Within the PTW family of brands, our subsidiary SIDE stands out with its specialized voice and audio services catering to the global games and entertainment market. SIDE now counts six cutting-edge studios located across the world in London, LA, Paris, Montreal, Tokyo, and Shanghai.

This year marked the 7th anniversary of SIDE’s Los Angeles studio, which first opened its doors in March 2017. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Joe Adams, who was welcomed as our new Studio Head for LA earlier this year, to learn about his history in the entertainment industry, what brought him to SIDE LA, and the unique attributes that set the studio apart:

Tell us about your background and what drew you to a career in entertainment & media.

Most recently, I was managing a production studio for The Walt Disney Company that created social marketing videos for the Disney, Pixar, and Disney+ brands. Being a member of the Disney+ launch team was an absolute career highlight for me. Before that, I worked for AOL/Huffington Post where I helped launch and manage the HuffPost Live video network along with providing directing and engineering support for many live music performances from artists like Adele and Lady Gaga.

I was drawn to the entertainment industry because it sits at the intersection of creativity and technology. This combination of using both hemispheres of the brain to solve creative and operational challenges is unique to this industry—it keeps the work fresh and engaging. I find entertainment and studio management to be uniquely aligned with both my management style and personal interests.

There is no other industry like this, and I am so excited to explore the medium of games which I passionately believe is pushing the boundaries of both creativity and technology further than the rest of the entertainment industry.

How did you land your first job in entertainment? How challenging was it to break into the industry? 

As ridiculous as this sounds, I got my first job in radio from working on a potato farm. I helped on a friend’s farm when I was in high school and unbeknownst to me, his mom was related to the program director of the local radio station. The program director was looking for a high school kid to work weekends and my friend’s mom gave him my name. So, I started working evenings and weekends at WHOU-FM. This led to me studying video production in college. After graduating, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue work in entertainment where I got my first job helping build and run a digital production facility and I have never looked back.

Can you describe your current role at SIDE LA? 

My role at SIDE LA is Head of Studio. This role sits at the intersection of production, sales, engineering, IT, and facilities. It is my job to make sure all departments are communicating effectively.

Ultimately, SIDE LA is a key cog in the greater SIDE organization. We provide SIDE clients access to Hollywood talent and offer a US-based recording solution. The great strength of SIDE and PTW is the ability to cater to global clients. Projects that we work on often are part of a broader deal that involves the London, Montreal, or Paris studios. We also cater to gaming companies that have a large presence across Asian markets, and many projects can go beyond audio recording/mixing. Projects can have localization components as well as QA aspects. This is the true strength of PTW and SIDE, being a partner to international clients with projects that span the entire globe.

How does working as SIDE LA Studio Head compare to previous roles you have held?

Working at SIDE LA is a completely unique experience. The level of talent and quality of work that comes from this shop is at the highest level. The biggest difference for me is that this is my first time working in the gaming industry. This industry has its own culture and terminology which is different from past employers I have worked for, but it’s similar in that it is a creative environment. Creative people, whether from video production or audio production or gaming, all share similar perspectives. Working with creatives takes a certain skillset that I find translates well between mediums, genres, and workflows.

What makes SIDE LA unique? What are SIDE LA’s strengths?

It is the people at SIDE LA that both make it unique and are the strength of the business. I have been amazed at the dedication and quality of work that this team consistently turns out. This is a group of people who collectively perform higher than their collective parts. They do this because they genuinely care about each other and have a true passion for the work. These folks live and breathe gaming which makes them highly invested in the outcome of each of their projects. The engineering staff go far beyond technical skills—the people and talent management skills they display daily are impressive to observe. The production team also handles such a wide range of responsibilities and they do it all with incredible grace. They’re an outstanding team, and I am so thankful that I get to work with each of them.

What are your goals and vision for SIDE LA? 

My goals and vision for SIDE LA are the same and they are that SIDE LA should be FUN! This should be a fun place to work. This should be a fun place for clients to visit. This should be fun for talent. Working at a recording studio that primarily services the gaming industry should be a blast for everyone involved. If we are doing our jobs well and operating at the highest level of industry standards and with maximum business efficiency, then everything else should be fun. I have had fun everywhere else I have worked, and I expect this job to be no different.

You have over two decades of experience in the entertainment industry. What are some key things you learned along the way, challenges you faced, and/or ways you have seen the industry change? And if you had to give your younger self some advice before starting in this industry, what would it be?

The best thing I have learned is to always assume good intentions from your co-workers. Very rarely do people operate maliciously or with true negligence. Most of the time, when problems arise at work it is from competing priorities. When you assume good intentions, you can get beyond blame and start working towards true solutions to work problems. This simple approach has had an enormously positive impact on my career.

The advice I would give to my younger self would be to talk less, listen more, and always ask questions. Ask questions to everyone you meet on your journey. There is knowledge and experience to be gained from every person and I have been constantly surprised by who I have met along the way. An example would be the security guard I started chatting up at a former employer only to learn that he had served in the French Foreign Legion. As you can imagine, I learned quite a few things from this co-worker.

We thank Joe for taking the time to sit down with us, to share his background, and his vision for SIDE LA! We look forward to seeing the exciting ways that our LA team continues to innovate, as part of PTW’s global vision of "bringing your story to the world" for the games and entertainment industry.