Jamie Thomason: Casting and Directing Disney Television

Jamie Thomason: Casting and Directing Disney Television
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HK: What is your approach to celebrity casting?

JT: It's all casting, regardless of whether they're a celebrity or a voice actor. We brainstorm individuals we believe are right for the character, whether it's the way they act, or maybe in their style of comedy or drama. But first and foremost, we cast for the character. If we happen to be looking for a celebrity, it just narrows the field.

HK: Does directing celebrities differ from directing voice-over only actors?

JT: If the celebrity has never done animation before, it's certainly different. But actors are actors -- they usually rise to the occasion. You might be a great film actor, but you'll be directed differently if you shift to the stage or television or voice acting. The key difference is that voice acting is like radio theatre -- the camera isn't going to dolly in on your eyes. You've only got from your lips to your larynx to convey the soul of the character. There's other little technical things, like having to stay on microphone -- live-action performers are used to looking from side to side, acting out with their bodies -- but looking side to side in the sound booth only makes your voice sound differently to the microphone.

Also in animation, the acting is often a little bolder or a little broader. The human voice is the only human aspect to an animated character -- everything else is 24 hand drawn and painted pictures per second of film. In everything else about animation, the creative process is focused on one frame at a time. So it's very important to use the voice to fully communicate the emotion, and sometimes that translates into a much bolder performance.

HK: What are the biggest or most frequent mistakes you see in a voice-over performance?

JT: The biggest mistake -- wearing noisy clothes! Hot tip -- don't starch your shirts, don't wear nylon windbreakers, leave the jangling jewelry at home and don't carry any change in your pocket. We had Joe Pantoliano in the studio for a Hercules episode, and his jacket and shirt were made of such noisy material that he ended up recording in his undershirt.

HK: What is your advice for folks wanting to break into voiceovers? What should they do and what shouldn't they do?

JT: They shouldn't do it unless they absolutely have to. It's an intensely competitive field, partly because it's extremely anonymous for the vast majority of work. The same actors do multiple voices for multiple shows for multiple companies. Because of that, there's a small, core group of A-list voice-over actors that work the majority of the gigs. Then there's a larger group that work a little, an even larger group that work even less, and then there's everyone else. To get into that center ring is extremely difficult.

If you want to start down that long road, you should begin by taking acting classes, particularly those for voice-over and animation -- if, for nothing else, just to get used to the differences of this medium. You should not rush to get a demo tape together, although ultimately you're going to need one. And that demo tape has to be great. Once you've gone that far, you'll need an agent, and they'll be the ones that market your voice to casting directors.

Like the headshot in live acting, the demo tape is your greatest marketing tool. And what you put on that tape is crucial -- it should be only what you do extremely well. Do not put on anything that you do okay. For every category of voice-over, there are hundreds of people that do an excellent job. So if you do an okay John Wayne impression, don't put it on -- there's thousands that do a great one. If there's anything tangible, like dialects or impressions or kids' voices, that's important to include on the tape. The wider variety of characters, the better. This tape has to make a huge impression -- personally, I'd rather hear two very solid minutes of tape than three minutes of variety that includes mediocre voices.

HK: How do you do as much as you do?

JT: I have a very efficient staff that does an amazing job of cramming a whole lot into every single day. And they really do schedule out every minute of my day -- right down to breaks and conference calls and meetings, all in between our recordings. So we work long hours, we don't sleep a lot, put in some week-ends and nights, and down a lot of cappuccino blasts along the way.

Heather Kenyon is Editor of Animation World Magazine.