I had the pleasure of interviewing an industry giant, Todd Resnick, a few days ago. He is the founder of Resnick Interactive Group, as well as Gamecues.com, the only audio and sound FX licensing website tailored specifically for the gaming industry. So, here’s the interview, I hope you like it!

B.J: I’m going to start off with the obvious question… What is Resnick Interactive?
T.R: Resnick Interactive is a boutique talent acquisition agency. We deal with the research, casting, recording, and implementation of voice over acting in many video game titles. We work with DreamCatcher and JoWood frequently on their casting needs and have been for about seven years now.

B.J: What is your official title at Resnick Interactive?
T.R:  Well, I wear many hats; basically I am chief of both companies, but more often than not, I am the actual casting director and the voice director as well. I also oversee a group of engineers that work through the pre and post-production needs on our projects. I also work with many top publishers and record labels in licensing music to game companies.

B.J: How did you get involved with Arcania?
T.R: That’s a good question… a couple of years ago, I was working with DreamCatcher on Genesis Rising, and the producer at the time was going back and forth with me on the possibility of using a celebrity. I sort of just stuck along with the Arcania product and dealt with the pre-production needs. I spent about 15 or so months doing that until the producer I was working with left and the current producer, Kamaal came forth. So I’ve been a big part of Arcania coming to be, I’ve been here since the beginning. I also worked on the Gothic 3 Add-on bringing lots of wonderful talent to that project. These projects are fun; they’re sort of like 2 or 3 years of labour pains, and then a beautiful baby. It’s extremely rewarding to see the completed products.

B.J: How long have you been in the industry?
T.R: I’ve been in the video gaming industry off and on for about ten years now, mostly on in the last 7 years or so. I did work with a lot of the online Resident Evil games in the late 90s. I’ve been in production for about 18 or 19 years now, I’ve bounced around a lot within the production industry.

B.J: Prior to that, what kind of schooling did you receive?
T.R: I went to engineering school in the early 90s, and also worked for 20th Century Fox in sound. School really wets the whistle and shows you what to do, but creativity…… getting hired really catapults your engineering skills. My experience certainly didn’t come from school, I cant even put my finger on where exactly I found my niche, but it really came from years of working hard and listening.

B.J: So can you briefly describe a day in the life?
T.R: Of me? Oh boy.  Well, I’m an “up at 5 am” kinda guy; I deal with a lot of foreign companies….. so I’m up and on Skype most of the day. There’s a lot of testing that goes on in my business, so for example I deal with a client-and they want to do a project. I give them samples of voices that are inline with their character needs and try to win projects. Then I spend time routing a project through various studios, communicate with localization teams around the world and constantly monitoring different aspects of my business, I’m sitting in front of a desk that has 3 computers on it for usually 12-16 hours every day. So I’m a pretty busy guy. I normally try to crush golf balls 3 times a week too.

B.J: So, what kind of cool perks do you get in your business?
T.R: Well, I’m lucky enough to get to use world class facilities, and the worlds most sought after acting voice talent for my clients.

There aren’t really many perks. I very rarely get to travel where I’m not in a rush. I’m pretty sure the only thing I’ve done lately is play golf. Nice courses though!  If you love what you do, you wont work a day in your life. Perks won’t be as needed.

B.J: Have you worked with any big-name actors for voice-overs?
T.R: I’ve worked with many, I’ve cast about 1000 actors in my time. James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, on the B side of things, David Suchet, Jesse McCartney. Voice over artists don’t really have commercial success with name and/or likeness”, but I do work with over 200 of the best voice over artists in the business…… and to me they’re stars.

B.J: So, what do you have planned for the future?
T.R: Our Gamecues brand is really gaining traction in the industry and we have some wonderful exhibits and initiatives utilizing some very well known musical acts. On the voice side of things, we’re working everyday and have a bright future within gaming. We also deal in voice recording for cartoons and anime. Something new to our business in the last few years or so. We hope to be on the map for years to come.

B.J: So for the hopefuls out there, what kind of advice would you give them?
T.R: Voice over acting is a very tough market to get into, especially for video games. Advertisements and promo are a bit easier to do as anyone with a high energy level can do this. Video games are very difficult to do as they mostly require real character acting skills. Most actors I hire have a long history theatre acting, where they have great experience becoming a character for days upon end. The background of becoming an actor is not something you fall into, it’s a passion of love. Most actors we hire have been working their entire lives, working very hard for this. Maybe getting an agent, working days on end, taking theatre-acting classes…that could help. But in my experience, a desired voice over artist possesses tons of acting prowess naturally. We don’t need to be sold on that. It sells itself.

B.J: Thanks Todd!
Well, Todd was a great guy to interview. He’s very genuine, smart and easy to talk to. So, if this is what some of you want to do, better get acting!

Hey everyone, my name is BJ Muller, and this is the first blog post discussing my E3 experience with DreamCatcher Games.

This whole experience has been a lot of firsts for me; my first time flying on a plane, my first time being outside of Canada, my first time being at E3 and my first time getting some one on one experience with professionals in the video game industry.

It all started with a link to a video that made promises of all expenses paid trips, free stuff and the experience of a life time for any video game enthusiast. So with no interest in letting something like that pass me by, I immediately made a video stating why I would make the best Arcania Gothic 4 correspondent and submitted it as ordered. I waited anxiously for a response, and finally I got a call from DreamCatcher Games saying that I won and I was going to E3 in Los Angeles!!

Day one started out rough. The flight was long and the guy beside me fell asleep on my shoulder, but when I got to LA all of that had been forgotten. I met up with Mike, the DreamCatcher PR guy at the convention centre and he gave me the grand tour of the convention centre as all the booths were being set up.  I was introduced to the guys and girls I would be working with for the duration of my stay and they were all smart awesome people.  We called it a night shortly after and hit the streets for some local eats.

Day two was a big day, the opening day of E3.  We all met at the centre in the morning and had our game faces on.  Throughout the day it seemed like there were thousands of visitors surrounding our booth, each minute busier than the last. We were giving away free Arcania t-shirts and tattoos, it was crazy. Everyone held their cool and believe it or not the day DID come to and end.

Day three in LA was supposed to be the busiest day of the convention and damn it, it was. It started out well until some of the Xbox systems started to overheat and we couldn’t demo the game as well as we could before. We needed some fans to cool them down so being the superhero I am, I walked 3 miles down Figueroa St. for looking for a store to buy some fans…I failed. When I got back to the centre, I thought long and hard for a solution to our problem. Then it clicked…take them out of the cabinet! The systems were up and running and the rest of the day went by flawlessly.

Last day of the convention and we were all sad and excited. I knew this would be the last day to see the professionals in action doing what they do best. By the last day, we gave away almost 5,000 t-shirts and had a ton of meetings planned. Non-stop running around!

We went out with a BANG! The event was super successful so a celebration was in order. We decided to go out for dinner to a fancy restaurant located on Sunset Boulevard. For those few hours I didn’t feel like I was sitting with the fine employees at DreamCatcher, I felt like I was sitting there with some of the coolest guys I had ever met. We were just a bunch of friends reaping the benefits of success. I had filet mignon, it was delicious.

We got back to the hotel and I said my goodbyes because I would be leaving at 5:00 in the morning and the rest would be staying. I packed my belongings and newly obtained swagger from E3 and I went to bed.

The plane ride back was just as long. I had some new experiences to cross of my list, some new friends to add on facebook, and a ton more experience and knowledge than I had going into this. Being around that diverse, experienced team really helped the juices flowing in my brain and now I have more game ideas than I know what to do with.  This is the first you’ve heard of me and my stories, but it’s surely not the last.