We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryan Stephenson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryan below.
Ryan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have an agent or someone (or a team) that helps you secure opportunities and compensation for your creative work? How did you meet you, why did you decide to work with them, why do you think they decided to work with you?
Yes, I’m very fortunate to have an L.A. agent as well as a few smaller market or ‘out of town’ agents to work with. Many people in the industry feel that you’re working for the agency or worse yet that the agency is working for you. Truth be told, as a creative solo entrepreneur, we are working with our agents. It’s a collaborative process that requires an equal approach to manifesting quality work. Both sides must hold up their own weight for the process to function smoothly.
I first met the majority of my agents (pre-covid) through in-person workshops held at local L.A. recording studios. Getting face time with any agent is an invaluable opportunity that cannot be overstated! Living in an on-line/zoom culture it’s a lot tougher now to engage with someone over the internet. It easier for people to push the ‘end call’ button and move on to the next thing. Being face to face and looking in someones eyes creates a lasting impression that zoom or the internet can’t match. Some of my other agents were met through voice over demo producers that I’ve recorded with like Chuck Duran and Marice Tobias. They’ll gladly pass along your information if they feel that you’re on the level and ready to perform at high caliber. And of course one of the best ways to meet an agent is word of mouth from the folks already working inside an agency. Administrative assistants, booth directors, and editors are all listened to when making making key decisions about future talent.
In reality, most of the time there’s no choice at what agency you first land at. Unless you’re coming in with celebrity status you should gratefully & gracefully accept to work with any *legitimate agency that will put you on their roster. Sure there’s certain red flags to watch out for like places who are signing mostly kids or foreign talent to their roster. But typically saying YES to whatever comes your way starts the ball rolling. It’s an honor to be brought into an agency with the competition factors being so high in the larger market areas. Being as easy to work with as possible is also an understated attribute to getting a good agent. Talent who are constantly bugging their agents are usually put on a short leash. Agents know what they’re doing and they know you’re still there so constantly reminding them of this fact is a good way to kill a great relationship.
An agent will decide to work with you when they don’t have a ‘you’. Meaning when there’s gaps in their roster that need to be filled. This is why being unique in your performance is so very crucial. Trying to emulate someone else or sounding like someone they already have is a bad plan of attack. This is one of the easiest ways to get turned away because agents want the genuine you, warts and all..
I believe my biggest agency, VOX, took me on because I have real strengths in multiple genres of voice acting. Nobody in the industry wants a jack-of-all voices but being competent in at least two or three areas of V.O. really helps your chances of success. If you want to be repped in every single area of voice over it makes it very difficult for agents to send you quality auditions. They’re typically very busy and want to streamline as much of their workflow as possible. Knowing what your best performance strengths are can help them keep the daily ship moving along.
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.
I grew up here in Los Angeles and was fortunate to have parents who felt theater was an important aspect of life. As a family we attended so many wonderful shows that in my youth I knew I’d eventually wind up somewhere within the entertainment industry. During high school I was a proud drama geek and that whole experience never left me. The bonds of rehearsing, playing, and wrapping a show with your friends is something I feel everyone should take part in. There’s a reason so many improv instructors are amazing at corporate team building. They’re the drama kids from school who came together and pushed past the difficulties and fear of performing in public. Of course (for me) it wasn’t a straight shot to full time voice acting. Along the way I studied immensely with some of the best voice acting coaches available, took weekly classes at the Groundlings Improv School, and learned how to sing…as best I could. Any arrow you can put in your quiver of skills will help you down the road especially when auditioning. Whatever it took to keep moving forward, I did it. By the grace of God I eventually made it to a level that the right people started noticing my performances within the voice acting community. For those who don’t know, our community is a very supportive culture that you might not see in other areas of entertainment. Being cut throat or ruthless serves no purpose in voice acting because of the wide range of work and uniqueness we each bring to the table. The majority of time spent voice acting is you vs yourself. You might not see any other talent in the studio so supporting each other takes on a key role.
The majority of my voice acting work is in the realm of interactive media. Video games are the biggest growing sector of the entertainment industry and my character types fit right in line with what’s currently being produced. I love the fact that I can go ‘full send’ and it’s the directors job to reel me back in. Interactive and animation are both areas of voice acting where you can push the limits to the max. Technically there are no limits in acting. The only true ones come into play when vocal stress or health become a factor.
Working with Sony Studios has been a huge blessing for me and my career. Being in games like ‘God of War’, ‘Asgard’s Wrath’, and ‘Days Gone’ have helped catapult my work in interactive media. Please note that I wouldn’t of had those opportunities without my wonderful agents at VOX, so a big thank you to them! A ton of work is also coming in from the far East. China, Japan, and Korea have huge gaming bases that are always looking to expand into the American market. The majority of those games coming in to the country need quality english speaking actors. Most of the directors and producers that I’ve worked with from the region are genuinely grateful for my time and performance. For now I’ll proudly continue to voice video games until my last digital dying breath. There’s a million ways to die in video games and I’ve been through ’em all…plus I still love doing it.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
The human touch in voice acting is something that can never be replaced. A lot of talk lately is about the emerging technologies of A.I. and computer generated voices. While A.I. is now a fun tool for the general public to play around with, a computer or A.G.I. will never have someone break up with them, enjoy the magic of a first kiss, or know the heartache of losing of a parent. Human nature can emulated but it’s never duplicated. Give credit to who we are as a species and appreciate our very flawed and unique gifts.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me the most rewarding aspect of being a voice actor is bringing a sliver of joy and happiness to others. The general public might think that we perform for ourselves but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Remembering the happiness that was given to me from watching others perform either on stage or in cartoons while growing up made me want to return that feeling to the world. In a many ways allowing people to go places in their mind that they might not of by themselves. Story telling is the most powerful way for humans to learn and I like being part of that concept. Plus there’s a bonus to acting which is that I’m constantly forced to keep learning and evolving. Otherwise I wouldn’t book in this highly competitive market.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: @stephensonvoice
- Facebook: Ryan Stephenson
Image Credits
Sony Studios
Bang Zoom Studios
Voicetrax West Studios
Ryan Stephenson Voice Overs
Neil Kremmer Photography