Why do "Berlin" and "The Professor" have new voices?
Why are the English language voices of the characters "Berlin" and "The Professor" different now?
Not just for voice actors— to the rest of the industry:
Netflix execs, driven by co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, have shown that they will replace you with A.I. if you let them.
For the show MONEY HEIST (LA CASA DE PAPEL), the English language voice cast was SAG-AFTRA.
For the spin-off BERLIN, the SAG-AFTRA English voice cast was replaced by a new non-SAG cast in Canada whose performances train A.I.
This is just one of many Netflix shows where SAG-AFTRA performers have been replaced-- since 2023, when they began using performances to train A.I., Netflix has moved English language voice recording to Canada for most of their shows.
Why? Because English language voice performances in Canada can be used to train Netflix "Deepspeak" A.I., which fully replaces human performers in all languages.
Multiple US / Los Angeles recording studios shut down or laid off most staff as a result, and a once thriving industry for actors, directors, engineers, etc in the US and Los Angeles is disappearing.
No beef with Canada or Canadian performers-- they are just taking dubbing jobs and are likely unaware that their performances are being used to train A.I. intended to eventually replace human performers.
Does this affect the show's metrics?
Sure does! And if I were BERLIN creators Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, I'd be pissed!
When BERLIN season 1 launched back on December 29th 2023, the show performed to normal expectations in every language-- except English.
In fact, according to their internal system "Delta-S" (lol), the English dub of BERLIN season 1 had the lowest metrics against expectations of all time on Netflix for any show in any language.
The SAG-AFTRA English dub voice actor for the main character "Berlin" in the show MONEY HEIST had been replaced in the spin-off with a new actor in Canada for A.I. training (just one show of many that Netflix sent to Canada to replace SAG-AFTRA actors for A.I. training).
Unfortunately for Netflix, the character Berlin starts speaking (with his new voice, and his bizarre A.I. lip movement) in close up within the first 2 minutes of the first episode.
This resulted in most English dub viewers turning off the show before it reached the 2 minute mark of episode 1. On average, around a half a million English dub view hours a day bled out of the show in the first 2 weeks from launch.
If a viewer doesn't reach the 2 minute mark, the viewer doesn't count toward Netflix metrics. This enabled the Netflix VP innovation A.I. and the Netflix Director Dubbing UCAN to disregard all of the lost English dub "consumption" on Berlin season 1, because most English dub viewers were lost before the 2 minute mark and swept under the metrics rug. They were covering up how much corporate waste went into spending around $3 to $5 MILLION US dollars on comically unscalable A.I. training on Berlin S1 English dubbing-- all that wasteful A.I. spending on just this one show! Imagine how much investor money they've been wasting across the slate on unusable A.I. training for years.
And to make the A.I. training happen for BERLIN, they had the SAG-AFTRA voice cast of MONEY HEIST replaced, which of course resulted in viewers dropping out.
The Netflix VP Innovation A.I. and the Netflix Director Dubbing UCAN spun BERLIN season 1's metrics to their colleagues internally, and to the producers/talent, and claimed that the show's English dub viewer metrics were in the normal "stickiness" range and that their comically wasteful A.I. training experiment had nothing to do with the show's failure in English. Internally to their colleagues, they also claimed the show failed in English because the show itself was "bad" (according to them).
"Stickiness" is one of the arbitrary and flexible metrics that Netflix execs use internally and to negotiate with talent reps, partners, and advertisers. It just means that if a viewer gets to the 2 minute mark, they count toward the show's "stickiness"-- and the "stickiness" is good if viewers on average get past a later minute mark in the show (this later minute mark can change arbitrarily), or the "stickiness" is bad if the viewers on average turn it off before that arbitrary and flexible later minute mark.
Sure, maybe the show's "stickiness" % was in a normal range for the tiny fraction of English dub viewers who watched the show past 2 minutes. But most of the English dub viewers turned the show off before they could be counted toward "stickiness" at the 2 minute mark.
These execs, who had spent millions on unscalable and remarkably expensive BERLIN season 1 A.I. training, ignored how the show’s % of overall global engagement in nearly every other dubbed language went up compared to MONEY HEIST. The show only failed in English, which is a huge percentage of the overall global consumption on a show like BERLIN.
This lack of vision can result in grave harm to a show or IP.
This is an example of how Netflix execs can spin metrics both internally and externally however they please, without repercussions and with protection from co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.
This is just dubbing metrics. What do you think Netflix senior execs get up to when using flexible metrics to negotiate with talent/producers, partners, and advertisers, press, and investors?
Since 2023, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters have pushed for replacement of SAG-AFTRA actors.
Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters have personally directed and approved the replacement of SAG-AFTRA voice actors since 2023, in favor of A.I. training performances outside of the US.
Since 2023, mass replacement of SAG-AFTRA voice actors overseen by the Netflix VP, Innovation A.I.
Under the direction of co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, replacing SAG-AFTRA performers and moving most work outside of the US since 2023 has been overseen by the Netflix VP Innovation A.I.
A reminder: these are not studio execs, these are tech execs.
Re-casting of SAG-AFTRA + A.I. training personally overseen by Netflix Sr Manager, Global English.
Netflix Sr Manager Global English, and longtime SAG-AFTRA member, and longtime anime actor, and longtime USC professor, has personally overseen re-casting of SAG-AFTRA actors and recording for A.I. training in Canada since 2023.
When others internally at Netflix refused to do it, he eagerly and personally managed the replacement of SAG-AFTRA performers and the initial A.I. training recordings (like Berlin season 1), and continues to personally oversee the replacement of SAG-AFTRA performers by sending most shows away from the US and SAG-AFTRA protections, so Netflix can use these non-SAG performances for "Deepspeak" A.I. training intended to replace human performers.
Anything to keep that paycheck!
Netflix Sr Director, Dubbing + Director, Dubbing UCAN embrace replacing human performers globally.
"Deepspeak" A.I. replaces human performers in every language, not just English. These execs drive the replacement of SAG-AFTRA and human actors, and moving huge volume of work away from the US.
They also drive the replacement of actors in every language with Netflix "Deepspeak" A.I. while hiding the truth from their partners globally.
These are all the same executives who orchestrated + sanctioned Pay-to-Play scam targeting artists.
Netflix Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos & Greg Peters
Netflix VP, Innovation A.I.
Netflix Sr. Director, Dubbing
Netflix Director, Dubbing UCAN
Netflix Sr. Manager, Global English
Even while moving most of the recording work to Canada for A.I. training since 2023, these execs orchestrated and sanctioned a blatantly, ludicrously immoral and illegal ongoing Pay-to-Play scam called "Dub School Los Angeles", which charges performers $2000 for the opportunity to work.
These execs also have pushed English language voice directors to be trained by this same "school".
This scam builds Netflix' roster of talent while charging performers for the opportunity to work, one of the many ways this scam is in violation of the Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act.