Top Animation Coach Everett Oliver: "Animation Down 75%!"

Well, our guest today is not only a good friend and my personal animation coach, but he's one of the most accomplished coaches in the entire genre. Everett Oliver has worked on prime time shows, including The Simpsons, King of the Hill, feature films like Men in Black, Jackie Chan Adventures. He's worked with Disney. He's worked

Columbia TriStar, he's worked with stars. is one of the greatest coaches in animation today. In fact, the way I found Everett Oliver was when Dave Finoy mentioned to me, he said, if you're going to go into animation or seek any animation work, Everett Oliver is the best in the business. And I still believe that to this day. Please welcome my good friend and coach Everett Oliver. Man, it's good to see you. Thank you. It's good to see you too. Thank you. I'm thinking of the crowd in my head. You know, I hear things.

I've been looking forward to today for a long time because I mentioned this to you when we were getting ready to go on camera. The last time I saw you was almost a year ago. And so I've been looking forward to this for a long time. We've coached together. We've hung out together. We've had drinks together. But I don't know a whole lot about your story, how it started and how you got here. So let's start there. I know you're a native New

I know you spent a cup of coffee in my hometown, Richmond, Virginia, spent time in Georgia, and now you're kind of bi -coastal, right? Alternating between New York and LA. Where did you start in this crazy business, Everett? I started here. I actually started here in LA. I'm actually going on 30 years. I know. I can see the little gray hairs. Trust me. Trust me.

So 30 years I started in animation production I'm basically like a sponge I get bored easily. I watch people I watch behaviors I Don't watch my own work What I worked on but um, I've worked in casting I worked in development. I've worked in post -production and animation

I've worked at a talent agency, directed actors on auditions. I'm going on as of next, as of next week, I would have been eight years have running my own business. I am. Congratulations. Thank you. by coastal, I'm heading back East for about three months. So how I really just started this is just basically a string of luck.

being really wise and soaking up stuff, really, really soaking up stuff like a sponge and not knowing what I really anticipated as to what I was going to do in LA. Like I had a big thing of, you know, everybody thought I was going to come out here and be an actor because I'm so animated. I wanted to work in live TV. It didn't end up that way. All of my friends who I wanted to call into it were still around. They've worked in live TV.

So I thought, I'll go work in live TV with actors or produce. And then it just so happens I just ended up at Film Roman, their first animation company. And people generally just liked me. I had a little Southern accent. My little Southern charm. Yes, ma 'am. Yes, sir. That didn't go along real well. And I was just so nice and polite.

and just naive and didn't know what was happening and just, you know, opportunity presented itself. And I worked with, didn't realize that I was working with top voice actors and top voice directors and top, you know, animation, you know, shows and producers. Looking at it now, I'm very, very fortunate. Yes, I still have my bumpy roads and stuff.

And I've decided to just take a clear path on, on figuring out, I'm still figuring out what's the next, I'm calling it the next phase in my life of what I want to do. Cause there's more phases that I still want to do. And I'm learning from different coaches, know, expressions and sayings. What doesn't serve me. I cut out. I'm a straight shooter. and I do personal appearances.

I love popping in and popping out. You've got three seconds really to impress me and tell me your life story. And what's scary enough is I retain it all. And then I can move on to the next person because there's so many people I need to see and check up on. You're breathing? You're doing great? What's wrong? What's the problem? What you need? You need to come see me. We need to schedule this meeting so I can get you on the right path. that's me. I know. I know what my purpose in life is. I know what I'm here to do.

I know you worked for, you were a booth director for, for a talent agency for several years. And I've always wanted to talk to you about that because we've never discussed it. What did you learn in those years about both sides of the glass about both being a booth director and about an actor, right? What they go through on their side of the glass as well. Well, I had no clue what a booth director was when I first, they won.

It took me years to figure out that process and why the hell I was there because I could not figure out my mentor at the time. Charlie Allen told me and said to me, you need to go be a booth director. And I was like, what is that? I don't even know what that is. So in my time being a booth director for five years, I learned from myself that I had a gift that I was able to connect to actors.

And the actors who I worked with, surprisingly enough, majority of them said to me, I've never booked an animated series before. And so my mouth was like, what? Because I had come from that whole world. in learning my special gift, in learning how to pull performances and learning how to direct, that's really, and that the fact is that life is serious.

but it ain't that serious. Meaning, yeah, there's some people I booked, I got them guest roles. There's some people who are really connected with that I would book on a consistent basis. One of my really good friends who I just saw about two weeks ago. And so it was for me of learning how the agency world work. Now I was asked to be an agent, I turned it down.

that in casting, I negotiated salaries in casting. I had told actors, you need to be here. I had covered for actors if they were running late to a session. I've done everything I could in casting that I didn't need to do it as a talent agent, because I had done that. I wanted to be on the creative side and see what the actors could do and also see what they couldn't do.

and get them to where they could do it. That's what I did. But still soaking up everything. You know, it was a fast moving pace and I come from a fast moving pace world. So it was just like, you didn't have time to think. You didn't have time to, it was just the copy comes in, you get them to audition. They had the copy the night before. And I do it to this day when I'm directing actors, when I'm doing auditions for actors.

You've got to be in a fast moving pace. That's why I move so fast and move so quickly. You don't have time to say it. So that's what we, it's the different personalities that I also learned because I was dealing with probably, probably had about 250 people represented at the agency back then. The actors who came into the office, I would say probably about 30, about maybe 30, maybe 40 actors that would come

So I learned to have to learn 40 different personalities. Plus the copy rather be commercial rather be promo rather be animation. Then I had to report to my agents. We're gonna then it was like, you know, we've got to get these projects out in a timely manner. I'm feeding off of people's energies. I'm feeding off of agencies energies. I'm feeding off, you know, trying to, you know, people who audition from home.

that had to send in the actual edition. So it was all of those factors. And it's just after five years, it's just a burnout. Now I know what actors go through when I see them on TV and they've done a series for 14, 15 years and the same repetitive stuff. It's just burnout. And so from the actor's point of view, they had to come in prepared. They had to just be able to take simple direction.

I learned from myself that all I have to do is tweak you. I don't have to tell them what specifically to do it this way, do it this way. I can still make suggestions. But most of the time I just tweak them. Most of time I just hit the button, hit report. And then you'd be like, I like that. I'm a type of person that I have also had to learn that I'm hard to impress. That's just the nature of where I come from. So I'm, I'm a straight shooter. So I'd go when they saw me smile or they said when I kicked them out of the booth,

They know that was like, that was brilliant because remember I come from the casting side. So I know who you're competing against and all of this stuff that I learned from AVO talent. bring to my professional career to this day, the same way I do with non -union actors is I know the level of what's happening, what's happening out there and the competition.

Now that it's on a much larger scale, it's even harder. Everybody in the world wants to do animation. Everybody. That's the hardest profession to get into. I didn't think about it at the time because I've been doing for so long. I hadn't really thought about it. But you have to bring something unique and different to the table. You have to

You have to put yourself out there. I just had a client today that was just telling me that and talking to him from a person who's outside of the States, who is doing animation in other European countries. And I literally just had this whole conversation with him as to do we got to negotiate. That's also affected at actors, you

especially non -union actors, if you're do animation, which is probably 2 % happening, I'm not gonna say it's 90 % because that's where all the sex, most of the animation is all sex. Most of the animation, 98, 99 % of it is all done in Los Angeles. The other half is done in New York. That's just the way, the nature of how the business runs. Unless you're doing stuff that's on YouTube, then you can be anywhere around the country.

My perception is, and maybe you can correct me here, that that's not as true as it used to be. And I'll use examples of Atlanta for animation, Toronto for video game work, right? It used to, it feels like, and maybe this is where I'm wrong, Everett. It feels like, you know, even five years ago, before the pandemic, you had to be in LA. Still true? They've changed

Within the last, probably three, I would say within the last month, all the animation has come back to Los Angeles. I would say 90%. So a lot of actors are getting LA only LA talent only. Now there's an exception to the rule. I would say you live in maybe San Francisco, San Diego. You can get there fast. Vegas. can get there fast.

all those other states, you have to develop a relationship with your agent. I would, if you can have a better relationship with your casting person, even better if you knew the producers of the show. Those are the tickets. Those are the people who won't get you in. If you have those kinds of relationships, you can negotiate and do it anywhere. So for somebody who is not in LA, is it even possible to use your

to develop a relationship directly with those people, the producers, the casting directors, right? The folks you just named. Is that even something that people in, you know, East Jabip, Kansas can do? You have to think outside of the box. So when I'm naming these producers, there's always, we're all connected in some way, in some form. Sure. So this is what I would

Let's say, for example, you're an animation artist and you work on a show. I know that I want to voice that show and I want to have the connection with that producer. I would connect myself with that artist, send my stuff to the artists, develop, at least you develop that relationship with the artists. The artists who draws for that show live in the same city as that producer and might say, hey,

Why don't you your demo reel to me and let me see if I can send it to my producer. That's one way of doing it. And I think the key there is you've got to develop the relationship first. You cannot come out of the box going, hi, I'm a voice actor, which is send my stuff to your producer. That's not the way anything works. Develop a relationship first. I mean, you know, I'm always, that's why I move so fast. I'm literally developing relationships. I have people who come to me and say,

I'm on X, I'm on LinkedIn, and I'm contacting people who teach. And I'm just saying, Hey, I'm Everett blah, blah, blah, this and that. I just want you to come teach for my students. Cause there's something that you have. I've done my research. They're like, my God, I'm so honored that you even asked. I'm like, yeah. You know, so it's all about that, you know, figuring it out. And what I call it is a system.

I've always said this since I was probably eight or nine years old. The world is made up of a system. I don't care what any field that we're in, whether or not you work in a medical field, you, you're working, in political office or whatever. It's all a system. And if you know how to get into a system, you learn to navigate. That's how I did. That's how I did my career. I figured out the system. It ain't hard.

Working for example, working at a talent agency. They all do the same thing All the talent agencies all do the same thing you got to know the players Who are the big people? And if the big people are gonna like you They all give out copy. They all negotiate your salaries They all they all tell you what you need to be not one does something different from the other. Who you gonna ask me you ask me? I stopped

Once you figure that out, you know, that's how I learned how to move fast. One of my agents, one of my agents, it's so funny because he called me last week and he said, ever, you never say goodbye at a party. That's why I just leave. I pop in, I get to know everybody. I see their faces. I connect with everybody just to remain relevant. And then someone will stop me, talk to me, let me know whatever the situation is, get back to me.

But the only thing is, is that I just absorb everything like a sponge. is more challenging outside of Los Angeles. Even markets like Atlanta, Toronto, et cetera. And it is like every other genre. It's built on relationships, but those relationships are not built as easily. Right. We'll call it digitally, right? Like you might reach out to e -learning producers online, things like that. It's not as easily done in animation.

No, it's not. mean, like I said, you have to go through what I also think of is to you have to go through back doors and you have to go through the side doors because going through the front doors is totally in this day and age. this is when they and let me repeat my think about it because Toronto has a lot of animation. New York has animation. New York has preschool animation. New York doesn't have the bigger stuff. They might be working on getting

bigger stuff, but from my understanding is Disney Jr. and Nick Jr. all of those preschool shows are all based out of New York. I, Toronto, I believe is also in that time span where they're doing little small shows. Vancouver, which I'm looking into, might be doing maybe a little bit more bigger shows. You know, but also too, you should also talk to

voice talent with people who book the animation type stuff as well. Because that's where you're going to get a feel for, I mean, people are reaching out to me. I'm doing some side stuff for actors too and getting them connected. And that's pretty much a part of my business too. And a part of who I am is connecting people to other people as well too. So if you're nice to me, I'll connect

That's also generally how the world works, I feel like most people, and obviously yourself included, but most people, the vast majority, want to be helpful. They don't want to be sold. They don't want to be manipulated, but they do want to be helpful. So if you're genuine and honest and authentic and real and try to bring some value to the

So then people will typically bend over backwards to do what they can for, another, another human. And also to talent. When an agent, and I know my mind is racing when an agent is looking for new, new, I don't want to say customers, clients. You got to bring talent. You got to come with credits. You have to come with recommendation.

And I could hear it. I could hear it in my head. You got to be ready because when it happens, it's going to happen this quick. you're not going to be able to, as I love looking at actors faces and they go, here they go. I say something to them, process, process, process. And I'm saying it to them and they're looking at me because they can't say anything. Stop processing. This is about money.

This is what I really wanted to come talk to you about. This is about money and this is about ratings. That's what the business is like. Agents ain't gonna tell you. Producers not gonna tell you. I've been in it long enough that I can go ahead and I can share this with you and tell you. I'm not talking about your personal stuff. I'm talking about when you looking, especially to get into animation, it's about at the end of the day,

the top people at the networks are gonna go is this show making me money.

And the agents, they ain't going to tell you, but I'm going tell you, they're like, how much money you breaking me? I'm making you money. How much money you making me money. And if you ain't making an agent money, I don't know what to tell you. I didn't sit that in about 36 seconds. is a, he is a straight shooter. nothing else, there's a world about so, and everybody should know that going

Let's get a little more straight talk going if we could. I have heard from some folks in the animation side, and of course we had a kind of a seismic shift in last few years with regards to ethnically appropriate actors playing roles, right? Used to be guys like me would get cast, didn't matter what the

Great example, the classic example is Hank Azaria as Hapu on The Simpsons, right? And then we had a movement a few years ago and there has been a huge push in the industry, which is fantastic, to diversify, to get appropriate roles to appropriate actors. Are we in a place now where guys like me can get hired anymore? Right now, no. That's my sense. And I don't think that's a problem.

I think it's a market correction to what was happening before. Agree? And I think that people weren't aware until stuff happened in the world. And so I get that all the time from actors. I don't know. I, my thing for them would be it's a timing. It's all about timing. You've going to have to sit and wait. I have been...

And I can say this honestly, I was probably one of two African -Americans in casting. remember going to the Silvers. I brought my parents and Dave Fennoy said something that was very interesting to my parents. And of course my mom, she's an advocate in the community for everything that she touches. And, and we asked.

How many people of color are coaches? This was back in probably 2016, 2017. Finoy said, probably you can count them in one hand, which would be him, Joe, Everett. Sorry if I missed anybody else, because those are the only three I can think of back then. Has that changed significantly? It's changed a lot. I could think of probably two or three more off the top of my head.

So yes, it has changed. It's growing slightly. You know, they're not enough. know, God bless them. Michael Scott is killing it for video games, killing it. I don't even see him anymore. Kill it. I see him at the conferences. Wave, you're doing well. And that was his vision that he's like, hey, you know, this is what I want to do. Boom. And he said it to me in a conversation.

Yeah, I don't see a lot of us at all. What's happening? I'm like, but then you need to take the torch and you need to do it. So have the challenges lifted for people of color or is it just this sort of social movement that may end up being temporary? Who knows? Hollywood shifts. You know, listen, Hollywood is funny. Now you talking about

One of my friends say, no, you, you a Californian. You've been out here in California long in life. No, I'm a New Yorker. Let's get, let's, I'm half California and I'm half New York. California is funny. And I, and all the Californians who's gonna look at this, they're gonna go ahead, they're gonna talk about me. And I'm like, bring it. Because I don't know every, with this, it changes. It's like when you change your socks every day, that's how people are out here in California to me.

I can't give you a straight answer because I don't know because it's like quiet as kept now give you another tip all the video game producers only gonna cast actors in LA What now I'm hearing this tip from a few people few sources So I got a little few spies that I stay in contact with I'm like, what do you mean the video games is being cast and only in

You've got to be kidding me. Video games is done all around the world. Well, they don't have the same microphones and they're not sure about the studios if they're built correctly. And this is why I'm like, for real? So we're going to go do that now too. That's what I'm saying. I can't get a straight answer. I'm fishy. Like, I'm not sure. But my spies will say, right. It's quiet as this cat. They doing video games out of California as well.

And that's why I said I can't give you a straight answer because California it flips back and forth. Right. Right. No one will have a clear answer. We're just lucky as people of color are lucky enough that now we're hoping that it'll stay the path. Eventually, it's going to open back up to everybody because you're seeing a shift even in television on prime time shows. You're seeing more people of color.

So I'm like, you know, I'm like, okay, we'll see. We could just hope and pray. The women are killing it. Black women are killing it. My sisters are killing it. I mean, they're all of all over the place. You just see them even on TV and there, are a lot more opportunities for black women. would say for men for males, you know, and all genres across the board. So we'll see long overdue long overdue.

Let's switch gears for a minute. We've had a lot of upheaval in the voiceover business at large over the last, let's call it two years. had SAG after strike, we had a writer's guild strike. We've had the introduction and hysteria around generative AI. I think maybe of those for animation, my impression is that the biggest

of all so far has been the sag after strike of last summer. Are we back from that? Is animation back? Where is the animation? What's the state of animation right now ever? 75 % down. 75 % down. got that from the source. 75%. Because of there's lots of changes going on with Disney. They

sealed the deal with Paramount. And there's one more I can't even think of. It'll hit me. And Warner Brothers, I think there's some stuff happening at Warner Brothers. And it's an election year. And I was told early in my career, anytime there's a presidential election year, things are gonna be a little wonky. So when, my thing is, until after what happens in November,

and maybe into January, things will start. But everybody is keeping, they're keeping, they're not, they're keeping their money tight across the board. So shows are gonna be down, the video game's probably gonna be down as well. I think there might be a strike coming from video games. I can't confirm that as of yet. There might be some sort of, there might, but who knows? Like I said, everything is so uncertainty. One way it's this, one way is that.

Kind of a one -two punch of the strike last year, the election year this year, and now we're looking at a quarter of the business being done in animation than we normally are. Wow. It's so system -listic because it's about those budgets and we're going back to money again. As soon as the networks feel comfortable to talk to the showrunners, then they'll go ahead and they'll donate, they'll get those monies for those budgets.

As I said, it's all about money. And then they can go ahead and make it look at the Nelson ratings. Now I'm a junkie. I'm a Nelson is junkie. That's one of the things that people don't know about me is people laugh at me. Like I post stuff and I watch how many hits that I get because that to me reminds me of ratings to see how relevant you are is the exact same thing because I come from the land of television. It's the exact same thing in your personal lives when you're on social media.

Those numbers could tell you whether or not you're, as people say, unpopular, which I am, but popularity doesn't put cash in my pocket. But it's just about me being relevant and present in the moment. wrap up with a little bit of talk about actual animation performance, because I want people to understand one of the lessons that you made clear to

And that is there is a huge difference and this is especially applicable to newer folks. There is a massive difference between a voice and a character. Would you talk about that for a moment? So a voice is when you're, well, first of all, we're going to call it voice acting. It's all about your acting. So when people are putting on characters, there's a sense of they're imitating people.

who they're now. They're not bringing themselves to it. So when you're voice acting, you're being creative and you're adding a point of view to it. You're bringing maybe, what's it called, what's it called? I'm not being unique, but it's like, you know, when a stutter to a character to make it funny. A character is just, it's just,

You know, people create these characters that it's just, it's not them. It's put on. It just doesn't, you could tell that it's put on. And I use different peoples and techniques for when people are voicing, voice acting, I should say, a character than rather than being, you gotta be that character is what I'm saying. But there has to be a part of you in that character.

that I hear it, like some people, they'll look at a picture. I can tell when they voice the picture. That's no, that's, not even leaving it up to the imagination. You just basically imitated that, that picture to what you saw. And then I say to them, what happens if that drawing wasn't there? Give me a different spin and give me a different take on it. Because this here has so much that you should be able to be creative enough to come up with

toolboxes of characters that will make you separate you from the crowd. That's one of the things that I learned from you is it might be an animated character, but it's still a character and it still has to have backstory and subtext and motivations and needs and everything else. Dude, I'm glad we got the chance to catch up today. I'm sorry I will miss you in Dallas altogether this year. Check my socials... social...

with social media listings. we're helping people where to find you, you know, out in the social TV guide, it were. The TV guide, right? I'm pretending I'm I'm self. You both are. You can reach me at EO at voice acting director, all one word .com. And of course the website is voiceactingdirector .com and on socials. Social media, on LinkedIn. I'm on Twitter.

I'm on Instagram. I'm around. People know where to find me. know, email me. I'll get back to you. I do eat, sleep and go to the bathroom like everybody else. I'm a little bit, just a little bit more raw, a little bit more real. And I'm sarcastic. That's just part of who I am. I'm sorry America. No, you're not. take things so seriously. It's not, we're in voice, we're in voiceover land.

We're not surgeons watching Grey's Anatomy or Chicago Med, which is one of my shows. It's not that serious. I get it. It's our livelihood, but we need to let go and have some laughs. I just came back from Nashville and had an awesome time being in Nashville. The food was fantastic. So if you're to get diabetes, I'm promoting Nashville.

Everett Oliver, the voice acting director himself, the great EO, it great to spend time with you today. No, thank you. Lots of ratings, big ratings. For you.