13193: Hopper Stone Has An Announcement

Raw transcript:

one of the hardest things to do when uh
creating a community especially a
community around
teaching and learning is attracting
people who are
awesome and I have been extraordinarily
fortunate to do that and one of those
guys is Hopper
Stone he is a set photographer does
still photography for sets for
television shows for movies he is an
amazing uh depth of knowledge of worldly
things he’s the nicest guy in the world
he just took me to a medical
emergency and I think he do that for
just about anybody he’s just
added yet another title to that long
list of really cool things and we’re
going to talk about that in this episode
of the vo Heroes podcast
so here it is the middle of August look
at this guy here look at this guy here
walking down the street Hopper Stone
tell me what it is that has just
happened to you in your life that you’re
so happy about I was signed by
Innovative
artists uh you know I I have an agent
and not just any agent like yeah legit
good Agent yeah this agency for those of
you that don’t know Innovative artists
is huge they represent people that are
celebrities they represent people that
you go who is that I know that face
who’s that guy and they represent a lot
of other people that you don’t even know
what they look like they are a big
agency they’ve been around for over 40
years this is a moment in the evolution
of a voice actor’s career that a lot of
people never actually
achieve and I don’t know if you remember
how long you’ve been with vo Heroes um
four four years and change four years
and a little over four years and all
along the way you have experienced these
moments of success that I remember when
we first talked and you said hey I
really think I should do this people
tell me I have a voice for this but I’m
not sure I can succeed and every little
success along the way your your first
audio book your your first audition your
first uh demo and now you’ve got a
portfolio of demos that have attracted
the likes of one of the biggest agencies
in the world how does that make you feel
um well as I tell people if you see me
walking down the street and I’m covered
in bruises it’s because I’m continuously
pinching myself um yeah no it it’s the
journey in voiceover is it’s kind of
similar to the journey in photography
you just you have to believe in your
long-term goal and and it’s really
important to enjoy the little successes
along the way like I remember the first
time I got that email saying you have an
offer from ACX you know I was like and
it was a royalty share book and you know
I I think I’ve made you know $15 from it
but I was really excited that somebody
you know somebody wanted me to do it and
so I did it and I enjoyed it it was fun
and you know making my demos um which
you know was a I mean I trained for two
years I think before even getting around
to doing a demo you know for those of
you at home I mean I when I I took up
voice acting during the lockdown because
I realized I was going to have a lot of
time on my hands and this was a good
time to pursue that thing I had always
wanted to do and um and and I mean I
went from I I knew nothing I mean I knew
absolutely nothing except people kept
telling me Oh you have a really good
voice
and um you know thanks to David and the
community and all the coaches you know
I’ve learned how to you know build this
very fancy booth that you see here
courtesy of Home Depot listen listen I I
want people to take note of this because
there are so many people who want to do
voiceover and they think oh I’ve got to
spend tens of thousands of dollars
building a studio or buying a studio
bricks or an equivalent and yeah I don’t
think you’ve ever changed from that
position have you no I mean I put some
baffling in my like some plywood covered
with some sound you know sound Dey
baffling in my windows because I do live
on the corner of a very Major Street in
Los Angeles yeah and the rest of this it
was uh PVC pipe um from uh from Home
Depot and these things called producer
blankets which are like moving blankets
but a little thicker so I think all in
this whole Booth might have cost me
around
$900 wow um yeah I mean all in that’s
including shipping producers blankets
which are you know
very yeah exactly and you know a couple
of days with my wife who has great 3D
spatial understanding of you know where
to cut which pipe and how to do it and
all that because I don’t have a walk-in
closet you know the easiest is you know
a walk-in closet full of clothes but I
don’t have that so let me let me ask you
a question about this whole process
yeah the vo Heroes curriculum is 36 plus
courses and the very last one on purpose
so that you don’t jump in too fast and
go listen all I need is an agent just
let me get an agent is finding a vo
agent yeah um
and what was the process
like
to take that class and then put that to
use what did you do to to put yourself
in the position to sign with with
Innovative man well I mean I’ll tell you
just the it’s one of those things look
you know when you realize the next thing
you have to do is look for an agent
because I had no more
excuses um it’s it’s daunting I mean I’m
not going to sugarcoat it it’s just you
wake in the morning and go okay how am I
going to do this today and you know you
scour the internet you look at different
agencies and you do your submissions and
look in this case I was very fortunate
and I was referred by a fellow actor um
which I you know I and and I’ll be
honest I I did not expect I did not
expect my agent to sign me I expected at
best maybe to be hip pocketed um because
you know I don’t I I don’t I I have what
21 or 22 audio books and some very small
um Clips in animation you know that i’
that I’ve done for nonprofit
organizations and this small independent
film but I’m not you know a known entity
I mean this is the guy who represents
SpongeBob for you know
and but the the thing is is that just
like in photography before you get
yourself out there you
know get some training put in the Reps
put in the time you know um do your
demos when you’re ready and not before
and build a you know have a a a a a
simple website set up that’s just easy
to navigate and I mean if you go to my
website it it’s just straight up you
know just demos and it just goes right
down every demo downloadable it looks
like a link Tree on Instagram kind of
yeah it’s it’s great it’s it’s direct
it’s straightforward there’s no layers
to get through it’s perfect right and
since I don’t have a ton of Clips to
share outside of my demos it’s not
cluttered with a ton of stuff I mean
once I have more Clips I’ll probably do
something with YouTube or you know link
a YouTube page or something sure but
that’s the most important thing is just
have your
presentation ready and have in mind what
you’re GNA say to a prospective agent
when they go hey tell me about you which
was something that Zach you know asked
me he goes all right tell me about you
and I’m like uh okay and you know that
30 second sort of elevator pitch as to
why you and not somebody else yeah
so the moment that he called you he
wrote you what what was he called me out
like out of the blue okay tell me about
that moment oh my God so you know um my
referral had sent an email and then Zach
wrote back saying yes I’m I’m I’ll I’d
love to talk to him I like his demos um
I’m just really really busy so you know
once a week I just send a little email
I’m like hey you know anytime you’re
ready to hop on the phone
um and after about 3 weeks back he goes
I haven’t forgotten about you I just
really busy with a bunch of stuff I’m
like okay so I figured I’ll I’ll give it
like a two week rest because there is
that very fine line between being
persistent and being annoying and I
think we were somewhere into a week week
and a half of when I had let you know
reached out to him and my phone
rang you know with a number that I
didn’t know but in my line of business
you I always do answer it because it
might be a client
and you know goes hey it’s Zach from
Innovative voice Innovative voiceovers
I’m like I am not ready for this phone
call but let’s do
it and he spent an hour with me on the
phone telling me you know what what they
do what they don’t do you know where um
you know where the where where the heat
in the market is things maybe not worry
about so much all that kind of stuff and
then um and he goes all right so you
know when we start working with you and
I go oh so are you signing me or am I
being hip pocketed he goes oh no
assistant’s going to reach I’ll give you
all your onboarding paperwork like
you’re ready to go I’m like okay so
there really wasn’t this precipice
moment of it was wildly anticlimactic
yeah well that’s great weirdly
anticlimactic tell me tell me how you
felt at that very moment um in a very
rare moment of in my life I was dumb
struck and absolutely speechless I I
just I
couldn’t I I didn’t know what to say and
I think my first phone call was actually
to
you you know and I call you up and I go
um I I just got signed by Innovative
artists like it seemed like such a weird
thing to say yeah the reason that there
are so many tactics and and courses out
there and class out there where people
teach you how to get work without an
agent you know like there are people
charging thousands and thousands of
dollars to show you how to work with the
P2P sites and the casting sites and
everything and the reason is is that who
knows what the percentage of talent is
that never even
approach that moment where they can
achieve something like this it’s like
probably above 95% of voice Talent that
don’t have agents there are so many
talent that want agent representation
and so few agents even though there are
hundreds of agencies across the country
and around the world there’s just way
too much talent to uh to to be served by
the Limited number of agencies there are
this is a huge huge huge achievement
yeah and I’m very humbl I just want I
just want to tell you how proud of you I
am thank you David and and I also want
to point out that this was due to
diligence I think the one key thing here
is diligence you can buy any course you
want you can join our group if you want
you can be taught by our team if you
want but if you don’t
engage in that teaching and the practice
of what we do you know the The Bucket
List item isn’t get the course The
Bucket List item is work the course and
that’s what you’ve done in just a a
stellar dedicated engaged committed way
and I couldn’t ask for anything more and
I’m so proud of you and I just wanted to
you know brag on you a little bit and
just say thank you so much for putting
your faith in us and I’m so proud of
what you’re going to do I can’t wait to
see what your journey is like thank you
I it’s it’s really overwhelming but you
know look as we both know you know
agents are not magic work making
machines um I mean do get I I will say
you know first day he sent me four
auditions for well-known stuff and I was
like all right this is really it’s it’s
I will admit it’s nicer to audition for
those than it is for you know this $60
Regional commercial from Ohio that you
find on voice 123 hey now hey now so
listen No but I mean but here’s the
thing I spent a lot of time auditioning
for those Regional commercials and you
know High School Marching Band
voiceovers and introductions at
corporate dinners I mean you take and
that’s the thing is you you take every
audition you you
do yeah you just got put in the time you
know just like every every every rock
and roll guitar player would tell you
about that time they spent three years
in their bedroom just playing the guitar
before they went out and joined a band
yeah to do yeah I’m wondering how you
who are watching this are feeling I hope
that what you’re feeling is inspired and
not less than oh I could never do that
you can you can and it doesn’t take uh
the amount of effort that some people
think it takes it takes the amount of
dedication that is less than most people
think you really have to work you really
have to work the the the goals and work
the processes and be diligent in
learning your craft and I would love to
know what you think in the comments
below um if this is something that’s
inspiring to you if you look at this and
you go oh wow maybe I can do this we
want to know that uh hit the like button
if you like what you’re you’re hearing
uh you can subscribe to the channel uh
you can also be notified when the next
episode comes out again congrats to
Hopper Stone and his signing to
Innovative artists we’re all very proud
of him here at vo Heroes and I’m David H
Lawrence 17th I thank you so much for
watching and for listening and I will
see you in the next episode of the vo
Heroes podcast

(from YouTube)