Interview: Trevor Hutchins

We had a chat with Trevor Hutchins and let’s hear what he has to say about his works and the video game industry.

 

NoobFeed: Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

Trevor Hutchins: I’m a 24-year-old Christian writer from Mesa, Arizona, now living in Los Angeles, California. After getting my business communication degree from Arizona State University (ASU) in 2018, I moved here to pursue a writing and acting career in the entertainment industry. This fall I’ll be studying screenwriting for TV and Film in Biola University’s Cinema and Media Arts program.

I always enjoyed entertaining others and working on creative projects, which likely stems from a love for books, movies, and video games, along with the desire to emulate their creators.

 

NoobFeed: An actor and a writer? How did you find this combination? What are your duties at Avant Artists and Softonic?

Trevor Hutchins: To give the short version: I became and actor and writer while vacillating between majors at Arizona State University. Eventually, I started trying everything in the hope of finding direction. Acting and writing stuck.

The acting career began when Signature Models and Talent, my first agency, accepted me into their family. With their help, I paid my college tuition with acting jobs and months later was eligible to join SAG (the Screen Actor’s Guild). A year later, I became one of their top-booking actors. Then, after college, my acting coaches recommended I move to California and try my hand in the entertainment capital of the world. After sending 100+ query letters, I interviewed with my current representatives at Avant Artists.

As for writing, I joined the Word writing club at ASU, and participated in National Novel Writing Month, which challenges authors to write a 50,000 word draft in one month. 300+ hours of writing, rewriting, and editing later, that experience led me to self-publishing my first novel on Amazon. Looking to develop my skill as a writer, I searched for “writing” on Indeed and found a remote, freelance position with Softonic.

For Avant Artists, I receive audition notifications by email. For self-tapes, I’ll record myself performing lines and send the result back via WeTransfer. When I receive in-person auditions, I prepare for my part, then voyage to the casting location to perform.

For Softonic, I pitch weekly articles and complete whichever ones are accepted by my boss, Ben Bowman. The writing usually involves the application of prior knowledge, research, written communication skills, and a solid understanding of our Wordpress writing environment.

 

NoobFeed: As a journalist, what trends have you noticed in the gaming industry recently? Do you support where it’s heading?

Trevor Hutchins: One of the main trends, naturally, is the shift toward Eports becoming mainstream, much akin to the way Marvel changed superheroes from a niche and closeted entertainment form into an enormous, international industry. Just the other day, I watched a Fortnite tournament with my brother and our friend as if it were Superbowl Sunday, something that would’ve been unthinkable years ago.

Do I support the trend? Absolutely. As a fan of video games, I’m glad they’re becoming more widely accepted as a form of viewer’s entertainment. Aside from that, I believe that the more open discussion on video games will lead to better conversations about issues like lootboxes in kid’s games, which are often ignored because adults want nothing to do with something like Call of Duty.

Aside from that, a trend I’ve personally noticed is the massive, growing popularity of VR horror. Call this a hunch, but I strongly believe the ability to place the gamer inside the action will be a huge influence on the future of horror videogames (personal note).

Do I support that trend? Again, absolutely. When placed side by side, Resident Evil 7 feels better than the Resident Evil 2 Remake because, despite the similar quality in graphics and storyline, the former was created with a far more immersive experience in mind.

 

NoobFeed: Esports focuses on its social aspect a lot these days. Do you think there’s a lot more potential in terms of the social aspect of Esports than there currently is?

Trevor Hutchins: Yes, I definitely think there’s more potential. Like I mentioned, we’re arriving at the point where Esports are being treated like football or soccer: friends will watch them on TV together, they know the players, they even bet on the outcomes. Coaches are training gamer students how to play video games better. Soon enough, Fantasy Esport teams will be common.

One of the larger necessary changes will be physical locations. The recent Fortnite championship took place in a stadium, which allows fans to meet and experience the in-person excitement of a real match. Along with home viewing parties and the integration of chats (think Twitch), the ability for fans to connect during games will be unprecedented.

Lastly, games like Fortnite and Overwatch have proven one crucial point: games can now be released under a single title and constantly altered for indefinite longevity. There was no “Football 2” or “Soccer: the Sequel”; the games stayed the same with necessary alterations to rules as time goes on. The same now goes for many games being released: new characters are added to Overwatch, and the system is updated, but no sequels are necessary.

 

NoobFeed: What is an effective approach to prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability? Have supervise others in doing this?

Trevor Hutchins: My process begins the pitch to shape an idea. I then conduct research to figure out what information I want to relate to my ideal reader, the person who could most benefit from my article. From there, I order the information in a way that makes sense, often chronological for step by step instruction (though some “Best of” articles are necessarily arbitrary). After that, I write the article.

Since my articles are usually short (no more than 1,000 words), it usually doesn’t take much editing to ensure they’re clear, make sense, and have a good flow. Whenever necessary, I rewrite and rearrange sections that need to be altered. Sometimes I include additional, non-crucial but helpful information.

I believe the question was asking whether I supervised others? If so, the answer is no. However, I’d gladly help others through the process if asked to do so.

 

NoobFeed: What is the most challenging part of writing, especially when it comes to editorials and reviews?

Trevor Hutchins: Personal time management. After my time with Softonic, I have far more for respect all freelance workers: doing this job takes an immense amount of diligence, determination, and discipline.

 

NoobFeed: Have you ever gone above and beyond the "call of duty" for publishing any piece?

Trevor Hutchins: Softonic invited me to be their representative at E3 Expo 2019. In doing so, I discovered that the expo and the mainstage reveals are two different things that happen at different locations. The Expo, which takes place at the LA Convention Center, focuses on allowing gamers and media personnel to test upcoming games and technology in person.

Since the online reveals were covered, my job became performing research into what interesting games were playable, which resulted in one of my favorite articles: “Top 7 IndieCade Games of E3 2019”. Instead of focusing on AAA titles, I discovered, tested, and interacted with some of the most impressive upcoming indie titles. I had the chance to meet the developers and found their personal efforts at game design to be nothing less than inspiring.

 

NoobFeed: Have you ever received negative feedback on a piece of writing? What was your response?

Trevor Hutchins: Ben Bowman, my current boss at Softonic, occasionally corrected my use of Wordpress when I was learning to use the program. The issues were related to functions like adding better resolution photos in Cloudinary or linking traffic to other Softonic articles/applications. My response was always to apologize for the mistake and ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.

 

NoobFeed: What have you found to be the best way to monitor the performance of your work and/or the work of your team?

Trevor Hutchins: For myself, I’ve always found it easier to monitor the performance of my work by maintaining an updated outline and being engaged in the work on a daily basis. This was especially important with writing novels and screenplays, where a day’s break would have me completely lost when I returned. Often, one of the best ways to solve that issue is reading back extensively, writing consistently, and updating a daily log.

As for teams, my most successful group projects were best monitored when we used a shared workspace like Google Documents, clearly delineated who was meant to write which part, and had clearly defined expectations and routes for communication. With those steps in place, it was easy to tell who was completing their part of the project on time, and where help was needed. Also, the communication was likely more important than anything else: being able to ask a teammate if they needed help was instrumental in keeping everyone on task.

 

NoobFeed: Can you tell us about a time when you developed your own way of doing things other than following others?

Trevor Hutchins: This question describes my entire experience with writing a novel. During that time I listened to podcasts, read books on writing novels and screenplays, and asked for help and advice from every writer I knew. Still, when it comes down to it, the process was a personal journey that involved asking how I wanted to spend each day writing, how many drafts were going to be created, how to query agencies, and at the end of the day, if and how I wanted to self-publish.

I discovered my best work happens in the morning at my local library. The best number of drafts for me is two, one to be a horrible rough draft that gets the ball rolling, the second to be a well-planned journey with parts edited to perfection like a cyborg making upgrades and replacements to their body parts. And finally, I decided to publish with Amazon and figure out the self-publishing process, which involved a great amount of manuscript optimization.

 

NoobFeed: We all have experienced this at least once. Will you share an experience when your ethics and patience were tested? How did you keep your emotions in check?

Trevor Hutchins: My first year at college was a struggle; I lacked direction, my high school friends had all left to other colleges, and the environment I found myself in challenged my prior beliefs. Frankly, it was one of the worst years of my life, but it produced some of the best results in terms of personal growth.

To keep my emotions in check, I focused on doing schoolwork and tried to open my mind to new points of view. By the time I finally picked up some direction with writing and acting and a business communication major, I had become far more well-adjusted than I had been as a freshman. Also, I’d developed many times the grit and determination for work under stress.

 

NoobFeed: What in gaming excites you the most? Outside of work, how much time do you spend playing video games in an average week?

Trevor Hutchins: Looking to the future, my main areas of excitement are the stories games tell and the social connections with other players.

I’ve always loved being immersed in another world, which began with reading and has extended to movies, TV, and video games. However, among those, video games has that special ability to put you right in the middle of action as a key member of the storyline, often the protagonist or even antagonist.

Also, aside from the general excitement over what stories are coming next (at this time Borderlands 3, Elder Scrolls 6, Halo 6, and especially Death Stranding) I’m excited about virtual reality! Many people think the technology will die in its infancy, but there are already products that prove its value, like the Oculus line or PS4 VR. While VR’s growth may have hit a slow period, I firmly believe that when the technology becomes better and cheaper, the VR fans clamoring for new headsets for PC and console won’t be disappointed by the result.

Outside of those points, I’m simply glad that social connections are easier to come by. My brother and I played Nintendo’s Gamecube offline during our childhood. Once we got an Xbox and joined the Xbox Live program, we opened a whole new world! We can play Fortnite, jump into Halo, or chill out in Minecraft with new and old friends, some of whom we’ve met exclusively online.

I play about about two to three hours a day, after 5:00 P.M. on weekdays.

 

NoobFeed: What experiences would you personally like video games to deliver in the future?

Trevor Hutchins: I’m very excited for VR, and I hope more video games will offer the ability to jump into their worlds with virtual reality.

 

NoobFeed: With so many gaming websites and independent journalists trying to reach the same target audience segment, do you think the correct messages are being spread across?

Trevor Hutchins: If the “video games cause violence” accusations are anything to go by, I’d say “no”.

Let me start off by saying: I get it. Regular journalists have to talk about terrible happening in the world and frankly, that’s what brings a lot of people to the story. Shock value has a lot of sway. However...

I’ve always felt video game readers are drawn far more to positive content (though negativity certainly has its place). They want to know what’s good, what video games have positive qualities, and what’s coming out next. On occasion, they’ll certainly enjoy a scathing review of a game that’s being murdered by producers (ex: Fallout 76), but mostly we’re a community of people trying to enjoy and connect over a common love of the video game experience.

 

NoobFeed: Why is it important for gamers to maintain a healthy lifestyle? What advice would you have for a gamer looking to take the first steps towards a healthier lifestyle?

Trevor Hutchins: It’s important for everyone to maintain a healthy lifestyle. People are happier when they’re healthier, whether that means a balanced diet or a good combination of video game playing and face-to-face contact. I’ll admit that video gamers like myself can find games consuming and addictive, which certainly makes it harder for some of us to keep the balance. It takes more effort, which is why I’d suggest:

Gamers need to find a community of real-life people to meet with on a regular basis for social activity. It can be anything: church, the gym, a DnD group. If a gamer’s having a hard time finding that place, I could even recommend great sites like Meetup for discovering gatherings for almost any activity under the sun.

 

NoobFeed: What are the future plans for Trevor Hutchins?

Trevor Hutchins: I’m going to attend Biola University’s Cinema and Media Arts program during the fall semester and meet great professors and new friends with a similar life direction. During that time, I plan to finish another screenplay I’ve been working on, hopefully with the help of the aforementioned new friends. With the connections and knowledge, I gather at Biola, my goal is to eventually sell screenplays and partner with a literary manager in Los Angeles. The dream? Within five years I’m writing movie scripts or working in a show writer’s room. I connect with a growing circle of fans and inspire them to believe in themselves and begin creating as well. My writing fuels my acting career, and I move from small roles to larger ones. Someday, I start a production company so I can write, direct, produce, and act in whatever films I wish. With some wiggle room for starting a family, I continue writing and creating and inspiring until the day I die.

 

Many thanks to Trevor for doing the interview with us. We wish him all the very best with all of his ventures. Keep up with Trevor Hutchins on his website.

 

Admin, NoobFeed