Last Token Gaming Interview – Daniel Ross: Video Game Voice Actor, Film Producer, Nerd Culture Aficionado

By Jordan Nelson, Marshall Garvey and Sean Willis So far in Last Token Gaming’s interview series, we’ve grown accustomed to picking the brains of indie developers and their views on how to make it in the industry. In our latest interview, however, we spent an afternoon with someone who’s worked in gaming in a much…

Date:


Author:


Category:

,

Read time:

29 minutes

By Jordan Nelson, Marshall Garvey and Sean Willis

So far in Last Token Gaming’s interview series, we’ve grown accustomed to picking the brains of indie developers and their views on how to make it in the industry. In our latest interview, however, we spent an afternoon with someone who’s worked in gaming in a much different way: voice acting. Daniel Ross, best known as a producer and actor in the Ninjas vs. independent film series, is known to gamers as the voice of Starscream in the Transformers: The Movie video games. Over a Skype session, as LTG’s tech specialist Sean Willis recorded, Jordan and Marshall had an absolute blast discussing a wide variety of topics with the multi-talented Ross, including the growth of “nerd culture,” how to succeed in the voice acting industry, who he admires, his views on piracy, the Ninjas vs. franchise’s unexpected success, and of course, how he approached voicing Starscream in the Transformers movie license games. Video and transcript, as well as links to some of Ross’s projects, below.

Jordan: Hello everyone, and welcome to another Last Token Gaming interview! My name’s Jordan Nelson, I’m here with the lead editor, Marshall Patrick Garvey, and today we’re also joined by Daniel Ross. He’s a great guy, he’s a good friend, and he’s an all-around renaissance artist! He’s been a producer, an actor, he did the writing for some of the story in Ninjas vs. Zombies, Ninjas vs. Pirates….sorry, Ninjas vs. Monsters, and Ninjas vs. Vampires as well.

Daniel: Not to say that pirates may or may not show up? Spoiler, spoiler? Maybe? I don’t know?

Marshall: We can hope!

Daniel: What’s up guys?

Jordan: Thank you for joining us, and we just wanted to pick your brain a little bit here and get some questions answered. The first one I have on the list today…

Daniel: You just Skyped me randomly and started demanding that I answer questions!

(Laughter and banter)

Marshall: Go ahead Jordan.

Jordan: Well first off, I like asking this question of pretty much everyone I meet in Comic Con anywhere I go…what got you into the “nerd” culture? Like what first kicked that off for you?

Daniel: Well you know, “nerd culture” is a pretty broad brush to paint with. I think I started in my own little field of it before things started getting really “cool,” which I think has really been over the course of the last, I would say, 10 years. You know, we’ve really seen a resurgence in “geek culture” and more things that are advertised directly to people who are into gaming and comic books and things like that. It’s always been around, but personally, I’ve seen it in the last decade or so really take an upswing.

133dca37941d3961dd0b925b16f91bdd

For me, I’ve always been a huge fan of Transformers. That’s the thing I grew up with, that’s the thing I loved as a kid…my parents would get me the toys, you know, boys are obsessed with nerf guns so most of the time I would get those, and I would really get into it. And I continued collecting as an “adult” (I use quotations there), and one way or another, found myself in the actual industry and working with Transformers like on a professional level and everything. So, I would say that’s probably where my inner nerd began to outwardly show its glee. When it comes to the film industry here is some acting advice who just starts out from Actor’s Group Orlando and what one can achieve in this line.

Jordan: Alright, cool. I think a lot of us…I mean, I grew up watching the Transformers too, that’s a big thing.

Daniel: I will say, I think my inner geek started really coming out as soon as my best friend Justin Timpane and I started binge-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly…and then, out of nowhere, I got into Doctor Who, because everybody else was doing it, and I was like, “Everyone else is jumping off this bridge, guess I might as well too!” So now I am definitely a bona fide Whovian, Battlestar [Galactica] fan, Buffy fan….

4596657-7857871566-51zbd

Jordan: I never quite got into the Battlestar [Galactica] thing myself…

Daniel: Oh, shame on you!

Jordan: It never caught with me! You know, I watched a couple episodes and it didn’t catch the way…

Daniel: Watch it with your pants off.

Jordan: (Laughs) That…that might be it.

Daniel: That’s what did it for me!

Jordan: That’s the kicker right there!

Daniel: Don’t pussy out and wear shorts, you wanna wear…nothing.

Marshall: Nothing. Especially when Edward James Olmos is onscreen.

Daniel: Wear a shirt! But nothing down there.

(Laughter)

Daniel: It’ll help, I promise.

Jordan: Alright! So, what kind of triggered that transition for you, from working in the industry to doing voiceover work? I know you did acting and stuff before that too.

Daniel: The transition is a little vague for me, because ever since I was a little kid I always would pick up on voices and imitate people. I’d imitate my neighbors, you know, to my parents or a teacher in school. Or funny cartoon characters…I’d just run around the house like Daffy Duck, just yelling at everybody. (Daffy voice) “You’re despicable! You’re despicable!” And you know, my parents would encourage it, but at the same time be like, “OK, calm down sweetie.” So I’ve always had an affinity for voices, and it’s just been something I’ve always done well. And mostly just for party tricks and favors and such!

I always enjoyed acting, so I went through theater in high school and studied Shakespeare. My degree was going to be theatrical arts, I dropped out of that in order to get into film. Which is kind of a contradiction, but not really? Yeah, I just decided I wanted to get into on-camera stuff. And in my early 20’s, I started in the Maryland/D.C./Baltimore market just doing whatever I could. A decade later, I started getting into actual film production, and through my partnerships and with my best friend Justin [Timpane] who I’ve mentioned before, we made this really schlocktactic film called Ninjas vs. Zombies. That’s this, right here, that I happen to have with me! (Laughs) Oh, what a coincidence!

(Laughter)

Ninjas_vs._Zombies

Daniel: And it kind of blew up a little bit! We never anticipated anything would happen with it, and it did, and it spawned sequels and has been sold internationally, has been on Netflix, and has done its thing. From there, I really enjoyed production, and I started producing some other projects, a couple of which I have coming out that I can talk about later. And then I just decided, “You know what, I’m just gonna give this all up and go to L.A. and be a voiceover artist, and give that a shot.” It’s been an interesting journey thus far, and I would say successful so far.

Marshall: Awesome! So, next question…

Daniel: I’m sorry, just to tag on that before I forget about it. It really solidified for me that I was interested in voiceover when I campaigned to try and get an audition for [the 2007 movie] Transformers, when it first came out. All I wanted was an audition, that’s all I wanted, and I petitioned as many places as I could. And being in Maryland, it wasn’t really easy to, you know, get into Hollywood and that infrastructure and everything. I had a comic book made, featuring me and the Transformers and some of my buddies that I put together, it was [by] really talented artists. And I sent that out to Michael Bay and to Steven Spielberg, and ultimately I did get my audition. And that’s all I wanted! I auditioned for the movie, I was so happy. I was like, “Yes! I set out to do something, I did it.” And then I got the call back from Activision saying, “Hey, can you come in and read for Starscream?” And I was like, (excited voice) “Yeah? Yeah? OK? Yeah, sure!” And I did, and the rest was history. So that happened, and I think that really solidified my love for voiceover.

Starscreammovieheadshot

Jordan: Let’s hear the Starscream. Let’s hear it!

Daniel: (Laughs)

Marshall: Yeah, give us Starscream!

Daniel: (Clear throat} Decepticons, this is Starscream! Make for the rendezvous point! The Allspark will soon be ours! (Evil laughter)

(Applause)

Marshall: Well done!

Jordan: Wonderful!

Daniel: That’ll be $500, please.

Marshall: Alright, so next question from me. Are there any voice actors you admire in particular? Your story’s kind of making me think of people who like started out big in film, but then got bigger as voice actors, like Mark Hamill or Rene Auberjonois.

Daniel: You know what, I’m a huge fan of Alan Oppenheimer, I’m a huge fan of David Sobolov, Debi Derryberry, E.G. Daily, Bill Farmer, Gregg Berger, Fred Tatasciore…there are so many names I could throw out there. Rob Paulsen is a huge one…I mean the list could literally just go on and on. Kevin Michael Richardson, and yeah, absolutely, Luke Skywalker himself. There are some huge names in there that I absolutely admire and adore, Frank Welker of course being the most, because he’s been the most successful “actor” in Hollywood. Period. I don’t know if you know Frank Welker by name, he’s the voice of Scooby Doo now, but he was the voice of Fred, he was the voice of Doctor Claw in Inspector Gadget, Megatron, he’s been in everything for the longest time. And actually IS the highest paid actor in Hollywood because of all of his work.

Frank_Welker

Marshall: That is awesome! I love actors who are in everything. Love character actors and voice actors.

Daniel: I could literally continue naming names just forever, because there are so many amazing people in this industry. Even some fresh faces like Eric Bauza and Josh Keaton, who are young guys who are just absolutely reaping all the rewards that they can because of their talent. Those are guys that I really admire, those are people I really admire for their tenacity and continuing with this interesting vocation. Because it’s not something everybody falls into, it’s not something everybody CAN get into. So I’m really happy to be among these people, and consider a lot of them personal friends.

Marshall: Oh, that’s awesome. Alright Jordan, I’ll let you have the next question.

Jordan: Everyone gets asked this question…if you had to give any advice to someone who’s just starting out in the field, what would your advice be? Would you tell them to petition, like you did, to get that audition? Would you tell them to just hit the ground?

Daniel: Now what field are we talking about specifically?

Jordan: Acting, and your voice acting as well.

Daniel: OK, because both would be very, very different things. In terms of voiceover, I think it’s really important that you know what your instrument is. A lot of people, when they first get started, they want to do so many different things, much as I did. I said, “Oh yeah, I want to do, you know, movie trailers. I want to do audio books, I want to do commercials, I want to do this and that.” And realistically, once you get to know what you’re actually working with, you fine tune exactly what you’re good at, and you turn that into a marketable thing that you use to make money. But not everybody understands that process, and is also not willing to give it time, dedication, money to invest into it.

So you’ve gotta have really good audio equipment to be able to compete with the other people that have stellar studios. You have to have some acting chops, some improvisational skills to be able to match, again, the quality of the people you’re competing against. And then, you’ve just gotta have the drive to be able to take a thousand “noes” before you get a single “yes.” If you can check “yes” to all of those different things, you have a chance in the voiceover industry. But let’s face it, it’s fun to just goof around with people and make silly voices and see what happens! I mean that’s how I got into it, that’s how I discovered what I was capable of, and I think if anybody is curious about it they should look into it.

Jordan: I think we’ve all had that moment where we just sit there with a significant other, you, a girlfriend or boyfriend, and you just sit there and you’re like (funny voice), “Hi there, how’s it going? How you doing today?”

Daniel: I don’t do that with women.

Marshall: Oh, at least with friends and family. You’ll have at least one moment where you do a silly voice, just you know….

Daniel: (Whispering) Actually I do do that with women, but don’t tell Jordan!

Jordan: I was gonna say, because I do that constantly! Actually the one that my girlfriend hates is Sean Connery.

timthumb

Daniel: Oh, well that’s because he beats women!

Jordan: I know a pretty good one. I go, “Yesh, you want to have shex with me, dontcha?”

Daniel: “That’s right! I want to shink the Bishmawk with you! i want to have shex with you then punch you in the face, because I’m Sean Connery!”

Jordan: She just hates it! I mean everyone enjoys that, it’s a fun thing to do.

Marshall: “Losers whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. And I’m a winner, babe!”

(Laughter)

Marshall: I love that original line from The Rock  [with my unfunny add-on]. I’ll take next question: What was the best part of voicing a critical character like Starscream in the Transformers: The Movie video games? And what was the experience of working on those games like overall?

Transformers_-_The_Game_Coverart

Daniel: Gosh, that’s a loaded question! For me, I was at a base level of just being enthralled that I was doing anything having to do with Transformers. So that was the first piece of that whole equation. I went from a lifelong Transformers fan…(pointing to arm tattoo) lifelong, this is Cybertronian mind you…to actually participating in the media. That was huge in and of itself for me. So that was the biggest piece for me, and then obviously, there was a level of responsibility that actually went with this, because they wanted something very different from the original Starscream. And if you remember, Chris Latta voiced the generation one Starscream. (Imitating Latta) “And Starscream was up here and screechy! DECEPTICONS!!!!” You know, really…

Jordan: It was really screamy. Really screamy.

Daniel: And that’s kind of what I had in my brain, and when we got to the session, the piece that I had actually practiced, we were gonna do a brand new voice, and it was going to be very breathy…it was going to very demonic, like this! (Breathily) So Starscream was going to be all over the place! And I get to the studio, and they’re like, “No, we just want a light British accent.”

Jordan: (Laughs) Oh!

Daniel: So I leaned into the mic and said (in a British accent), “So what you’re telling me is you want Starscream to sound like this?” “Yeah, that’s perfect! That’s perfect! Let’s do that” So my inner geek, my inner Transformers fan, kind of started clawing at the inside of my eyes, like, “NOOOO!!!! NOOOO!!!! You’re not gonna do that! NO!!!!” And I kinda had to stop and say, “Can we try something else? Because I don’t know that the fans are gonna be really happy with just a British accent?” And they’re like, “Well, yeah, OK, what do you have in mind?” And I’m thinking to myself, “Please don’t fire me, please don’t fire me, please don’t fire me, please don’t fire me, please!” And the voice that we ended up sticking with came out, and, you know, (mild British accent) “Starscream ended up sounding like this! And he wanted to be more regal, and a little bit maniacal at the same time.” So I was drawing from a couple different places, and anything I could think of at a moment’s notice, and that’s what came out. And I ended up being, like, 70% satisfied when I walked out of the session. And then I finally saw the movie, and I saw Charlie Adler in there kind of doing an imitation of what I did, and it was like, “Sonofabitch!” But he went on to do three great movies, and more games and Ride, and I couldn’t be more happy for him. I’m actually seeing Charlie tonight! So yeah, that should be interesting.

Jordan: Well, tell him we said hi!

Daniel: I don’t know if that fully answered your question…

Marshall: No, that perfectly answered it! You kind of gave us a behind the scenes of how you approached the character in a new context, in a new installment of the franchise. That was a perfect answer, thank you!

Daniel: And you know something, that is something that comes up very often in the voiceover industry. You’ll have characters that are voiced by someone for years. And then, for one reason or another, either health reasons or retirement or disputes over pay, sometimes a studio will bring someone else in to voice that particular character. And there are differences, there are distinct differences. Jim Cummings stepped into the role of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, and if you listen to the older versions of Tigger and Winnie the Pooh there are absolute differences. You can tell this is being voiced by Jim Cummings. And as a result, when you step into a role like this, there are some liberties you can take. The question is how much, and do you want the fans to want to murder you?

Jordan: I mean, every Joker voice has to have gone through that at least a dozen times.

Daniel: Well Mark Hamill, let’s be honest, kind of took the cake and ran away with it.

Marshall: He really did. It’s like anyone who has to follow him from here on out, especially voiceover only, it’s like…not exactly a desirable situation! So alright, Jordan, I give you the next question.

Jordan: So I….

Daniel: NEXT QUESTION!!! NOW!

Jordan: Alright! So I know you were saying that, you know, you did three of the Ninjas vs. movies. Do you think that there’s going to be another Ninjas vs. movie?

Daniel: So we did Ninjas vs. Zombies, and then we followed up with Ninjas vs. Vampires. This is the UK cover, yay. (Holds up DVD cover) And then just recently, which is on DVD and VOD right now, we have Ninjas vs. Monsters. And look, there’s me on the cover! I’m not that guy, I’m that guy. That’s actually Jasmine, she’s a girl…and that’s me right there.

maxresdefault-16

Jordan: It’s hard to tell, you’re both so pretty.

Daniel: Aw, shucks! (Laughs) So, are there gonna be more? I think, honestly, probably not. I think we told the story that we wanted to, we went on the journey that we wanted to as burgeoning independent film producers. When as high up as getting the director of The Blair Witch Project to be our executive producer, getting ‘em out into the world. We did what we intended to do, we haven’t made a lot of money. Unfortunately, people like to steal movies through Torrent, which is a big sore spot for me. Criticize me if you must to your viewers and listeners, I am vehemently against pirating entertainment.

Marshall: I’m 100% with you on that.

Daniel: And it’s only because I’ve been at the butt end of that and have lost money as a result of that. And it hurts! When you have a big studio that releases something, they’ve got that built into their financial structure, it’s a drop in the bucket for them. But when you’re low budget, when your budgets start at $20,000, you know, it starts to hurt. So to answer your actual question, I don’t think we’re going to do anymore NInjas, but I think Endlight Entertainment, the company that Justin and I started, we’ve got some ideas in the pipeline of some other things that we want to do. And I think we definitely want to continue to collaborate with each other. I’ve got a couple other screenplays in my back pocket that I’m going to try to get into production myself. But who knows? Who knows what the future may hold? If someone wants to give us a million dollars, maybe Ninjas vs. something!

Marshall: I just want to lobby, if you do get the resources for a fourth, in my opinion it has to be Ninjas vs. Pirates. Settle the rivalry once and for all!

Daniel: (Laughs) It’s a definite idea, although I think ninjas vs. pirates has been taken.

Marshall: Yes, but still…

Daniel: But you know, there’s a plethora of ideas that we could incorporate.

Jordan: I was thinking that maybe in the future for you guys, a Ninjas vs. something game? What about that?

Daniel: Ninjas Vs. Mountain Dew? (As Marshall sips Mountain Dew)

Jordan: Ninjas vs. Mountain Dew, the game!

Marshall (Laughs) Product placement! Can we see some Ninjas vs. games? That would be fun!

Daniel: That…stay tuned.

Marshall: Ok.

Jordan: Sounds hopeful there.

Marshall: So, I’ll give the next question. Having already lent your voice to Transformers video games, of course that’s a dream come true to be a part of the Transformers franchise, is there another gaming franchise that you like that you would love to lend your voice to? Or if not specifically gaming, another franchise period?

Daniel: You know, in terms of gaming, that’s really hard. There are so many really, really cool games out there. I would love to find my way into any of the Call of Duties, any of the…

Woods_and_Bowman_S.O.G._BO

Jordan: Ice Cube status.

Daniel: Definitely Ice Cube status! I’d love to do some mo-cap [motion capture], and actually have my face in the game, and play the character that I’m voicing. There are so many really cool franchises out there. I couldn’t really take a pick out of one. I would just like to continue working.

(Laughter)

Daniel: And I think any voice actor will tell you the exact same thing.

Marshall: Totally.

Daniel: But actually, I will say this: I grew up a fan of the computer game The 7th Guest, as well as The 11th Hour. And I know that Trilobyte, the company that owns those, is trying to do another one. I don’t know if they’ve been successful, and there’s a fan version, I think, called The 13th Doll coming out. I would love to jump in on something like that.

7thGuestBoxart

Jordan: So we should get ahold of them, we should message them for you and be like, “Daniel’s trying to get in on this!”

Daniel: Yeah! I wouldn’t object to that! I wouldn’t object to it at all. I would really love to get into, just from a business perspective, I would love to get into something that has a built-in fanbase. Something where I can go and meet these fans and talk to them, and at the same time say, “Hey! If you like what I did, you’ll like Ninjas vs. Monsters! Rated PG-13.”

Jordan: I don’t know, but that one finishing line, and it was, I think, Ninjas vs. Zombies…no, Monsters, I think. The “fuckface” one.

Daniel: The fuckface one?

Jordan: No, your ending line in one of the movies! You shot the guy with a big ol’ ray gun, and I just watched it the other day.

Daniel: “How do you like me now, fucko?”

Jordan: Yeah, there you go! “How do you like me now, fucko?”

Daniel: Yeah, my character’s a bit of a potty mouth.

Jordan: It was a great line! That was a perfect opportunity for that line.

Marshall: And that would be great in like a first-person shooter, as like a taunt. “How do you like me now, fucko?” That’s awesome!

Daniel: I think it would be rated [appropriate for] all ages.

Marshall: Oh yes! A for all ages!

Daniel: Some kid’s playing Plants vs. Zombies, all of a sudden Ninjas vs. Zombies pops up. (Silly voice) “How do you like me now, fucko?” “Mom, what’s a fucko?”

(Laughter)

Marshall: I approve. All ages indeed!

Jordan: No no no, that’s definitely…we’ve gotta try and preserve those little ears until they hit 13. Then everything’s just fair game after that. After they hit 13, those ears just bombarded by all the cuss words.

Daniel: “Mom, what’s a fart-knocking shit-gurgler? What is that?”

(Heavy laughter)

Jordan: 13, acceptable! Anything beforehand…

Marshall: 12, no way. 13, totally acceptable.

(More laughter)

Jordan: Alright, so I know you can’t say much about it, but I do know that you got a new voiceover gig recently! Can you tell us anything about that?

Marshall: Or do you have to keep it under wraps?

Daniel: I can dance around the topic and let you know that, yes, I’m doing something. I’m doing a couple things, I’m auditioning for some things and being called back for some things. There is an animated feature coming out next year, I will be playing the lead bad guy in that and I can’t say much more than that. And I’m doing a series of commercials for a character that everybody knows! And that’s about all I can say.

Jordan: I hate non-disclosure agreements!

Marshall: I’m enticed, look at this way, Jordan. That’s enough to get you enticed.

Jordan: I expect links as soon as these come out, I expect signed copies…

Daniel: expect signed copies! If it arrives to me already signed, wow!

Jordan: They just took it straight off your payroll check and put it on there for ya.

Daniel: No, they just crept into my room while I was sleeping and got my hand, and like (whispering while doing writing motion), “Daniel! Sign this!” “Yeah, OK, just get outta my pants…” I wouldn’t actually say that…

Jordan: Alright Marshall, you got any closing questions?

Marshall: Alright, so I’ve got one more question for ya, this is one I really wanted to pick your brain about in particular. Tell us a bit about working on the 2009 movie Nowhere Boy. For those who don’t know or remember, that was a movie that explores John Lennon’s youth and early musicianship in Liverpool. I thought that was one of the most sincere and original musical biopics done in quite some time. So, tell us a bit about your experience working on that film.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah…no, actually didn’t work on that.

Marshall: Oh my gosh, did I…I thought I had checked and one my research and…

Daniel: There is *another* Daniel Ross.

MV5BNDI4NTM1MTc4NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTY3ODA5Ng@@._V1_UX214_CR0,0,214,317_AL_

Marshall: Oooohhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Daniel: This is something that…I wish him well, this other Daniel Ross. He is now known as Daniel Ross Owens. Because there can only be ONE!!! I did not work on Nowhere Boy, that was Daniel Ross Owens, and I wish him well. But I will say, I have a couple other film productions that are coming out. Currently, in Redbox, you can see Thug Life: All In The Game.

Jordan: And what do you do in that one?

Daniel: I play the son of a drug lord who has a cocaine and hooker habit!

Jordan: So it’s not far off from your life!

Daniel: And you can also see Lovely Molly, directed by Eduardo Sanchez of The Blair Witch Project. I have a fun little role in that one. As well as…this is all current stuff!…from director Chris Folino, Sparks, starring my good friend David Sobolov as well as William Katt, the Greatest American Hero, Chase Williamson, and Ashley Bell from The Last Exorcism. That’s out. And coming up, I have a movie called You’re Fuckin’ Dead, which is a grindhouse thriller. I can’t wait for that, that’s something I produced and acted in. And then we have the comedy documentary, we call it a “funumentary,” Trekoff: The Motion Picture. Based on Endlight, my film company’s podcast, Trekoff, starring Justin Timpane and Alexia Poe. It is a potty-mouthed Star Trek podcast, and it is delightful. And they go to conventions and do live shows, and we decided it had to be a film. So that’ll be coming out hopefully to Netflix later this year.

9146-ZrEljL._SL1500_

Jordan: Were they at [San Diego Comic] Con this year?

Daniel: They were at, uh, I think it was Awesome Con in D.C.?

Jordan: Ok. I don’t go to D.C., so…

Daniel: You’re missing out, man! You’re missing out!

Jordan: That’s too far! That’s too far! When we live in California, I’m not going to fly all the way out to D.C.

Daniel: Yeah, me neither.

(Laughter)

Daniel: But yeah, those are the projects that I have out right now, those are the things that I have coming. I’m really excited for you guys to see You’re F’n Dead, as well as Trekoff, everything else, NInjas vs. Monsters…we are available on DVD and VOD everywhere, you can find us on iTunes, you can find us streaming on Amazon Prime, gawrsh, where else are we, let’s see…Xfinity, Cox, Time Warner. We’re out there, you can find us. So please do that, pay $2 or $3 just to go watch it, don’t pirate it.

Marshall: I won’t! I will definitely…

Jordan: Like you said, the big companies, they don’t take too big of a hit. But the smaller, cheesier productions…

Daniel: If you like my face, if you like anything that I’ve done or said, any of the potty words that I’ve thrown out, just pay a few dollars and support me!

Jordan: Yeah! It’s not that hard!

Daniel: And my colleagues, more importantly. Because it’s not just one person, it’s a whole series of people.

Jordan: I actually had another question. How hard is it for you to be both a writer and producer, and then be an actor as well? Where do you make that distinction of, “This is where I want it to come from writing, and then put it actually into expression?” Because I do writing and acting and such.

Daniel: Well let me clarify one point. The scripts for all three Ninjas vs. movies were written by Justin Timpane. I was a story editor and supervisor, so he and I would have creative conversations on plot developments, where things would go, you know, ideas for catchphrases and things like that. But at no point in time was I actually writing the script, that was all him. I have my own ventures that I’ve written screenplays for, and I have yet to translate from the writing part to actually doing that. But from that side of the spectrum, it’s neat. It’s really neat! It’s neat to see something that came out of your brain collaboratively end up on a screen, and watch other people enjoy what came out of your brain. That is highly enjoyable, and you know what? In the porn industry, it goes from some place else, and there’s your tangerine and that’s why porn and adult services are so popular, you can even go online to find some great London escorts glamorous girls to fulfill sexual needs.

Jordan: I was just gonna say, because for me, usually what comes out of my head is just Athena, you know. The goddess?

Daniel: That must hurt! I mean you’ve got a fairly large head, but that’s…

Jordan: Oh, getting some insults over here!

Daniel: You know what they say about a guy with a big head, right?

Jordan: Big hat!

Daniel: Yeah! Right?

Marshall: (Tips fishing hat) Got a big hat right here!

Jordan: Thank you so much Daniel for taking the time out of your day to answer some questions for us, taking the time to do this interview.

Daniel: It was a lot of fun, and I appreciate you guys giving me a chance to talk about some of these projects. Please go out and support them, if you like me, find me on Facebook or Twitter, actor Daniel Ross is where you’ll find me. And thanks again guys, really appreciate it. I hope to do this again!

Marshall: Oh hell yeah!

Jordan: After the next Trekoff movie comes out. After it comes out on Netflix, we’ll hit you up again.

Marshall: Thanks again everyone for joining us for the latest Last Token Gaming interview. Again, we’re joined by Daniel Ross, awesome voice actor and independent film producer from the Transformers video games, obviously check those out if you haven’t. Check out his independent projects like Ninjas vs. franchise. Again, Jordan Nelson, [who] got us this interview, I’m lead editor Marshall Garvey, and also a thank you to our sound guy Sean Willis for recording this.

Daniel: Thanks Sean!

(Banter)

Marshall: Thanks again everyone, and we’ll see you at the next Last Token Gaming interview. Have a good day everyone!

Official Links

Daniel Ross Official Facebook Page

Daniel Ross Official Twitter

Ninjas vs. Official Website

NSFW Trailer for You’re Fuckin’ Dead: