Raising Voices
Raising Voices
Tatiana Bull ’11
BY JESSICA HALSTEAD
Think of your favorite animated character. What makes them “real” to you? Their movements, perhaps, but also their voice. Would the beloved Buzz Lightyear from “Toy Story” still be Buzz Lightyear with a different voice? Probably not. How characters sound, not just through words, but through other vocal expressions, make them who they are, and make their legacies with audiences last.
So, you might say that for Tatiana Bull ’11, the pressure is on.
Under the massive umbrella that is the Walt Disney Company, Tatiana serves as one of the casting executives at Disney Branded Television. In other words, she’s one of the forces that brings your favorite animated television characters to life—by getting talented actors behind the mic to give them voices. And she’s good at it, with three Emmy Awards to her name (so far!).
Tatiana currently oversees casting on multiple active productions, including “Big City Greens,” “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder,” and “Rise Up, Sing Out.” She also casts for Disney’s short-form content, in which there has been a boom at the company. “These days, we focus a lot on shorter content because it gives us so much more flexibility to reach our audience,” Tatiana says.
AT THE CRUX OF CASTING
Casting, Tatiana continually emphasizes, is “a collaborative process to try and figure out what we can make work.” It takes a dedicated team, working in harmony, to transform these characters from simple sketches into dynamic, living animations. Across each production, departments such as the executive producers, writers, and artists collaborate closely—not only to shape each role but also to bring the entire world of the show to life.
There is further collaboration—between producers, casting executives like Tatiana, and agents who represent the voice actors—that can sometimes be a big, complicated dance. Communication is key, and deadlines loom. To stay on top of her responsibilities, Tatiana dedicates much of her day to meeting with executive producers and creative teams for each production she’s involved in, reviewing the cast and having creative conversations about upcoming characters to help drive the personality of the show, reviewing recording schedules, and ensuring that the voice actors can complete their tracks on time to meet show deadlines. When she’s not tending to the thousands of details that casting requires, she’s brainstorming for projects coming down the line. Tatiana has curated a long and ever-growing list of voice actors who may be perfect for roles that haven’t yet been dreamed up. Finding talent to add to that list is all in a day’s work.
Casting a voice actor can make—or break—an audience’s perception of a character, and sometimes, the whole show. But it’s not just Tatiana, as the casting executive, shouldering this responsibility. At every turn, it’s about collaboration and networking. “It’s a really social job,” she explains. She’s constantly building relationships with show producers, up-and-coming talent, and everyone in between.
Tatiana’s work, for the most part, begins when she’s approached by the executive producer or producers of a show. They’ll send Tatiana a character description and sometimes some simple artwork, usually a rough line drawing of what the character will look like. The executive producers may make basic decisions about what a character sounds like…or, depending on the show and timeline, that may be up to Tatiana. For example: this particular dragon is grumpy—so maybe a gruffer voice will work. Meanwhile, a young and hopeful little girl may need a voice with a dream-like quality.
Even if an executive producer has an A-lister in mind for a role, Tatiana will still generate a bountiful list of options to pick from. To do that, she’ll pore through her Rolodex of talent, work her relationships with agents, see if voice actors currently working on other Disney projects can come in for auditions—or hit the comedy club. “We go to comedy shows, improv shows, musicals…pretty much anything to just look for new talent to bring in to work with,” she explains.
Tatiana sees her role as not only a casting executive but also a champion, especially for newer talent. Discovering people, bringing them in for interviews and auditions, and championing them through the long and often arduous casting process is a significant part of her work. “Part of our job when we do find people—maybe they’re really good in voiceover or just really funny—is to pitch them,” she says. She’ll send the executive producers links to someone’s stand-up comedy or TikTok videos or Instagram reels. “We’re like, hey, this person has so much talent, they can really carry the comedy,” she says. “Keep them in mind!” The goal while scouting is to find exciting talent that can inspire future characters and storytelling.
Final decisions are made by the creative team, including the Executive Producers and Tatiana. So, getting to know each producer as an individual is crucial to the work. “Each executive producer kind of has their own sense of humor and style for what they want in their show.,” she explains. “It’s really about knowing your producers.”
Besides being good at knowing what producers are looking for, what else makes a good casting executive? Tatiana says skills like relationship-building and discernment go a long way. It’s that second one—the ability to “hear” well, and know quickly whether a certain voice will be good for a certain character description—that Tatiana has honed over the past seven years at Disney. In the first meetings she attended in her job, she recalls being overwhelmed by how quickly her colleagues could identify an executive producer’s needs and come up with multiple suggestions for voice actors. “I remember sitting in one of those first meetings, and they were throwing out names left and right. And I was like, I have no idea who these people are,” she says, laughing. “As time went on, slowly but surely I was able to build my own mental roster in my head.” She says the ability to pair voices with characters is a muscle, “The more you exercise it, the better you get at it.”
Tatiana also has a list of skills she looks for in voice actors when she’s casting. Of course, it changes depending on what the executive producers are looking for, but Tatiana tends to like “somebody who’s really funny.” Naturally, humor is subjective, but folks who are good at improv and can riff a little bit on the provided lines often stick out to her. “When you’re listening to the same lines 500 different times, you need somebody who stands out in that way,” she explains.
The challenges her work brings mirror others in show business—like pitching and then working at length with a voice actor through the audition process, only for them not to be chosen for the role in the end. “It doesn’t necessarily mean they were bad at what they did,” Tatiana says. “It’s just taking into consideration what works best for the character.” But ultimately, Tatiana will keep them in mind for future roles to help build out the show.
When it comes to wider trends in casting, there’s an old adage that may apply: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Casting executives still do whatever they can to get talented people into the recording studio to bring characters to life. But where, exactly, those executives are looking, has changed in the past decade or two. Tatiana grins and says she and a colleague are known as the “TikTok girls.” Seven years ago, when she started, TikTok was a fledgling app that was figuring out its own identity. Now, creators flock to the app to not only share about their lives, but also to hone their chops in comedy and acting. “I do think that social media has given us a lot more access,” Tatiana says. But challenges remain. “People can be more comfortable talking to themselves in front of a phone than to bring them in and have them create a whole world around this character,” she says. But that’s why Tatiana and her team build relationships with creators, talk to them, and get to know them and what they’re about as part of the casting process. And undeniably, social media has opened access to a whole slice of the population that Tatiana might otherwise not get to see or talk to. “There is so much talent out there,” she says. “And now, you have a lot more access to it.”
Tatiana (right) at work with a voice over artist.
WHERE DREAMS BEGIN
Tatiana, like many in the field, says she always knew she wanted to work in entertainment. She joined the Saints community in the third grade and graduated from the Upper School in 2011. St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes served not only as the background for her education, but also sometimes as the literal background for her old favorite pastime, making YouTube videos. When she started, around 2007, the app was relatively new. “I remember going up to my friend and asking, ‘Did you watch that video on YouTube?’” she says. “And he’s like, what’s YouTube?” Ah, how quaint. Tatiana’s YouTube channel was home to music videos and the like. Making the videos and entertaining others with them became a large focus for her. “It just made me happy,” she says. “And from there, I knew this was what I wanted to do for my career.”
Tatiana’s next stop after SSSAS was the College of William & Mary. At the time, they didn’t have a film major, so Tatiana created her own major under Literary and Cultural Studies and paired it with a degree in elementary education. “I remember my parents saying, ‘We believe in you, but also have a backup because it’s hard,’” she says, smiling. On campus, Tatiana did everything she could to build an entertainment-focused resume —working at the school’s media center, recruiting and teaching people how to use the recording studios, working on the school’s television programming, volunteering at a local film festival, and even hosting a radio show. “I knew if I was going into entertainment, I needed some things under my belt,” she says. Beginning her freshman year, Tatiana also started applying for internships—even though “nobody was really hiring freshmen,” she remembers. She just kept applying. And then the summer before her senior year at William & Mary, she landed a three-month internship in the casting department at Nickelodeon. That gig solidified her interest in casting. “I really enjoy talking to people,” she says. “I really enjoy working with talent. I enjoy going to events. So, I discovered that casting was what I wanted to do.”
“I really enjoy talking to people. I really enjoy working with talent. I enjoy going to events. So, I discovered that casting was what I wanted to do.”
Graduation from William & Mary brought a move out to—where else?—Los Angeles. A short stint at a boutique management company followed, but ultimately wasn’t sustainable. Even though her dad strongly recommended it, Tatiana says she spurned the idea of applying to a temp agency because she wanted to break into the field “by herself, but the clock was ticking.” Ultimately, she did join a temp agency and that’s how she landed her desk at Disney, first as a temporary assistant to the senior vice president of production. And from there? A three-month position as a production secretary for the show “Star vs. the Force of Evil.”
“They ended up asking me if I wanted the job full time,” she says. “I had to do the whole interview process, but I ended up getting through. And all thanks to that temp agency.” She’s now been at Disney for more than eight years, spending the last seven in the casting office.
Tatiana’s career arc is proof that there’s a right fit for everybody—whether you’re looking for a job, a home…or a role on an animated television show. And next time you fall in love with—or feel any feeling toward—an animated character, you may have a casting executive to thank.