Brian Hull - Voice Actor and Content Creator | AW15

How much can one viral video change a person’s life? Evidently, by a lot. In this day and age, viral content is everywhere. With so many people trying to be the next big thing, how do you stand out? Maybe by singing a Disney classic like “Let It Go” while impersonating some of Disney’s most popular voices?

You guessed it! Our guest on this week’s Wonderland Wednesday is none other than YouTuber turned professional VO, Brian Hull! Brian has come a long way from doing covers on YouTube. You’ve all seen the trailer; Brian is the new Dracula in the box office hit movie series, Hotel Transylvania. Don’t miss the chance to listen in on this exclusive interview! 

Show Notes:

[2:50] How Brian’s journey started.
[11:06] His relationship with Disney growing up.
[23:08] Brian as Hotel Transylvania 4’s Count Dracula.
[32:20] Cherith Crossing, a joint charity spearheaded by Brian and his friends.
[36:14] Brian the Twitch streamer / gamer.
[43:17] Q&A with Brian during the Live IgTV.

Follow along with Alicyn's Wonderland on:

Instagram: @Alicyn
TikTok: @alicynpackard
YouTube: Alicyn Packard
Twitter: @Alicyn 

Show Transcript:

Intro Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. I'm your host, Alicyn Packard. Join us as we journey through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole into the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. Hey, do a girl a favor, and please subscribe to this podcast, and go on iTunes and leave us a good review. If you like the show, please help spread the word. It really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much. Alicyn Hello, hello. Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. A show that takes you through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole into the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. Thank you so much. My name is Alicyn Packard, I'm your host. Thanks to everybody that's joining in live. It always brings so much more energy and excitement when we have everybody on live. So I want to say thank you to you guys for that so much. If you're new to the show, Alicyn's Wonderland is an interview show where I sit down with people either I've worked with in animation and video games or people whose work I really admire, and tonight's guest, Brian Hull, is one of those people. I'm sure you know Brian. Brian has been a voice of our generation for a number of years, and best known for his, and creative impressions on YouTube as well as his voice acting and original content creation. Brian is such a force of positivity and good, and I'm so excited to welcome him onto the show. I'm sure you guys are as well. So I'm going to go ahead and without further ado. Oh hey, let me say hey, real quick to everybody that's jumping on, BrianHernandez, CrazyAnimeGeek I think you're tuning in for the first time. CBpuppets, Good to see you back. ImaginationStudios, I got your video and I will respond, sorry about that. Matthew, Jeff, good to see you. Rob, Caleb, Payton, Thank you guys so much for joining us live. I'm going to go ahead and welcome Brian Hull. Thank you. If you guys are wondering what we're listening to that was a remix at Pogo. And what he does is take Disney songs, and appropriate them, and remix them into some amazing, amazing like compilations. So I thought that was kind of apropos to have on as our background music. Hi, Brian. Brian Hi. How's it going? Alicyn It's going great. How are you today? Brian Doing good. How about yourself? Alicyn I'm great. Happy Wednesday. Brian Happy Wednesday to you too. Hump Day, yehey. Alicyn Hey, it's Hump Day. You know what that means? Hump Day. I'm drinking water. Yeah, it's so good to see your face. How was your day so far? Brian It was pretty good, you know? Getting work done, making more videos, doing all that good stuff. Alicyn Nice. Nice. Yeah. I'm seeing there's a lot of people jumping on the stream. Thanks for sharing it and everything. I figured we would just take it back to the beginning, you know? Start at the very beginning. With kind of how you got your start. Sorry, someone is texting me. How you got your start in this whole wide world. Now, I know you were a vocal performance major. And so I'm sure all of that amazing skills lent itself to what you do now. But like, the trajectory is in quite a debate. So I'm curious. How did you get there? Brian Well, it's a, it's kind of a weird story. Because, yeah, I was going to school for vocal performance, but not for the vocal performance, I ended up doing. No, my degree is in music, specifically, opera and musical theater. So I was, you know, learning all the classical works, and having some fun with like George Frideric Handel back from like, the good ol', I think, I think Handel's like 1750s, 1800s, something like that. Alicyn Whoa. Taking me way back. Brian Yeah. So I was going to school for all that, because just I was in school. And you know, I started, you know, I had a, I was in fifth grade. And so all the girls that I knew were going into choir, so I'm like, Well, hey, if that's where all the girls are going, that's where I should go. And so, I went and ended up falling in love with music, didn't really get any girlfriends from it, but so there was that. Yeah. Alicyn Go for the girls, stay for the tunes. Brian Exactly, exactly. So yeah, it kind of just turned into, that's just what I did at school. All throughout middle school, high school, college, I was just always in music, and always in vocal performance and always just doing that stuff. And me doing voices and impressions, which is something I did for fun. You know, it's just something I like to do in my spare time. But one of the things that I ended up learning while I was doing all my musical training was when you're trained in classical singing, like in opera, specifically, they actually teach you how to manipulate your voice to get that operatic sound. So they would teach us, it's like, Okay, if you have a student that has a very nasal sound, have them raise their soft palate at the back of their throat and do all this. I'm like, So if I do the opposite? I get the very nasal voice. So I, like, reverse engineered everything they taught me to make all the cartoon characters. Alicyn Wow. And were you like, I mean, did you have a buddy you were doing this with? Or were just kind of like, on your own just making crazy voices in your room? Brian No, it was just me, all of my friends, none of my friends did this. Alicyn We so would have been friends in high school. I just wish. We'd be like in our closets like, Hi, how's it going? Brian Oh, it's going real good, pal. Alicyn Oh, can I get you autograph, maybe? It would be cool. Brian Okay, you can have my autograph. This is what I sound like when the camera's not on. Alicyn After a pack of menthol ice. Brian Oh, yeah, that's exactly what happens. Alicyn So fifth grade, you're this, you're you're developing your own repertoire, you're learning and growing as a singer and learning how to manipulate your voice. And then how did YouTube work into the whole equation? Brian Well, YouTube was just something I did to save me some sleep. Because in middle school and high school, I started to get known around the school for impressions. Because like, there were times at lunch where I go in and it was just I jumped from table to table to table to table because everyone's like, hey, Brian, come do this voice for us. And then I do a couple voices for them. The next tables like, Now, you gotta come over here and do that for us. I lost a lot of lunches. I forgot to eat some of them. And then if friends had like people spending the night, I get calls at like, 10 or 11, or midnight, when I'm trying to sleep for school. And I'm not a night owl. I'm like, I'm really the morning kind of guy. So just to get some sleep, and so nobody would mess with me. I was just like, I put them on YouTube. Show them that. Do not call me. Let me sleep. Alicyn Wow. Started racking up the views because they needed that, that sleep over, slumber party fix. Brian Yeah. So that's, that's how it started. And I never expected it to get any bigger than that. And then, back in the day, I was making a lot of videos for school and church and other things like that. And back then you couldn't go get a thumb drive with like 12 gigs on it. You know, you remember back when thumb drives first came out, they were like, here's a huge one. It's like 20 megabytes. It's, like you can fit so much on that, you can fit like 12 pictures. And so like I'd have to bring these videos places. And I was using iMovie just because I didn't have anything else. And each video was like four gigs. So I'm like, instead of trying to force it onto a thumb drive, which didn't really work or also other stuff, or get a thumb drive that had like, three gigs on it for like, what $500. I just started uploading it to YouTube, and just sending a link to them. It's just like, Okay, there you go. Cuz that's a heck of a lot easier. Alicyn Yeah. And so when did you start to really gain traction on that channel cuz your channels like 11 years old or something? Brian The channel itself is 11. But I've only been doing it seriously for 7. That was how all that started. I was in college at the time. And I was flat broke, you know? I was in a musical that we were doing at school. I was in Phantom of the Opera, and our school's a little school so we didn't actually have a theater on campus. So we'd have to like drive to this theater like 20 minutes away. We'd rehearsed there, come back, I had to take a lot of time off for my part time job and all this other stuff so I'm like, I don't have money, but I'm a nerd and I want Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks on blu-ray. So I found a website that was like, Hey, sing your own cover of Let It Go. You could win $100 gift card at the Disney Store. And I'm like, That's my ticket. That's how I'm gonna get my movies. So I sing Let It Go as 20-some Disney characters trying to just win a gift card, and I got a career instead. Alicyn A whole lot more. Wow, did that just blow your mind? Brian Yes. And it was just, when you get that much traction, that fast, literally overnight. It'a just shocking. For like the first couple days, I was just like, I'm gonna wake up soon. I'm gonna wake up and this is all gonna go away. Because I'm dreaming, right? Alicyn Did you wake up? Brian I never woke up. Either this is the longest dream of my life, or it was real. Alicyn It would, it would really suck to wake up now and be back in college. Brian Yes. Alicyn What? Wow, that's so amazing. I mean, and what was your family's response to all that? Brian The response was, they were thrilled. They were absolutely thrilled. Cuz, you know, my parents, I love them to death, but it was also very much like for the longest time it was like, do you really want to pursue entertainment? It's hard to make a living, you know, that cold plastic thing, but the second half and they're like, okay, we get it now. Go for it. Alicyn All right. Oh my gosh. Wow, what a difference that one video, having never made that one video could have made the world. Brian Yeah, because my parents before were like, just like, What are you doing watching Winnie the Pooh and cartoons? Get doing your schoolwork. And now I get the calls like, What are you doing? It's like, Oh, nothing. You got a movie? Put it in. Do Winnie the Pooh. Do cartoon characters. It's totally flip flop. I love it. Alicyn Totally. Oh my gosh. What an amazing story. For everybody that's tuning in, I just want to let you know, because Alicyn's Wonderland is a show that later becomes an audio podcast. We don't do as much interacting with everybody on the live stream these days. So I just want to say thank you so much for tuning in live. And that down at the bottom, there's a little question box right there. So if you have questions or comments for Brian, we'll take them at the end and go and go ahead and put them in there. And we're so grateful that you're here live. It means the world to us. And so I definitely want to take some questions for you guys. If you don't know what this show is. It's a weekly interview show where I sit down with people who work in animation and video games, so. So. Brian, I mean, how long were you like a Disney fan? Would you say you were always a huge Disney fan? Brian Oh, yeah. Absolutely. When everyone started to, like, grow out of Disney, I just never understood it. I just never stopped, you know? And I feel like it's gotten stronger as I've gotten older. Cuz like, you know, you watch and, whenever you watch Disney movies, and you go to the parks as a kid. And you see, you know, you see the movie or you see the parks one way. And then as you get older, you watch it again, you start seeing stuff you never noticed before. Like, maybe that message in the Lion King meant something more to you now as an adult than it did as a kid or that message of Beauty and the Beast or like that one interaction is like, Oh, that's not real. Oh, don't go there. Don't go there. I'm turing 30 this year, don't do that. Alicyn Just wait 'til you have a kid. I will tell you. Yeah. But absolutely. I mean, there's so much built in and why all their stuff is, you know, relevant in every generation and so timeless because these themes and this, this method of storytelling is just so universal. It really is amazing. Do you remember the first time you went to Disney World or Disneyland? Brian The first time I went I don't remember too much. I was pretty young. My parents took me with my grandparents. I want to say I was four? Alicyn California? Brian Oh no. This was world. Disney World. I never went to Disneyland until I was an adult. Alicyn Oh. Brian Yeah. Cuz I grew up in Texas, and my parents were like if we're spending all that money. We're going, we're doing more than just, we're doing more than one park. Because at the time, Disney California Adventure didn't exist yet. Alicyn Got it. Wow. Yeah, so we're, I mean, you just was that like, another level of infatuation, or? Brian Yeah, cuz I didn't get to do the parks a whole lot as a kid. I went once when I was really young. And then we went one more time when I was about 10 or so. And that one left a huge impact. But then after that, we never went. So my parents are very much they aren't, they're not really theme park people. They're, they're very much beach, they love the beach. So it's like every vacation. We go, we go to the beach, and I'm like, we could do theme parks too. But it's like, but we've been beaches for like five years in a row. And it's like, Yeah, when you pay for a vacation, you could do a theme park. So, now, I was a Disneyland pass holder. And I was there like every other week, and it was great. Alicyn Oh my gosh, yeah. I mean, it's so close now. Have you been back recently? Brian Yes, I was just there two days ago. Alicyn Oh my gosh. Wow. What was your observation? Brian It's different. But the magic's still there, you know? You know, as of right now, though, I went right before all the mass mandates got lifted and everything so maybe now it's totally different. But when I went on Monday, it's like, you know, you still had to wear masks and everything and it was all that so, lot of rules to adhere to. And it was just hot. Alicyn I'm just gonna say we're in the middle of a major heat wave here, it was like in the 90s today. It must have been so hot down at Disneyland. Brian It wasn't, like I mean, it was hot. I think it just touched like 90 degrees whenever we were there, but I think it's hotter now than it was when I went the other day. So I was just like, I'm glad I did it before it got too-too hot. Alicyn Did you go in any wet rides? Brian No, we were mainly going just to see Avengers campus, because last time we went, it was like a five-hour line to get in. And we couldn't even get the Spider Man ride tickets. We're just like, I don't want to wait for five hours just to not ride anything. Alicyn Yeah. Yeah, I can understand that. So I was wondering, so I mean, so you started doing these impressions. And you know, you started making these YouTube videos, and then you have this viral hit. But then, you know, a lot of times people have one viral hit, and they're not quite sure how to keep that going, you know? It's one thing to go viral one time. And it's another thing to be a consistent content creator. So what was it that like, clued you in to like, Oh, I should make more of these and not just be, you know, oh, I'll make more in a year, but have the consistency that you need to continue to grow on a platform like YouTube? Brian This is gonna sound bad, but what got me to do it was desperation. After Let It Go came out, I talked with a few companies, you know, like, I'd gotten contacted by Disney, I'd got contacted by people over at DreamWorks. And I never thought I was good enough to be a voice actor. And then after hearing them talk to me, it's like, Okay, well, I need to go give this a shot. And, you know, everyone was saying, if you want to work with these guys, you have to live in LA. So I moved out here, found an agent. And, you know, I'm sure you've, you've lived this, I'm sure. It's like, you know, you can audition as the day is long but you're not guaranteed any work. So you got to do something, to pay the bills, and to keep everything going. And I was happy to have a part time job when I came out. But it wasn't anywhere close to paying LA rent. So I'm like, Well, my other option is a bunch of people watch this video. If I make more, can this sustain me? And it took a few years to build it up to where it could but once it did, that's, that's my full time job now, so I can't ever get fired from that one. So that's good. Alicyn You would have had to get fired so many times, you know? It's like each person is sort of, I guess, one part of the puzzle. So I mean, yeah, you have that, that career longevity, in a way, because you've created, I don't know if you've ever heard of that theory that if you have, it's the number, the magic number has always been 10,000 true fans that would just support you, no matter what. If you put out an album, buy your album, buy your t-shirt, and you'll always sort of be taken care of, and be able to have creative freedom. So I think that's so interesting, especially with numbers like, you know, 2.3 million followers on YouTube and stuff, how that you've been able to segue that into a career. And so is that through like ads, is that mainly through merch, or a combination of both? Brian It's mainly, it's mainly ad revenue. That's my primary income. But, you know, I do have my merch. And then I've also got a few other things that I do, but yeah, ad revenue was always the biggest one. Alicyn So guys watch those commercials on YouTube. Don't, don't bypass them. Brian I mean, if you still hit the skip button, we still get paid. So it's okay. Alicyn Oh, okay. You know, I've been sitting through a lot of commercials, thought it's important. Brian I mean, that ad in of itself, just we get paid less regardless of whether you click the button or not. So that's what that is. So if you just see the button, it's like, it's just a cheaper ad. But we're still gonna get paid. So you could skip it. It's okay. I'm sure a lot don't understand how that works and are just screaming at me right now. Alicyn Yeah, I don't get it. I don't, it's a magical world out there. And you've just tapped into it. But I think it's really a testament for if you follow your passions, that it comes. Because, I mean, that's just such a magical story nobody could have predicted. And you know, I think something that I've always been attracted to about your work and I'm sure other people is the positivity that you bring and this life-affirming kindness that you radiate, and we should talk in our character voices. You got some life-affirming characters, and like, your like hearts of fury. Brian Oh, thank you. You know I do appreciate that. I do my best to be, I try to do my best to be as uplifting as possible. Alicyn Yeah, well, it's just the hug the world needs, you know? Sometimes there are those of us that just, can just. hopefully, provide that safe space where it's okay to be silly and it's okay to be a kid, you know? Brian Absolutely. Alicyn Yes. Well, so singing, let's talk singing. Do you ever write your own, I mean, obviously you, you've got your impressions that you write out and everything. But are you also a songwriter? Have you dabbled in that? Brian I've dabbled very little, for a brief moment in college, I tried to be a composer, because I was you know, I wanted to be in entertainment in the film industry so bad but I'm like, I'm not good enough to get in there. But I know music, I could maybe learn how to write the scores, you know, write the background music. It didn't work. Alicyn I know, every little aspect of entertainment is so specific and so niche and also very challenging, and that is definitely one of them. I want to get some composers on the show as well. I mean, it's amazing what people are doing with music these days. I don't know if you saw Arlo the Alligator Boy. But we had Ryan Crego on the show a few weeks ago, and you know, they co-wrote all the songs and they're just so good. All the Disney musicals, all the Pixar. It's just really so, so breathtaking and so inspiring. So but a lot of sitting, a lot, even more sitting than we have, so. A busy desk. Yeah, that's so interesting. So do you feel like maybe you know, doing a little song for us, maybe? Maybe like sing us something? Brian I can probably do a little something. Alicyn Okay. Do you need a backing track or do you just go acapella? Brian I could get one of my backing tracks. Maybe. Alicyn Do you need me to vamp? It's Sally's show. There's like this comedian back when I was a kid, would always, was always on TV, and she would sing, The Judy show, as she like pretended to slide down a spit curl. It was like this comedian from the 70s. And I always, I always wonder whose bit was that? If anybody knows, please DM me. Brian I don't know that one. So it'll be for you. I guess I could do a little bit just because it's been on my brain forever. That new Tik Tok trend Into The Thick Of It. Well, I mean, it's not really a new song or anything. I just had like, I don't know. Yeah, Mickey, Goofy, and Winnie the Pooh doing it. Alicyn Oh, perfect. Brian (Singing Into The Thick Of It) I did a Tigger too just because I thought it would fit. Alicyn Hurray. Oh my gosh, look at all the hearts you're getting down there in the corner. Pikachu is lighting up. It looks like the hearts are going straight up to Pikachu. Brian I didn't even notice that? That's awesome. Alicyn Thank you. That was so great. So a lot of people, I see a lot of comments coming up asking about your big new announcement. About the project you've been working on, Hotel Transylvania part four, and you are going to be starring as Dracula. What can you tell us about the new movie? Brian What I can tell you about the new movie is Dracula and the gang are getting a whole makeover. You know, Johnny's getting turned into a monster, Dracula's turning into a human, so is Frankenstein and, and Murray the Mummy, and the Invisible Man. Everybody's just getting flip flopped, if they were a monster. They're human now. And if they were human, they're a monster. And it's gonna be a wild and crazy ride. Alicyn Wow, what was it like recording for Dracula? Brian It was amazing overall, but extremely intimidating. You know, cuz like, I've done voice work before this. But most of them are just like small cameo roles or like for a smaller feature. And then this shows up and it's like, oh, I'm in like, every scene. And I filled the shoes of Adam Sandler for this. But I could, I couldn't have asked for like better set of directors and better producers and everybody, they were just a blast to work with. And they worked really hard with me to make sure that we kept the character of Dracula but still made him feel fresh. And, you know, we got to play a lot with like, since he's turning into a human, it was fun to play with like that physicality. It's like okay, well, how would he be different from vampire to human? And that was just really fun to traverse and work around. But you sit there thinking, Oh, these people never deal with anxiety with themselves or anything like that. No, I was watching like all three movies before, like, the day before each time, and I'd be listening to one of them on the way to the studio and I'm like, I'm not gonna screw this up. I'm not gonna screw this up. I'm not gonna screw this up. Alicyn We've all been there. We've all been there. You know, I think that's an interesting, and why don't we talk about that a little bit? Because, you know, from the outside looking in, it always seems like the person on the screen has the answers. And especially, you know, I don't think anyone in the whole wide world would deny that you're extremely talented. But confidence, I mean, I get that too. It's like, it's a whole nother piece to then you can never compare yourself to anybody else. Because there's a lot of talented people, frankly, in the world. And so how do you deal with that when you start to feel the anxiety, performance anxiety or feel that maybe your work isn't going to be good enough? Brian I wish I was better at controlling, but it's easier for me to overcome it in a voiceover session, just because if I'm doing it with a YouTube video, I'm alone. And like, there's no one other, there's no other voice to hear, but my own, so that's harder. But when it's, when I'm in a booth, like we're on a time crunch, I got to get this done. So the way I push through it, is I have to keep reminding myself, it's like we're redoing this line again, not because you're bad, but because they are just looking for something a little different. It doesn't mean you're bad. It doesn't mean you're awful. It doesn't mean your performance was bad. They just want something different. And so. Alicyn That kind of, that limiting belief voice inside that, if we let it will just stand in our way, you know? And it's like, sometimes you just gotta be like, okay, you, zip it, go away. I'm not engaging with you right now. Because otherwise, you can continue to take yourself out of the game, I think. Brian Yeah. And when you're doing it in a booth, with the director there and everything, you've got to be able to do that on the spot really quickly, because it can be something as simple as like, you do the line. And then they come back and say like, okay, that's great. But can we play it sincere and not sarcastic? In your head, you're like, I thought I was reading that sincere, not sarcastic, what did I do to make it sound sarcastic? And you've got to like, shut that off real quick. And you're like. Alicyn Sure we can. We can totally read it like that. Brian You gotta like, tell yourself, it's like, don't come out and just say like, I thought that was being sincere. Just shut it up. And just like, okay, overdo the sincerity, then you can always pull it back, just get, just get in there. And then a lot of times you think you're overdoing it, but it's exactly what they want. So because half of it is just getting that communication between you and the directors, you know? Or the producers or anyone because in their mind, they say one thing, looking for a result, but that means they're, their words may bring a completely different result to your brain. It's like, I know, we had to go through that a bit like we were, this was actually for the short film that came up before the movie. We were working at the very, one of the last lines was, Dracula sees Dinkles the dog now playing with the cat, and it's like really cute. And he's just like, Oh, have fun dinkles. And apparently, when I first did it, it came off as less sweet and sincere. And a little creepy. I didn't mean for that at all. Alicyn I mean, he is a Vampire. Brian I was like, I promise I didn't mean it that way. So it's like we had to like, work through a couple things. And then I ended up, we ended up winning on a thing. They were just like, they were trying to get me to say it like I say to my dog, but it didn't quite work. But then whenever they're like well, Do you have kids? I'm like, No, but I have nieces, like okay, say like you say to your niece, and then that was what did it. Promo Hey, guys. This is Alicyn Packard. Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that if you like the show, please, please, please remember to subscribe to this podcast. And leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much. Brian So, we took a while to get there. But we eventually got there and it worked out great. But you know, you've just got to, you've just got to be willing to, you know, put your pride aside for a second and put aside your own anxiety to just be like there's nothing, it's not that you're doing wrong. It's just there's a miscommunication. And let's figure it out. Alicyn Yeah, and it's I guess that's another interesting point of animation is it when you're an on camera actor really, it's you and the writer. I mean, it's all the pieces but what people are seeing is you, your voice, your face, your body versus animation when you are just a part of this character. And then the other part is the character design, and the animation, and the storyboard artists and how they all come together to be how this person moves through space and how this person's physicalized, so it's like you're really just one piece. So it's so much more of a, so much more of a collaborative effort, I think. Brian Yeah. And I thoroughly enjoyed doing that even more than, you know, just doing on camera stuff, just because, like, you get to see how you delivered a performance in your mind. You're thinking, Oh, it would happen this way. And that's how the characters would do it. But then a lot of times, the animators just go off on a completely different direction that works even better than what you were thinking. It's just like, oh, oh, cool. Alicyn Isn't that? I mean, have you seen Transylvania four? I mean, have you seen it yet? Or no? Brian No. Alicyn Well, for the short, what was that like, seeing your character come to life in that way? Brian Well, the short was a little different. I don't know what happened with the production of this one. But by the time they came on, the short was finished, so we ADR the entire short. So I got to see it all done, which was cool, but now the cool part is with the film, I've had to go in for an ADR session now and I've gotten to see some of the animation done. And every second that they show me, I'm just sitting over there like a giddy five year old just like, doing so good. Alicyn A lot of people asking to see Sandy, is your pup around? Brian No, she is not unfortunately. I don't work out of my home at the moment. So she's at home right now. Alicyn Got it. Got it. Wow. Yeah, I mean, it that's sort of like, when it comes 360 when you get to be able to to see your work. Did you get the chance to work with Selena Gomez? Brian No, I didn't get to talk with any of the other cast members. Alicyn Did you record it from home? Because of the pandemic or was that before or after the pandemic? Brian We were doing this all during the pandemic. And luckily, I was actually able to go in to do it. And so we were actually physically do it. But like, everyone was on zoom, except for one of the directors who was there in person with me. And like, he was the only other person in the room and he was like, 20 feet away from me. And then like recording artists was in the other room. And, you know, you can't really feel around us. So it was really nice to be able to be in the studio and do that. Alicyn That's amazing. I also saw that you have a new, you're going to be working with, I just want to make sure I get the name right, a new charity that you are doing a live stream for, I'm sorry, can you refresh my memory? Brian Yes, that's Cherith Crossing. That's actually one that me and my friends are starting, like we're creating that one. Alicyn Is this the launch? Brian Sort of right now, we're just getting all the materials together to get started. So like, we've already filed all of our paperwork to become a nonprofit. But we're not like a 501-C yet. So we're waiting for that to get approved. And this last livestream was to raise money for a website, and for some early starting costs and stuff like that. But yeah, our intention is to get this up and running and getting to where we can help people with it. Alicyn That's amazing. Can you tell us all about your mission? Brian Yeah, so our mission is to help those with autism or non-neurotypical thinking, to be able to help them live their best life. So like, the idea would be like, if they need help getting into like colleges, we'd be able to find colleges that could suit their needs, and hopefully be able to help them financially to be able to go there and get the help that they need to succeed. Or like if they needed a car or anything like that, we could work with them to do that. Or if they needed some kind of help. And they wanted to make sure they were getting good help for either therapeutic reasons, or for medical reasons or anything like that. We could point them in directions that would be optimal for their needs and what would be best for them. Alicyn And what, how did this come about, the idea for this charity? Brian This came about because of my best friend, who many of y'all, if y'all follow my stuff will know him, Paul. He was on the Bippity Boppity Bros podcast with me, and he's done a few videos with me. He is a licensed clinical social worker and has been working in this field for over a decade. Just doing all this and this is something that's been on his heart forever. And so he came to us saying he's like he really wants to get this going or like, Oh, dude, yeah, we're going to help you. This sounds awesome. Alicyn Yeah, a lot of people on the live stream chiming in that they are also autistic. So I'm sure this charity really resonates with a lot of people to bring support and awareness to anybody that's on this spectrum. That's such an amazing, amazing mission and amazing charity. How can, how can we get involved? Brian Yeah, we're, right now we're still kind of in the early processes. But once we get our website built, which if y'all stay tuned, on my Instagram, on Paul's Instagram, the second the website is up and running, y'all can go, there will be donation links there that you can send to help us get going. And yeah, just once the websites done, if y'all can just spread the word around, word of mouth, that would be fantastic. Alicyn Yeah, happy to help with that as well. That's such an amazing charity and such a great cause, you know, to let people know, no matter if they have different neurological thinking that they can live their best life. I mean, that's, it's beautiful. Awe, let's see, where do we want to take it? You were talking about twitch streaming. And I was wondering where you are with that and where our viewers can find you on twitch? Brian On Twitch, you can find me at BrianHulls, I think it's BrianHullsVoice. It's either BrianHullsVoice or BrianHullsVoices. Sometimes I have to look it up. Alicyn Is BrianHull already taken? Just BrianHull? Brian A lot of them are. There are a lot of other Brian Hulls. I've never met. But when I went online, they're everywhere. Like where are y'all? Like, where are you? Yeah, the twitch streaming is going to start very soon. So go on there. You'll go on there now and there's not really anything yet. But there will be very, very soon. Alicyn That's exciting. And what types of, types of streaming? Are you looking to do just more conversations with fans or a different modality? Brian I'm going to do a mixture of being able to talk and just doing impressions. It's kind of having Hangouts, and then also do a lot of gaming. That's something that's been a huge part of. Alicyn Are you a gamer? Brian Oh, I am definitely a gamer. Alicyn Nice. Are you playing Ratchet and Clank? Brian I haven't got it yet. Is it PS5 exclusive or is that PS4 also? Alicyn It is. Yeah, yeah. I have a couple voices on there. I'm doing Chef Tulio and one of the quantum pirates. Brian Nice. Alicyn It's amazing. I can't wait to play it. Brian I need to get a PS5 but I can't find them. Alicyn Guys, somebody send Brian a PS5. Maybe just like let you borrow it. I don't have a PS5 either. But I've been watching the playthroughs on YouTube and it looks amazing. Brian I saw the trailer for it. And I'm like, I must get this. Alicyn So what are some of your favorite games? Brian Oh, my absolute favorite of all time, I don't know if you can see it, but it's actually on my, Oh, you can kind of see it now. Alicyn It's me, Mario. Brian Oh, Mario is up there. But I was actually talking about these little guys right above him. Banjo Kazooie, if y'all know them. Alicyn Tell me all about it. Brian So this was, this is an old-school game. This was back in the 90s. So like late 90s on you're N64. It was one of like the first 3D platformers after like Mario, Super Mario 64. Yeah, I think that one was like the big first one and then this one was like two years after, but this one has been my favorite game forever. But yeah, Banjo Kazooie and I bought this, Alicyn Aren't they gonna remake that? Brian I hope so. I hope so some awful. Because these characters just got put into Smash like last year, Smash Bros. Everyone lost their minds who are fans, and I'm like, Does this mean we're gonna get remakes? Do it. Do it. Alicyn They're gonna need someone to voice match. Brian If they want it, all they got to do is ask. Alicyn If you build it, it will come guys. Banjo Kazooie, everybody project some good vibes into the universe. Brian What's good, Banjo? Alicyn And what are you playing now? Is there anything you would, is that what you would Twitch stream or something different? Brian It would depend on what's going on and what new stuff is coming out. I know that they just announced Jurassic World Evolution 2. I would absolutely play that. I love my park builders. So if y'all love park builders like Planet Zoo and Jurassic World Evolution, I will definitely do that. And I was a huge fan of like Horizon Zero Dawn that came out a while back. Did you play that one? Oh, that one was fun. Do you like a giant robotic dinosaurs? Alicyn Uh, yeah. Brian Well just imagine that mixed with like Hunger Games. Alicyn I would have come play video games with you, Brian. That would be so fun. Brian Yes. Alicyn That would be so fun. Yeah. So, what is also next for YouTube? I know you've been focusing on your other social media and obviously recording a movie. Do you have any new YouTube stuff coming out? Brian Yes, we definitely got more YouTube stuff coming on the way. I've got a couple of songs in the works right now. They're just being, all the tracks are being mixed right now. Now the parks are back open. I've gone back to Disneyland and talked with those characters again. It's been, you need to say the least with the masks and the social distancing. But we still had a lot of fun. Donald, Donald wasn't thrilled to see me, but that's okay. Alicyn At this point, don't they recognize you? I mean, they must know that you're coming to study, right? Brian Not to break Disney illusion. But I know that there's a few of the friends who are with the characters who know who I am. So like, I'll walk up and before I even start talking, like the friends who are with the characters will pipe up and just be like, Oh, it's great to see you again. And sometimes they'll just call me by my name, and it's just like, kind of, Alicyn Royalty. They're like, I feel like it should be 101 for the Disney training like, Okay, today we're gonna roleplay that you have like a five-year-old kicking you in the shin. And today, we're going to roleplay that Brian comes to Disneyland. And you interact with them. Okay, make us look good. Brian Yeah, but there have been times where like, the character will see me and like ask me to come get like to come meet him or something. Because I kind of happen once we were getting I was in Critter Country. I was getting off the Winnie the Pooh ride with a bunch of my friends. And we saw the characters off to the side and like, you know, there was a line but they were like, in between people. And one of my friends was like, hey, just yell at him like Tigger or something. I was like, Okay, I was just like, How are you doing, pal? And they're, like, all turned around, and they're like, tapping each other like, Oh, my gosh, and like go over and they're like pointing like get in line. Alicyn Meanwhile, like some five year olds, like, yeah, back of the line, bud. Brian Oh, I was going to the back of the line. I waited my turn. Alicyn No, no, yeah, no, no, of course. I mean, I feel like you should get cutsies but I guess, I guess that's only fair. It is their childhood. And your adulthood. Brian But I've had a lot of magical moments with Disney, especially I went to Disneyland Paris. And like I did a meet and greet in one of their main restaurants. And I was doing that for a video. And apparently they had such a good time, the waiter came up later and was just like, Hey, our friends wanted to know if you wanted to come take some pictures, just with the characters alone if you needed to. So you didn't have to worry about everyone else around. I was like, Okay. That was, that was really great. And they were like, taking us back to like one of the, one of the party rooms that they only open if there was like a big convention or something. And we were taking pictures in there and no, oh, it was just so cool. Alicyn Do they speak with French accents? Brian No, actually, I heard far more British accents. Alicyn Do you have, do you have an absolute favorite ride at Disneyland? Or Disney World, I guess? Brian At Disney World? Yeah. It would probably be either Flight of Passage or Kilimanjaro Safari. Just basically all of animal kingdom. I could just live there. But then at Land, probably either Rise of the Rsistance or Pirates. Alicyn I can't wait to take my son back. He was only three when we brought him and then you know, obviously couldn't go last year, but I can't wait to take him back. Well, we have about 15 minutes left. Is it okay, if we go to audience questions, I see we have a lot. And I want to, you know, at least get the opportunity to get a lot of them and just say thank you to everybody that's tuning in live. I'm so grateful that you're here, if you have never seen Alicyn's Wonderland, it is a weekly interview show where I interview people that work in video games and voiceovers, either people that I've worked with before, or peoples whose work I really admire, like Brian's, and let's see, we're off next week. But the week after that, let me check my calendar. We have why no, we have. Let's see. What do I have here? All right, Eric Lopez, you guys. Eric is a new voice on The Simpsons. He's also Trollstopia, Young Justice, he's just kind of like booking a ton lately. And he's the new Bumblebee man on The Simpsons. So, tune in for that. And then after that, we have Max Mittelman, who is just a master of anime from One Punch Man to you know, a million different projects. So if you guys are into that, stick around for that. So let's go to some audience questions. Let's see. A lot of people just asking from a more specific point of view, what was it like playing Dracula? I know we talked about that a little bit, but just in general, like what was the audition like and and how did it, how did you you know, move forward from that? Brian The audition was kind of interesting with this one just because I have done Dracula previous to this, but it was mainly for internal purposes. You know, sometimes you get hired, do the scratch voice for a storyboard and all that. So I did that for a few of the short films and I did it for a commercial. And then I also did a theme park ride in Dubai. I think it's like, I think it was, Alicyn I did that. I think I'm in that theme park, too. I mean, was it like a for DreamWorks? Different thing? Brian I think Motion Gate had like DreamWorks, Sony, and a few other ones in there. Which which one were you on? Alicyn Gosh, I was a squirrel. Brian Was it, was it like for Kung Fu Panda? Alicyn Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Brian I think I auditioned for, Alicyn I think it was Dubai. Okay. It might have been the same ride, actually. I wonder. So you were, so you were on that. So anybody tuning in from Dubai can go to the theme park? What is the theme park called? Brian I think it's called Motion Gate. Alicyn Motion gate. Okay. Okay. So you know, more than I do. Brian Yeah. Well, cuz I was, I got booked to go do a show up in Dubai, roughly around the time that was supposed to open. So I was like talking with the people like, Hey, can I go in? I want to hear this ride. I think this would be so cool. And they're like, oh, what dates are you going? I'm like these dates like it opens like three weeks after you leave? I'm like, no, it's so good. Alicyn I know. And like, it's not like you can just swing by Dubai from California. It's not an easy flight. Brian No, think it was 16 hours. But it was nice. Our flight was like, super empty. So everyone just had a row to themselves, lay out on the chairs. And it was so few people on the flight, flight attendants were just like, Do whatever you want. As long as you don't break anything, we're good. Alicyn That's awesome. So you had been doing Dracula, you know, for small things here and there. And then when this audition came through, did the casting director know that? Brian Yeah, I think they went specifically to, I know I wasn't the only one doing sound alikes for Drac behind the scenes or whatnot. So to my understanding, they went to us who had been doing that, and just had us audition from there. And then they selected from that. And it took a surprising amount of like, re-auditions and like sending them more vocals and like doing some lines from the short and some things like that. And just like, there, I know, there's not that many of us, are there> Do they need this many? Yeah, I ended up getting it. Alicyn Wow. Oh, my goodness. Congratulations. Brian Thank you. Thank you. Alicyn That's amazing. We did talk about that more in depth for the few people that had asked that question. So I just, you can reference it as well. I will post this video to IgTV after we get off if you would like to go deeper on that topic. Yes. A lot of people asking about Dracula, asking about Dracula, and asking if you can do Slimeminator's voice. Brian I cannot think of Slimeminator's voice right now for the life of me. Alicyn Me neither, so. Brian Sorry. Alicyn This is an interesting question. I accidentally almost reported it as I'm trying to bring it up. Do you have a favorite indie game? Maybe you can do for your Twitch stream. Brian That would definitely be Undertale. Oh my gosh, I fell in love with that one. Alicyn Tell us about it. Brian So when I first, everyone kept telling me to play this game. And I'm like, Really? It looks like a really bad 80s game like before they got everything worked out. But no, the story to this game, it's just phenomenal. Like, it's so character-based. Like all of these are like these simple little polygon figures. And it's like you're just walking through these lands that look kind of barren and boring at first, but then you just get swept up in this story. And the writing is so good. And I'm just like, I really want them to make a movie of this game. But then, as in the game like, this would be so hard to turn into a movie, but I kind of wish they would, but I kinda hope they don't. Undertale is so good. Yeah, everyone's yelling Sans. He's like one of the main characters that you interact with there. But it's like, yeah, you're a human that's fallen into this world, that's full of monsters, and you can either spare them or kill them to save yourself and all these other things. And it's just, it's so good. I don't want to go too far into the story because I don't want to ruin anything. Alicyn What year did it come out? Brian I want to say 2012? Alicyn Okay, okay, okay. Okay, cool. Maybe you can play it on your Twitch stream. Maybe, that would be fun. Here's another question that a few people are asking. They are big fans of your work and they'd like to meet you in person or obviously I'm sure FaceTime isn't possible, but you also have a cameo channel, is that correct? Can you tell us a little bit about what types of services you provide on cameo for anyone that might be interested in having you make a voicemail or something like that? Brian Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So cameo is like you can go on there I can do, you know, personalized messages to people. I know I have people write me all the time that's like, Hey, we're going to Disney World and we want to surprise our kids with like a message from Mickey Mouse. You can go on there and I can go like, Oh boy, get ready pal, it's time to go to Disney World. You know, all that good stuff and, or if you just want to wish, you have a friend who wants to wish Happy Birthday as like Winnie the Pooh or something like that. You can definitely get that done over there. Just go over to cameo search for my name. And yeah, if you want a personalized message for yourself or a family member or a friend, just something to brighten up everybody's day. That's what I'm all about. Alicyn Oh, that's awesome. Hey, Brian, can you tell Bodhi happy last day of school. His last day of school is on Friday in any voice you want. Okay, thanks. Bye. Brian Wait, it was Brody, right? Alicyn Bodhi. Brian Okay. You are free for the summer, lots of surfing with your 'ohana. Alicyn Hey, Brian. Thank you. That was really sweet. Brian You're welcome. Alicyn Yeah, it's so funny. It's like, a lot like a lot of people are saying, I love you, Brian. Kiss fan girl. I wish kiss fan girl, she doesn't tell me she loves me, geez. It's not too late. This is a question I get voice actors ask, are asked this a lot. And it's somewhat unfair, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna put it up there because maybe you do have a favorite of all the voices that you've done. Do you have a favorite? And I guess I'm gonna, I'm gonna limit this to not just impressions that you do, but for characters or original characters or characters that you've been for TV. Brian Oh, okay. Well, if it's characters that I've done, Dracula is definitely my favorite. But then I have a very big soft spot for, you guys haven't met him yet, but he's coming soon, Thumpkin. Thumpkin is a fun little character in a film I'm doing called A Fairy Tale After All, but that one's an indie feature that's on his way. You guys can actually see a trailer of it on my YouTube channel. Yeah. So it's fun. It's actually gonna be a live-action film. But there are puppets involved. So it very much feels like Labyrinth, something like that. Or like Dark Crystal-esque kind of stuff. But with more comedy. Alicyn That sounds amazing. Is it gonna get a, Brian Close to the princess, which has always been like my dream role with Disney. It's just doing the comedic side kicks. Alicyn Yeah, that's yeah, I hear you. I was like, some sort of more, I think evil or femme fatale, but I like the sidekicks. One more question for you as a beginning voice actor, how do you cope with not landing a gig? Brian Well, one of the things I had to do was, I just get into this routine, of I do an audition. And the second I send it off to my agent, I immediately forget I did it. You don't think about it again. And the good news is if you get booked, it's a pleasant surprise. You're like, Oh, I forgot I auditioned for that. Great. But otherwise, you're not sitting there waiting day after day going, did I get anything? Did I get anything? Did I get anything? Because that will beat you down eight ways to Sunday and it's just you do an audition and just immediately forget you did it. Get your mind on something else and just go on with your life. Alicyn Do you ever coach on your auditions? Or do you mostly do them on your own? Brian I mostly do them on my own, back in, back in the pre-COVID days. I used to try to go like once a week in to my agents were like there'd actually be a coach there and like you could actually get some feedback. But you know, especially right now. I've been doing everything on my own. Alicyn Yeah, yeah. Do you do commercials and other forms of voiceover as well? Brian Yes. Yeah. I've done commercials for the California Lottery, Walmart. I've done them for, there was another one I can't think of right now. I think it was a Christmas thing. Yeah, a lot of them were singing, singing ads. So that was fun. Yeah, like one of them was Oh, yeah, one of them was for McDonald's. That's what it was McDonald's, and that was like a Christmas carol for the McRib. And I still remember all the words, it was like, 'Tis the season for McRib, go and get your saucy bit, tangy barbecue, it's delicious through and through. And it's like, there were three other singers with me and we did like the full on. It sounded like a legit group of carolers. And at the end, we got to do that. Bop bop bop and were like, Ah, we get to do the bop bop bop. Alicyn And now they have everybody do it. Now they have a voice actor doing that bop bop bop. That's so, that's so cool and cool that you remember that as well. So that's like you can do like the full sessions, full on session singing like pro singer, not just like, we need, we need just like a singer that sounds like a normal person. You can kind of not be the best thing or unit you can do like the real we want like a legit singer ones. Brian Yeah. Which was interesting for the McDonald's, not McDonald's Walmart, one that we actually walked in. And they wanted us to do kind of like a mock operatic thing for the for the entire ad. But they didn't write music for us. They're like, Oh, just come up with it as you go along. And I'm like, that's not how this works. So I actually had to write the music there on the spot, so that we had something to work with. And luckily, they liked it. And I'm sitting there going, I should get paid more for writing your music for you. Alicyn But you have to write the melody like or listen to it and write the notes. You had to write, Brian It wasn't anything too crazy. Like I mean, I didn't write all the background music or anything, but just like it was me and another singer. So like, we both had to sing it. So like I figured out what she would sing. And I figured out what I'd sing because they wanted her to do like, really high soprano and I was supposed to do really low bass. So it's like, yeah, we're gonna, this, it should be a nice cadence. And I know enough music theory to know that this will sound good. It won't sound amazing, but it'll sound good. So go. Alicyn I love that. This question has come up a few times. Are elephants your favorite animal? Because they're my favorite animal? I gotta show you my son made me the cutest little elephant thing out of perler beads for Mother's Day. Yeah, you love elephants too? Brian Yes. Alicyn You're not left-handed are you? Brian No, I'm right handed. Alicyn I'm like, I feel like your my, like my soul brother or something? Yeah, elephants. Do you have like a personal relationship? Or any kind of stories with elephants? Brian Not really. I've just always loved them. Alicyn They're just so cool. Really, sensitive. Alicyn Cool. Well, I know that we are getting, coming up on an hour. And I made sure in person, we discuss that. Oh, these are my answer questions. Oh, this is a really good question. So I'm gonna ask two more questions. If you were given the opportunity to teach a master class, would you do it? Brian Maybe a few more years down the line. But I feel like I'm still learning a lot myself. So I don't know what kind of master class I would teach. Alicyn Manipulating your voice for impressions, maybe? Brian I guess, maybe. But I still feel like I have a lot to learn even in that department. Because like, I feel like there's still a lot of potential that I haven't gotten to yet. Alicyn Do you coach other voice actors? Brian No. I, once again, I feel like like, I have done some voiceover work. And it's been great. And I've been thrilled with what I've gotten. But most of them are like, one liner cameo thing aside from a couple commercials. So I'm like, I think I need to get more experience under my belt before I can really start coaching people. Alicyn And that's what we're working on, right? Brian Yeah. Alicyn Brian, what are you the most proud of yourself for? Brian Really just taking a chance and pursuing all of this, because when I first made Let It Go, I was petrified beyond belief, because I'm like, this was not what I was planning on doing. My plans were not to come to California, they were not to go into voiceover they were not to try YouTube. That wasn't even in my realm of thinking. And now like in a matter of days, that's not only on the horizon for me, but it makes sense to do it because you see success for it. And if you guys notice, you can see a good six month chunk between when I made Let It Go to when I started making videos after that, because I needed that long to figure out and I really want to do it. Did I want to give up this life I was working towards, that I was happy for, to go after this other one that I could be achieving these dreams I never even knew I had, but it was going to be a lot tougher, but the rewards could be even higher. So it just took me a long time to figure that out. Vut I'm glad I did it. Alicyn I think we all are. Brian Oh, that is so sweet. Alicyn Golly gee, my final question, this is a question I like to ask everybody, if there was a song in your heart and clearly there is, what would the name of the song be? Brian The name of the song would probably be called Spreading A Smile. That's probably what it would be called. And because that's kind of been my mantra. I always say my day is successful if I can make at least one person smile. Alicyn Awe, I love that. That's so beautiful. Brian Oh, thank you. Alicyn Oh, well, I don't want to take up any more your time because I know it. We're going on an hour here. Do you mind real quick before we go, do you mind just saying you're listening to Alicyn's Wonderland. The show is great or like something like that. I'm Brian Hull and like you're listening to Alicyn's Wonderland, something like that. Brian I'm Brian Hull. And ya'll are listening to Alicyn's Wonderland. You picked the right podcast. This one's real awesome. Alicyn Thank you. Is there any upcoming events that people can check you out at this in the next couple weeks? Obviously, probably online. But maybe, or any future things this summer that you can announce yet? Or should we just come to your page? Brian I guess really stay tuned on the page and everything because there's a lot of stuff happening. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff happening, just be ready for that? I don't know how much of it I'm allowed to announce yet. So I should err on the side of don't do it. But otherwise, make sure you see Hotel Transylvania: Transformania in theaters July 23. Alicyn I cannot wait. I'm gonna see in theaters for sure. For sure. Brian Like I'm not even kidding, I'm about this close to getting like, I'm gonna go rent a theater for like all of my family and personal friends and stuff. And it's gonna be like, I just want everyone to be in the room together and watch it. Alicyn Oh, my God, you have to. I wish I could give you a hug. I'll give you like a virtual hug. Brian Yeah, we'll do a virtual hug. Alicyn Virtual hug. Like, it's like that. I don't know. Brian Yeah, there we go. Alicyn Well, this was absolutely delightful, Brian. Thank you so much for generously donating your time, coming on the show. And thanks to everybody that tuned in live I hope you tune in. In two weeks we have Eric Lopez from the Simpsons, TrollsTopia, Young Justice. And then we have Max Mittelman, and sorry, not Mittelmen. He's not the middleman from One Punch Man and a million other animes as well as tons of shows on Disney and Nickelodeon. So we hope to see you soon. And check out Brian's cameo. Okay. Alright guys. See you next week or two weeks. Bye. Outro Thanks for tuning in to Alicyn's Wonderland, where we explore the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. Please remember to subscribe and leave us a review. For more episodes of Alicyn's Wonderland. Please visit us at www.AlicynPackard.com. See you next week.