Ian Russell, Actor, Voice Artist, Dad

00:00
Who knows when you're ready? You just dive in and do it.

00:11
Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading the podcast. I certainly do appreciate that.  The folks that have bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com. Thank you so much for supporting the podcast.  And the folks recently that have put the five star ratings and written  reviews. Thank you so much for that. It does help the podcast find more listeners. And that is what this is all about.  My guest today is in studio down from Greenville.

00:38
Please welcome voice actor Ian Russell.  Morning Robb, how are we? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for being here. Well, it's pleasure. know, you're in the area and it  would be rude not to, wouldn't it?  So Ian just wrapped up a two day workshop  on voiceover here in Augusta with our friends down at Le Chat Noir and  Gather by the Ghostlight, another amazing podcast.  And I was  privileged to  take part in your workshop.

01:08
really eye-opening, especially in the genre of  video games and animation and stuff like that.  Of course, we had  done one of the Gather By The Ghost Light audio dramas  together previously, the Butcher Pete piece.  The random Brit in the  mix.  So thank you,  One, for  sharing your knowledge.  I've said it time and time again since I've  gone full-time into voiceover.

01:38
how  welcoming and opening,  open and inspiring the community of voiceover really is and helping others. really is, yeah. And I went through all of that as well a decade or so ago where everybody's so warm and welcoming and all boats float higher and everybody's willing basically just to give the shop away, to know everything they know because there's so much opportunity that you're not really viewed so much as  a competitor or as you are a colleague.

02:07
Exactly, exactly. And that is one of the things that I do love about  voiceover and  just  the experience of meeting people.  I even mentioned in the workshop today, it's probably one of my favorite parts about doing this is the  networking, the meeting the people, helping people along.  It's kind of someone gave me a  hand up, I'm gonna give them a hand up as well. Absolutely, and long may that continue.

02:37
You do feel that sometimes because I was helped because you were helped when you get the opportunity you feel almost a You know an industry-wide obligation, don't you?  An ethical obligation that if you had help it's right and proper to help somebody else. Absolutely  Now Ian you don't sound like you're a Greenville native necessarily.  I mean you might recognize my southern accent. That's That's  Where are from originally? Well, yeah

03:05
It's a hard question for me to answer. I've always been a bit of a nomadic brat.  In fact,  we've lived in,  well, Spartanburg,  South Carolina, just over from Greenville for now 11 years.  I've never lived in a single place before for more than a decade. Oh, wow. Congratulations. So this is,  you know,  almost becoming a local now.  But I was born in London,  but I never really

03:34
count myself as a Londoner. My parents moved away when I was a small baby.  I  grew up as a young boy on the south coast of England, so that's where I get my standard southern English accent from. That's where the southern accent's from. that's where it comes from.  But both my parents were from London, so I can go a bit there if I have to.  And then we moved to Scotland. Oh, wow. And I spent another decade going to high school and all of that in Scotland, so I drop into that once in while as well.

04:02
Which, of growing up, I never knew that all that was going to be useful later on. were learning. You were just learning just learning by emotion. I've been training all my life, That's awesome. Then college and post-college. And then at one point I ended up going and working overseas in Belgium and Holland. That's where I met my wife, who's American. Then we moved back to the UK, to Oxford, and then here. So, I've lived in, you know

04:30
lots of different places. I love that. am I from? know, wherever I lay my hand.  I love that. I love that. But that  like you said, that all of those  lived in experiences have kind of helped you in what you're doing for career now. Yeah. Yeah. I think it at the time sometimes you feel, you know, because my childhood was was quite fragmented living in lots of different places.  I'm not sure I really, you know, you don't.

04:56
don't think about that at the time, do you? But it was, new friends all the time  was also, although I didn't know it at the time, a  useful learning experience.  And as an adult,  Sandra says it, my wife, says when you go in a room, she says I can see you working the room, she says.  But it's not a conscious thing.  It's just like, I like saying hi to people. Yeah, yeah. When you were  growing up, I guess in,

05:26
You know most people start to kind of decide and you know there's the question What are you gonna do when you grow up when you when you hit high school and that type of thing?  Was  acting voice acting was that one of those things that you were pursuing?  No,  I  I'd done all the the school theater high school theater that kind of stuff but when we moved to Scotland the The school there didn't have a drama teacher. Oh, wow,  but my mom was always

05:55
community  actress and wherever she went, if there was no theatre group, suddenly one appeared because she did it.  So she started community theatre in the village that I lived in in Scotland.  So I kind of helped out with that.  And then when I went to university, again, not really on the radar, but I went to the theatre.  I watched theatre.  And then  when I finished college and I went to my first job as a teacher  in the north west of England,

06:24
The house I rented,  well I rented a flat inside a house that a family owned. the two daughters of the people that lived there were going and joining the local community theater there.  And they said, hey, do you wanna come?  know, cause I was like, new  guy on the block, didn't know anybody, and  I guess they were being  empathetic to my situation.  So I went and they were just auditioning for a play.

06:54
auditioned and they cast me in the lead. Oh wow. Which was, I don't know, it was no expectation but you know there you go and I ended up over the course of the decade that I lived there I ended up helping to run and I don't know three shows a year, full productions. Yeah. And I probably played what's that, 30 productions say plus pantomimes which

07:22
gave us the money to run the rest really. And I don't know, I must have played 20 leads across that period and supporting and directing and lights and sound and you just get immersed. And then I moved to Holland with work and it all stopped again. I didn't do acting again for another 15 years. And then...

07:46
We were now living in Oxford, Sandra and I are now married, we've now got kids and I'm doing silly voices with the kids at bedtime and all that.  And she bought me  a voiceover.

07:56
an introduction to voiceover course, one day thing up in London, kind of get out the house, know, that kind of thing.  Little did she know, that was kind of where that all started really. it was, was not, I'm not one of those people who always craved, I'm going to be a professional actor or anything like that. And voiceover, oddly.  So when I was moving to the States and I said to the guy in London, I actually asked him, does anybody get paid to do this? That's how unprepared I was.  And he said, yeah.

08:26
I said would they ever hire me? He went, don't see why not. And that was the ringing endorsement with which... Don't see why Okay, I'll give that again. That's the motivational quote in your studio, right? Don't see why not. see why not. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, I say it jokingly, but actually when you think about it, I don't see why not is quite a strong thing, isn't it? Yeah. Just feel the fear and do it anyway, really. Yeah, I mean, it's...

08:52
What is it? You know, they say there are hundreds of thousands of people that are half as qualified as you, doing more than you because they have more courage to just do it. just doing it. Because they're just doing it.  When you think you're ready, you're ready. Yeah. Just dive in and have a go. No, I love that.  So that's when you moved to the US, that was...

09:16
the job or did you move back to do something else?  Well no,  again even then so  the move to the States came but there was like I guess several motivating factors but  Sandra's mom had passed away so her dad  who was I guess in his  late 70s early 80s at that point  she wanted to  spend more time with him.

09:43
I had been working in finance in a bank and if you remember sort of 10-15 years ago the banks had some issues around remaining being banks. there was all this stuff going on and we were like well let's just sell everything and go. We'll just move to the States and that's when I went, it was maybe a year after I'd had that first course and I went to him and I said okay well we're gonna move to the States I have to do something.

10:12
to make a choice,  I'll give it a go. Again, with no  expectations,  really.  If it didn't work out, it didn't work out, I'd have to go and do something else.  And as I jokingly often say, I'd go to the local Jaguar dealer and  sell Jaguars to unsuspecting Americans.  Right,  I love that.  Do  you remember back when you were doing your

10:40
your acting, your stage acting, whether it was in school, do you remember one of your first roles? Or  one that you really loved?  Well,  my first waking memory,  formative memory, is  of being backstage in a theater.  I was clearly not, I was probably like two years old or something, I don't know how old.  Because my mother constantly, she was taking me to the theater and sticking me in a corner while she was doing what she was doing.

11:09
I have formulated a picture of it, but really  it's that musty, dusty wood smell  of the stage boards and the flats.  And it's that slightly, probably moldy and probably not very healthy air.  That's my first abiding memory.  My first role,  again, maybe  Nanook, the Eskimo.

11:38
and the Christmas tree.  How old would I have been? Probably  seven-ish, around about there. We were doing two shows.  I remember, it's always playing the lead, Nanook.  You know, start as you mean to carry on.  And I was  all set up to do the two shows. And I can remember at one point, I was told,  you're going to do  Nanook on...

12:04
day one and some other kid is gonna do Nanook on day two.  And I was like, how dare they give my role away. It was a diva even then.  And through high school pretty much  involved all the way through from there.  You get the bug I think.  And I suppose...

12:26
throughout my life, I've left it and I've come back and I've left it and know, circumstances have always  presented acting as an opportunity back to me.  Maybe that's the universe just whispering at me.  Maybe I was always called, but I just never knew it.  I've often told my wife, especially when we were dating, was like, look, you have to give me like the big flashing red neon sign if you need something because  otherwise I don't understand subtlety and hints and whispers in the bush and that type of stuff. I don't know exactly what you're doing unless you're like.

12:55
this, do this. So yeah, I can definitely appreciate the fact that maybe you just didn't realize it. It's like, hey, hey, do this thing. Well, so I ended up in sales, which I think for a long time I was playing the role of a salesman, rather than actually being a salesman, if that makes sense, advisor to someone. And I think, again, there was a moment where I kind of woke up to the idea of

13:25
you need to just  be  in the moment  rather than  constantly thinking about what you should be doing next.  You we're almost becoming, you know, adulting moment, I think.  And I don't think there's  any doubt about it that my career as an advisor, as a financial advisor, absolutely exploded after that light bulb moment. I was successful before.

13:54
But once I realized I could relax and I could say to a client, that's all right, don't worry about it. I'll go  see someone else.  As soon as you start saying no, people start saying, well,  actually, wait, don't leave quite yet.  it's the same now with voiceover, that whole auditioning process  of  not worrying about it,  not hanging on to the potential of the opportunity,  not having a relationship with the fact that you were cast.

14:23
when you haven't yet been cast. You want that role so badly, you can't  think that way, I don't think. I think you have to  rinse and repeat. Yeah,  and I think that  there are roles that come across and you're like, oh, I would be perfect for this, this would be great, or if it's a franchise or something that you want to be a part of, there's a little bit that like,  but. There's absolutely a craving, a desire. But you have to do the audition  and you can think, yeah, I'm gonna book that.

14:52
but I'm also about to audition for something else too. And until they  contact you. Never over until the fat lady sings, metaphorically. Until you get the email, your availability check, or you get a phone call saying you booked it.  There's no point in,  that's something you can't control.  It's the caster who makes that choice, not me. Yeah, yeah.  So you're in the US, you're deciding to do a voiceover.

15:22
You have an interesting  tale  that you shared on kind of that first  US introduction into  voiceover as well.  Yeah.  So  I arrived on Thursday, got off the aeroplane.  The story is longer than that, but that's where we'll start this particular story. think otherwise we'll be here all day.  And I walked into a studio  in Greenville, a radio studio on the Monday.

15:52
There was a guy there called Stan Fisher who ran a  voiceover workshop, which you talked about over the weekend, actually the value of those things. And I walked into him and I did my thing and he said, well, we've got this showcase coming up  on Sunday next week. Why don't you come?  So  I turned up and did my thing. And you get feedback from the guy that's running the showcase. And afterwards I went up to him and I said, so what happens next? And he said, well, I'm going to assign you to my roster.

16:21
So I didn't realize, you know, the complete naivety. So  he was an agent, an Atlanta agent called Jeffrey Umberger,  who  people in the area, everybody knows who Jeffrey is.  And over a decade later, he's now a manager at ACM Talent Management, and he's my talent manager at ACM Talent Management.  we've had this  decade plus long working relationship from,  you know,  that.

16:47
From doing a workshop and a showcase. Yeah, yeah. And that whole other point of, you know, he signed me, like I'd been in the country four minutes. He said he was going to sign me and he actually sent me an audition for HSBC the following week. I didn't even own a microphone. Wow. I recorded it on my iPad. Wow.

17:09
Did you book it? Okay, I was just curious. No surprise there. That would have rounded that story off. Oh, that would have amazing. I did not book it. So I've done everything backwards. That comes back to the thing, who knows when you're ready? You just dive in and do it. And you ask the questions. What if I hadn't said to Jeffrey, what happens next?

17:33
What if I'd done my thing and then been the shy retiring guy in the corner and said thanks very much and left? What happens if I hadn't asked that question? Wow. And how different your life may be. Who knows? Yeah. Who knows? Yeah. mean, maybe it still would have worked out the way that it is, but maybe it would have taken actually three weeks instead of just two. You know. That's funny.

17:59
Or he gets the audition for HSBC and he remembers this mad Brit, you know, and he gives Stan a call and Stan goes, oh yeah, who knows, maybe it would have still all happened. But you think about those sliding doors kind of moments that, you know, if I hadn't done this or if I hadn't done that or if I had done this or I had done that, would things have worked out differently or not? But it worked out how they did. And I'm glad I asked the question, I hope he is. I drive down to Atlanta.

18:28
a of times a year just to have coffee and a chat with him because it's the right thing to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.  And I mean,  I think it's great that you have  a relationship with him because it is a partnership. mean,  you know, when you have a manager, they're looking out for your best interest because  it's for their best interest that your best interest is Absolutely. We always have to remember with,  I think there's a...

18:53
And I think early on I suffered from this a little bit. Oh,  my agent, mustn't bother them.  You don't want to bug them. You don't want to be the squeaky wheel trying to get the grease in that sense.  But I think you do have to communicate  what you're doing,  what you aspire for. If you don't  let people who can cast you know  what you're doing well, what you're booking, the kind of things you're booking, what kind of things you aspire to book,  they won't, they're not mind readers. They won't know.

19:23
And so yeah, it's important to communicate. Is that how you kind of...

19:32
found  video games  because  some of your branding  now is the British voice, the video game. The video game guy.  I mean, was a... the video game brand thing came  after... I I'd booked enough video games for me to think I must be okay at this.  So we decided... And it's a lot of fun, let's face it. You know, get to wave your arms around and...

20:02
cuts a bit and people give you money. mean, it's like, that's surreal, isn't it? But  you get to a point where you can't be all things, you realize you can't be all things to all men.  And so you try and you start realizing what things you're booking well  and so on. And when you're trying to create a public face,  you know, a branding face, video games are at the cool end of voiceover.

20:31
And so it's in some senses easier to promote a public persona that is a video game person than a public persona that is, I don't know, an explainer video guy. And not to say there is anything there is mountain. guy. Right, but, all that said, if your marketing and your focus is on that.

20:57
probably the way you market yourself will be different to the way I market myself  as a public facing person.  you're talking to corporate people all the time about the fact that you've done this mountain of corporate work for all the top  global companies in the world. You're creating a  vision in the purchaser's mind that you're a trusted person in that field.

21:24
And I think that's what we decided with the video game thing. How did that all happen?  of by,  you you spin the wheel. It's not my... This comes back to  I don't control that.  So you audition.  I auditioned for everything and some people hire me for some things and some people hire me for others. I would still call myself a voiceover generalist.  as I  said before, if you're looking  to find ways in which...

21:52
voiceover is financially more important to you, then  commercial is probably the place to go first, rather than video games, although I we all crave the animation and the video games,  where the cool boys hang out. So  I don't think there was any early on any kind of conscious  decision to be a video game guy.  But it happened and then you lean into it. It becomes your niche and you lean into it.

22:21
Yeah, I I talked with Tom Pinto who does a lot of like narration, in-show narration, things like that. I coached with him a little bit and  one of the things, because I love that work, I love the storytelling, I love the long narrative type stuff.  But Tom said very similar to what you're saying, he's like, know, narration,  in-show narration, he's like, that's the candy store. It's great to be in there and get all the treats. He's like, but you have to have money to go into the candy store.

22:51
and commercials where you make the money so that you can then spend some time in the candy store. Yes. I think I endorsed out of you. Yeah. I endorsed Tom Pinto. Yeah. He's a great guy. is. So what was, because you are an award winning voice actor. Yeah. And how special am I? You are. I mean, you really are. It's, it's, it's,

23:20
You know, it's something that not everybody can say.  But for your video games,  you've won some awards  specifically. What are  some of the games that you've won awards for?  So,  can I color that picture if you like? So,  it took me five or six years  to gather the courage, as it were,  to actually put work up that was gonna be...

23:49
judged, you know, and are you worthy? You know, that was, that was quite a moment. Um, that was 2019. So was six years ago. Um, and then I guess once you've gone over that, that fear moment and in 2019, I had no expectations at all, clearly. Um, and I received two nominations that year, one for gaming, uh, Warhammer game, uh, and one for voice of the year. Oh, wow.

24:19
That was in that was  one voice in London.  And I'm in  I'm in  South Carolina and I get a phone call from  one of my agents who says congratulations. I'm like for what?  You've been nominated as  video game voice and voice of the year.  I Have I?  It was that classic moment.  But it was  but it was a moment where

24:49
where you're like, oh my goodness,  my peers  have,  whether I win or not,  considered that my wife, my work,  certainly my wife is worthy of note,  but my work is  worthy enough to be mentioned. And that was quite  a moment,  really. And I said to my wife, I said, I had no intention going to London for the awards night, but,

25:19
I kind of feel it's that I have to, because what if? And I'm not in the room. What if and I'm not in the room? So I had to go, I went to London, I didn't win. So that was where that started. And I thought, okay, so now I have to follow that up, don't I? So over the, then, I've always put in something, if I've got something anything like that's video game related, I'm gonna put that up. And in the last six years,

25:46
Whatever I've put I was been nominated five out of the last six years Yeah, so that also gives flavor to that whole  branding thing of being a video game guysy You got something that says hey look  Mr.  Video game developer guy This I hope will give you comfort that I'll do a decent job for you Yeah, and I think that's what it ultimately does for you. Yeah,  it sure it strokes your ego a little bit and it makes you feel confident

26:14
but  if we're in business, we're always saying, well, how can this help move my business forward?  I guess once you get nominated, you've got a  one in 10 or a one in eight  probability of being the name that comes out the hat.  And I've been lucky enough to come out the hat twice.  The first one was 2021 for a character called Vernon Locke,  was the  main operator character in a bank heist game called Payday 2.

26:43
And in fact, October this year, I'll been playing him for 10 years. Oh, wow. So he's been very central to my my journey,  you like, as a as a voice actor.  As a quick aside to that, though,  the first nomination, the Warhammer one that I mentioned during the casting process of that.  The the the fact that I had been playing Locke had created a fan community in my awareness and I had a

27:12
Twitter, ex-account Twitter as it was then. And it had about 5,000 followers. when third round of casting for this Warhammer game, and they tell me it's down to the last two people. And I said, well, okay, clearly you hire whoever's the right person. Kind of wish you hadn't told me it was between him and her or two of us. Because now if I don't get it, I'll know I was that close and I'll be disappointed. That was what I was going through my head. But you need to know that I have...

27:42
5,000 video game followers who would all get to hear about me being in the game. So the first nomination actually came out at least as a, think, I still believe in my head that one of the reasons they chose me ahead of the other person was because I had a video game. A little bit larger following. Wow. So that led to my first thing. And then Locke gave me my first win back in 2021. second win was 2023, it two years later, which was a character called George.

28:12
who's an older gentleman who has dementia in a game called Burn House Lane,  which is actually quite a small indie  studio  making  point and click  adventures.  You know those paper dolls with the arms that kind of move around like that? That's what they look like on the screen.  It's that sort of  2D scrolling screen and you point and click.

28:39
really interesting studio, they're making games  tackling...

28:46
sensitive subjects. Yeah. Yeah.  So I mean, this particular  game, the opening scene,  the main character whose story you follow,  we discover her partner has died from cancer. So she's dealing with that.  She's received a diagnosis of herself of having terminal cancer.  So she's coming to terms with that. She's a nurse. So she kind of understands the situation.

29:14
and she attempts to commit suicide. Oh, wow. In the opening scene. Oh my God. Kind of sets the tone.  So he's dealing with so the story deals with her grappling with that reality.  And then so she then takes this one last job going down to  Cornwall  to look after this old guy who's got dementia  and kind of dealing with that as well. But that's become a real big issue for society, has it? Yeah.

29:43
And  it gets a bit weird after that,  he's approaching those really difficult subjects  and I guess confronting people with them a little bit in a game form  and about how this character deals with all of those things.  And maybe people who play that game, who have relatives,  who are either going through the same kind of medical issues or  dementia is a big thing.  Most people know someone.

30:13
Like I say, my own dad passed away  having had dementia Alzheimer's for three, four years.  And I think  that my performance of him certainly drew on those experiences. And I'd like to think that that's a part of why the performance shocked.  And  it's a kind of a memory for my dad. It's almost like a little small homage. Yeah, like an homage. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So that gives me a warm fuzzy as well. That's awesome.

30:42
That's really cool. it's, mean, that's, you know, that's not the thing you would think of when  someone approaches you to What was your award-winning performance? Well, it was in this game where I played a guy with dementia. Two cancer patients and  yeah, wow.  It is one of the beauties, I think though,  of the indie scene  in video games. lot of the, not to denigrate the big successful studios,

31:11
But there is maybe something  along the Hollywood lines that when you're tens of millions of dollars in development of something, maybe you make safer choices  about the game that you're developing that you know will lean into what people want,  that kind of thing.  Whereas indie developers can take  more risks. They've basically got  less to lose, as it were.

31:39
So you see in the indie game space lots of really creative, beautiful looking games, great stories, inventive scenarios. It really is worth, I think, digging below that first tier of what are you going to play today, Call of Duty or Fortnite?

32:04
Digging below that below the surface and discovering some of these indie developers are just making wonderful wonderful stuff. No, that's awesome. That's awesome that that type of work is out there, you know, it's it's  It's in I think it's encouraging especially for people that might be listening and they're like, know a lot, know I deal with this and I wish there was a platform that I could do this that or the other, know That's that's why I started the podcast is for dealing with my own

32:34
and anxiety we were in lockdown and things like that and  I knew there were other people dealing with that as well so I'm  like you know what let's let's create community let's let's  know his name is Rem Mikalski  Burnhouse Lair half harvester games  so that's Burnhouse Lane but he's did one called  Lorelei I think it is someone's called the cat lady  which I think deals with  loneliness

33:02
You mental health issues, so  he's yeah. Yeah, I know the title of his next game,  but I don't know what this  Where he's coming from with it yet?  I'm hoping there's something in it that I can help out with because I really appreciate him as a developer Yeah, that's really him and his brother  That's really cool  So  from from  winning the awards and doing the work that you're doing and you know living your living your life

33:32
here in the States.  I talked about being,  during the lockdown, did that affect your work a whole lot? I mean, I know there were a lot of new people decided to find VoiceOver because everybody was locked into their house already.  So there was an influx of people getting on Upwork and Fiverr and this, that, and the other.  Did it affect, mean, because you would, at that time, would have been  five, six years into the game

34:00
Yeah, if we think 2019  was when I flew to London  for that awards thing. And when I came back,  no, wasn't then. It was maybe the following February when my dad became ill.  And I flew over to see what was going on and help out there. And I flew back on the February and I was like two days later, everything locked down. Yeah.

34:30
Yeah, and  before I answer your question, what I remember most about that was it was maybe the first time in my life where I was  seriously scared.  I  had these things going through my head about if there was a bowl of  M &Ms  and  one of them was a cyanide pill,  would you eat?

34:57
any one of those M &Ms. the answer is, one in a hundred, I'm not going to take that risk. some weird scenario where there's some psychopath at the end of the street taking pot shots  and he's  going to shoot and kill every one hundredth person  that walks past  his house. Would you walk down the street? No, you wouldn't. Right. But the mortality early on in Covid was about one in a hundred.

35:25
It was seriously scary and I did not want to go out.  Dealing with that, we talked about mental health, and  I think dealing with that was  the first time I'd really been faced with something that was messing with my head.  What did it do for my business? mean, not only did it bring,  a lot of people became aware of voiceover as an opportunity,  it created a lot of work in the voiceover business. have an enormous amount of empathy for people who were affected badly by it.

35:55
but it was good for the biz, it was good for business. If you imagine in the e-learning space, everyone making new content about health and safety in the workplace.  All these people now working from home  and  training staff to  address those kind of issues.  On a very more personal level,  as a Brit,  the large market for British voice is London, right?

36:24
And  I'm in South Carolina and no agent in London is in the slightest bit interested in me because they've got 10,000 British male  high quality voice actors on their doorstep.  COVID hits, everyone shuts down.  A lot of those talent didn't have home studios.  But the content creation was continuing. So  there were people in London going, anyone out there with a good home studio? And I'm like, over here,  me.

36:53
agent in  London called Damn Good Voices,  Simon Cryer. He said, okay, great,  I'll put you on for six months while we get through this,  just to help everyone else do that.  And here we are  six years later and  I'm still on his roster and we're still doing business together. So  that was  something that  changed because  of COVID. I got an agent in London,  which has given me access to some cool stuff.

37:22
booked much of it because I think now that  London's back open again and has been for several years now I think the pendulum has swung back to  you know let's hire people locally where we can  but I'm seeing stuff so I mean I'm in the mix aren't I? I've got the opportunity to throw my hand in ring  and yeah  more all that content was suddenly being made  and Hollywood  you know if you think about  entertainment all the filmmaking shut down

37:50
And so suddenly a lot more kind animated content was  suddenly out there for grabs as well.  And I guess video games as well. A lot of people were playing video games because they were at home.  So  it gave boosts to all those industries.  And that had a knock on effect for our industry. Yeah, do you think that  that kind of inhale,

38:15
during  COVID has now started to subside and they're exhaling and those products and those opportunities are becoming fewer now  or  still there if you know how to  market yourself and how to find it. I mean, if we talk about specifically video games, for example, I mean, the value of the video game business is more than film and TV put together. It's just an enormous, enormous business.  So there's work for everyone.  I think sometimes

38:45
we forget that  it's  maybe first and foremost a business rather than a creative endeavor, what we do.  And it's that, you if think about the 80-20  rule,  we need to spend 80 % of our time chasing and hustling and auditioning and negotiating and networking  in order to be able to have the 20 % of the time that we spend in front of the microphone  waving our arms around and having fun.

39:15
You know, we spend a lot more time doing the other stuff than we do doing the stuff. Yeah,  I know that was one of the  revelations to me is that this is a business and  I need to be better at running my business. No matter how good I am at the performing side of things, I need to be better at running the business so that,  like you said, I have that opportunity to do the waving around and the screaming.  It leans into something you said earlier about

39:44
There are people who maybe are,  they're not as good an actor  as some of these other people who are brilliant actors, but maybe they're a bit more disciplined,  or maybe they're bit more  skilled at the hustle,  or maybe they're just bit more willing to get up early  and send out the emails.  And the chances are they'll be more successful. It's a sad thing, but it's the reality of life.

40:13
Yeah, yeah. So Ian,  for you, what brings you joy right now? Yeah,  I think  what I'm really seeing at the moment is  my kids  like blossoming into young adults. That's  really, you know, satisfying as a parent,  I think. I you outside, know, I know we're here on a business thing, but let's talk about that for a minute.

40:39
You know, my eldest  graduated from college, from  USC in Columbia,  and she's stayed there and she's found work that she likes working in the library  service.  you know, she seems to be settling into, if you like, an adult life routine. And that's, you know, that's nice to see.  And my youngest,  who's now at college,  but she  was like...

41:07
She's the one with the wanderlust.  The eldest is more of a home buddy, the youngest the one is she's got the wanderlust and she wanted to go to college in England. Oh wow. And that's what she did.  So she's  at  the University of Leeds  in the UK and I guess what almost a year, academic year we're starting to wind down that now.

41:31
And she's,  her whole thing, she's studying East Asian studies, she's learning Chinese amongst other things.  And at some point, her desire is to like get off and up and away and go and visit those countries, maybe work in those countries.  Or at least adjacent. And just to see those  small humans that you held in the  palm of one hand  when they were tiny and you were like, oh my goodness,  oh dear.

42:00
what have I done kind of thing. There's a,  like  suddenly this responsibility for another life hits you.  And I think as you become, there's two things about empty nesting that you miss them  because they've always been there.  But there's the thrill of ultimately as a parent,  our job is surely to create individuals that can.

42:28
stand on their own two feet and  occupy a space in the world and be at peace with themselves. And I don't know that they're there yet,  but  I see them forming. I see them becoming  more adulty humans, if that makes sense. Still with the ability to play,  which is also nice. The eldest is very much into that whole D &D scene.  So she's still very creative on that side.

42:57
and the youngest was much more into the voiceover and is still like chipping away at that a little bit. I don't think it's her passion, but  my wife, Sandra, she  had  my eldest absolutely nailed on. She's gonna work in the light because she loved books.  She can work in the library system.  She thinks that the youngest will end up back  somewhere in the entertainment business somewhere. She had a thing a couple of years ago where she wanted to make documentaries.

43:25
and now she's really in love with East Asian history. And I'm like, maybe those things will all come around and come together and who knows what's gonna happen.  I think  that's really giving me joy. Yeah, it's one of those things,  like you said, when you see them and you don't want them to like...

43:49
make mistakes and when you see it coming maybe it's a mistake you made in your life and you're like,  really don't need to do that and they don't want to listen but you have to kind of let them make the mistake to learn the lesson. The hardest thing in the world I think is to want to take over  and solve the problem  rather than  taking a half step back and saying hey, I'm here if you need me,  know the door's always open  but you know good luck.

44:23
All right, Ian, this is the second segment of the show. This is where we dive a little bit deeper into your mental health journey.  I definitely believe that it is, especially depression is one of those things that wants to tell you you're alone. So the more we can talk about it, the more we realize that kind of everybody goes through this. Everybody has a down day, a dark day.  So for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay?

44:47
Hmm. It is interesting. I  mentioned earlier about Covid. It was the first time in my life where I think I was truly afraid.  mean, seriously afraid. know, are altercations at school and bullying and all that kind of thing,  which I think I dealt with by  by  knowing who I was  and that  I was  I was  you know, the bullies, the bullies were  it lacked something.

45:16
that they were trying to compensate for.  And whilst I'm not sure I could have articulated that at that time,  I think I dealt with it knowing that  I'm actually OK. I'm not a bad person.  I  guess  I learned that very early, I suppose.  So how do I deal with  the down days is  look back at where I've come from and I think  remember that there are good days.

45:46
Yeah. You know,  don't think that it will always be dark. And I know that's probably difficult,  you know, but  even now, and, you know, I'm having I'm having a real marquee six months or so in voiceover. And but it is a business that  that has,  you know, hills and valleys  and some of the valleys can be pretty deep  and you can be like wondering where your next

46:16
booking is coming from  and I think you have to remember  what I try and remember  is that if the process has worked before there's a pretty high probability that the process will work again  and that not to throw all the good things that you've done in the past out the window just because no one's booking you right now  you know if it's a if it's a  work thing  I suppose that's  that's true across  across your life

46:46
You know, if  a relationship or whatever is having a dark moment,  reflecting back that it wasn't always like that, that there were good days and that therefore there will be good, you know, the sun will set and it will rise again tomorrow.  And that's an opportunity to have a good day.  So I think  probably that's what I do. I  mean,  I can remember there are times where I'm like,

47:15
You know, I'm in the office and  I'm doing the grind bit  and I'm like not in the right head space for it.  And it's having, think, I  have some time, not always, sometimes  I'll just push through and I'll go, okay, I'm just gonna do one.  I really don't wanna do this auditioning malarkey. I'm not enjoying it. But I got Target and all this,  a business requirement.

47:45
And sometimes I'll just push through  and  you do one and you're okay, I've done one, I can do another one.  So I'll do another one and then the  light bulb will go on and switch will go on and I'll start enjoying it again.  And sometimes you'll do that and it doesn't work.  it's having the wherewithal or the comfort or the  knowledge that it's okay to walk away. It's another  sort of  help me if you like.

48:15
that it's okay to walk away. It's okay  for it not to be beautiful and sunny all the time. That's actually okay. Everybody has that.  And come back tomorrow. Sun will set, sun will rise, and it'll be different tomorrow. Yeah. And that's one thing as far as like with  auditioning  and  when  you're acting, you're performing.  If you're not in the right place to perform, you're

48:44
Performance will suffer for it inevitably. I think that's true. You know, can't you know, sometimes yes  depending on the piece you may be able to push through and get  or sometimes you're like I need to do it just just to know that I've done it and I know it's gonna suck  You know what I mean and let me not send it in have done it and realize okay. I've got a step away I've got a step away. I'm not gonna send that. Yeah, cuz it's not representative me  So yes, but

49:13
The but here is even if I'm not entirely happy with it, it's not me that's making the casting choice.  And whilst it might not, I might not think that it's the best performance I've ever done or could do for that particular piece of audition.  Someone else is making that choice, not me. And  it's no reflection on me whether they choose to hire me or not based on that.

49:38
performance and certainly that whole pushing through and I'm like I'm just gonna do one I'm just gonna do another one I'm just gonna do another one sure as eggs is eggs  the day or the two days later  I'll get you booked it  just because you did the work  right you know and you were in that sense strong enough to just push through yeah and someone liked it well enough yeah  you mentioned earlier about  you know your your dad and

50:06
dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia and things like that. I know there are other people that are having to go through that stuff. know my mother is in the hospital. She doesn't have dementia  that I've seen, but every nurse that comes through asks, she have any dementia? She's 86 years old. She's had several. She's been in the hospital for a month at this  point.  I'm like, no,  she's just.

50:33
you know, she's on these painkillers and things like that to deal with the surgery she's had and stuff like that. So she's a little loopy. Luckily,  I spend enough time with her, knowing she's just loopy and  not knowing what's going on.  But  it's still hard. There days that I sit there,  you know, just  in the hospital room  and  she's asleep the whole time or she's  in pain and I'm trying to help  hit the red button so somebody can help her with her pain.

51:02
It's a lot to manage. Yeah.  So my situation is a little bit different, but kind of the same as well. So my mom is also elderly  and has just spent four months in the hospital.  They've just released her like two weeks ago,  but she's on  constant steroids  and painkillers.  And  the word that we use is confabulate.

51:29
I don't know you're familiar with that. So confabulation is where they make up something that sounds like it might be true  because it's easier in their head to tell a story that might be true than to admit that they either can't remember or don't know or something. Yeah, it's like a mental defense,  like a psychological defense.  So my mom's in that situation. She does actually have  an appointment coming up to test her cognizance.

51:58
She's a older than your mum, but  I absolutely empathise with that. What's different is that I'm doing it from 4,000 miles away.  I can't go and sit. I don't have that opportunity.  So  I video call  and I sit and chat and we reminisce about the old times  when we can. we, know, especially with her having been in, you know, performing as  a serious hobby for her. I think she could have been a pro, but you know, as a serious hobby for her.

52:27
And so we talk about that stuff, we talk about the work I'm and know, because she's interested.  We talk about the kids, you know, all that stuff. You just talk about stuff. And the hard thing is when I see and hear, and it's an obvious,  like, confabulation,  is to not  catch them out in the lie.  You know, just go with it.  Just go with the flow.

52:56
and help them get through it that way.  With my dad,  probably the last  six months or so, again, dealing with it from 4,000 miles away,  he would, I  think, recognize my name,  but I'm not sure he knew.

53:20
who I was, that makes it eight years. The name was familiar, but I'm not sure, because I'm now an adult and 60 years old and  I don't think he quite, he didn't.  He the relational part on it. like, oh yeah, I know who he Yeah, he didn't know who I was. knew I was somebody that he was. Same with my mom.  He knew her name.  They had divorced when I was 12 or something, but they remained friends and all the rest of that. And I think.

53:50
He thought he was married to my mom. And my mom didn't disavow that. She allowed him to think that. So we had that, we had all of that. I don't think there's a right way, actually. But try and give time, really. Spend time and sit and just be. Yeah, like you said, there's...

54:19
there's no advantage to calling out the incorrective, know, whatever, because that could either make them more belligerent, angry, blah, blah, defensive, combative. What do you win by doing that? Nothing in that then tarnishes any other further memories you may be able to have in those moments, that video call, that whatever, just to be present. And a lot of times. And from 4,000 miles away,

54:48
And even like  my sister who is, you know, five miles away,  we both know the clock's ticking. Yeah. And we're stealing, you know, so it's for us, it's like it's a it's a long goodbye.  And  my wife didn't have that. Her mom had a heart attack suddenly, unexpectedly. And we were  we were in the UK and she's here in the States. So same thing. It's too far away to  to react quickly enough.

55:17
So Sandra didn't have that opportunity and we've talked quite a lot about  which would you prefer. You know, if you had to choose one, which would you prefer?  it will prefer  not the right word, but they create entirely different  mental experiences  of  how you remember your parents. Yeah. Yeah. And that happened. That happened with my wife.  Her mother passed fairly quickly.  And

55:47
you know, she  didn't have  a, I think she was in her 60s, she didn't have a really big chance to say goodbye. I mean,  they had said some words, but  it'll always be a shock when it happens. Right, and I think that's the thing, isn't it? If there's a sudden traumatic event like that, you go, oh, I wish.  Right. I wish I had.

56:13
I wish I had done that or seen them again or held their hand one more time or whatever,  that kind of thing.  The situation  that we're in  with  an elderly parent  with a long-term health issue  is  dealing with the recognition that the clock is ticking,  the recognition that every day could be the last day.  that's  equally hard to deal with.

56:42
but it's happening in real time.  I think when it happens suddenly, it's equally hard to deal with, but it's a reflective process.  So there is no right answer to that.  There's no way of winning that.  And that's what I have to remind myself when I go to the hospital and say, Mom, again,  sit there five hours or whatever, and she doesn't even realize I'm there because she doesn't sleep the whole time. Then at least I have the opportunity to be there.

57:10
And there are times that I get frustrated with her because  I feel like what's going on with my business, that I'm just sitting in a hospital room type of thing.  But that's where I need to be  because I don't know when  whatever's gonna happen and I need to let her know that I need her to know that I'm there.

57:39
Perhaps  in some ways we're both very fortunate and it creates challenges that we're in a  business that allows, know, self-employed entrepreneurial business that allows us to walk away. There's no one saying you can't walk away  to go and deal with stuff. So we have that freedom of choice.  But  on the other side of it, if the money you're earning is paying the bills and feeding your family,  when you do that one other thing, this bit might suffer.

58:07
So, you know, there's that double pull that you've got responsibilities on both ways and that can be a challenge sometimes about, you know, so when my mom went into hospital most recently in November and she was very ill, there were moments where my sister was basically saying she might not see Christmas. Seriously, she had C. diff.

58:35
She was not responding to antibiotics.  She was on drips. They basically were  like,  we're gonna pump her full of these,  the strongest steroids that we dare give a human,  which can have side effects, but we think it might be the only way we can get her through. And I had to make that choice about,  I  walk away and fly to the UK, whatever? And  I had to...

59:05
come to the choice of whether I was gonna do that or not. And she has pulled through and she is now home. So I'm like, hugely relieved that I didn't do that because if I had, there might have been, my mother might have gone, why are you here? What's happening that's so bad that you've come from America? That might have been equally, that might have been a strain for her. so, all that stuff goes through your head.

59:34
Yeah,  like you said, there's just no perfect There really isn't a right way of dealing with it. You've got to make your choice at the time and be comfortable.  The choice you make, every choice you make on a day-by-day basis is something that  I learned from one of my old sales managers back in the day. He said, when you make a choice,  you make a choice thinking that at the time it's the right one.

01:00:02
never make a choice with the hope or the expectation that it's the wrong one. Because I had asked him, I  had interviewed for another job, and  I guess there was a little bit of doubt whether I should leave the company I was with and go and work for this new company.  I asked him, I said, do you think I'm making the right decision?  Not wanting to take responsibility for it, I suppose.  he said, you know, whenever you're making a choice, you're making it because you think it's the right one.  And I've carried that with me ever since.

01:00:32
So whatever choice you make, you make it because you think it's the right one.

01:00:41
All right, Ian, it's time now for the third segment of the It is time now for the Fast Five. Fast Five is time now for the Fast Five. Fast Five. Sorry, I'm still working on a theme song for the Fast Five. It's a work in progress, bud. We'll get there one day. It's only five seasons in and I still don't have anything, but it's okay. The Fast Five is powered by Pod Decks. It's an app created by my friend Travis Brown. If you go to chewingthefatbr.com/poddecks.

01:01:09
I'll give you the link to download it onto your phone of choice.  It's made for podcasters, but they're great icebreaker questions.  It's  no wrong answers. I don't care what you think. There's no wrong answers. Just first We're just saying,  every answer you give you, the time you make it, you think it's the right one. Yeah, yeah. First thing comes off the top of your head. You ready?  Probably not.  Well,  we're going to go anyway. Here we go. Question number one.

01:01:36
What did your 15-year-old self imagine you'd be doing right now? Gosh, when I was almost 15,  probably teaching at a high school.  Any specific subject? know you talked about that.  Maths or science,  something like that.  Which I did do, but I wasn't very good at it.  Question number two.

01:02:02
If someone left you a cottage somewhere in the countryside in their will, where would you want the cottage to be located?  Does it have to be in the countryside? No, I can be wherever, just a cottage wherever.  Well,  on the Thames, within striking distance of London. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. That's just  a place that you love  going? Is it the hustle, is it the bustle, is it the energy?

01:02:30
Because I've seen the Thames it's not pretty water. It depends away you are. Oh, okay, you go up upstream Away from London Richmond and beyond this beautiful countryside  So you get so my view of that is you get the beauty in the silence and the Solitude of being in the countryside and you're a hop and a skip from one of the most culturally diverse thriving community and Creative cities in the world. I love that

01:03:00
That's a great answer. Question number three. What would constitute a perfect day for you?

01:03:12
Three phone calls from three different agents offering me a national  TV campaign.  Well, it was a work day.  My kids to ringing and saying something really good happened to them. Oh, Yeah, I love it. I love it. Question number four.

01:03:34
That's a classic question here. Toilet paper,  over or under? Oh, over. Over. Yeah. OK. Can't get caught on the wall.  Ah.  That's good.  You know, I've heard people  have actually quoted that apparently the patent, the US patent for toilet paper shows that the paper goes over the top in the patent illustration. Yeah, they got it right. But then there people like, well, it goes under. And that way if you

01:04:01
a spider's on it, it'll come out and you can see as opposed to not knowing that it's there. And I'm like, what is it? Get a pest control agency if you're worried about those spiders and stuff. All right, question number five.

01:04:16
If someone made a movie about your life, who would play you?  As a young man? It's your life. It's my life, but someone has to pay me through my entire life.  Ah, well with that whole thing, we saw it recently with here, with Tom Hanks.  Why don't I choose Tom? I have been told,  someone came up to me in a supermarket  in Savannah and said, does anyone ever told you you look like Tom Hanks? Really? Which I don't think I do particularly. I don't think you do either, I mean.

01:04:46
Yeah, but let's go with Tom Hanks  or for on behalf of my youngest daughter another Tom Tom Hiddleston  She's going to see him in much ado about nothing in London and  next week. So she's very excited about that Yeah, no, that's great. Those are great answers and that is our fast five and that's the show  Thank you. Thank you so much for being here.  I really appreciate you coming into the studio on your way back home Thank you again for a great

01:05:13
Workshop, I hope you continue to do that because you have a great  knack for  for teaching  As well as the talents that you have  It's a it's a scarcity value thing and have no right now desire to run a whole other coaching business  But I do  put my head over the help over the parapet once a while and go hey I've got some stuff I'd like to share who wants to come yeah, so if you see me at a conference  I think I'll be speaking at one voice this year, okay?

01:05:43
But that might be the last one for a couple of years. Is that the One Voice Dallas?  In Dallas.  If people want to keep up with you  or maybe they need the British voice,  what's the best way that they could do that? Well, anywhere on the internet if you search the British voice, I'll pop up somewhere. So on Instagram it's @thebritishvoice. It's probably the easiest one.

01:06:06
My website is British-voiceovers.com. Okay, excellent. I'll make sure to put those links in the show notes as well. Ian, thank you again for stopping by. it's been a blast. Yeah, yeah. I wish you nothing but success and everything that you have coming in. And a safe trip back home to Well, let's say we wish nothing but every listener who listens to this success because everyone deserves it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you again. You're welcome. And if you would like to support this podcast, I'd appreciate it if you bought me a coffee at

01:06:36
chewingthefatbr.com but until next time I look forward to the chance we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.