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The VO Boardroom: Private All-Access Pass
The Business Behind Breaking Into Animation, with Everett Oliver
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Presented by The VO Pro Community
Breaking into animation takes more than creating a pile of wild character voices and hoping somebody notices.
Veteran voice director Everett Oliver reveals how animation actors can build a marketable brand, research where the work is happening, and position themselves for real opportunities.
You’ll learn what agents expect, how the East and West Coast animation markets differ, and which producers and casting directors should be on your radar.
Everett also shares what he’s learned from more than three decades working on major animated productions and directing talent around the world.
If animation is your goal, this session will help you start treating it like a business.
About Everett Oliver
Everett's personal journey has taken him from the Big Apple as a kid to Georgia where he graduated from Clark Atlanta University, and then to Los Angeles.
He has been working in the Voiceover industry for over three decades as an international voice acting director and has worked with talent in Africa, Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Everett has worked on hit animated primetime shows including: The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Men in Black, Jackie Chan Adventures, Hellboy, and X-Men Evolution, (just to name a few), and has worked with animation industry titans, such as Disney, Columbia Tri-Star, and Film Roman/Starz.
One of the most valuable experiences that Everett brings to the table is his time as a Booth Director for an LA-based talent agency.
His mission is helping voice actors nail standout auditions with bold choices and sharp direction and build their voiceover careers.
Welcome back to the VO boardroom. Very excited for our next guest. He is a veteran, international man of mystery and international voice acting director, uh, animation coach. In fact, he's my own animation coach. Uh, with more than three decades in the industry, Everett Oliver has worked on shows including The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Men in Black, Jackie Chan Adventures, Hellboy, and X-Men Evolution. Today, he's showing us what it really takes to break into animation from developing a marketable brand and finding the work to understanding agents, casting directors, and the difference between, and he brought this to light for me, East Coast Sound and West Coast Sound. Please welcome my good friend and coach, Everett Oliver. Man, it's good to see you. Good to see you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for that wonderful introduction, as they say.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's my pleasure. So, what is it about animation? Because this is this is a high, I'll call it a high fandom genre, right? We have entire fan cons in animation. So a lot of people are attracted to the genre. So, what do most people, when they're coming in to say, hey, I think I want to be an animation uh voice actor, what did they most misunderstand?
SPEAKER_00I think misunder they misunderstand is that it's a part of acting. It's really about your acting and not about the voice. They misunderstand that, you know, it takes a lot, a lot of work to just become, you know, become the character. A lot of auditioning, um, you know, finding the right, you know, agent, finding the coach to get you to where you need to be, um, understanding that, you know, going with the notion of really having fun. This is not too, you know, serious. People sometimes take this thing too seriously. Um, bringing your authentic authenticity, being your truth to it, you know, being the character. So it's a long haul being patient, timing, you know, besides acting, besides improv, you know, just it's just it's all of that combined. And it takes a long, long time. You know, some people break through it really easy. Some people it just it just takes a very long time to to connect. So be patient, keep your craft up, um, you know, understand the script, you know, not so much in detail that you're looking at a script from a on-camera and a theatrical point of view, because it's two different acting styles.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_00I find that from on camera. I can totally tell an on-camera or a theatrical actor just when they're doing an animation script. They're taking it really, really, really. And the acting comes from, yes, you you're supposed to have solid acting, and I get it, but we're listening for just that much. We might not even listen to the whole thing. I listen to the whole thing just because there might be something in the middle, it might take them a second to warm up to get into it. And then I'm also taking notes. You know, so in all of that, I leave that's my answer.
SPEAKER_01So uh it it in large part it's about being an actor, and being an actor means, in large part, training. So for somebody new coming in, that can be kind of a black box, right? Do I need to go to a conservatory and get an MFA in acting, or do I need a certain amount of base level training to get competent in animation?
SPEAKER_00I think you need basic training, getting yourself into a general acting class and then doing an improv. And then I think you need a voiceover classes. You have to take voiceover classes and then find a voiceover coach who understands animation. On top of that, you also need someone who's going to support you to get you to one level, then the next level, and then eventually a demo. That's what I think.
SPEAKER_01So let's say I make the investment in myself. I get the training, I put in the time, I get the reps. What then makes me, as an animation actor, what then makes me marketable to be able to go out and find work?
SPEAKER_00You know, it's it's up to your agent. It's up to your agent. You know, um, your agent, uh your coach and your agent will know when you're, you know, ready and marketable. You'll get a sense of you've been booking consistently a little bit more from different projects. Directors will start noticing you more and more. Um, and so then it's like, okay, I got the agent, I've got the marketing, but things have now sort of shifted a little bit. It's more or less like you've got to be able to put yourself out there. You know, meaning the social media, Instagram, you uh uh um uh Facebook, uh TikTok. And then it because it's so different now, you've gotta be the person to go out there and look for the work and not just have your agent do it. So I'm speaking of a time frame of probably, I was I'm gonna say probably from the 80s to 2000. I'm gonna say by COVID, and I get confused when COVID is. But now the dynamic of it shifting, you have to market yourself and you have to be the ones. What I would do for an example, all the shows that are currently out on, I would wait till your credit scroll and I would look for the casting director for that show. I would look for the producers of that show who sometimes does casting, and I would get under their radar.
SPEAKER_01Assuming that you're trained.
SPEAKER_00Assuming that you're trained. Assuming if you're booking tons of work to you know, putting yourself out there marketing, I would do that because that gets you noticed too. You know, find if they're taking classes, like I host classes. Um, my colleagues, Mary Lynn Wisner, holds classes, G VAA hosts classes, Kelly Morinsky holds classes, and when these casting people are coming, I would market myself, I would go ahead and sign up for those classes and take those classes.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So we talked a little bit uh in in earlier about this idea of authenticity, of point of view, of having a perspective. How does an actor, Everett, start to hone in on that for themselves? How do they start to recognize what that is and what they bring to the table?
SPEAKER_00Well, it's hard because they need to know themselves. And if they don't know themselves, that's gonna be your first issue. You know, people put on these walls and blinders of, you know, yes, everybody can do a voice, but can everybody bring their unique difference to that character? So it's all about knowing yourself first. And once you understand your dynamics of who you are, then it's gonna be you're just bringing whatever you have to that to that character. Then you'll know yourself, but you have to know yourself first. You have to be trained properly and and really have fun. I think we're missing the point of having fun. This is a cartoon series. I think that people are really desperate because they want to go ahead and they want to get on, you know, become this animated thing. And and also, you know, timing. All in that order, I would say. You know, know yourselves and play.
SPEAKER_01That's one of the first things I learned from you is that you if you know yourself, you've got to be able to ground a character in who you are and in and in what you bring. It's rather it as opposed to a voice, which is an affectation. What makes a particular voiceover demo uh in animation? What makes it effective? When you're listening to a demo, not an audition, but a demo, what makes a quality demo that stands out and is in air quotes effective to casting people?
SPEAKER_00Good acting, good acting in comedy chops range. You can have all of that in there and just let it go. I just recently did a demo with one of my students and the person, they just let it go. I didn't have to do much direction. I was just there. I just watched them play. You know, they weren't afraid to. They weren't, they weren't, they didn't have this corporate, speaking of you, Paul, this corporate thing inside them. I was like, did you play as a kid? Yes, I played as a kid. Well, let's go back to your childhood. I want you to be in a booth because I've trained you enough where I just want you to let it go. Whatever comes out, it comes out. We can always edit. Stop being perfect on camera, theater. Y'all are the perfect. Stop over-articulating your words and your sounds. It drives me crazy. Drives me crazy.
SPEAKER_01This has turned into one of our old coaching sessions, I said. For many, for many years, I had a uh a regular old sticky note, a post-it note stuck on my one of my monitors that just said, and it was from you, that just said play. P L A Y. Because that was the reminder that I because I came from that corporate and broadcasting background. And I remember that, and I remember you telling me, look, dude, you're gonna have to mush mouth it a little bit because your articulation is too good.
SPEAKER_00So uh so an education and people in that y'all who who were in the education system, y'all were all taught and trained to speak clearly. I apparently don't. So just let it go. Who cares?
SPEAKER_01And play. So let's let's flip that coin over for a minute. And Taylor, what what mistakes do people often make on an animation demo?
SPEAKER_00Voicing. They're just voicing it. They're voicing as opposed to acting, as opposed to acting. That's like the biggest mistake, you know. Oh, I'm ready to do and they're also because I just heard that they're also not ready. They go find their friends to do these demos for them. The cost is, you know, 200 bucks. They put all these characters there, and all of these characters on here all sound the same. So we'll agents will know, casting will know, producers will know, they'll know right away. They'll just listen to really five seconds and be like, and then they'll toss that aside, and if they remember your names, you'll be like, ooh, that means you will have been blocked. Right. You know, and stuff like that, because they might, you know, they might, if if you represent it, ooh, you will be get you will probably get a phone call.
SPEAKER_01Producers, producers tend to have very, very long memories. We we've kind of touched on it once or twice here, but I want to get into this idea of, because I never heard this before I coached with you, uh, this idea of the East Coast sound versus the West Coast sound. What does that mean? How do we internalize that? And where do we recognize it where we hear it in current day animation?
SPEAKER_00Well, the first thing is how I came up with the idea is when I was traveling often, I noticed that I was hearing different sounds from the east and the west. And since um people, when we speak on our coast, it's a much back on the west coast, it's a much back laid, laid back kind of sound that just goes from everything all the way from Vancouver all the way down, and probably, you know, to the southwest. Everybody on the east coast, they've all speak proper. I use the word proper and articulate really well because of just who they are. So that's how I came up with the idea because when I was listening to everybody, I was like, well, what's going on? And then I had to relate it to animation because on the East Coast, it's all the small animation for preschool. So you're getting all the children's animation all the way up until whatever grid preschool, the younger kids, maybe a few teens, you know, up there. And they seem all the actors seem to really speak really well, but you gotta remember you're speaking to kids. So you've got to speak to a certain way, you've got to slow down your acting. You've got to really have them engaging with that. So that's how I came up with the whole East Coast and West Coast thing. Um, whereas on the West Coast, you have the bigger stuff, you're allowed to, you know, improv, you're allowed to play more. Their East is a little bit more strict, I could kind of so to say, in their acting.
SPEAKER_01And I know you work on both coasts, so I think you've got a unique perspective for what I'm about to ask you. And that is, I know certainly pre-pandemic, uh, if you were gonna do major animation, you pretty much had to be in Los Angeles. Is that still true? Not as true, not true at all anymore.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm gonna go with currently, right now, in our current climate, right now, you do need to be in LA. However, if you're really at a high, I'm gonna call high tier union status, agents know you, casting knows you, the producers know you, then you could be anywhere because they know who you are. They know what your studio sounds like. Right. And they know that, you know, we they know you. They're confident enough to say this person is either, if you want them in studio, they'll be on the next flight to LA. If not, just you know, just let them stay where they are and we work around them.
SPEAKER_01Right, but you gotta you gotta have those relationships first. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. You have to put time and effort into it. But if you're brand new, you know, I they're definitely gonna ask whether or not you should be in LA. And you should figure that out. We used to figure that out back in dinosaur years, those of us of a certain age. So those of you who are 20s and 30s, back when all the cartoons were in black and white. Exactly. You need to figure that out. You know, call a friend, phone a friend, live with a friend, work that system out because you can work it out. You can totally work it out. I mean, you know, Kastin is not gonna go ahead and call to make sure that you in LA, but you know, you find your voiceover friends who do it and go connect with them, you know, and stuff like that, and and go from there.
SPEAKER_01So has where most of the animation being done shifted? Uh, how much is being done in New York, and how much is being done in the Atlantas and the Toronto's and the Vancouvers of the world?
SPEAKER_00As of now, currently, New York is dead. I'm sorry to tell you. The animation is really, really bad. I know I haven't heard in probably a year or so, maybe even longer, that the animation is dead on at least New York. Vancouver and LA. So LA and Vancouver, that's where all the work is currently right now. Okay. Um, I can't really pinpoint Toronto. One of my students says she booked a couple of stuff in Toronto. So Toronto, they have a little bit of work going on. Okay. Um, Atlanta, I don't know anything about the Atlanta market. I don't necessarily know if they are producing shows down there. It hasn't been brought to my attention.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01So now I know you're not an agent, but in your experience as a booth director and as a casting, like what are agents, what are talent agents, do you believe, looking for when it comes to signing people on for specifically for animation?
SPEAKER_00Who can make me money? What what I I'm joking, but I'm being serious because I know all that the agents won't say it. I'll say it. Sure. They want to make money off of you. So you better be bringing them something unique and different that we don't have on our roster. That's it in a nutshell. And that's what they do. I mean, you know, they will weed you out if you're, you know, after I'm crazy. I'll say two semesters. If you're not booking after two, two and a half years, right? They might drop you, you know, but they're always looking for somebody that's new and different that they don't have on their roster. That but but on the flip side, if there's something inside you, and they go, they might not be ready now, but I can see, and about maybe, you know, with training and, you know, more acting classes or more improv classes, then they'll add you and then watch you grow.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, my former agent was like that. My former agent, um, Sandy Schnarr, could pinpoint you just like that. Okay. She would I would watch the actors come in and watch them grow during my time when I was a booth director. Wow. And it was like it was like amazing of like, sign yeah, I'm gonna sign this person on. Just work with them. And it would be like magic. And I was like, wow. Like former one of my students, my former student, um, who signed her and um very upset because she lost a job. And this was her first booking, and so she wasn't ready. So I remember her having a conversation with the agent, and then I had a conversation with her, and then I'm like, it's okay, you're gonna be fine. You wouldn't have got signed on, but this is your first, everything's your first. Time went on, she was booking stuff, boom, she learned. So, you know, if if my agent believed in you, or if the agent believes in you and stuff like that happens, what of a duck's back? Yeah, get over it, and eventually, you know, you'll start. You know, everybody starts off weak when it first started because they're excited, they're nervous, they were in an agency and this and that. So I tell everybody, you just gotta relax. You just have to relax. You know, the bookings will come, you know.
SPEAKER_01So And how, like you're if you're just getting your toes wet in the animation world, how do you begin to build that body of work so that you can even a year, two, three, four, present that to an agent and then begin to move up and get exposure to these better auditions and these better gigs.
SPEAKER_00Training. You just have to train. You train with everybody. You train with people, you train with people like a sponge. You got to just soak it all up like a sponge. And then, you know, sometimes you're the people who you're competing against will help you get to your next level as well. So it's also involving network, networking, which people don't know, which people, you know, do some the old school cats will, because they know. They're like, hey, you need to come over to this agency because they know that the agent, the other agent, the agent might be younger. The agent could be younger. Sure. So, you know, when you and I want to get to that, when you're looking for an agent, you want somebody who it's almost like a job interview. I want to know what connections you have, because though you're gonna put me on my roster, I want to know who you're exposed to. I want to know producers, I want to know casting. I do have the right to ask because I because you're gonna represent me. Yep. And a lot of actors get kind of, you know, a little bit, well, I don't know. And I'm like, listen, all our reputations are all on the line, regardless.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_01I think it's it's gotta be just as true in animation as it is in other genres. I think sometimes, especially newer talent, develop this sort of almost subservient uh relationship with an agent where they feel like, oh, geez, will they just will they just pick me? Will they just sign me on? That's I mean, that's not the that perspective doesn't necessarily serve you. Right, correct. Yeah, because the agent, as you said, is representing them. Everett Oliver, it's always a pleasure. I'm always smarter and more inspired, and I'm always reminded to play whenever I talk to you. And that's been maybe the greatest lesson you've ever taught me is to know who I am and to be able to play within those bounds. And I really, really appreciate working with you, and I appreciate the expertise and the generosity that you've shown by being with us here on the VO boardroom.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you. Thank you for having me.
