailstorm they were creating. It’s a shame really—because it’s the fans who miss out most. I never did sign the waiver and I think it’s great that Guy is standing up and shouting. I hope he (and fans) are successful protecting the original at least. And if Konami can clean up their act in the process and treat those who make them their fortunes better, then it’s a great thing.

Silent Haven: I find it a bummer that Konami doesnt pay voice actors residuals for re-releases. How do you feel about Konami’s ethics? Do you feel there is some kind of hidden agenda here?

Monica Taylor Horgan: As for Konami’s ethics, it’s not entirely cut and dry. We were all paid well for a smallish job at the time… Surely no one complained back then! The fact that it took off as it did was something we all should have included in our agreements (mostly verbal at the time). It’s the continued, global releases and MORE IMPORTANTLY the formation of the Making Of release that includes our actual likenesses that is a bummer. THAT was unethical. And probably in some laws, illegal.

The experience was great though really. I will tell you a fun little fact….the letter reading from Mary that we did….was a very rare “one take”. This means, I read it one time only….we recorded it…and it was a perfect take the first time. I remember distinctly everyone taking a Loooooong moment afterward. We nailed it. Great material. And a solid read. Probably the best I ever did.

Silent Haven: How do you feel about the Silent Hill fans?

Monica Taylor Horgan: Ahh and as far as fans? I’m mostly confused! Seems like most of them are in their 20’s which means they were my daughter’s age when the game was made…. I guess that speaks volumes about the material and game and (on some small level) performances. How fun to know it’s all still so vital. Thank you to all of them (you).

Thanks for taking time!

Monica

“I’m in New Orleans for the weekend so I’ll have to be brief. I stand behind and am very proud of the work we did for the re-releases of Silent Hill 2 & 3. I was approached by Konami to re dub the original Silent Hill versions of 2 & 3. I was told that they would not be using the original voices due to an unfounded demand for royalties by the original actors, specifically the actor who played James. There are no royalties for game voice over actors, as stipulated by and negotiated for in the contracts. Games are a buy out situation. That’s just the way it is. We couldn’t change the script at all so we were constrained by the pacing of the original performances. But I think we brought a sense of naturalism to the updated version. I was proud to be a part of this revision and although I know there will be much resistance to the new voices, I hope the fans will, over time, be able to appreciate both versions of this iconic game series. after recording the voices we gave the product to Konami. What they do with them now is up to them. I love Silent Hill and am honored to have worked on it for all these years. I hope that love shows in the final product.”

Open letter to Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
by Guy Cihi on Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 8:32pm

[There has been a great deal of discussion and speculation about the decision to recast the voice acting for the forthcoming Silent Hill 2 re-release. Certain comments and accusations have been made and the situation has become a mess. I issue this statement with hope that it will help set things right.]

To Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.

Amazing as it may seem, neither I nor to my knowledge any of the other voice actors involved in the creation of Silent Hill 2 received written agreements for our work. All I have is a verbal agreement based on the various negotiations that took place between me and Konami’s representatives. I was told that I would receive a written contract but I never did. I invite anyone claiming the existence of a contract to produce a copy of it. My verbal agreements with Konami management covered the release of SH2 on the PlayStation 2 consoles. No other console releases were discussed between us, and none was agreed to.

Californian law which, under the circumstances, governs the agreement between Konami and me provides that voice actors in videogames retain all rights for reproductions and re-uses of their vocal recordings and motion-capture work unless the artist specifically conveys those rights to a second party. The implications ought to be clear enough regarding the releases and reuses of my performances on consoles other than PlayStation 2. Obviously Konami’s legal department agreed with the strength of my position or they would not have supported the significant expense undertaken to rerecord voices in advance of the HD collection re-release. It would have been much easier if someone responsible at Konami had simply talked to me and sought to resolve this amicably.

Recently some things have been said by people acting as if they are part of the Konami organization, for example, that an attempt was made to reach out to me to help get things straightened out. This isn’t true. After the production work wrapped, only one person connected to Konami has ever attempted contact me and that was Michael Ranja, Director of Licensing at Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. in California. On October 6, 2010 Mr. Ranja sent me the following message: “Per the voice acting done for the videogame Silent Hill 2 (your role as James Sunderland), I understand that in the past it was agreed that Konami would purchase and own all rights to the voice acting. As we don’t have paperwork for this, would it be possible for you to fill out the attachment and email or fax back to me?” His second email, and the last time I have ever heard from Konami, was on October 22, 2010 when Mr. Ranja replied to my email saying that he would do his best to contact me again shortly regarding a settlement.

Let me be clear about something: my problem with Konami has never been about money. It’s always been about the thoughtless way that those involved in the production have been treated. The reuse of my material without asking me and without having a written agreement that provides for it is one example. Another example is how my contributions to the game, and my face, were purposefully erased from the ‘making of’ video. Why was that done? These are some of the issues I asked Konami to settle with me on before making any new agreements. To this day Konami has never offered any explanation.

Like everyone else, I feel it is a real shame we have come to this point. The original cast, writers, and directors of Silent Hill 2 all felt we were making something great, but I don’t think any of us realized just how successful and respected it would become. I am eternally grateful to have been selected by Team Silent to portray James Sunderland. I am equally grateful to the dedicated SH2 fans who enlightened me to fact that SH2 is much more than just an intellectual property to be bought, sold and repackaged.

After thinking it through carefully I have come to realize that I am unwilling to be part of any legal barrier or excuse which prevents a new generation from experiencing Silent Hill 2 the way the original Team Silent created it. The only way to do this appears to be for me to relinquish all my rights to Konami and so I hereby completely waive all rights to my motion capture and vocal performances in the Silent Hill 2 production without demand for additional consideration. Have your lawyer send me the proper documents required so that we can put this fiasco behind us.

I call on Konami to release the HD versions of SH2, and all subsequent re-releases, with the original vocal tracks intact. If you desire, I welcome you to include the new vocal tracks so that fans can choose which version they prefer.

Sincerely,

Guy Cihi

August 2011

TGL: So Troy, I have to ask you about Silent Hill 2 HD because it emerged a couple of days ago that you are taking over from Mr. Guy Cihi as the voice of leading character James Sunderland. The new voices and the decision to re-voice the original characters have ignited a lot of controversy among fans of the original game. Tell us a little about how you first got involved in the new HD version and what do you make of the controversy that surrounds the re-voicing of the characters?

TB: Well, we found out last year that Konami were going to be doing this HD release and we weren’t sure exactly how it would go down or if Konami was simply going to an HD treatment of the game or redo the voices. It was all in deliberation for a time. Then it just emerged really quickly that they were going to recast and use new voices and we didn’t really know why. They just decided that they were going to do this. So we didn’t know if they wanted us to just voice match or if they wanted us to do something different. For the tenth year anniversary, they wanted to do something different that was new. They told us that obviously they don’t want to change the story or the gameplay or anything else but that they just kind of want to give it a fresh face.

But the fact that he’s talking about residuals being in videogames shows you just how out of the loop he is because residuals don’t happen. They don’t exist. Don’t think for a second that I don’t wish that I had a fraction of a penny for every unit sold of Call of Duty: Black Ops or Modern Warfare 2 or Modern Warfare 3 that we’re finishing up right now. I would love to see that. But that’s not how the system works right now. So it’s not that Konami wasn’t willing to pay them, he (Guy) wanted residuals, he wanted non-existent money that he felt that he was owed. So Konami has no fault in this whatsoever. And they wanted to use him again. Guy was the one who was outspoken about it and said that unless this happens he wouldn’t do it, so he forced Konami’s hands. So if anybody wants to blame anybody for why they chose new voices, they can go back to the original James and he’s the one to blame.

The problem with Konami is that there were never any agreements for reuses of my performance. In fact… there aren’t any written agreements at all. It was an oversight on Konami’s part. Once Sony picked up the theatrical rights for the SH2 title, I guess Konami figured it would spark interest for a yet another re-release. So after many years of no contact, Konami asks me to sign a back-dated release. I said that I was open to discussing reuses of my performance. I never heard back from them. Instead of talking to me, Konami decided to create new voice tracks.