Gone Gold with Simon Hill
Welcome to Gone Gold with Simon Hill, a show that features fun, insightful interviews with some of the biggest names in video games. From developers, to actors - this show delves in to what makes your favourite video games tick.
Gone Gold with Simon Hill
Morgan Taylor
After recently landing her first lead role in video-games, voice actor Morgan Taylor gives an insightful look in to her career. From winning an Emmy, to appearing in one of multimedia's biggest IP's. Goosebumps: Terror In Little Creak, Ark Survival Ascended and more, She has already left her mark on the industry and we hear all about it in this lively episode.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Gone Gold with me, Simon Hill, esports host, industry presenter and TV personality. Indeed, we are back for another episode of Gone Gold. What a fantastic few weeks it's been. It's getting even busier for me as I'm fitting in as many interviews as possible before flying out to Florida for a two week holiday. It's much needed, let me tell you. I've got some very exciting guests to announce over the coming weeks. So keep an eye on our social media, which you can find on Twitter or X. Instagram and TikTok at Gone Gold Show. That's at Gone Gold Show on Twitter or X, Instagram and TikTok. You'll also have noticed the new improved video overlays we're using from the interviews. They're looking pretty awesome. A big shout out to Elliot, the graphic designer, who works on all the fantastic artwork that you see from Gone Gold. Worth checking out in your spare time for sure. Thank you to everyone who tuned in to our show last week with actor Jack Ayres known for his memorable performances in Baldur's Gate 3, Karma of the Dark World, and the incredible showcase as Zubaji in the multi-award winning Black Myth Wukong. This episode was heard in over 40 countries worldwide. Unbelievable. Such a fun chat with Jack as well. He's a really cool guy, gamer at heart, loves what he does, and all of that fantastic insight came through in bucket loads in that episode. So once you've listened to this, if you haven't already, go back, check out the episode. with Jack Ayres whilst you're all here and enjoying our latest shows please take some time to give this show a rating on your chosen platform you can do this by scrolling and tapping the stars and even take a few extra seconds to leave a little comment all that engagement helps more than you think for shows like this right shall we get our next guest on let's do it this was a really fun episode there are lots of similarities between myself and our next guest in terms of professional background and that's What's also apparent is the love and passion that she has for this industry. And after just breaking through into her first lead role within video games voice acting, she's set to skyrocket her career into new heights. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Gone Gold with actor Morgan Taylor. When you're so focused on your dreams, you'll make all the sacrifices needed to make those dreams a reality. Whether that be going from a 10-year career in commercial radio, moving across country, establishing your brand or investing in your own future. All of this is just the beginning for our next guest who wanted to pursue her dream as a professional working voice actor. Now, after multiple voice credits and collaborations, Morgan Taylor is well and truly living her dream. And now I'd like to welcome her to this episode of Gone Gold. Morgan, how are you? Welcome. Thank you for joining me.
Morgan:Thank you. That's so nice. I feel so cool.
Simon:It's a great intro. Tell me how the world of Morgan Taylor is right now. You've had such a cool year, lots going on, lots to be excited about as well.
Morgan:Yeah, this has been a really great year. Let's see. My husband is in the US Army, so we move around quite a bit. We just got to Kansas City, Missouri area about a month ago. So we've just started getting settled. I'm in a brand new Studio Bricks booth that I finally bit the bullet and bought. And things are going well. I mean, I always feel like summer is on and off, right? One week is crazy. The next week is not crazy. But I have a couple of projects that I can't even really say yet that should be coming out in September that I'm really excited about. One's for like more of the promo commercial side and then another one is is a big trailer for a big for a big brand a big gaming brand and I'm really excited about that but yeah things are going really well so I'm just enjoying I like that I got to remember to enjoy the downtime because that's when you get to be an artist and and we get to be a human because then it'll be crazy again but it's starting to ramp back up which is good
Simon:and for anyone that's not too familiar with who you are take us right back I kind of just read your CV out like a Taco Bell order that's why more I mentioned
Morgan:in the introduction, where did it all start for Morgan Taylor? And I did radio there and I just wasn't fulfilled in any sense. I think I always liked the idea of radio, but radio, radio is tough. You know, I was in small, medium market, really small market radio and the pay wasn't great. I was in a pretty toxic work environment, my last radio station of my career. And I had a mentor who kind of helped raise me as a radio baby into the radio professional that I eventually became. And he was a legend in my hometown. He told me about these casting websites called like Voice123 and Voices.com where you pay a membership to get access to auditions. And I think that's like the best way if you literally know nothing about, okay, backtrack, get good equipment and a good recording space. I already had that because I was doing some radio shows from home because this was during like post, this was during COVID and then post COVID. So I started auditioning in like 2022 on these casting websites and I booked my very first day. And I was like, And then by month three or two, I was making more in voiceover than my full time radio job. So I kind of took a leap of faith because it was such a toxic environment. And I quit my radio job and dived fully into voiceover, got my first agent and last year signed with one of the top agencies in the country, DPN, and then booked my first like big lead role this past year with a goosebumps Bumps franchise that comes out the end of August. So yeah, that's kind of like the condensed version. But things for some reason happened very quickly for me. And I'm really blessed for it because it really lit a fire underneath me. And I haven't looked back since.
Simon:What a story. And we have a lot in common. So I began my career in commercial radio here in the UK.
Morgan:I knew it. I knew it. You got the voice and you got the interview style.
Simon:I'll take the compliment. No, it's fine. I was actually going to ask you what skills you found in radio that were able to transpire into where you are today.
Morgan:Now, I don't know. Did you ever did you ever do morning radio or did you do. OK, so you might be able to relate to this. A lot of people who come from the VO side and I've had my agents tell me this to struggle to make an impact outside of like promo and radio imaging as a voice actor because they have the radio announcer voice or the radio announcer delivery. And I definitely had that early on in my career where you are just puking on the mic like Q1073, it's Morgan. Like nobody talks like that. You're just here, here, here, here, here. And what really helped me find my voice as a radio personality was doing morning radio because it is literally what you and I are doing right now, right? It is having a conversation. It is sharing personal matters. I really think that helped ground me because anytime I got in front of a microphone, I thought I had to talk like this. And I knew And morning radio really helped me find my voice. So I also think it helped me with cold reading. Like I see a lot of actors and new voice actors struggle with cold reading and spend a lot of time on auditions just to get their words, you know, their mouth used to the words on the page. And radio really helped me be able to rip and read. And I say that like I promise I'm doing a good job of my auditions. Obviously, I book quite a bit, but I don't spend a lot of time on auditions. I'm able to have a consistent workflow and get a lot done because, and I don't think so much about it because I am just really good at cold reading. So that, again, grounding myself and being authentic, it helped like morning radio helped me above everything else because I think I still would have been stuck in that mindset. I also think like hosting events and everything really helped me with stuff like VOG and even promo. I have one of the big projects I was talking about is being the voice behind a really big brand in the promo world and I think the kind of delivery that I would do sometimes in radio helps me ground myself and even those promo reads and I can kind of turn on the announcer a little bit so there's a lot there's there's quite a bit
Simon:yeah there was so much PTSD when you
Morgan:were I have PTSD from that that industry too
Simon:oh man so much so I think I was in it roughly around 11 years ish Wow. I was lucky. I went in to like the biggest nighttime show. So I was dropped in the deep end, biggest nighttime show in the UK, which was like the English version of Howard Stern, right? Wow. At that time. So that was like a big eye opener. But then I went after that finish and I got put elsewhere. That's when I had to, you're listening too. Yep, you got it. Yeah. Then it was the morning radio, which again brings you back down to earth. Then you have some fun. You're able to find yourself and find your voice. And
Morgan:interact with people and it's not just line read, you know, you're not just a liner jock reading promotions and introing songs. You're, yeah.
Simon:Yeah, a bit of personality, right? Which is what radio does not have these days, sadly. Yeah. Not in the UK anyway.
Morgan:Hey, I actually was impressed. I was listening to Radio 1 and I still pretty, I was kind of impressed when I was in London. Like, they were still like interacting with callers and, but I mean, all across the board, I'm sure radio is so different. I don't listen to it as much as I used to, but...
Simon:Yeah, it's a shame. The height of radio, it was listened to more than TV shows were watched at one point. And you'll know that yourself. There
Morgan:are very few people still, yeah, very few people are still doing it right. It's getting smaller and smaller. Yeah, 100%.
Simon:That's why podcasts exist now. Let's get back on track. Going into the video game voiceover world for you, was there an initial adjustment period? It's a very different world. And after speaking to so many renowned voice actors, it's a challenging space to be in.
Morgan:Oh, it is. And I'm still trying to like make even more of a name for myself in that. It's such a big picture goal, like the types of gaming work I want to do and animation work I want to do that I'm so happy where I'm at because I think everything's happened at a time that I've been ready for. When I first started, I know you had Ariana Ratner as a guest. She coached me pretty early on in my career for gaming. And because she was always someone I looked up to when I got started. She's so great and so talented and so nice. But I remember when I first got it started I really struggled with like being an actor because I was a radio personality. I'm like, wait, I'm an actor now. I have no acting training. Like, how do I? It really was like an identity crisis and confidence of being like, I have to switch my mindset now. Like, this isn't just line reading these lines. One of my first roles was like Lilith. I think it's Lilith Productions. They're out of Korea, I believe. And it was just a mobile anime style game. I was a playable character, but I never got to unlock her because it was so far down. Her name was Hapnia. What was it called? I forget.
Simon:It was called Art of Conquest. Art of Conquest. Yeah.
Morgan:Yes. There you go. There you go. And doing those types of like efforts and when you're like supposed to be playing, you know, fantasy world, like you're doing call outs. Ariana Ratner had to really teach me the difference between and this is something I had to experience in my Goosebumps session where it was like full circle. Like, I'm so glad I know this now where it's like, OK, you're you're yelling across the battlefield and there's There's a difference if I'm yelling across the battlefield as this fairy lady, if they're 100 feet away or like five feet away, right? Like that's going to sound different. So it was really getting the technique down and changing my mindset to actor mode. When I did Ark Survival Ascended, that was some of the most vocally taxing stuff I've ever done in my life. Like 100 different ways of dying, baby coming out of my belly, ripping me to shreds, being burned alive all like non-verbal. It was verbal, but there's no dialogue, right? It's all like efforts and actions and deaths. And it was crazy. Vocal health, like I'm so glad I learned about that during my gaming experience because I used to just rip and read stuff when I was doing gaming stuff early on, not take care of my voice. And there's just a plethora of things I could keep going. But it was really about changing my mindset and understanding the gaming industry, which I'm still doing to this day. I do not know it all.
Simon:And I'm not going to ask you to do it, but how do you prepare for vocal action without straining yourself for being set on fire or like you said, the baby and things like that? They're quite taxing what I can imagine, vocal enunciations.
Morgan:Yeah. So one is having a good director who understands that. I've been really lucky, like everyone's that I've worked with and even Goosebumps was a lot because we We had like eight hours total of recording over a couple, three days. And like my director was always like, okay, she's scream enough. She's scram, scream. She screamed enough. Like she's good. Um, there are a lot of vocal exercises. I wish I had them with me, my singing straw. So when I was doing arc, like every about half hour or even hour, cause that was like a four hour session too. Um, we would do a break and I would do vocal exercises with the straw where I'm blowing into the straw, opening up my vocal cords and just being and having a vocal rest for 10 minutes. You know, and there are some screams, though, that you're going to do that are just hard. You know, there's a Darcy, Darcy, Darcy Smith, I think is his name. He really teaches you how to like scream properly and like pushing air in the right places, which I need to do more of. But when I'm screaming, I try to make it come from my gut as much as possible, not all in my throat. But like when you're doing that, the importance is every half take a 10 minute break or every hour take a 10 minute break do some singing straw exercises hydrating the night before having a director that understands like we don't need 500 takes of her gutterly screaming because a baby is eating the inside of her intestines during birth like we need like four of those takes you know what I mean so there's there is a lot of prep and I I would have never thought I'd be that technical but I do have to prepare like from the night before from what I'm eating to like drinking a lot of water making sure My director is going to give me breaks because I don't know how. Like when I'm doing video game sessions. And I've only had a handful that have been super, super long, right? But I can't do any other work that day. Like I'm poop. I am done. So yeah, it's just being mindful and learning proper technique, using your diaphragm, being hydrated. There's so many good tricks you can do for sure.
Simon:This is what you get when you get two former radio personalities just singing off the same sheet, man. So you took art of conquest right off my script here. Firstly, do you remember your first day on the job and what were your initial impressions how did it feel to then come out as basically you are now a professional video game voice actor
Morgan:well there weren't there wasn't like a first day on the job right like i mean i remember my first day of auditioning i was still using the um booths or the the radio rooms at work like i would literally in between the morning show and then this midday show audition and then go back to radio and then go back to auditioning um I mean, I felt like the first time where I was really like my first big game was art was. Oh, my God. What is it? Arc survivalist. And it felt like the first time like, oh, I'm like really doing this now because it was so much like a few hundred lines of just efforts and dialogue. And I was really nervous. I still have. I mean, I'm always going to have imposter syndrome. I think it humbles you a little bit. But I just remember being really lucky with Wildcard Studio because they were such a good team. But I don't know. There was never like a official first day because it's like every day I'm doing something you know so every day I'm still just getting used to it all learning something new
Simon:great here and talking about learning something new you've just celebrated your first lead role in the new Goosebumps game how exciting Terror in Little Creek congratulations first of all thank you I'm so excited talk to us about the audition process and how you found out you'd landed the lead role
Morgan:yeah so I auditioned for that through my agent that had a new York with Access Talent and it's with Hamster Ball Studios, which Gillian and why can I never remember names? Gillian and Randall. I'm like blanking. Gillian and Randall pretty much had Hamster Ball Studios. I remember the audition came through and I remember like sometimes you audition for something and you're like, I really did. I liked that. I like what I did there. And they're rarely stuff you actually book. Like you will love your audition. And like I'm so egotistical. I will like re-listen just because I'm like, I like the way I what I did there. let me listen to it again I've rarely ever booked stuff that I re-listened to like ever but this one I remember doing it and I remember and I sometimes I overthink my gaming auditions because I'm still I feel still newer to this industry I'm still trying to figure it out that I was like I don't I don't remember like overthinking it I just grounded myself in her she's not much different from my natural vocal print you know she's a little higher pitched but it's really just like this it's just a little more curious sounding and I believe we're gonna find And she's not that much different. I remember just kind of I don't think I did that many takes. And it wasn't a very long audition. I mean, they gave me three lines, but I did it. And then I was on a veil for it. You know, a veil is kind of like the middle where you're like, hey, we think you're it's either between you or it's like you're in the final round and you could get released. And then I booked it. And I was just really proud. I don't know. When I first did it, though, I knew it was a good audition. I'd also auditioned for like some of the monsters. I didn't book any of those, but I'll take the lead role. When I sent my audition, Randall, the casting, he was like basically the casting director at the time. He's the owner of studio was like, these sound really great. And I was like, hey, you don't get that that much. That was a good sign.
Simon:If you get in that kind of praise on the off, then you're in for a winner, right? Exactly. Just for a little lowdown for the listeners, the new Goosebumps games developed I was too chicken. I
Morgan:was at the Boys and Girls Club and they would have the boot, like, because that's where I went for daycare, basically. When my mom worked in the summer, I'd go to the Boys and Girls Club throughout the day And that's where my daycare was. And we had this like reading room where we would go to through like, you know, an hour of the day where we all had to like pick a book and read. And they had the Goosebumps books. And they're like the thin, like really thin ones that were like the paperback ones. And I never I was too chicken to read them. I remember the show more than anything. I remember the shows like I remember seeing those on TV a lot. But no, I didn't. I was not like a super fan of it. I was more into Nancy Drew. reading those because it was less scary to me because even the shows were like pretty creepy for you know for
Simon:a kid like you know they pushed the boat for us back
Morgan:then yeah but of course I know the franchise and I think maybe it helped me like I didn't have a certain idea of what to do with my audition I just kind of brought my authentic self to it because I know I've seen a lot of fans online some people are back and forth like wait these aren't any of the original characters which they're not This is kind of like a new take on it, which is exciting. So I think people will be like intrigued. I think it's going to be a nice cozy for everyone type game. You could play with your family and some twists and turns. And some of the script, we really grounded some of these performances. Like there's some heart to this too, which I think is going to surprise people, which I'm excited about. Like Gillian, who directed me, she really brought out some of my best acting I think I've ever done.
Simon:Wow.
Morgan:And I'm really excited.
Simon:Yeah. I'm excited for you. And tell us about the character you portray. Sloane Spence is a young teen who is lost in a town of nightmares. As this was your first lead role, what was your approach to the preparation for this character?
Morgan:Well, I always kind of like, I mean, again, like when I did it, I just kind of, me and Sloane are very different. Like Sloane is a lot smarter than me. She's a lot more curious and brave than I am. I think one of the things vocally I really wanted to do was almost have this like subtle lift with her that like kind of made her, which not to stereotype, like just because she has a list doesn't make her smart, right? But I really wanted her to have something vocally that just made her sound really educated for her age. I really think she's super brave. She's super determined. She really reminds me of the characters I always were fans of growing up. But yeah, I mean, preparation wise, I just kind of grounded myself I will say this. When I thought about her, there was a time in my childhood where I felt like Sloan and that was probably my peak of fifth grade. That's where I peaked in life because I was a straight A student. I was the star soccer girl and all the boys would pick me for flag team football because I was really good at it. And so Sloan to me is my fifth grade self, like peak academically. I was fearless, trying everything. That's who I kind of pulled from. And I gave her like this little vocal call that's almost like this lispy, you know, mouthy kind of voice that I really think makes her endearing and makes you believe like her intelligence and her curiosity.
Simon:The smile on your face when you talk about how proud you can
Morgan:tell. She's so cool. Like, she's just such a cool character. She's like, I don't know, it's not hard to do characters like that when you just really are fans of them, you know?
Simon:Yeah. And talking of fans, when you're being directed through these scenes and dialogue, are you able to bring out your inner child? Again, we've mentioned the books, the TV series. Goosebumps is just a household name still to this day. Yeah. Did you get to express yourself a lot?
Morgan:Yes. I mean, Gillian even like, she pulled so much out of me. She would call me out like, you can do better than that. I know you can. And she would really like push me to dig deeper with her. And there were so many moments which I haven't really experienced as an actor where I was just so engaged with the delivery and the dialogue and the scene because it's so hard being a voice actor especially when you're not recording with other talent like this was all on my own we all the talent recorded separately like you're in this room in your house and you're doing it all by yourself and like you have a great director who's working with you but like you're really creating these scenes within your own mind you know I'm not I'm not voicing to picture for this game so I don't know yeah I mean anytime I get to play as a character and even sometimes commercially like I just came off of a commercial session where I had to do a little gypsy voice like tell me your fortune child and like that's playing that is that is my inner child coming out right there like anytime we're getting to to play make believe feels like I'm connecting with little me for sure
Simon:and that must be one of the perks of this job right now as a professional voice actor is you get to get lost within yourself sometimes as well
Morgan:absolutely I mean we're so lucky it's really the best job that's why so many people want to do it I pinch myself daily even like an internal corporate video grateful lead Sloane Spencer Goosebumps franchise super grateful like that's why we do it you know a
Simon:really cool aspect to the game is the player will have choice throughout the game which results in multiple endings kind of like those later R.L. Stein books where if you made a choice it would tell you to go to a certain page and you would just die or something else would happen what was it like for you to record multiple choice for multiple endings
Morgan:it was really fun because you got we were all over the spectrum like emotionally and i'm gonna try not to spoil like anything so i need to be careful because there are there were like all like so many alternate endings and like reactions you know um so all i'll say was i mean every emotion you can think of we got to do it was it's not the same as what i did with arc right like not as intense in terms of the different ways to die or the different ways but there were quite a bit for this type of game like there's a lot of efforts like I said Gillian had made a point like there's one point where I'm doing an effort of falling well she made a point is she falling five feet or is she falling off a cliff different right so I don't know yeah any emotion you can think of we hit it was it was pretty thorough for this type of game and in children's more of a children's focused game you know it's rated E for everyone so yeah we did it all so I'm going to say because I'll probably say the wrong thing
Simon:and spoil something have you managed to see any of the game obviously it's due out the end of August have you managed to see anything yet
Morgan:no I have not and I kind of like that I've seen like obviously the trailer I've talked with some of the folks at Sony and like one of the head of interactive at Sony reached out to me saying how much he loved my character Sloane which was like the best compliment ever because he played it. He played the final version and he said, I love what you brought to her. She's so quirky and fun and it really elevated the game. So if he's saying it's good, I believe him. But I kind of like I haven't seen anything because I'm going to play it myself and I want to be surprised and make my own choices. I mean, I know how things could go and can go, but I'm excited to like have a fresh perspective because now I'm like, wait, what did I say? How does it end? Like I'm a little fuzzy, you know, like, This might surprise me. I'm like, oh yeah, that
Simon:happened. Any plans to go to some live streams, let people watch and hear you and things like
Morgan:that? I should do that. I've thought about doing some giveaways because they're physical copies, which is so exciting. So I'm definitely going to be going to GameStop and Best Buy and grabbing one. I've got a pre-order. I am totally down to do that. I'll probably do it either on a Twitch or on X. I'm so down to do that. And I'm definitely probably going to do a giveaway way on X of a signed copy.
Simon:Tell people where to follow you so they know what to do for this competition and potential stream.
Morgan:Yes. The.Morgan.Taylor on Instagram. I don't even know my X. Let me see what my X is because I know I had to change it because something was like taken. But yeah, if people want to stream, I will do it. Okay. Yeah. My X is at Morgan Taylor underscore.
Simon:There you go. Go and follow. I'm down. Do you have any favorite lines or scenes as Sloane? Any that you can talk about that are non-spoiler, obviously.
Morgan:Well, yeah, of course the ones I'm favorite would be like the spoiler. I'm not going to say like any lines because some of the stuff that I really loved is definitely spoiling. My favorite scenes are probably anything with like a battle, which you see in the trailer a little bit.
Simon:Yeah.
Morgan:Like I love doing that. And when she gets hocus pocusy and does like a little spell. I loved that. That was so fun. And some of the more grounded dialogue again I can't say the specific words but she is really coming to terms with what's happening towards the end of the game and like she has this internal dialogue and like it's a lot of internal which I love because you get to really like play with that I loved those moments of her like really being human and getting past her imperfections you know so yeah anything with battle and when she does some witchy stuff I loved that that was fun
Simon:love that I can't wait to play this. I'm so excited. You've got to let me know what you think. Oh, I absolutely will. I'll be tagging you in everything. Good. The video games industry is hotter than ever. It's now the most profitable and engaged media in the world right now. What are your ultimate goals as a voice actor?
Morgan:Oh, gosh. What everyone else wants. I mean, I would love to be part of a really strong narrative game performance capture. When you think of The Last of Us, being a part of a game like that is like ultimate dream. I also want to be in Call of Duty. I will be in Call of Duty one day. I mark my words. I have been playing Call of Duty since I was 16 years old. I still play it to this day. I play one part of Call of Duty. I'm not a Warzone person. I am a Call of Duty deathmatch, hardcore deathmatch. I will be an operator one day. You wait.
Simon:There we go. It's on
Morgan:my goal.
Simon:It's happening. I'm manifesting. Yeah. You heard it here first on Gone Gold. Yep. Any thoughts on Battlefield seeing as you're an FPS kind of gal?
Morgan:I don't play. I play, I'm like Black Ops. I just play Deathmatch. That's literally it. Like, I'm a hardcore fan of Call of Duty, but in that lane. Yeah. Like, the Deathmatch, hardcore, small maps, mosh pit version, that's my line of sight. Okay? My husband loves Warzone and stuff like that. But the games I grew up with, if we want to talk about nostalgia, did you ever play, like, old PS2 games?
Simon:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Morgan:Okay, do you remember Destroy All Humans?
Simon:Oh, of Wow. Yes. That was so good. I love
Morgan:those types. Yeah, it was basically like Grand Theft Auto, but like alien version in the middle of nowhere. Like that's what it felt like. I loved Mercenaries. Do you remember Mercenaries? Another like kind of like Grand Theft Auto, but you're a mercenary in a foreign country stealing helicopters and shooting a soldier. Like it's so bad. That
Simon:whole era of games, I think, was just, it was so exciting to get a game, right? Yeah. And it was so different.
Morgan:Yes. It was going to Blockbuster. I grew up on Donkey Kong and Midnight Club 1 through 3. I loved those. Yeah, man. Now we're talking. You've got the theme. Oh, man.
Simon:You're hitting all the right buttons on this episode.
Morgan:If they ever revamp Midnight Club 3, make me one of the start-go girls. I'll be an NPC. I don't care.
Simon:Talking about games... as the last of us and those really heavy narrative games uncharted i mean anything naughty dog really but then you have other titles such as like spider-man and go to yotai and hellblade are these kind of the ultimate goal as a voice actor where you can get yourselves in those mocap suits not just voice it out but also act it as well yes
Morgan:yeah it's like the ultimate thing and really like i just want to continue working in this space whatever that looks like i am game for it like Like I've done so many indie projects that have meant so much to me. There's something right now called My Dear Emma and it's solving games. And it's we've only done like a demo of it. Right. They're still getting funding. They actually have a Steam page now. And it's so narrative focused. And I think it's a point. Is it technically point and clicked? I can't remember because it's literally so early stages. I've only done like five minutes of recording because they're trying to get funding again. But things like that where the narration and the dialogue is so good and it's such a beautiful, visually beautiful like that's the dream too you know if I if I never become if I never get a shot like the Troy Bakers of the world and that in that realm like that's okay I'm so happy just being able to act and make a living off of this that if I can just continue to get roles that are authentic I'm happy
Simon:I think you just have to keep doing exactly what you're doing Morgan you really do have something special I think as well what's really cool about the industry and And this has been echoed in other episodes by voice actors. There's a lot more opportunity coming along now because of the amount of products, the way the gaming industry is going. Voice acting and mocap acting is starting to be taken a lot more seriously by developers now.
Morgan:I agree. Which
Simon:is exciting for people like yourself.
Morgan:Yeah. I mean, think about how many BAFTA winners come from video game. Like, that's insane. BAFTA? Okay. No, I agree. And I think, like, I love the way I've started. Like, I literally have started... From like, you know, not even double or triple A games, just like starting from mobile games that are, you know, more like NPC characters and like background characters to now a leading role and then maybe one day lead role of a narrative triple A game. Who knows? But no, there's so many different tiers you can work in the gaming industry at all levels and like you can get your feet wet with NPC characters and stuff like that or just do doing vocal efforts for background stuff. Like there's so much you could do. Like a game like ARK's Ascended 2, like of course it requires acting, but it really helped me understand technique above everything in terms of like what your voice can do and how to do it right. And I'm so grateful for that.
Simon:Were you able to absorb that world of ARK because it's very different, it's very complex. So compared to what you would do in Goosebumps, for example, this would be completely different. How was that process?
Morgan:It was fun because they are so campy. They're kind of like the Call of Duty people. Like they loved a little like a little like, you know, I made so many fart noises and like like they wanted me to be silly, goofy like we played. And of course, Sloane is more of a character, right? Like Sloane would not in the middle of you playing Goosebumps. She's tracking down these monsters go. But like but like an operative and Call of Duty might when she's the top on the scoreboard for Yeah. So I don't know why I keep talking about Call of Duty. Can you tell I really want to be in that game?
Simon:Activision needs to be hiring. That's what they need to be doing.
Morgan:So Ark was like fully, there are no limits. It was fully play. And I think it was a confidence booster for me. Like it was so different because I could literally do whatever the hell I wanted at some point once we got what we needed. Like there was so many, like I said, Ark. Like I don't even know how to explain it to you. If people have played it and they've heard something kind of crazy, it's like, It's probably my character, voice five. There you go. It was so fun.
Simon:I love that. I love that for you.
Morgan:You don't get that much freedom all the time. No, you absolutely don't. So that was
Simon:like crazy. Outside of the gaming industry, you've had some incredible success, lending your voice to some of the biggest brands across the globe. One in particular that I'd like to mention goes back to October 2024, where you won an Emmy for your contribution to a commercial. Tell us about this moment and how this fantastic achievement felt for
Morgan:you? I don't know. So that is a regional Emmy for the Midwest region here in the United States. And it's for a client called Rankin Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital. And it's a children's hospital in the Midwest. I've never won an award for anything. I've won in my high school days like the Spirit Award because I'm outgoing and hype up other people. And I won like second place best voiceover personality in the state of Georgia. But like I've never actually won something. And this was totally a group effort. I mean, there was like three other people's name are on this award. You know, the producer, the copywriter, the editor. But that children's hospital was such a beautiful spot. And. such a beautiful production team their slogan is like reimagining what's possible in children's health care and that spot was just so well done like my voiceover definitely I know is an important part but like if you've seen the spot it's so visually beautiful because these walls are breaking down and the child is like full of light and hope and it just really represents I think if you've ever seen someone sick or suffer that kind of spot just really filled my heart with hope and I don't know it's just it was just a really really beautiful spot when I won it it was unreal because we were up against are you familiar with American football and the Kansas City Chiefs
Simon:yeah
Morgan:so that's a big franchise right and when you're like competing commercially against like the Kansas City Chiefs badass like hype video and like you're like oh that's Travis Kelsey and Patrick Mahomes are we really gonna win like yes we would I was in shock like I had a feeling going in because I went to the awards that we were gonna win but it was a really cool feeling and it was cool because I didn't nominate myself for it the production team submitted us and let me know let me know and I was like can I add my name and they were like yeah of course we want you to so it felt cool because it it wasn't ever forced I never had that as a vision of mine um it was something that was just kind of like delivered to me that I just happened to be a part of and it was it's one of my proudest moments I don't I don't need another one I'm just like hey you did it you're not just the spirit award girl like you can win something
Simon:we're here but it's BAFTAs for you next, Morgan. Oh, stop.
Morgan:Don't you dare. Don't you dare.
Simon:When you look back to an 18-year-old Morgan who just landed her first major role in radio, knowing where your journey is taking you, what would you tell her in this moment?
Morgan:What would I tell her? Like, just focus on the craft. Nothing else matters. I think a lot of voice actors get caught up in the world of networking and like the conference circuit. And I think Some of those things are great for some people, but I think at the end of the day, I've made mistakes in radio, just absorbing myself too much in the world. And like just everything's about radio, radio, radio or voiceover, voiceover. And I forgot to be like a human being and just me because all my career choices have had such a big impact on my identity. I would say nurture yourself above all the above anything else, because you cannot be a good actor if you don't have a life. Right. How am I going to connect to authenticity with a character if I can't? Because I've never had that experience. So I wish I had done that early on, even in VO just a couple of years ago. Like I've even separated myself and just kind of toned down. I don't like, not everything on my Instagram needs to be about voiceover. I have a couple of friends in the industry that I absolutely adore. And then I'm just trying to live more and be present. I would just tell her to do that. Like be, be good because the rest follows. You don't need all the noise. That's what I would tell her.
Simon:Incredible advice. Yeah. We all know NDAs are a thing, but is there anything else other than goosebumps at the What are you working on? What's next? Where does Morgan Taylor go from here? I
Morgan:hate being that person, but the two things I would love to talk about, I cannot. I sound so pompous. I sound so pompous. There's only two and I got an NDA.
Simon:What we can be excited for is the release of the new Goosebumps game, 29th of August. Very excited to hear Sloane Spence, who you portray. Really can't wait to get stuck into that and I will absolutely be dropping you a DM telling you how good it is. Thank you.
Morgan:Please. What console are you going to play on?
Simon:I'm a PlayStation guy.
Morgan:Okay. Okay.
Simon:Cool. You got to let me know. PS5 guy. So I will definitely let you know. What I love to do on this show is give my guests the final word. Thank you for taking your time to come on to the show today. You are an incredible ball of energy and this has been such a fun episode. This has been incredible. Morgan, thank you so much. Really can't wait to see what happens for you next. I'd like to leave the floor with you.
Morgan:Thank you. I will say thank you so much. You're such a great interviewer and thank you for having me. You're such a delight. To any actors out there, keep going. Always, always, always keep going. Filter out the noise. Focus on the craft. Nothing else freaking matters and be kind. Pay it forward as much Well, there you go. I
Simon:told you it was a fun, insightful, bubbly, boisterous episode. And it really was. Morgan Taylor, a fantastic talent. And let me tell you, I've played the new Goosebumps game and she is fantastic in that. So if you are a fan of those kind of games, go and pick it up. Just marvel at the delight of this being Morgan Taylor's first lead role in video games. And if that's what we've got to look forward to, we've got a lot more to be excited for when it comes to Morgan Taylor. And I can't wait for part two. I definitely think that's on the cards. Thank you to everyone who has tuned in to this episode and stayed with us throughout. Don't forget to give this episode a like and a rating. Drop a comment. Just take a few extra seconds to tell us how much you're enjoying these episodes. All that engagement just pushes us up the charts and also into the eyes and ears of more people which is exactly what we want to be doing on this show we want more people to listen all around the world already hitting 70 countries all around the globe incredible incredible ladies and gentlemen thank you very much we'll be back next week with another incredible guest trust me you don't want to miss this one this actually came from Morgan Taylor who we spoke after the show and after the interview and she said I want to recommend someone to you and that's my next guest she's coming next week her IMDB page read It is packed and stacked and full of incredible, insightful, fun notes that you don't want to miss. Trust me, some great stories here. We'll be back next week, but until then, you know what to do. Keep it gone gold.
