DEH Virtual Chorus Question

[bdn223]

So Dear Evan Hansen is not the first show to use a virtual chorus, but it is the second major production in recent memory (after Bring It On) to actively use "virtual" aka canned vocals, that are not hidden from the audience. 

I was just wondering how the  members of this "chorus" get paid. Is it just a flat fee from the recording session, or  do they receive a set royalty for each nice their vocals are used?

[Alex Kulak2]

I heard somewhere they get paid a small amount for doing it. Like over a month, they could make a week's worth of Equity.

Unrelated, but it's also kind of cool to see some of the lesser known theatre actors in the virtual chorus, like Jenn Colella, Adam Halpin, Gerard Canonico.

[Lot666]

I feel really dim for asking this, but what scenes in the show use a virtual chorus?

[Tag]

Ensemble Recordings. An Actor engaged to record material which is ensemble in nature (i.e., unrecognizable) for use in the production may do so provided that Actor is originally contracted for the duty or contracted by rider to participate in such recording and further provided that the Actor is compensated upon leaving the production at no less than one week's minimum salary if the recording is used in the production after Actor's termination provided, however, that an Actor who is unjustly terminated, per Rule 69(D), receives not less than either two weeks' contractual salary as a one-time payment or one week's contractual salary for each 26 weeks' use of the recording, at the Producer's option. 

Compensation stipulated herein is for use of said recording(s) in the original production only. Actor will be compensated for use of any such recording(s) in any other production at not less than the minimum terms and conditions stated in the appropriate contract. 

[bdn223]

Anything with screens/voice overs, and song wise Waiving Through a Window and You Will Be Found. 

[ChairinMain]

I was under the impression that the Virtual Community Voices were only used in the two sequences where online content goes viral. Are they also used for ensemble vocals?

[Alex Kulak2]

I saw a copy of the DEH vocal score actually used for the Broadway production, and they have parts written in for the community voices.

[Liza's Headband]

ChairinMain said: "I was under the impression that the Virtual Community Voices were only used in the two sequences where online content goes viral. Are they also used for ensemble vocals?

 

"

Yes. Ensemble vocals for two songs.

[adagio]

Liza's Headband said: "

Yes. Ensemble vocals for two songs.

 

"

If you happen to know, which song besides You Will Be Found? (I'm assuming that's one of them, I remember being surprised at how full the harmonies sounded in the theatre, so that one sweetened with pre-recorded vocals makes sense.)

Requiem or Waving Through a Window maybe?

[HeyMrMusic]

As bdn223 mentioned, the Virtual Chorus is used in "Waving Through a Window" and "You Will Be Found."

[ClumsyDude15]

^They're also used in the scene before "Words Fail" where the note is put up online and the Murphys are attacked online. 

[GavestonPS]

Tag, am I reading the Equity rule correctly: it's one week's minimum pay for an actor hired only for the recording (like the virtual actors in DEH)?

The reference to "unjust termination" confuses matters. What would entail unjust termination in the circumstance we are discussing? Does it even apply? If so, then there's a possibility of a single two-week payment, or a one week payment every six months, at the producer's discretion. (The one week per month suggested by a previous poster might not be a "little" sum over time.)

(Note: I haven't worked under a Broadway contract. Shows I've done that used extra actors for sweetening or videos contracted them by the hour or by the day of recording. They may have even used AFTRA contracts, as one would for a TV commercial or show.)