[SPEAKER_00]: When that premiered, by the way, did not know what the character looked like until it premiered.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you had no idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not designed yet when I recorded yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got to see what she looked like along with everyone else.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like for you, a billion one was the sweet spot to visit this trash hate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only do I have my first voice acting, I'm being directed by invaders at them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So...
[SPEAKER_00]: endlessly proud of her.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is her at the beginning stages of her career.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Tim Burton having just released Edward Siserhan.
[SPEAKER_00]: Alex was definitely somebody I was really excited to meet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I write that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Alex Brightman.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the beef with Danny Moda?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my, okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, this has been my big, my big thing for the last two days.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: A while ago, Danny started doing a bunch of reviews of all the hell of a boss episodes, which by the way, fantastic reviews, the fans have loved them, and we absolutely love the shining positive reviews Danny's been giving us.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I went back and watched some of them, and I wanted to watch like Harvest Moon, the episode that my character makes a debut on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which you wrote, I didn't write that one, I wrote a hell's belt.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, appearing on screen and saying it doesn't count, they don't find the body!
[SPEAKER_00]: Which I've signed on a billion autographs by this point, but I'm like, okay cool, breath that part, and Danny pauses it, and goes, which if people in my saying I have the great impression of him, he goes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that they don't even try to hide the fact that this is Brandon Rogers doing the voice of Sally May and I'm like, what the fuck the fuck is that shit?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like they don't even try to hide it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like not only does it do it, does it get it wrong, but it's like it's obviously wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this was this was brought up on a panel the other day because I've had multiple people and I don't hear it and Richard doesn't hear it Most people if multiple people who know us do not hear it, but so many people think that me and Brandon sound almost indistinguishable To the point we're getting constant comments.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I gave Danny shit on the panel he replied I replied We're frenemies now.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a beautiful thing
[SPEAKER_00]: where's it going to go what's it going to lead to now but I know no it didn't Danny Danny's a sweetheart he it's all it's all in good fun but I like giving him a hard time about it he's been very complimentary to me about the character and my other voice work and everything so he's been wonderful but I do like giving him shit about that well what was your first impression of Sally May?
[SPEAKER_00]: So Sally was the way that I was approached for the role.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is like early early on in the series.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think when Viv first told me that she'd like, you know, asked me what I'd be interested in voicing a character in the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: She hadn't written Sally yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you were already part of spindle horse, no, no, or near, um, Vibner just friends and a way I used to pick her up from a old apartment that she lived in with a bunch of other animators and we used to just go out to diners and bitch about our respective industries.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, she would talk about the complications, trials and tribulations of the animation world, and I would complain about how, you know, being a openly queer trans actress in the industry, the roles that I have come across my table are far and few between.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I am a fit for them, they usually fuck and suck.
[SPEAKER_00]: So both of us complained about that eventually.
[SPEAKER_00]: She approached me and said, I'd love for you to do a voice in the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what it is yet, but I'll let you know when I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she approached me with this character Sally May, who is the, uh, Millie, you know, one of the main characters of the show's sister.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't know a lot about her.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just told that,
[SPEAKER_00]: Millious from the rathering.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the rural area.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like their south.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's got to be a country rural type accent, and that the character was trans.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that we weren't going to get into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really, but they did want to make it clear that like, yes, this character is an openly transgender character.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I, this was a big first for me because it in a way of like,
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the reason that Sally resonates with so many people is because it's still rare to find a trans character in which their trans identity is not the main story.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not there to be pitied.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not there to be laughed at.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not a sob story.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually just a cool character who gets to exist.
[SPEAKER_00]: And
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not used to getting characters like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is rare.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I had a little nervousness before going into the role, and one of those things was, do I need to raise the pitch in my voice?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I need to make my voice sound more passable?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I need to, you know, sis passing that sort of thing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Stress about it for days until I realized
[SPEAKER_00]: Viv has heard me talk, and she cast me as this character knowing what my voice is like, knowing what my voice usually sounds like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why am I trying to change it if she intended me to play this character?
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: I threw all that aside, all the insecurities about that aside, and realized this character is supposed to be confidence.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's supposed to be self-assured.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's supposed to be funny in the moment, like, this isn't a character who is resonating any insecurities or disfores about her voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean I just get to have fun with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I went into the booth with that in mind, which by the way, I thought I was going into the booth to record with just Vive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's in there?
[SPEAKER_00]: Richard fucking Horvets.
[SPEAKER_00]: So first big voice role.
[SPEAKER_00]: I go in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like ready to be like Cool as hell, totally ready for this role, and This is back when we were still doing things remote.
[SPEAKER_00]: So no one was in the room with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a big screen like a zoom call And I get the notification that Richard Horvets is entering the chat
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just about shit myself, because I discover, oh, not only do I have my first voice acting role, my first big voice acting role, I'm being directed by Invader Zem, like the voice of my childhood, Zem, Angry Peavers, Billy and Mandy, and this is the guy who's going to be directing me on my first big role.
[SPEAKER_00]: And those nerves could not have been more unfounded, because Richard's one of the best directors I've ever worked with, he kept it fun, he kept it light, he kept really encouraging me to experiment, to play with the readings, and to make the character my own.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's exactly what I got to do with that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When you left the booth at day, what did you learn about yourself for how you're figuring out to do this role?
[SPEAKER_00]: I found the play and that was the biggest thing that I think Richard was trying to instill in us.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you mean the play?
[SPEAKER_00]: Being able to let a lot of like the tight method in securities and everything and just be loose, be loose with the character, find the character organically in a way that tells the story best.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, when I left that room, I mean, it was in a big way, kind of both a career and life-changing experience for me, because if I'm able to do that character and make that character work, then that means I can make any number of other characters like her work.
[SPEAKER_00]: one is infinitely more than zero.
[SPEAKER_00]: If one is possible, there's an infinite number of options out there that opens the door and I think the biggest thing that I was wondering after that was is it going to resonate with an audience?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's only 26 seconds of screen time and that first
[SPEAKER_00]: when that premiered which by the way did not know what the character looked like until it premiered so you had no idea not designed yet when I recorded yet so I got to see what she looked like along with everyone else did it kind of look like how you envisioned it that's a true way better way better than I envisioned it
[SPEAKER_00]: Like number one, I'm like, oh awesome, she's hot.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's great, she's hot, that's awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the other thing was, is that she's tall, much taller than Millie.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm tall, I've been like the tallest one in my school from middle school onward.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there were all these really cool signifiers that she's a trans character.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without it being shoved down your throat, her horns are a signifier.
[SPEAKER_00]: She dies her hair.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like there's all these cool little visual cues that I was kind of hoping they would do
[SPEAKER_00]: leaning into it after consulting with other trans people on the crew.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, all I could hope for after that was maybe like one or two pieces of fan arts.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was buried in hundreds that first week.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone latched on to this character.
[SPEAKER_00]: And fell in love with this character from just the few Banger lines that Viv gave her in that brief interaction she had that immediately propelled her in the fandom.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that was a combination of not just how she was written in those moments, but also just how star for representation, the people watching our show are.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, she really resonated with a trans community who's never seen an aspirational trans character.
[SPEAKER_00]: A character they actually want to be like in the mainstream.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is so rare for them to see a character where they don't just feel okay with being trans, they feel cool because of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what Sally may have got to provide a lot of people.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did that kind of give, because there's such a strong presence of the LGT LGBTQ plus community in hell of a, did that give the audience more of a sensible longing?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the beautiful thing about hell of a boss is, is that we treat LGBTQ representation on our show, the way it is in our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: It isn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a spectacle.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're not writing something for points, we're not writing something to try to like check the box and like earn our LGBTQ representation merit badge like we're just writing what we know.
[SPEAKER_00]: These romantic relationships in the show are much more akin to the romantic relationships that a lot of us have been in.
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, queer relationships are beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: They can also be messy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the fact that it is so normalized within our show, it's not controversial to be gay in our world, it's not controversial to be trans in our world.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're dealing with things like social hierarchies and cultural differences and economic differences, but as far as LGBTQ representation in our
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a way of life in the way it is our everyday lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a spectacle.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just our reality.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what I was so excited about with Sally.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's knowing that she has this really cool story coming throughout the rest of the series.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to work on this episode Hell's Bells that live allowed me to write, that really explored her relationship with Millie.
[SPEAKER_00]: And while her trans identity is obviously a part of who this character is, that's not the story we're telling because as a trans woman, that's not the story I tell every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a million other things going on in my life that my trans identity is obviously part of because that's who I am.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's not the center focus of my story, and it's not the center focus of Sally's story.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the same way that being pansexual is not blitz a story, being gay is not stoluses, it's just a part of their much richer, complex life.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you feel like for you to take over the reigns of telling the story of Sally?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a big step.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was an unbelievable honor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I also, you know, I was approached by VIV and Adam Nailin, one of our writers, to, you know, help build out this relationship with Sally and Billy.
[SPEAKER_00]: We were also experimenting with the format for the shorts.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had not done these hell-of-a-boss shorts before, which we're now doing a ton of.
[SPEAKER_00]: And was that just an idea to give people more stuff in between these episodes?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think the big thing for us was especially in this case, is that we wanted to tell more stories with Sally, but she's the sister of one of the supporting characters in a story that is majorly centering around a lot of dynamics having to do with Blitz and Stolis.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just no organic way to fit in as much of this storyline as we have for a lot of these characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the shorts came about in that we wanted to tell more stories with both the main and supporting cast.
[SPEAKER_00]: They just don't fit into the arc that we're currently doing for this series.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, these characters will come in play in other ways, but if we really want to dive into them, we needed another venue to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we knew that Sally May and Millie were going to have a very close relationship together.
[SPEAKER_00]: We knew that they were, they had this very close bomb, but we hadn't explored that yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And...
[SPEAKER_00]: towards the end of season two, a big moment happens for Melee in which she calls her sister first.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the person she confides in that she trusts, but we hadn't really gotten to build that up yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: We really didn't have this opportunity to show that they're close.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a snarky, funny moment between the two of them in Harvest Moon.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we needed something in between that moment and this big emotional moment where we see Melee confide in Sally.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, they allowed me to come up with something.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pitched the idea that when we first meet Sally, Millie goes to the Rathrain to see her, and what would it be like if Sally finally went and visited Millie and Em City, and it starts off as this very slice of life thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very much like, oh, it's a day out in Em City with Sally May and Millie, but what it turns into after like these fun moments with them is,
[SPEAKER_00]: a very real conversation they have on the rooftop in which Sally expresses that as great as this city is that Milly showing her it does remind her of how much she misses her sister and that she hasn't really seen her sister since she left
[SPEAKER_00]: And we get to explore some insecurities with Sally, with her seeing this new life that her sister's built and feeling that she has no part in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It also explores that, you know, in our lives, we have people that we accidentally lose touch with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not because anything happened, not because there was a fight, but because life gets really busy.
[SPEAKER_01]: something like that, the intention when you guys are writing it or as you're writing it out, you discover like, oh, it also implies this kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that was the intention for for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I drew in a lot of inspirations from my own family and friends from my past, so I realized, you know, wow, thinking about this person, why was once really close with, when I spent a lot of time with, it's been months, maybe even years since I've spoken to this
[SPEAKER_00]: This was a very important person in my life who I had this dynamic I did not want to lose and I accidentally lost touch with that so by the end of that episode They have a very mature emotional conversation with each other very healthy one which is rare on our shows because there's a lot of toxic relationships in our show where they discuss with each other that's, you know, They miss this relationship, they miss what they used to have
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's going to take effort from both of them to make sure that they can still keep this a part of their lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: What Helva is so special is just how... It's a lot of complex characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's funny, you know, being on the merge side of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our merge game is a very intensive and complex process.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll play.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have like two dozen characters that have to be included in every collection, or else we're going to break heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because everyone has their faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone has their favorite.
[SPEAKER_00]: So in some way, we try to include as many characters in these merch collections as possible, because even characters that have had one episode, like Sally, she's got a couple now, but that character resonated with an audience so much that her merch sold.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's a very high-selling character for us despite her time in the show, because it resonated in a specific way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's so many of our characters, so we want to give everyone their favorites because each one of their favorites had some ingredients, some special ingredient in it that resonated with them in a way that made them feel sane.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is however one of the first shows to be so.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the voice actors are so known and visible I guess because of the con world and social media and you guys just all have such a big presence because I feel like on a lot of past anime shows I guess more just growing up you don't really know who the talent is as much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I mean, I other than some deep dives I have, like I was a huge invader's in family episode kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I did a lot of deep diving out like who these VAs were, but it was rare.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was rare.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think for us though, like, like new all on a panel is like, everyone's a star.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we mesh in this way that's just unbelievable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been on a lot of shows and I've never meshed with a cast like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could, like everyone passes the both to each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could spend the day with any of my castmates and have a blast.
[SPEAKER_00]: like that's that's what's so wonderful about this ensemble.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Viv is Viv is a great writer and she's a great artist but she's also a great casting director and it's wild to me we we can't figure out whether or not our characters are becoming more like us or we are becoming more like our characters but we so connect with the characters that we play that we're able to add our own sort of emotional spin to them in a way that feels very natural
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that reads to the audience in this way where they're like, I love this character, I also love this person playing the character.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a bond that we all share because we feel so strongly about our characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing was that I don't think any of us other than people who came into the show a bit later realize what a massive success this was going to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this was a YouTube show.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, for any of us who didn't know like what this was going to grow into, it was the biggest surprise of our careers.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I have cast me to have been on a million different projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very high level, highly known, big studio projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they sell more prints for their character on hell over than any of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we've bonded over this being a runaway hit that none of us saw coming and are also grateful for.
[SPEAKER_00]: But also, like, you've seen the panels, I usually host the panels at the convention.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which you do a great job at.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But my thing about the panels is, and my method of making them interesting, is that I'm not trying to entertain the audience.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to entertain who's on stage.
[SPEAKER_00]: and keep everyone having as much fun as possible because at the end of the day, the audience wants to see the cast having fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what we've become is a kind of weird unhinged comedy troupe.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all bounce off each other in ways that only people who know each other very well can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all performers who, you know, some of us are predominantly known for voice acting work,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, myself, Brandon Rogers, Alex Brightman, Bryce Pinkham, you know, Erica Lindbeck and Richard Horvitz have a million different credits under their belt, but for a lot of us, this is our first for a into voice acting.
[SPEAKER_00]: And before that, we all come from comedy backgrounds, improv backgrounds, theater backgrounds,
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so that's the energy we bring to the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get a bunch of unhinged, ronchy theater kids together on stage, and a lot of magic happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned earlier that you don't know if it's the characters bleeding into the actors or the actors into the characters in what way are you in Sally May similar.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that, you know, the confidence aspect of it is a big part of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am very self-assured and confident, and I like to resonate that because that isn't always a luxury for a lot of people in our community, for a lot of people transitioning and finding their authenticity and finding themselves could be a very painful process, especially right now, especially with a lot of our fans within our fan base.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been privileged and lucky enough where
[SPEAKER_00]: the entire process of transition from me, from my career, to my personal life, to everything in between has been a very good experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been fantastic.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's not a single part of my life that hadn't, has not gotten better.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think that's because of your location of where you are?
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, born and raised in LA and not only that, but I grew up in the entertainment industry and then got into a different type of entertainment industry.
[SPEAKER_01]: You grew up in music.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so my dad was the chief engineer of a lot of major rock studios around town.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I grew up around rock bands, like my after school job was doing things like getting coffee and lunch for like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Petty and people like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was like my after school in summer gag.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you ever get into any bands like the My Chemical Romances?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, did you ever do stuff with them?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I never got to.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did just see my chem in concert, while I was in Toronto, which was incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, I'm a bit in a mosh pit, and like over 10 years, but couldn't resist.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's the environment I grew up in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in independent, you know, when I was a teenager, as soon as I learned how to take the bus out, I was volunteering for every single thing that I was interested in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would find who was in charge and say, can I work for you for free?
[SPEAKER_00]: in exchange for you teaching me how to do what you do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that led to me being involved in underground art shows and like independent movie theater screenings and you know I started working when I was like 15, 16 years old just getting involved in anything I thought was cool and interesting in order to escape from you know the boring bullshit that was making me miserable in everyday life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that sort of confidence and sort of, you know, energy that I radiate, I bring to Sally.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's why Sally ends up being so many people's comfort character.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if she can feel confident about herself, if she can carry herself with that sort of energy, they feel that they can.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've had a lot of people come up to my booth and talk about how this character has helped them feel more confident, more bold, more expressive, because they idolize her.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they admire her in such a way where they're like, I want to be like this character.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to carry her confidence or self assured, nature, personality snarking as humor into the world in the same way that this character does.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's it like when the fans who love Sally May end up meeting you in person?
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you feel that connection like?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a beautiful thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I had a fan today, you know, posed about meeting me in Toronto.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this fan told me, and no, you know, no uncertain words that's
[SPEAKER_00]: I saved their life, like when they discovered my work and saw my level of representation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get that because I would have killed to have any sort of representation when I was growing up as a teenager, that made me feel okay with who I was.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't have that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's a big thing that drives me now is trying that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to be that representation that I so desperately needed as a kid.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have so many fans who come up to me at these conventions who tell me that both Sally May and then discovering my social media pages are what made them either realize that they were queer or trans or gave them the courage to come out.
[SPEAKER_00]: and
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a very beautiful and heavy thing to think about.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there's a lot of people who go to these conventions or fans come up and it's like, oh, your work has changed my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this is a very real way of doing that.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is somebody who's like, no, no, my entire life has changed just from you existing, just from you being present, being visual in this way that allows me to know I'm not allowed.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why for me, like, I know that fans are not coming to my booth to just buy my signature.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not just coming to have me scroll something on a piece of paper.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're coming for time.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're coming to like speak with me to connect with me to tell me their story.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I do my best to all these conventions to hear every single one of their stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not a chore, it is a reminder of why I do what I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: It keeps me moving, it keeps me motivated to push my career forward and continue to try to grow, like not just for my own benefit, not just for my own career benefit, but because
[SPEAKER_00]: I know it means a lot to my fans to see me be successful, to see me do bigger projects because it gives them hope that they can aspire to something bigger and the world isn't going to tell them now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is writing something that you also want to lean into?
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a great time with Hell's Bells.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you doing can you say are you doing any other not not at the moment there's some things that I'm working on right now I've been so busy with everything else that I'm I'm working on right now, but you know, I really enjoy the collaborative process I have with some of my friends
[SPEAKER_00]: I should have a lot with Brandon Rogers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you agree with him?
[SPEAKER_00]: I, there's a lot of openness to the improv and adding things to the script.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is one of the most collaborative people I've ever worked with.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have an idea, he's so game for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he does it, go wild.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wrote this.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's working with him for the first time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we'll get more into that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a freedom like this freedom that almost freaked me out and like confused me and scared me when I started working with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: that is now one of the most amazing artistic experiences I've had because it is wonderful controlled chaos in a way that could not be more artistically rewarding.
[SPEAKER_01]: What was your first project with Brandon?
[SPEAKER_00]: My first project is one that I believe I met you on, which was a price.
[SPEAKER_00]: Price.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my first project, the Brandon invited me on to was playing character named Florence on Bryce.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who is this really badass somewhat sinister executive assistance that Bryce runs into in one of the later episodes?
[SPEAKER_00]: This was probably one of the most life-changing experiences for me because Sally may let me know that I did have an audience for characters like this, but my career up to that point was mostly on camera, hidden.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had played a number of inhuman creature roles under prosthetics.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been in a bunch of sci-fi films.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a show called Stand Against Evil, where I played almost every demon on that show, opposite John C. McGinnelly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you like seeing the chair getting all the cooking?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a blast.
[SPEAKER_00]: That part of the process is amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's such a cool artistic collaboration between you and the effects artist becomes something that
[SPEAKER_00]: feels real in the other two never seen before like a real monster creature in front of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, you know, I think I got to a point creatively with that in which I was not being creatively fulfilled anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Physically, I was doing some really cool stuff on camera, but more often than not, it was be scary from point A to point B, but the other thing that was getting to me was I felt like okay, they like what I'm bringing to the table acting wise as long as I'm neither seen nor heard It's not my voice, and I'm completely hidden away So I had it in my head the insecurity that
[SPEAKER_00]: I can only act as long as I hide who I am.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't be visibly trans.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't have the voice, the look, the identity that I have on camera and have an acting career.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just those roles don't exist on screen.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, when Brandon approached me to be in one of his projects, and the fact that this character had, again, nothing to do with being trans, I believe the character is trans, like any character I play with him as a trans character, whether they say it or not, but it gave me something to do on screen, where I didn't have to hide who I was to play this character, I didn't have to be pretend to be somebody else in order to play this character, I could just be the character,
[SPEAKER_00]: and bring whatever ingredient I bring to the table.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I got fully done up as the character, got my hair, found the costume, figured out what this character was going to look like on camera.
[SPEAKER_00]: We shot the first scene.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was Liam Krug, who was shooting at that day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was nervous.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was nervous about how I was going to look on camera, how this was going to read it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you know what to expect at all?
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know what to expect at all, but the set was so cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was such a cool set that they found for it, really just visually striking.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was all the lights in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was all the lights in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was like, a lot of music videos are shot there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just looked like a very cool, distinct room.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was right after I came off like a big, existential crisis breakdown about my acting career.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some like, okay, like, either I have to find my passion for this again and my love for this or I'm out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna act anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll still do Sally and stuff like that, but I'm not gonna continue trying to make a push for this.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we do the first shot with Florence and I ask Liam to show me the shot and like can you show me what I look like in camera?
[SPEAKER_00]: And he showed me and seeing myself in that shot.
[SPEAKER_00]: was seeing myself as the actors I wanted to be in my career for the first time in my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And after that, I'm like, I will never compromise again.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I know that I can look like this on camera and I know I can play characters like this, I'm never going to stop fighting for my rights to play characters like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the character turned out amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: The scenes turned out incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: And since then, I've played half a dozen other characters with Brandon.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then went on to star in my first film last year, Dracula's ex-girlfriend that was with both Brandon Rogers and one of my best friends, Abigail Thorn, who wrote the project.
[SPEAKER_00]: We starred opposite each other as two vampires and another amazing trans actress, who
[SPEAKER_00]: wrote this film for the same reasons that I, you know, she played about the same things.
[SPEAKER_00]: She deserves roles like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: She wants to be in roles like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're tired of waiting for other people to give them to us, so she just wrote a film that's both of us can star in and play the sort of characters we want to play.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that experience with Brandon, I mean, I'm always going to be eternally grateful to him because
[SPEAKER_00]: I was so close to quitting, I was so close to like never making an effort to further my acting again and just doing something else until Brandon gave me that shot and that was enough for me to be like this is worth fighting for.
[SPEAKER_01]: How often are auditioning now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I have I mean between voices and live action stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: I usually
[SPEAKER_00]: and you're sending those out and constantly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just just, you know, the voice acting community is a very giving one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a huge audition.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to do over the weekend when I was in Toronto away from my setup.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had three VAs who were immediately like, here's my travel mic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go upstairs, record your audition, do what you can, bring it back to our booth tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, even with everything else I have going on right now, I'm still constantly pushing on every role that sent my way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, how often are you doing the cons now?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that every week?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it has been every week this month.
[SPEAKER_01]: And are you guys all planned going to the same one?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does the convention reach out and like we want all the help?
[SPEAKER_00]: So we have agents.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have agents.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm with Pegasus Talent, Kelsey work as my agent.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's wonderful.
[SPEAKER_00]: She took a big risk on me early on when my character had not gotten her short yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had not really taken off yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: But she knew that I was going to continue to rise
[SPEAKER_00]: She also knows how important me being at some of these conventions, even if I don't have the biggest lines, the people in my line, it means so much to them that I was able to make it out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I'm rep by her as well as a bunch of other people in our crew, Brandon, Alex, Georgia, Leahy, several people like that are rep by the same agents.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they'll get reached out to you by the con or they'll reach out to the convention and arrange everything for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really easy for me, they sent me my a tenorary, they book my my flights, book my hotel, and I just get to see the country in this really amazing way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the cool thing is is that I love my castmates so much that I get to see all these new locations with my friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: spend all day signing at our booths and then go out for dinner or especially when it's like me, Brandon, Georgie, Erica, Lindbeck, a few other people like we'll go out and find local gay clubs to go to and like check out the scene and just party at night and it's such a great time.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the craziest thing that's happened at a panel that you were hosting?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh man, they're constantly crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's, it's constant screaming and chaos.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, Brandon crashes almost every single has been panels like an ongoing joke with all of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it is always like a crunchy, crazy, screaming, chaotic comedy show for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the audience eats it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: The audience absolutely eats up every moment of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: What city do you think was the craziest?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who had the wild with San Diego Comic Con a big one?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, San Diego was was honestly a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're, they're, they're much more intense with their rules there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of our craziest have been in like random places.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think Lexington Kentucky was a crazy one for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or, you know, we, we have like a wild one in Phoenix, Arizona.
[SPEAKER_00]: earlier this year that we all just got off stage.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like what the fuck was that?
[SPEAKER_00]: That was insane.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anime Ohio was uh, was just an absolute ranch fast.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the first time we had James Bondro, Igo Hart with us, who is an amazing Tony nominated Broadway legend.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he fit in with us perfectly and out of this whole other elements.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, we will see the convention organizers in the back, just holding their heads like we didn't expect it to be this bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't expect it to be this raw and cheap, this crazy, um, you know, it goes off the rails in the best of ways.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's the biggest wild card in the cast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, Brandon, of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that's the thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean Brandon's like a powder cake or it's just like I'm just looking for any reason, you know, anyway to spark him, but all of us bounce off each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: Richard's just is bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Richard Horvitz people think that like Richard Horvitz him being the veteran VA with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like the leader that keeps us together.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he's the one.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the worst of us in the most complimentary way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Richard will find a specific type of like specific joke, a specific inside joke.
[SPEAKER_00]: A stick to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he will stick to it throughout the weekend and just just ram it into the ground in the way that's absolutely hilarious.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll get caught on something funny and just repeat it all day nonstop during the convention.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, if you have like Brandon Richard, me, Erica Lindbeck, Bryce Pinkley, like Alex Prime, and we all bring in this, this unique energy that all collides together and creates this perfect mix no matter which one of us are out the conventions together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there any Broadway star who joined the hell of a cast that you were excited to work with?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think Alex was definitely somebody I was really excited to meet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Alex Brightman.
[SPEAKER_00]: He voices several of our characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fizzaroli on Hell of a Boss.
[SPEAKER_00]: He voices Adam and Pensions on Hasbin.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he brings such a unique energy to Broadway with the way that he did things like Beetlejuice and School of Rock.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't feel like a normal Broadway performer.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's such a character actor that has a very unique physicality and sense of humor to his Broadway roles.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was thrilled when I knew that like he was not only in the cast, but would be somebody who would be traveling around with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, several of my conventions this month were with Alex.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've had cons, where it's just him and I, and I'm like, this is just a wild thing where I'm just
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there one member of the cast who does their line that you look forward to seeing during these panels?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, who does like their line?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, one of their most iconic lines from the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, I mean, Bryce eats it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bryce Pinkham always eats it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, you know, he'll say like,
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the sound of a fucking divorce!
[SPEAKER_00]: And just like loose his mind on those, he'll eat it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Richard will always chew up the scenery.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I love everyone's readings on there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Georgie Leehy is like one of the funniest actresses I've ever had the pleasure of working with.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was a rock star at level up.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's always a rock star.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's always a rock star at these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like quite literally, she has her band and her music.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's been putting out, too, and she's a total rock star.
[SPEAKER_00]: But she also has one of the most unique voices I've ever heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just a British accent.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like there's a specific type of like, you know, rasp she has to.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a specific key to it, she has to it that makes every line of Stella's hilarious.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's just a joy to have any of them with us and to be able to take in their energy and their unique spin to their character each one of these conventions.
[SPEAKER_01]: What role does Vivian take on during these conventions is she like the mother of it?
[SPEAKER_00]: She is like the proud soccer mom at all of these.
[SPEAKER_00]: She has her phone out, she's taking videos of everyone photos of everyone and her camera must be loaded.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and I can't even imagine it's probably like her iPhone's probably a nightmare.
[SPEAKER_00]: So doubt she's deleting any of this stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: But no, they live at these conventions like, you know, being friends with her before a lot of this took off.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I met her right as the pilots came out.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they were gaining just mutual friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had mutual friends in the animation industry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I met her at a New Year's 20, 20 party.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to say over at her place, I was, I was a, you know, my friend, Erica and Mara Wilson was with us, so like, you know, we both met Viv on the same night then, seeing her trajectory grow as her projects, who she, you know, that she's had in her head for so long, have taken off and found its fan base and found all this love and appreciation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love watching her at these cons.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love watching her take it all in and see people dressed as her characters that she drew in her sketchbook in high school and getting to see the cast that give them voices have lines stretched around the corner just waiting hours for an opportunity to meet them and hear them say their favorite quotes that she wrote.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's
[SPEAKER_00]: it's incredible to watch her trajectory and just see her take it all in.
[SPEAKER_00]: So her being on these panels with us, I mean she just gets to watch her kids play and that's so much fun to watch and I'm so endlessly proud of her for everything she's created and just how much further she's planning on going with all of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is her, this is her at the beginning stages of her career.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, you know, this is Tim Burton having just released like, you know, Edward Scissor Hands or Peewees play, you know, Peewees big adventure or something.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the early stages of her career.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I can't wait to see what she does next after these shows.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does it feel like when everybody's together?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there some kind of magic that just feels in the air?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a family reunion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time it's a family reunion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, even if we just saw each other a few days earlier in a different city, it's just exciting to like, no, oh, I get to be with them again.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like, I just saw them in Chicago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get to be with them in Toronto next week.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, we all have our group chats, we all have our, you know, our text chats that we're all planning out like, okay, like we got dinner reservations here for Saturday to check this place out and sending the memes, who's trying to be the funny one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it depends, and in, there's certain people who do certain things in each one of the group chats like the has been one, a mere to lie will be the one who makes the dinner reservations.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the one who like sends out that stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, you know, in the hell of a chat, it's a combination of a bunch of us really in those just as the whole cast just chimes into follow up on some sort of inside joke or some sort of moment that we all remember.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, it's a great way for all of us to keep in touch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't think there's a single member of either of our cast who hasn't wanted to be part of this experience together, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, everyone bonds.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one goes off in their own, no one feels standoffish.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone's like, this is an awesome, beautiful ensemble thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're all too excited to share a net with the rest of us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Feel free to say as little or as much as you want when the world's collide.
[SPEAKER_01]: What are you excited to see happen?
[SPEAKER_00]: My favorite thing about Vibbs writing is her world building.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I love the fact that with everything happening,
[SPEAKER_00]: and has been hotel with like wars between heaven and hell and these big epic battles, there's just a dramatic love story between a gay owl and his teotic lizard boyfriend down below in hell, and it's just like there's so much to
[SPEAKER_00]: build on and disobeyed to pull in who's going to exactly and and how those dynamics are going to work like i i love hell of a because there's a great story to be found by pairing any one of those hell of a characters together like there's a single hell of a character who i wouldn't want Sally me to have a day with
[SPEAKER_00]: but now that's for has been as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like we're often asked the question of like which character from has been what we want our hell of a character to have a day with.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like I'd love for a party with cherry bomb and like you know like party with that character but I'd also love to see like what is a moment between
[SPEAKER_00]: Sally May and Charlie, or Sally May and Alistair, or how would blitz or any number of them, like, you know, react to Serpentious, or there's just so many dynamics, there's so many characters with their own unique chemistry that opening up this world to more characters and more surroundings and more.
[SPEAKER_00]: sort of cultures that exist in different parts of hell just makes this story richer.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it just breaks down the dividing wall, breaks down the dividing wall between these two shows, so the options become even more limitless.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just knew that I wanted to see more of Empsity.
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved the montage bit because I think for so many people who have their OCs, like they fantasize about just walking around this city, like where they grabbing lunch, where they shopping, where they relaxing, what are the hangout spots?
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was fun thinking about, you know, what would they do out in the day out?
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, they go to a club, they go to an arcade, they go, and it's like closed shopping, they go and get pampered, and it's like, okay, each one of these is a different spot around em city.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's fun imagining them just in this very colorful world, just having a day out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And,
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to explore any of the rings, like greed as such a cool looking ring.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to know what it's like to just have a day out in greed, or what it's like to grab a drink in the wrath ring, or what is envy like, which we haven't even seen yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it is such a rich world that you just want to walk around and explore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Separate from the stories and the relationships you just want to explore this world.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you do at Spendal Horse?
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Me being at Spendal Horse has been a constant evolution.
[SPEAKER_00]: It started with, you know, needing a side gig.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a side gig.
[SPEAKER_00]: because I needed something to bridge the gap between acting work.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I started by just opening up the spindle horse Instagram and doing a few things like that to helping with the live events.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had some live events they needed somebody on for has been.
[SPEAKER_00]: After those things were success, it really came down to live at one point was a one woman operation and did everything and as these shows have grown she just needs more help.
[SPEAKER_00]: She needs more people to take on these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: She doesn't have the time for anymore and one of the big things that she needed somebody to have eyes on was the merchandise and licensing.
[SPEAKER_00]: like the hot topic, the hot topic, the retail side, the collaborations, but also our internal merchandise, ever chart robot.
[SPEAKER_00]: We released a ton of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say we released more merchandise for our shows than almost any other IP, honestly, including probably something like Star Wars with the amount of unique designs that were constantly turning out for the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: that's so interesting and we you know we built a department there we actually didn't have like an official designated merch department at the studio and that was one of the first things that I had to figure out at the studio was like what does this look like so you know I have
[SPEAKER_00]: some amazing people on my team.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have designers like amazing artists.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have Jess and Shompi on my team who help with organizing like the merch side and the social media side.
[SPEAKER_00]: The marketing goes very hand-in-hand with the merchandise.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they're kind of one in the same.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like sister departments that we all kind of oversee and figure out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we have a couple dozen of some of the most talented artists I've ever had the chance to work with.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what are they designing exactly?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you throwing the vision of everything?
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we'll we'll throw a concept there way as far as like, you know, um, one of our recent sales, which really took off was Pirates.
[SPEAKER_00]: We did an entire Pirates AU, where we knew we wanted to do this collection and uh, this artist and our team, Kano Mariki, we we started with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I delivered them the concept, which is like this is a pirate say you, we are splitting the characters up on different ships each one of them has this captain these are the characters on the ship this is the sort of world we're building we need you to design
[SPEAKER_00]: looks for each one of these characters to build out this world, and they took that concept and then went way beyond it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't just like make them each crew members, they designed them with intentions on the ship, like they would come up with, you know, being not just being a pirate, she's the ship cook.
[SPEAKER_00]: or Osmodius would be a doctor on his ship or you know of course Stolis is the navigator and this is all these individual elements that these artists bring into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll give them the kernel the idea of the concept of what the collection is or what to reference for the scene.
[SPEAKER_00]: But just about every artist, if not every artist, I think it is every artist in our team, started as a fan artist.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were making fan art first.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that how you would recommend somebody who wants to be part of the team?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it goes a long way because our characters are not the easiest to draw.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very hard we've tried it before with other companies we've worked with to bring in a very talented illustrator or graphic designer to try to draw our characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if they'd never drawn our characters before,
[SPEAKER_00]: What's tough about it?
[SPEAKER_00]: It just said, the general energy design, flow, line work, there's a lot of things that even I can't quite put my finger on, but our animation director's guy, Hennwood, or Viv, will see something in it where they're like, that's off, and then they'll fix it and it's like, oh, that's what it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, the Merchardison our team who have drawn these characters before even coming to us hundreds of times.
[SPEAKER_00]: They obsessed over getting this cracks out of passion even before they were hired on.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were doing their own fan art and trying to perfect it, trying to make these characters look perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: So in a way, we found people who have been training for this job for years.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we bring them on to the team, it's this great joy because that is literally their dream.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just to be an artist, but to get to draw their favorite characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we love knowing that
[SPEAKER_00]: We have an assignment.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can drop one of our artists that we know they're going to live.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, there's somebody in our team who looser for as their favorite character.
[SPEAKER_00]: They love Lucifer from Hasbin.
[SPEAKER_00]: So us going to drop them something where their assignment is, you're going to draw Lucifer for Hot Topic.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a dream project for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a big thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to get the best art imaginable here, because it's not just the paycheck.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's because they love this character.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the dream there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Were you part of the U2s for these?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, do you help with the design of this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that early on, but we, so U2s has some brilliant artists on there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, brilliant artists over at U2s.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like, as YouTube's come to hell of them, they're like, hey, we want to do a collection.
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys are like, exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: We discussed what that collection should be and what those waves are and what makes sense for all of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll send them assets and reference.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their artists will take a spin at it to make them YouTube'sified in this cool stylistic way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then somebody will come back in and redline it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Usually as a mentioned, like Skyhandwood, our animation director loves the merch so she gets very involved in making sure everything looks perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, show work with the team, red line things, just kind of tweak what needs to be tweaked to make the characters look correct, and then YouTube does a phenomenal job putting it all together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm very excited because the next line up for YouTube's Sally May is a part of that line, so I get my first ever figurine of a character I've played, which I could not be more excited about.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually just got the
[SPEAKER_00]: Prototype for that today.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a colored in everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's the prototype.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a couple minor tweaks on it Okay, they're holding that in my hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's number 13, which is awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: She got number 13, and Getting to hold this character in my hands that I voice is just one of the coolest experiences of my career
[SPEAKER_00]: it's it's really just like a dream come true to get to see this read you know visualized and know that's going to be for sale at hot topic and that fans are going to have this sitting on their desk and knowing I got to like I get to voice that character I get to put a lot of myself into that character and then she's going to go out there and there's going to be these little figurines that are being constructed right now that are going to be on people's desks and shelves in the future.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to need you to come back and sign one.
[SPEAKER_00]: how big of a deal was the hot topic hell of a like who came to who how does that end up into all the stores because that's a massive collab it was the most successful that could have possibly been for us um that was another situation in which like that wasn't email and vives in box for a while that just needed following up on and that was a big priority thing for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not just for the merchandise, but just for growth of the brand.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the most obvious fit in the world for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: So of course our show should be in a hot topic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course it should be in the windows of hot topic.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's their color scheme.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's their design and all of it together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look, every show that inspired us to do what we do today was represented at hot topic.
[SPEAKER_00]: and hot topic or fans.
[SPEAKER_00]: They love the IP.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're so excited about like putting in their request of what they want on their shelves.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I met the hot topic team.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're wonderful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the whole team over there is so great to work with, so passionate about the IP.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was a bit of a freak of a project for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they're used to having Disney, Marvel, big anime, big like massive, tent pole projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: We released Helva, the same week as wicked came out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we released hell of a, like Brandon and I did a video together where we dressed Brandon up as blitz crashing the store and breaking in and, you know, like replacing all the merchandise with hell of a products.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in that first week, we became the number one highest selling IP and stores.
[SPEAKER_00]: and no one was expecting that.
[SPEAKER_00]: They knew it would do well.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the level in which our fans showed up is the reason that you can walk into any hot topic.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the table right in the front of the store is completely covered in dozens and dozens and dozens of different hellovers products.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also been a really cool thing for us because of the accessibility of the accessibility of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: On a personal level, we had a pride collection that came out through a lot of topics, through a lot of topic, and I got to do a really, really bad ass Sally May trans pride shirt for this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember this.
[SPEAKER_00]: It it looked awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had the idea for this shirt in my head for like a year and a half and Ames is the artist who did it and again like all given idea to one of the artists and then they'll just take it beyond anything I can imagine but this shirt turned out perfectly Knowing that shirt was gonna be available in malls across the country right now
[SPEAKER_00]: was so cathartic because the first person to tell me that they managed to go out and buy their first trans pride shirts was in Fort Worth, Texas.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's areas of this country right now that trans rights are under attack.
[SPEAKER_00]: People feel scared to express themselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: People feel scared to show
[SPEAKER_00]: but they're able to go to their local mall and buy this really badass really rebellious killer trans pride shirts with like this cool hot demon trans girl like sitting on the front of its sitting confidently and rebelliously.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just knowing that you can go to these areas that are being hit so hard by anti-trans legislation and buy one of our pride shirts there to wear in defiance of all of that, that felt amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we sold out almost immediately.
[SPEAKER_00]: We also got to model
[SPEAKER_00]: The clothing, so me, Brandon, Erica Lindbeck, interesting to be, we modeled our shirts.
[SPEAKER_00]: We went into hot topic and we're part of the photoshoot to put these shirts out there and represent them properly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you try and collect a lot of the merchandise?
[SPEAKER_00]: like on your own personal level.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have one of everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: You do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have I sample everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I made sure that like the quality is up to par.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's last the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, yeah, they had the fans asked me all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, do you get the merchandise?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like my roommates are tripping over it constantly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get a new package to the door every day at least one or two that's just filled with merch.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think thankfully, I have an office now and we're like building out this office based for me to put everything, but at one point the guest room before my roommate moved in, it was just from Florida ceiling covered in hell of Earth's merch.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was so much of it everywhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have they announced the other YouTube's in the new collection?
[SPEAKER_00]: The Sally May 1 yes she comes out with Veronica and Octavia so it's a great lineup and I know that Barrett who voices Octavia and Christina who voices Veronica were planning on having a signing together at some points to Sign the new figures together
[SPEAKER_01]: So are you working on things that are coming out in the next months and years, even?
[SPEAKER_00]: We're working on Christmas right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're like designing for Christmas of this year, and I think we just started on Valentine's Day, 2020, sex.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because manufacturing takes so long that we have to design this foreign advance in order to have things ready to ship by the time the holidays come around.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you pair this in part with the episodes that are coming out during that time?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's separate.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we have two different types of sales we do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have the seasonal sales, which is like your summer collection, your Christmas collection, Halloween.
[SPEAKER_00]: That we try to get in, you know, get done in advance, but it's not connected to the episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that might be in part with like the level up convention.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, so so for episodes, we have our episodic collections and those are pre-sales.
[SPEAKER_00]: So those we design pretty close to when the episode releases, we can't do it months and advance because the episode might not be done for us to be able to reference.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're working on the merchandise right now for the next shorts, which comes out a couple of weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, could we find there's some rapid fire questions?
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which of favorite episodes so far?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I varies by season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say for season one, it's truth seekers.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love truth seekers.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the doorcagence.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the doorcagence are hilarious and don't get enough attention.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just the art styles that are mixed into it from moxie's bad trip to blitzes like crazy fever dream that he has.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's an amazing episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: For season two, I love the mammoth special.
[SPEAKER_00]: moves because of physics story and sort of him rebelling against this uh very predatory entertainment world that he's in and trying to find his independence.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of people entertainment very much resonate with physics in that episode, so that's my favorite of season two.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without being biased, which your favorite line in the entire show of Hell of a Boss.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's, it's gotta be for me just because it's the first line out of a mouth, but it's still, it doesn't count if they don't find the body!
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I, I've signed that on more autographs, and I can possibly imagine, and that's what's started it all for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So for me, that's going to be one of those iconic quotes for me on that.
[SPEAKER_00]: is because, you know, it's the first time you see the character, that's what she says out the gate, and it's still like people's favorite quote.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we recently released a bunch of season one t-shirts, and the best selling t-shirt was Sally May with that quote on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So knowing that it's like, oh, the first few seconds of my character was that line, and that's how hard it hits.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh, yeah, that's, that's always going to have a special place in my hearts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moxie, he's going to be the cleanest.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be the one who picks up after himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: The most, he's going to be the one who keeps things organized.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd be worried about living with any other character.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even Sally, I can't imagine Sally is a neat roommate.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's probably a mess as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Moxie's the only one I would trust to do the dishes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Best duo in Hello Boss.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, the best duo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Me and Mills.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sally May and Millie, obviously.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but on a relationship level, uh, million moxie have a beautiful romance.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love their characters together.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're so cute.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're so sweet.
[SPEAKER_00]: As our Fizz and Osmodius, um, for all the complications that we get to enjoy, Blitz and Stolis go through.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also some really beautiful romances that happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I love million moxie together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love Fizz and Osy together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you ever want to song definitely?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, definitely.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very intimidating for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I joke about like that being a nightmare.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a nightmare.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be a wonderful challenge to find where my strengths and music can be.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love, I love exploring new venues in performance that I haven't gotten to do before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you practiced before?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I did musical theater forever ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: forever ago when I was first doing theater.
[SPEAKER_00]: I did Sweeney Todd on stage, and I sang for that one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it's not something I haven't done at all before, but it can be a little intimidating.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm among Broadway royalty within our cast, but at the same time, you know, Sam Half is a close friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, how the first album do the one that just came out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I mean, pre sails.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, insane.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the same numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, we sold for the SDCC exclusive variants.
[SPEAKER_00]: We sold over 10,000 units in the first three days.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got mine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a pretty one.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, hopefully as soon as possible, but I was very involved in getting that record together that's been one of my main focuses for both that and the season two album for the last several months.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm like simultaneously working on that.
[SPEAKER_00]: the has been season two record and having a lot of fun with the packaging and the vinyl designs on those.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going crazy on those without a variance and fun things we can do with the packaging.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have some really cool stuff in store for the husband hotel season two collectors additions.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's there's some fun stuff coming up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you heard the songs on season two?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are absolutely incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, we're we're planning on season two.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have info info.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have to.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're making merch for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like we have to be prepared.
[SPEAKER_00]: Season two is incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so excited for fans to see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you ever see the merch design for that, too?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, for for has been complete shows.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, um, you know, we we work with Amazon on the merchandise in a 24 in the merchandise, but they don't draw the characters we do.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if there's a request on like a toy, a t-shirt, a charm, any of that still has to come from spindle horse in our art team.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, it's the same approval process, same team, creating the merchandise for both husband hotel and hell of a boss.
[SPEAKER_00]: And same approval process, we have two approval meetings a week.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we have two shows, both of them, release a lot of merchandise.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're only looking to increase the amount that we do.
[SPEAKER_01]: This has been so cool getting to hear everything and hear your story and is there what else do you have coming up?
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so I have a couple shows of work going on right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, I have a show that's on Nebula currently called Amy's Dead End Dreamhouse.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've always a puppet character on there named Quack the Snake.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's with Maggie May fish who's incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's on Nebula currently filming a new Video with Brandon called a night at the park.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you are in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am Wow a character named Villenexia again in this one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're expanding on
[SPEAKER_00]: a character I played in another video called Don't Touch My Space Suit, so I played Ville Nextia and this one is well, we're going to explore that character a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, um, so guys at Griffin, uh, are you recording Griffin Park?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't believe so.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we, it's a little hard there because it'll kick us out.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we, we have our friend Cassius who has a house that has like a back here that's perfect for that and looks like Griffith.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're recording that tomorrow, filming more of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then just finished season to my part and season two of Dawn to Dawn.
[SPEAKER_00]: which was an amazing experience, because I've wanted to get into anime for years, years and years, and finally got my opportunity with Donodon Season 2, which was a show I already loved, playing a character named Naki Kito, who's this...
[SPEAKER_00]: hilarious and vial horrible little grandlan of a woman in in season two.
[SPEAKER_00]: So get to play this really fun villain at the beginning of this season and just finish my run there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other than that, it's just building on all of this, you know, it's
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm very, I'm more motivated than ever to continue to expand where I am as an actress and take this further into different directions and hopefully be on screen a lot more, explore different genres and different roles to a much higher extent and, you know, give this audience that I've built up a lot more to enjoy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, you're killing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's only gonna keep going.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, thanks for coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: See you guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was so good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I loved that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was great.