RCHS Grad Navigating Remote Career
Video game voice actor may not be a career path one would readily associate with Rockbridge County, but that’s the one that RCHS graduate Brian Watts has chosen for himself. And, perhaps more unique than that, he’s chosen to remain close to home while doing so.
“I really love the community here,” Watts told The News-Gazette in an interview last month. “They say home is where the heart is, and that’s definitely true for this place.”
Watts first began doing voice acting in 2016 in an amateur capacity, starting by doing voice acting for fan animations of characters from the anime series “Dragon Ball Z” he created and posted on YouTube, among other animations. He also provided voice-acting for small parts in a variety of amateur video games as he began to build his career. In 2021 he voiced a character in a horror game called “Project Nightmares” which was his first studio-made video game role.
“Growing up, I played games like ‘Medal of Honor,’ ‘Ghost Recon,’ ‘Dino Crisis,’ things like that,” he said. “And it was me and my grandfather, and I kind of wanted to sort of relive, or not relive, but sort of give those experiences back to the younger generations. So that’s kind of why I wanted to pursue voice acting.”
In 2022, Watts provided the voice for a tank commander in “War Thunder,” an online game where players work together in teams to complete missions and battle other teams using World War II-era tanks, planes and other vehicles from several different countries, a role which helped open a lot of other doors for him.
He is represented by RSA Entertainment in Burbank, Calif., which helps him get auditions for roles in video games and commercials and other roles, but he’s often competing with voice actors who have longer, more established careers. He also works in a freelance capacity, seeking out work and roles on his own when he can.
“You have to work to find work, essentially,” he said. “You are your own manager. You’re your own boss. You’re your own agent, essentially.”
The COVID-19 pandemic helped open some doors as studios were utilizing remote talent more and more, but Watts said that the studios have been moving back to wanting talent who can come into the studio to record. That switch in preference, Watts said, has led to some challenges finding roles.
“Some of these studios don’t want to work with remote talent,” he said. “Maybe they’ve had bad experiences working with remote talent, or they just prefer working with instudio talent because it’s easier to direct. There’s also the audio engineering side as well, so I would say the biggest issue that I kind of have is just kind of accessibility. That’s the kind of the largest issue right now, and it’s strange because when Covid happened, roles were more accessible. And after Covid, that kind of ended. I mean, they say it’s a hybrid method now, but I’m not sure if I believe that or not.”
While moving out to California – or even to Dallas, Texas, where a lot of dubbing for Japanese animation is being done – might make finding work a little easier, Watts said he doesn’t plan on leaving Rockbridge County.
“I’ve been requested to travel to Los Angeles and eventually live there,” he said. “I have personally no desire to live in LA. I’m somebody who’s really big on family, so if I can make something kind of happen that hasn’t really happened before, where like a remote talent can break through the industry, can break through those barriers, to me that’s a success story because it’s difficult as it is. It’s becoming even more difficult, but there are opportunities.”
Watts has voiced characters in a variety of different games from horror/ survival games to firstperson and third-person shooters to more open campaign games like “War Thunder.”
While he always gets a script of dialogue to record, he may not always get images or videos of the character he’s voicing and have to find the voice on his own. In order to get the right voice and tone for the lines, Watts uses method acting to put himself in the character’s shoes and embody the character in his performance.
Other voice actors use a similar process, Watts noted, specifically citing Mark Hamil’s approach to voicing the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series,” a portrayal of the character that has become as iconic as some live-action performances.
“It’s basically you put yourself into that character’s footsteps,” Watts said. “He did that for the Joker, and I like to do that for myself when it comes to my characters as well. You’re not gonna have that much when you’re like the tank commander [in ‘War Thunder’], but for horror games, you can put yourself in that character’s footsteps by thinking, what would I do if I was in this situation? If I was being chased, or if I was being hunted, or if I was even the killer, what would I do in this situation? And it’s kind of like I put myself in that character’s footsteps, and I can create the character based off what I’m seeing, image-wise, in my head.”
With the success of games like “War Thunder” and others that he’s voiced characters in Watts has built a fan base online and engages with them through social media. He’s also begun going to different conventions around the country and has been able to meet some of his fans in person. Making those kinds of memories, he said, is “the coolest thing about voice acting.”
Looking beyond video games, Watts said he’d like to expand into doing voice acting for movies and even work on some live-action films. He’s got one such project in the works with a producer in Radford – a film based on a horror game – but said he couldn’t share details about it just yet.
Outside of his career, he also hopes to marry and start a family one day. He’s also enjoyed working close to home and the family he has here in Rockbridge County. He’s even gotten his grandfather into voice acting and he’s contributed to several projects Watts has worked on.
Watts also said he’d like to see the community really invest in the arts and encourage young talent.
“I would love to eventually get a sort of art center running in Lexington or Rockbridge area in the future, where we offer opportunities for people to have opportunities such as being actors, musicians, artists, things like that,” he said. “I don’t know if there is currently one out there. There used to be one when I was a kid, but I don’t know they’re still around or not. But I would love to see more young folks getting that kind of opportunity.”
Watts’ most lofty ambition, though, is one many people can relate to.
“I think my ultimate goal is just kind of to have fun and just do the best that God gave me the ability to do.”
