We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Megan Hensley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Megan , appreciate you joining us today. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

I still vividly remember walking into highly successful casting offices on miracle mile (sometimes studio lots) to do my auditions. The tall gorgeous concrete buildings that were bustling with excitement. The nerves of parking on time, being off book, not judging myself in the audition room where, in my head, everyone looks like a better or more unique version of me, and the utmost fear of going blank during my audition, fueled me. I absolutely LOVED the thrill of it all and used my nerves towards the emotions of my characters. It was exhilierating. This is what auditioning was like before covid for TV and Film. And I miss it.

Over the past 4 years I have grown to embrace the “self tape” game and found I could use it in ways to change my life for the better. To give me more freedom and not be at the mercy of “in person”. The thing I struggle mostly with self tapes is blocking out noise in my loud apartment and not having the “nervous energy” to use because I am most of the time just reading with my husband. I now have a great easy setup, and also a travel one, which brings me to the most exciting thing covid did for me and my husband!

Even though 2020 was a year we can all agree SUCKED in most ways, a lot of artists found new ways to be innovative and take their work on the road. Including us. We are full time VO and TV/Film actors and always had to “stay put” or “fly back” for an audition or callback (including flying back early from Germany to be on set of the TV show “Legion”) but not anymore! Travel is a love right up there with acting for me! So many places to see and so many kinds of wine to try, along with hikes and my growing obsession for vintage clothing.

Let me rewind for a minute to talk about the acting on the Voiceover side, which honestly, has changed my life in so many wonderful ways! My husband and I started a punny Voiceover business together in 2018 called “The Booth of Us”. We have a partner demo and audition together consistently as well as do gigs together and even spoke together this year at the incredible One Voice Conference in Dallas, Texas. We have our own home studio we work out of for most gigs, but of course love when we get the chance to visit our friends at some of our favorite studios around town.

Here is what has been exciting for VO for the past 4 years! Since covid we have traveled all over the US recording for clients and agents. We have recorded in studios in other states, hotel rooms, airbnb’s, our families houses and sometimes cars! We really went all out this year and did a total of 4 months on the road and made money all along the way. We put together a full 60 pound recording studio that fits in the perfect travel bag. We uses “source connect” and have to be the most annoying hotel guest to get the perfect room. Top floor away from traffic and elevator noise. But it is what we HAVE to do. We also bring a high quality self tape setup for those on camera auditions, equipped with high end lights, an iPhone and backdrop. This way of working gave us a new outlook on life! It showed us that we can do our passion of traveling too! And with the threat AI places on our industry, we can make these connections with clients and agents IN PERSON. We visited 21 different states as mentioned and recorded gigs in pretty much every one of them

The other thing that was wild for acting during covid was the “covid testing” and “quarantine” before shooting. I worked on a TV show in New Mexico during the height of it all. I was put up in a hotel, given a car and a daily stipend for meals which was nice! Every day I had to get my nose swabbed to test for two weeks straight but got paid for it! For 7 shooting days, I was there for a month and a half. Fun times and fun stories! Definitely fell in love with New Mexico more and got hella spoiled. Made the best of it.

We plan on doing an even longer trip next year, as I despise LA mostly, but especially in the summer haha.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

12 years ago I moved from Des Moines, Iowa to Los Angeles. For 7 years I worked 3 jobs while being an aspiring actor and booking commercials and films. I picked up dog poop and did an indiegogo campaign to raise enough to move to the City of Angels. Sidenote: Still to this day I can never eat a cliff bar again, as I ate one for two meals a day for years. After 5 years of working hard I had a made a pretty good name for myself and had a good resume to my name but was still struggling to make ends meet.

Now fast forward to when I met my husband, because this goes hand in hand with the next chapter of my creative life:)

Over the next few years, I kept running into this cute boy at different gatherings after I sat next to him in a Los Feliz movie theater at a premiere of mine. I grabbed my popcorn and sat in the back row next to him with his leather hat and silver addiction. We chatted before the film when I came up on the screen he said “Hey! I know that Girl”. Ha! We were both in other relationships at the time (not to mention my boyfriend was sitting next to me) so there was no exchange of numbers there, just friendly banter. Fast forward to the next couple of years we just kept running into each other over and over again. Then one day, at a total Hollywood pool party, we were both “kinda single” (in the sense we were both ready for something serious). So, once we got together after 3 months of going back and forth about it, the rest was history! He introduced me to Voiceover shortly after and I fell in love all over again in two ways! He taught me the ropes, let me read for his agents, told me what workshops to take and helped me make my first demo. Not to mention meeting the VO community (in my opinion) is so much more friendly than the On Camera community. Before I knew it, after doing more auditions than I ever thought possible, and putting hours and hours of training in, I was a full time actor, no side job! And I can proudly say that is still the case 7 years later!

That cute boy’s name is Jay Preston, and we ended up getting married at a castle in New England, which, I walked down the aisle to the “Game of Thrones” theme song.

One night over drinking a good amount of wine, I come up with the name ‘The Booth of Us” (mentioned above) and the rest is history! We started doing absolutely everything together. We haven’t spent a single night apart since 2017. We are codependent and we like it that way:)

We also try to be innovative when it comes to marketing and working for our clients. We give fast turnarounds and have a blast with whoever we work with and always try to meet up with new studios and agents when we are in town.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I want to mention a funny story that shows how demanding this industry is and how you have to be willing to be where you need to be and sacrifice whatever you need to to get there if you want to succeed.

In 2019 my husband and I planned our bachelor and bachelorette parties together. Friends and family flew in from everywhere and it was all planned to go wine tasting in Solvang. Prior to this, I had an audition for “This is Us” where I played the uke and was a music teacher (which I had been practicing religiously for the past few months). I thought for sure someone else was getting it because everyone seemed “cooler” than me. But as we were driving up to Solvang (everyone who few in was on their way too) I started meditating in the car to take a break from the road trip talking, my agent called and said I booked the part and had a fitting that day! We had to turn around, call all my friends and tell them we wouldn’t make it to our own party haha. Some people were mad, but at this point in all of my career, this was exactly the part I had been trying to get for the past 10 years and had to do it. So we turned around and I went to set and filmed and the rest is history! These are unfortunately the kinds of sacrifices you need to make as an actor. And they ALWAYS seem to happen to everyone.

Another thing I want to note is creating your own projects for yourself. Write yourself in! I have started doing that and really have enjoyed giving myself parts I have dreamed of. It’s never really picked up to how it used to be after covid and the strike, so I feel this is such a great way to be proactive. For over a year I have been part of a writers group! It’s been an amazing group of women that keep each other motivated and in line with out goals! This group helps me in so many ways and so grateful for it. Also, I just placed in the second round of Austin Film Fest with my feature based on a true story of a family member called “Oh, Diane”. I hope to make it in the near future with a few stars sprinkled in. So always, make time for your creativity!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Auditioning daily definitely keeps things going. We like to say auditioning is our full time job. A lot of people who want to get into VoiceOver or On Camera don’t realize how many auditions you really need to do to move forward and book. It takes awhile to get moving and you really have to love it.

For VO, we do at least 150 auditions each easily a week. Making time to meet those deadlines is key. Paying attention to what the project is looking for and doing it in your own unique way that is true to you. After the strike on camera has been way less but when it’s busy I can have 3 -5 a week with extensive dialogue. So it’s extremely important to always have your VO studio or Taping Studio dialed in with the best equipment you can afford. And you ALWAYS make sure you take it on the road as well. So you need your home setup and travel setup.

You want to prioritize work so that your clients and agents trust you. Always stick to your word and find a way to do the gig, no matter what you have to cancel. Unless, of course, there is an emergency.

Stay in touch with people you love to work with. Meet up with them for coffee, a drink or over zoom. At the end of the day relationships are everything, and you can build your creative work life together that both sides really enjoy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.meganhensley.com www.theboothofus.com
• Instagram: @megthehippie

Image Credits

Theo and Juliet – Couple shots and Headshots.
Ariana “freshpairofiis” – SXSW Red Carpet