and the ground’s not cold

I had the best time ever when I recorded Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go.
I got there a few minutes ahead of my call, because it’s the first time I’ve ever worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation, and there was a ton of paperwork to fill out.
Filling out the forms was a challenge, because I kept losing my focus when I’d hear the voice of Brain, as in “Pinky and the” come out of the guy sitting across from me. Then there was the jaw-droopingly beautiful Tia Carrere, who positively floated into the lobby to work on Lilo and Stitch.
The fact is, the lobby at that studio was filled with a “who’s who” of voice talent, and I was just stunned that I got to be around them.
I got my forms filled out, signed in for the session, and sat there, breathing deeply and repeating to myself, over and over again, “Don’t go fanboy. Don’t go fanboy. Don’t go fanboy. Don’t go fanboy.”
By the time I was called into my session, I was (more or less) calmed down. Well, as calm as one would expect, given the circumstances.
I walked down a long hallway, and into the recording studio. It looked just like you’d expect: Two engineers sat at a huge desk covered with dials and faders, a producer sat on a small couch, and another producer sat near him at a table covered with pages from the script, character drawings, and a sweating can of Diet Coke. The whole room is dominated by a large glass window that looks into the sound booth, which is empty except for a music stand, headphones, and microphone.
When I walked in, I shook hands with the producers, who introduced me to the actor who had just finished. You wouldn’t know his name, but you’d sure know his voice! He said to me, “It’s great to meet you! I’ve been seeing your name all over town.”
“In a good way?” I said.
“Yeah! You’re on voice sheets all over the place. What have you been working on?”
“Well, I’m Aqualad on Teen Titans . . . ”
He snapped his fingers. “Yes! That’s it! I was just over there. Man, they love you!”
I had to bite down on my lip to prevent a Howard Dean Scream from escaping. I smiled, and hoped nobody noticed my trembling hands.
“That is so cool!”
One of the producers said, “Did you see the Master of Games episode that was just on?”
“Oh, you mean the one where Aqualad gets punked by Speedy?” I said with a laugh. “No, I was out at a show the night it was on. But I think they’re sending me a tape.”
He laughed along with me. “That was my episode.”
Uh-oh. Did I just piss him off?
I tried to save it with a joke. “Why you gotta be hating on Aqualad?”
“It was part of setting up Speedy,” he said, “but I tried to make Aqualad as scary and tough and cool as possible.”
“Rock.” I said, and threw a little, mini-goat by my waist. I noticed that my pinky was still shaking, so I put it down quickly.
“Well, I’ve got to get out of here,” the actor said. “It was great to meet you!”
“You too,” I said.
The producer called me over to his table, and showed me the character sketches. He gave me a run down on the show, and then he said, “I really like your voice, so just do whatever you want to do with this.”
“Really? Cool!!”
“Yeah. When Disney asked me who I wanted to play this role, I told them to get you, because I knew you as Aqualad.”
This is where I would have done a backflip, just like Todd Bridges on Diff’rent Strokes, if I was able to do that sort of thing. See, until he said that, I didn’t know why I’d gotten this job. I thought it may have been because I used to be on Star Trek, or because I was a minor celebrity, or something like that. Those are okay reasons to get a job, I guess, but he just told me that I earned this job because of my work on Teen Titans,and that’s the greatest feeling in the world.
“Gosh, thanks, man. That’s so cool! I hope I don’t disappoint you.”
The session director, a young woman who immediately puts me at ease, tells me that they’re ready, so I walk into the booth.
When the door closes behind me, it’s like I’m standing in the Cone of Silence. The only sound I hear besides the ringing in my ears is the excited pounding in my heart. On the other side of the glass, I watch the director press a button on top of what looks like a garage door opener. Her mouth moves as she looks at her script. A moment passes, and she looks up at me, expectantly.
I realize that, in my excitement, I’ve forgotten to put on my headphones. Whoops.
“I guess I can hear you better with these on,” I say with a laugh, and they laugh back.
The producer and director talk a little bit about the character, and give me incredible creative freedom to play around with different voices.
This is the most amazing thing in the world. I can feel their confidence in me, and it creates twice as much confidence in myself. I feel like I can do no wrong, so I clench my hands into fists, grit my teeth, tense up my whole body, and deliver some lines into the mic in this voice that I think sounds kind of cool.
“Hold on, Wil.” She says, and turns to the producer. Her thumb slips off the “talk” button, and all now I can see them talking, but I can’t hear a thing they’re saying. Judging by their body language, they’re happy. There’s a lot of nodding and smiling.
Wow. This rules!
I watch as the director nods vigorously, and thumbs the “talk” button. “That’s fantastic, Wil,” she says, “Let’s record this.”
What? I hit it on my first try? Really?! Cool!
This is the same thing that happens when I work on Titans: all the people involved, from the producers to the director to the actors, are super supportive, and encourage a creative environment, so I feel comfortable taking huge risks and playing characters that I’d never try on my own. I know it probably seems like it would always be like this, and maybe it is in the voice over world, but for the past several years, the bulk of my on-camera “acting” has been in auditions where that supportive, creative environment simply doesn’t exist.
We roll tape, and start recording. After most of my lines, I watch through the glass as the producers and the director talk with each other. I can tell that they’re happy with what I’m doing, and my spirits just soar. I totally haven’t let them down, and a few times, the producer talks to me himself. “That’s just awesome, Wil,” he says, “That was really, really cool.”
Man, I wish I could do that backflip. This is really fun.
I only have 17 lines in this show, plus some crowd voices, a few random kids, and stuff like that, so I’m finished in less than an hour. When I take my headphones off, and step back into the Cone of Silence, I understand why so many people work so hard to make it into the voice acting world, and how lucky I am to be here.
When I walk out of the recording booth, one of the producers, who has been sitting on the far side of the room with a sketchpad, (either looking at character models to see if the voice I’m doing matches up, or sketching character models based on my voice — I’m not sure) jumps up and meets me at the door. He extends his hand, and tells me how much he liked what I did, and says, several times, “We’re going to have you back. We’re going to work with you again.”
I try to remain professional, but I can’t completely contain my enthusiasm. I tell them how much fun I had, and that I hope to come back for more shows in the future. They all assure me that I will.

114 thoughts on “and the ground’s not cold”

  2. Congratulations on nailing that voice job, Wil.
    I hope you get so much work you have to pick and choose and even turn down some stuff because you’re so busy.
    Way to go!
    Bill

  6. Despite my feelings about Disney in general (I’m sure you know what I mean), I’m happy that your experience was awesome. Congrats.

  9. Way to go, Wil. Nice to see you having a great day. Can you talk at all specifically about the project? Direct to video, theater release, etc.

  10. That would be Relic Hunter… WOW what an awful show 🙂
    Congrats on the kickass job Wil! Just think about this: Down the road, people are going to be looking you up on IMDB and saying “OMG! He was Aqualad? He was on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!? WOW! I loved those shows as a kid! And now he’s a super famous writer! 😛

  13. That is so cool Wil. Congrats on getting this one. Also, congrats on doing such a good job. When I heard about this show, it was before I knew you were going to be doing voices for it. Now that you are on the show, I am doubly interested in watching this show. Keep up the good work, and yes, isn’t voice-over work the bee’s knees?

  14. Congrats Wil.
    You know what they say, if you work at what you love then you’ll always love your work.
    And then we’ll all love your work too.
    You can always tell when someone’s loving what they do and I appreciate you letting us see your world through your eyes.
    C.

  18. That is very cool Wil.
    My sister is in her last year of Animation, and last year worked as an intern at an animation studio, designing and working on various characters. Last week, they gave her an audition to do the voiceover for the very character she designed! Her ‘baby’. heh. Some christmas special with Leslie Nielson as Santa.
    Man, you guys are having all the fun.

  22. BWhaha!…
    … Ok.
    Fanboy? I can hardly picture anyone but an uber otaku at Pawpets Megaplex 2004 going fanboy and not bathing for a full week and collecting everything someone had touched, and omigod I’ll never wash this tshirt again since a great Disney animator touched it…(like they ever washed it before)…
    Don’t feel bad for feeling the admiration and adoration slip from you, heck, I bet you like it when you get a fanboy once or twice who doesn’t say ‘used to’ when it comes to your acting ability. …(Loved Jane White is Sick and Twisted! … I’m a fan of mind numbing humor at 4 AM…)
    It can’t be any worse than a complete stranger giving you a hug, sort of odd at first, but then it makes you feel warm and fuzzy in the deeper reaches of your emotional cockles.
    Congratulations with the animation/voice actor that you’ve landed! I’ve heard from a few… uhm, contacts that Disney is okay to work with, though sometimes they’ll own your soul if you exude any sort of consistent talent =) (Let’s not forget everyone having to learn Maya on the Disney animation teams…) *grin*
    (They’ll own your soul, Wil!)
    /Kendra

  23. Wil, that sounds very exciting. And nice feeling to know you’ve earned it. In your FAQ it says you’ll eventually have some section up for aspiring actors. I look forward to that, and would probably find voice acting even more interesting. So when you get the time don’t forget about that section. 😉 Anyway, happy for you!

  24. Jesus Wil! Was that YOU at the Buena Vista gate with the cardboard sign that said “WILL WORK FOR DISNEY”?
    By the way, this isn’t a slam on you. It’s a slam on Mauschwitz.
    Not to mention the fact that I’m a bitter jealous bastard.

  25. When I walked in, I shook hands with the producers, who introduced me to the actor who had just finished. You wouldn’t know his name, but you’d sure know his voice!
    Dude, don’t presume. Who was it?
    (Yeah, am a huge VA geek. ^_^)

  30. and if the ground’s not cold, everything’s gonna burn
    That’s gonna be stuck in my head all day now. ah well.
    Congrats. 🙂

  32. i recently got some kudos for a job well-done on something i had worked hard on as well. doesn’t it make you feel great?!?!? oh – and the pixies! yay! i have got to save up for coachella so i can see them play.

  33. Wow! Wow. I am so jealous. You were even in the same room as Maurice LaMarche! al;djfa!! I would have died right there. That’s so awesome. I always thought you seemed like a natural when it came to voice acting. Secret of Nimh and all that. 🙂

  34. after the worst weekend ever of getting dumped my bf if 2 years, i found myself wishing youd update your blog. i got dancing barefoot in the mail today and just finished it, and, well, im not crying anymore.
    im glad you had fun with the new show.

  35. So… cool. Nailed it on the first take! > I think I’ll call up my agent and see if they FINALLY have got any VO gigs for me here in the Twin Cities. So, Wil, how many agents did you go through before you got one that actually understood you?

  36. Great Job Wil! Glad to hear that things are working out so well for you. I don’t think we get Teen Titans up here in Canada bu I’ll keep an eye out for it!

  37. I deeply appreciate some of your stories about your battles to gain acceptance outside ST:NG. I’ve had a rough couple of days and today’s story on hitting the mark was top notch. It gave me a sense of hope.

  40. That is absolutely awesome, Wil. I’m so happy that you’re doing what you love to do.
    And not that you need the props, but I want to let you know I never hated Wesley on ST. He was the reason that I was never ashamed of being the smart kid in school. Wesley made me feel that I asn’t alone.

  41. That’s so cool! I’ve always been curious about that industry and thought how awesome it would be to do cartoon voices. You know, I don’t think the Simpsons have addressed blogging yet (I am sure if they have someone will immediately correct me) — you should so be on that episode.

  42. Hey, have you seen Mark Hamill’s “Comic Book the Movie”? Most of the parts were played by veteran voice actors. The actual movie is OK, but the best part is the extra feature showing a discussion panel of voice actors at the San Diego Con. Reading your description of the Lobby O’ Voice Talent reminded me of this. You have to get this (or at least rent it). Of course, this may not be that big of a deal to you since you are Mr. Big Time Voice Guy now!
    Congratulations!
    ps – I’m really happy for you. It sounds like things are really going well.

  43. Congrats, Wil!
    Definitely keeping my eyes open for Teen Titans and Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go, for whenever it might be airing all the way here in Belgium. 🙂

  45. Wil!! That is so awesome!! Is it weird to say that I’m proud of you? If that’s creepy, sorry. I am just very pleased that you’re in such a positive space right now. \m/

  46. What an awsome experience. You are so fawken lucky. Aqualad would be proud. Maybe one day there will be a crossover show. 2 wil’s for the price of one.
    Good Job Monkey Boy from another Monkey Boy.
    (i was born in the year of the monkey)

  47. Congrats on the job, and I hope that this means they’ll have you back as Aqualad on TT sometime soon.
    Can’t wait to see this new show 🙂

  48. I saw Deep Six in the weekend. Had it timed all wrong and thought it was supposed to be NEXT weekend, so I couldn’t tape it.
    Bring on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!

  49. Hey Wil-
    Well, I’m 18 about done with my first year at University and was directed to this site by my crazy Trekkie of an older brother. Now, I never liked STNG, but I remember liking your character. Cool, anyway, I’m also a writer, love reading your stuff. I’ll read your book this summer. Want to read mine? Ha.
    Anyway, kudos on all the great stuff you’re up to. Later..Lisa

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