VAM 128 | Interview with Zach Hanks, Part 1
Welcome to episode 128 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Welcome to the first part of my interview with voice actor, director and teacher, Zach Hanks! You may be familiar with his performances as Garnac in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Morgan and Custis Pendleton in the video game Dishonored and Lars Halford in the game Brutal Legend.
Not only is Zach a voice actor, but he has also worked as both a voice director and casting director on multiple video game projects including Company of Heroes, Saints Row, and Warhammer 40,000. In addition to all his voice over industry accomplishments, Zach has also taught voice acting as a professor at the Stephen F. Austin State University in Eastern Texas. He currently resides in Atlanta where he is continuing to pursue his own voice over career in addition to founding the Voice Over Career Launch Pad, a service that helps voice over artists learn the skills they need to become business savvy professionals in the industry. I’m very excited to bring you Zach’s story because his experiences are so wide and varied!
In this first part of our interview, we cover Zach’s journey from when he started as a young high school student interested in acting, all the way through the myriad twists and turns of his acting journey up until today. We touch on his training, the challenges he faced when he first entered the entertainment industry as an actor, the lessons he learned going back to school to get his Master’s degree, the success he had as a performer, casting director and booth director after returning to Los Angeles, and even the insight he’s gained from teaching others how to pursue their voice acting goals when he was a college professor. It’s an amazing story filled with surprises! At each step in his adventure, Zach learned important lessons that I think you’ll really benefit from hearing! But I’ll let Zach tell you all about it in his own words!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #128 Here (MP3)
Hey Crispin,
I am looking to move from my home town of Port Huron, Michigan to the Texas area to pursue voice acting, story telling, and becoming an audio engineer. But I am a little lost on were to start. I do have some projects and some payed jobs under my belt but I don’t think it is enough to make me very marketable yet. My hope at this point is just to sweep the floors of Funimation until I am ready to step into the booth, but there must be something else I can do.
As I have listened to all of Voice Acting Mastery many times, I recall you had a rather exciting move yourself from New York to LA. But I don’t believe you touched on some of the realistic points of a move and living.
So my question is this, when entering a new market for voice acting such as what I am doing and you have done, who should I talk to before moving to guarantee I can “keep the lights on” when I get there? Should I talk to agents in the area or wait until I am established in the community with, say a local theater. Should I work in coffee shop or something to easily meet people or try and force myself into a technical behind the scenes job at one of the companies around like Rooster Teeth or Certain Affinity?
I know every persons journey is there own, but I feel like there are some serious traps in this area and if you could help me dodge even one of them I would be eternally grateful. As always thank you for the podcast and have a great day.
I really admire stories like this one, mostly because I’m envious of people who can just go out and do it. Every once in a while, I come across a story of an actor going to LA with nothing but a hundred dollars in their pocket and a heart full of dreams. Yeah no. Not for me. I would die if I tried doing something like that.
Right now I’m still trying to save up money for new equipment and lessons.
Thanks to you and Zach for your time and wisdom. I look forward to the next episode.