K-RCT Episode 4

Jingle:K-RCT Rockay City Talk Radio.

Advertisement:The latest RockON Magazine is out now. It’s the only magazine dedicated to Crime Boss: Rockay City, voted Rockay City Magazine of the Month.

Advertisement:In a world covered in water there is only one way to go… and that’s under. An under water world will take you to the dark depths of an ocean you’ve never seen and you will have no idea what lurks behind each crag, crevice, and strand of seaweed. Only in cinemas this summer.

Bickley St. James:Bickley St. James reporting for K-RCT Rockay City Talk Radio, South Florida’s #1 station for talk, news, and traffic. Today we’re speaking with Damion Poitier on his role as Nasara in Crime Boss.

Jingle:K-RCT Rockay City Talk Radio.

Bickley St. James:So, uh, Damion, I know you also helped with the writing on—on Crime Boss, and so, uh, when we first got approached by the game, before it was even called “Crime Boss,” I think, um, and, you started thinking about the story and the characters, was there, uh, a character in particular that you were excited to flesh out?

Damion Poitier:Honestly, like, all of them are very exciting in different ways, some because they’re more challenging and others because they’re, y’know, it’s like, “Oh, we—we haven’t had a chance to play with something like this before.” Y’know, in terms of figuring out who they are, where they come from, [unintelligible] where in Rockay City, all those things, so it—it’s like, y’know from S—Stinger was a lot of fun, uh, to really kind of put some English behind, y’know, like, OK, why is he like that? What’s his story? How he got there, all of—like I said—all of them, like, I had a lot of fun with X, like, all of them were very fun to—to look at the world they’re in, figure out where they came from, and how they would get into that world, and why they were there, and what was their motivation for being involved in—in that, specifically, so it’s [unintelligible]. [laughs]

Bickley St. James:Now, you said that some of the characters were really challenging. Which was one of the most challenging characters?

Damion Poitier:Some of the like—some of the Eastern European ones, because, y’know, I had to do a lot of research to kind of get into what the backstory would be of how that—they would, first of all, y’know, travel—international travel th—thankfully, Southern Florida was a melting pot of criminality and just, [laughs] like, insane things going on, so it wasn’t too difficult once I kind of put together the person’s circumstance, but, y’know, just—just finding out more about them, where they would be, like, how in—truly insane the ’90s were, and the ’80s leading up to the ’90s to build the character into that space.

Bickley St. James:Now, so, the game is set in the ’90s. Was it fun to kind of mentally go back to the ’90s?

Damion Poitier:Absolutely.

Bickley St. James:…like, I don’t know what the ’90s were like for you, so [chuckles], uh, y’know, y’know, that little bit of time travel—you’re like, “oh, yes, the ’90s.” Like, was there an element of that era you were excited to bring in?

Damion Poitier:Oh, absolutely, just, y’know, it’s—yeah, the ’90s were wild. We—we—we kind of we—we’re—we’re—we’re so, like, far but not far from it now that it’s funny to look at it. It was kind of right before the age of, y’know, people really saying, “Hey, you know what, uh, certain things aren’t okay to say—”

Bickley St. James:—this, so, you know, you end up, y’know, you’re in the game. You’re Nasara. you’re writing on the game. Is there—uh, is there difficulty in writing, uh, at all for your own character, or is there fun? and is there anything you—like, you slipped in for your character, like, “Yeah, I really wanna say that”?

Damion Poitier:It was—it was really actually a lot of fun, because, y’know, I—I would—I had the—being there for the inception of the character and the total build, I had a lot—they were—my input was greatly appreciated, and I got to do a lot of things that, like, I wanted to do with the character, so there was—I’m not—I don’t want to spoil, so I’m not sure what’s been in yet—what hasn’t—how his backstory evolved and things like that. There—there are a lot of things that were just really fun and really informed: how—why he speaks like that, why he dresses like that, y’know. All—all—everything that Nasara does comes from—there’s a—there’s a space for all of him, there’s a placement, and it’s, like, how do I wanna be, and how do I get there, so I got to do the whole roundabout, uh, “this is what I want. How do you get there organically? How does it make sense to have a character be in that space?” and so it was—yeah. I—I know I’m talking, like, very broadly but, like, it’s—I’m trying not to spoil anything—

Bickley St. James:That’s all right, that’s all right

Damion Poitier:…yeah, yeah.

Fran Ann McGann:I mean, we do have one thing that we know. If anyone’s looked at the—the Rockay’s Roadmap, one of the DLCs that are coming in the future is called, uh, Nasara’s Revenge, so we do know—

Damion Poitier:Yep.

Fran Ann McGann:…that there’s gonna be something interesting with Nasara in the future, so—

Damion Poitier:Yep [laughs].

Fran Ann McGann:…y’know, very interesting to see how his story does progress, uh, especially within that, uh, paid DLC that’s coming. It—it’ll be—it’ll be next year at some point but, so there’s—

Damion Poitier:Right.

Fran Ann McGann:…definitely a lot to Nasara that we don’t know about yet.

Bickley St. James:I’m—I’m gonna ask a Crime Boss question of Fran.

Fran Ann McGann:Oh!

Damion Poitier:Oooh.

Fran Ann McGann:But it’s not about me!

Bickley St. James:So—so, you’ve been community manager on the game since—since it launched and I think since its inception. What is one of the most sort of, like, fun things that’s happened since you’ve been on the project?

Fran Ann McGann:Fun thing that’s happened? Um, I think, actually, uh, when we announced it at The Game Awards, I think, was probably an amazing thing. It was als—it was very fun—uh, where I met Damion for the first time in real life. Uh, [laughs] um, it was just a really great, uh, time, it was great, uh, seeing everyone’s reaction to the announce trailer. Uh, it was just a—amazing atmosphere. I would say that it was an amazing time. That’s all I can really say, y’know.

Bickley St. James:The—The Game Awards are always fun to watch, and so to be involved in something that’s happening on it and then to be there—so, now, I’ve never actually been to The Game Awards, so, I’ve—I’ve had projects announced on The Game Awards, and that’s cool, and you sit at home, and you press the button to launch your social media, but being there has got to be something else.

Fran Ann McGann:Yeah, yeah, it was really great.

Bickley St. James:So, so, Dam—So, you were at The Game Awards, Damion?

Damion Poitier:Yessir.

Bickley St. James:And—and how was that experience for you? ’Cause I—you’re probably not as much a video game fan as a comic book fan, so The Game Awards is like Comic-Con for video games at this point.

Damion Poitier:Well, yeah—I was—I was at E3 every year, y’know. I—I’m—I’m in it man, I’m, y’know, a gamer. I’m not new to the game world, so—been around—I’ve been around. It wa—it was cool to see, y’know, people w–that you wouldn’t expect to run into, like, uh, y’know, uh, we didn’t—E3 didn’t happen this year, but it was—it was like a—a mini behind the scenes E3, y’know, when you see all the different people, it’s, like, “Oh that’s—y’know, from the different companies. And—and—and then the, uh, there was—in the lobby of the hotel there’s, uh, there was a little, like, social gathering afterwards, so you get to run into a lot of people that, y’know, once again it was—you know from different companies and things like that. It’s—it’s a—it’s a good time, it’s really fun to kind of see what everybody’s got coming on and—or what what everybody’s revealing and what—what they’re bringing out, so I—I enjoyed it. I really—I had a good time. It was my first time. It was my first F1 too, I said I’d been to E3, but I’d never been to that, so it was re—really good times to check that out.

Bickley St. James:So, back to the writing stuff, because, y’know, I can’t keep my thoughts straight, so I—

Fran Ann McGann:[laughs]

Bickley St. James:…everything goes like—

Damion Poitier:Stream of consciousness is awesome, just go!

Bickley St. James:Uh, is there—is there any dialogue in the game—and you don’t have to remember the exact quote, but—is there any sort of moment of dialogue that you really, really like? Either an interaction between two characters or—or just a pull quote or—or something like that, that you remember that you’re, like, “Oh, yeah, that was awesome”?

Damion Poitier:Yes. [laughs] What I get with all of them!

Bickley St. James:I have a followup question: what was that?

Damion Poitier:Well, oh—oh, you’re gonna—this one’s good. Well, here’s the th–like, it’s—’cause when you’re—when you’re doing the—when we’re wh—recording the VO stuff, y’know, like, like, every time we were in there we would have moments with different people. Like, we—we—we had a few like hilarious moments with Danny Glover, obviously there were hilarious moments with—with Michael Madsen, and, uh, with Mr. Trejo, and, like, s—when you start speaking of specifics, like, my brain immediately, like, scatters and scrambles, ’cause there’s like—there’s so many funny things and, like, okay was that specific—did that actually go into the game, or was that just something, you know? So it was—but they were, like, eve—everybody was a delight to work with some—some of the actor—some of the best lines are actually ad libs just from what we were, y’know, from—we–we’re going in, and we’re talking and different things, and then somebody throws it off off the cuff. It’s kinda like “[unintelligible].” It’s like, “No, no, no, no! Use that!,” and we’re gonna—we’re definitely—like, “It’s goin’ in the game!” and things like that, so it’s so much fun, like, to—to create the framework and then see the discoveries, y’know, ’cause you’re writing thousands and thousands of lines—literally—and—and it—it’s easy to get kind of bogged down into the, y’know, “How many different ways can I say, ‘Get down on the ground?,’” y’know, so it’s [unintelligible] when somebody’s—when you’re in the session, and somebody hits something that’s, like, just, like, a little [smacks lips], you’re, like, “OH, WOW!” Let’s see, I’m trying to come up with something specific….

Fran Ann McGann:I was saying, I’m sure you’ve said so much. You ain’t gonna remember much—

Damion Poitier:Yeah, it’s work, yeah.

Fran Ann McGann:…I—there’s one line that I do remember. It’s kind of from the start, which is why I remember it the most, and it was, uh—it’s Baker, or Michael Madsen. He’s talking about, uh, the—the candy that’s been stolen and—

Damion Poitier:I….

Fran Ann McGann:Uh, your character, Nasara, basically says, um, the blue—basically, you go, “Are they blue because they’re downers?” And Madsen–Baker goes, “No because they’re effing blue!” and he goes—and you go, “Oh, branding,” and I just—it just tickles me, because you say it so deadpan, [laughs] and it’s just, and I’m just, like, just, it’s funny, because it’s just so dry. [laughs]

Damion Poitier:That’s, uh—that’s one of the best—the, uh—the—one of the most fun things about Nasara is I usually play like fairly, y’know, I—I have a big personality, so I usually play characters with a lot of personality, so to have him just kind of be this level, like, y’know, voice of reason all the way through has been—it’s been so much fun that—that—to—to be in that space and find the the measured response to all of the insanity [laughs]—

Fran Ann McGann:Yeah.

Damion Poitier:…that goes on [laughs]—

Fran Ann McGann:…’cause you are. You’re just always the voice of calm with the craziness around.

Bickley St. James:So the cast of Crime Boss is remarkable, and so, you had the opportunity to, like, be in there where, like, when everybody comes in to do their their voiceover—uh, was it a little hard not to geek out to a certain extent?

Damion Poitier:I—I—I—I have an inside voice that will scream and run back and forth in my head [laughs] just, y’know, do all this stuff and you—meanwhile, I’m like, “Hey, how you doin’? Nice to meet you. Very much looking forward to working with you,” [laughs] and the geek in me is, like, “OH MY GAWD.” [laughs] So I’m over—over the years of, y’know, being on sets and things like that I’ve for the most part mastered it where I can—I can have like I said my internal voice is—is running around like a chicken with its head cut off screaming at the top of its lungs. It’s super excited, and externally, I’m, like, “Hey, how you doin’?” Like, you—it’s to the point where you almost, like, “Does this guy know what I’ve worked on?” Y’know, I—I’ve kind of gotten that way where I can really just kind of—because I’m—I’ve found that even—even when people are, uh, excited to see me about things I’ve done, when you treat people like people, [laughs] they have—it’s—it’s easier to get, uh, a positive interaction going, y’know, so I always try to make sure I treat—regardless of who I’m working with or whatever—I—I come at them from a very regular, normal, “Hey, how you doin’?” Y’know, “This is what we’re doing” or “This is what we have in common” space and kind of find a grounded space to start the interaction, and then if you say something crazy later, y’know, it’s OK, because they know at least that you’re grounded.

Bickley St. James:I have to say by the way in the chat uh Jorge Herenandez says that he’s been playing the game with his wife, and she loves your voice in the game.

Damion Poitier:Well, thank you. Appreciated.

Fran Ann McGann:I mean—

Damion Poitier:Wh—wh—It was an—it was an evolution to find Nasara’s voice, too. That was a lot of fun of exactly—y’know, where we wanted it to end up—where we wanted—how we wanted him to sound, and, y’know, the words he chooses—it was all—it was all very, very, very fun evolution through development.

Fran Ann McGann:I’ll tell you what we could do, Damion. Would you be up for some ASMR with—with Nasara? I reckon that could go down really well. [laughs]

Bickley St. James:You—you could do like a bedtime story—

Damion Poitier:Right? [laughs]

Bickley St. James:…I know my wife likes to listen to those phone app stories where they just, like, kinda talk and you should have Nasara, uh—

Damion Poitier:We should definitely do Nasara one. That would be hilarious to figure that out.

Fran Ann McGann:We should try it now and see if it works. Um, what should we have you say, uh, um—

Bickley St. James:Well, uh, it has to be Nasara tucking you in at night, telling you to, like, lay down, relax, and—and fall asleep.

Fran Ann McGann:Um—

Damion Poitier:Like, “The day is coming to a close.” [laughs] “It’s time to listen—” I w—I would—I would need some time, ’cause he’s—he’s so—he speaks so specifically. I need—y’know, I have to warm up into his voice. You know what I mean, ’cause it’s, uh—

Bickley St. James:You—you could try talking about the temperature of the room—

Damion Poitier:Right? You know—

Bickley St. James:Um, it’s eight-oh-six o’clock at night—

Damion Poitier:Right, yeah.

Bickley St. James:…it’s the perfect time to sleep.

Damion Poitier:Well, no. He would go military time. He would probably put—say, uh “sixteen”—“sixteen” [giggles]

Fran Ann McGann:OK, we can work on this.

Damion Poitier:Yeah, we de—we definitely—so this is something that—let me—either right after a voice session—[laughs] or we sit down and work on it and work up to it, because, dude, that’s—like I said, he’s so specific that it’s, uh—

Fran Ann McGann:Yeah, OK.

Bickley St. James:We—we can have a whole side project of just, uh, Crime Boss Bedtime Stories, and I’m all in for it.

Fran Ann McGann:We will make this happen. [laughs]

Bickley St. James:Did—now, did, uh—y’know, you said there was a lot of collaboration in the voiceover. Uh, did any of the actors, uh, kind of shift as—a direction—just that their performance was either funnier than you anticipated or more serious? Uh, is there any characters that once you got into the—uh, the VO booth changed just because the the actor brought something really unique to it?

Damion Poitier:Yeah, I’d say, uh, wow—name is escaping me right now…. Cracker! Cracker was, uh, his—his—his voiceover was, like, it—it was—w—like, it was interesting, ’cause you’re listening to the auditions, y’know, and sometimes, even in the audition you go, “Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” and then, you—y’know, you pull off something off the audition, but a lot of—uh, most of the characters, once we did a session, had at least some level of evolution. We heard different things that they said that we really liked or different things that they emphasized that—it was, like, “Ooh, that’s that’s fun. We should—we should lean into that,” so it was—absolutely, and even in sessions, sometimes we would have people lean into, y’know, something else and be, like, “Let’s—” “Let’s do more of that” or “Hit that again.” Things like that or—give me—y’know, a lot of times like that, and, uh, and a couple of occasions, especially with the very specific dialogue, and the very, y’know, [unintelligible] getting the, uh, how do you say it, coall—coall–coallacisms? colloquialisms—

Bickley St. James:Colloquialisms.

Damion Poitier:…correctly—colloquialisms correctly, you—we actually had some of the people who were voicing assist us in the writing, y’know, so we—we—yeah, it was a lot of different things like that that happened where, like, we—we would alter things and move forward, and we really—but we really wanted to make sure that as—as much as possible the voices were were, uh, authentic to what we were presenting.

Bickley St. James:“Bedtime Stories from Rockay City?” I think this is–

Fran Ann McGann:Oh….

Bickley St. James:…an audio collection. That would be a-mazing. Uh, we’ll write—we’re gonna make this happen.

Fran Ann McGann:OMG. That needs to happen.

Bickley St. James:[laughs] Absolutely.

Fran Ann McGann:Bedtime Stories from Rockay City as read by Damion Poitier—Poi—Poi—Poitier—[laughs]

Damion Poitier:Poi-ti-er, yup.

Bickley St. James:Y’know, because it—it can be, y’know, they—I can’t remember the movie. It’s like—oh, it’s, y’know—that’s the—that’s the—the evil preacher that, like, criminals tell their kids about, right? And so, this would be bedtime stories from the criminal underworld. It’s like, “Oh, get tucked in,” y’know, “Tomorrow you will rob again.” So….

Damion Poitier:[laughs]

Fran Ann McGann:Yes, yes. Well, we’re gonna—

Damion Poitier:Amazing.

Fran Ann McGann:…While we make that happen, we will say goodbye to everyone. Thank you so much for joining. Um….

Damion Poitier:Thanks, [unintelligible].

Fran Ann McGann:Oh, I think—

Bickley St. James:Thank you! Thanks for—thanks for joining us today, and—

Jingle:K-RCT Rockay City Talk Radio.

Bickley St. James:And now we have a full hour of ad-free talk radio, brought to you by our friends at Skeety Kitty Arms: weapons for the whole family. Through Sunday, buy three cases of ammo at regular price, get a free year-long child’s membership to the shooting range for free.