An accomplished voice artist and podcast producer, Erin B. Lillis has turned her years of experience into a thriving career with plenty of credits in various aspects of the industry as well as her work on the NoSleep Podcast. Now, in honor of Women in Horror Month, I talk with her about her initial interest in voice acting, her work on the podcast and upcoming projects.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general?
Erin B. Lillis: Back in elementary school I was mostly into fantasy films like THE NEVER ENDING STORY, LABYRINTH and THE DARK CRYSTAL. I really wanted to be a weapon-wielding warrior maiden harnessing my magical powers and I think that made me search for real magic. That led me to regularly reading the Weekly World News and signing up for all of the weird magical mailing lists in the back of the silly newspaper. New age magical stuff aligned with the paranormal and the paranormal slotted right in there well with horror. I think that was the train of thought that got me there. The other thing I really loved was buying issues of Fangoria magazine so I could look at the gory make-up applications. I never wanted to actually watch the movies… I just wanted to learn how to make the really gross makeup injuries and crazy monsters. But I did dip my toes into horror stories with Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew collection of shorts. I didn’t start really seeking out and watching horror movies until college.
Me: Were you into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
EL: I think my first horror was THE GATE. I know I saw it while flipping through channels and got intrigued but every time something scary would start to happen I would change the channel. Then when I was brave enough I’d flip back, watch a little more and change the channel again. Then there was THE MONSTER SQUAD. Around 11 or 12 years old my mom took me to see THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and from then on I was really into psychological horrors. In college, I ran an indie film club and heard about THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT visiting campuses. I tried to get them to come to my school but I’d missed the boat. Instead, I saw it in the theater and was absolutely terrified. I had such an appreciation for those scares that I started to actively seek out more films in the genre.
Me: When did you initially discover a passion for vocal acting? What aspect of this industry appeals to you?
EL: I remember doing voices and making up characters to entertain my friends starting around age. Voice acting seemed like a really fun job but I never took it as a serious career option. My goal early on was to be a film director, only to discover in film school that I really preferred the sound aspect of filmmaking. After college, I did some work in sound design before getting derailed and off track. I later learned web development to change careers but in the back of my mind, I remembered how much I enjoyed sound/sound design and those voices. One day I went home from work, bought a microphone from Best Buy and started up a Fiverr gig to record people’s voicemails. It’s been a forward trajectory since then. What appeals to me most about the industry is the flexibility to work from home and create on my own schedule.
Me: What are some tricks you’ve picked up over the years in preparing for recording?
EL: I try to drink plenty of water before I record (a few hours in advance, if possible). If I can’t, crisp green apples help with the mouth noise (but I don’t like biting apples so I prefer the water). Drinking caffeine/coffee or eating (anything but green apples) before recording will increase the time I’m going to spend editing out my mouth noise so I avoid it if possible. Chewing invisible bubble gum, stretching my face and tongue twisters helps with enunciation. I try to read my scenes in advance before I record. (But I confess I often don’t and read my lines cold.) Notifying neighbors in advance if I’m going to be screaming is a nice thing to do. Closing my eyes while I speak forces my brain to actually listen to the words I’m saying and therefore sometimes makes them sound more realistic. If I need to do a heavily dramatic scene, listening to dramatic music to get me into the right headspace helps.
Me: Are there any characteristics or traits to a character or scenario that appeals to you?
EL: There are two types of characters I love playing the most: sarcastic ladies who don’t take any crap but are socially awkward (because that’s basically me) and over-the-top villains like a Disney witch. The former is the easiest to perform because I’m just using my own voice and personality. The latter is where I get to be overly dramatic, really play with my voice and body, and hopefully really get under someone’s skin.
Me: Joining up on the legendary NoSleep Podcast, how did you get involved in the show?
EL: I came to the show in the middle of Season 9. At that point in my VO career, I decided to up my game and take some voice-over classes and learn how to confidently narrate fiction stories with dialogue. I reached out to a flash fiction anthology podcast that had previously published some of my short horror stories and asked if I could narrate for them and they accepted. I did several episode narrations before they shuttered the podcast. I really liked doing that work and a couple of people had previously suggested that I should narrate horror and pointed me to “The NoSleep Podcast.” I took my homemade character acting demo and sent an inquiry email to David Cummings…and he liked it! He invited me to start narrating on the show right away.
Me: Is there any difference between going from video game characters to a podcast recording?
EL: Most of the time it’s not that much different because all of my work is non-union and the majority of it is self-directed. It’s just me in my closet with a script up on my iPad and an SD card in my recorder doing several takes of each line. Some of the projects I’ve done have been directed over the phone or Skype but that’s been rare. The scripts look quite different but I’ve also seen a hundred different styles of audio scripts so that no longer fazes me either. Both the horror audio dramas I’m in and most of the game characters I’ve voiced have stylistically been similar in that they both have required realistic acting (as opposed to something more commercial or technical where enunciation supersedes realism).
Me: What are some of the more memorable stories and characters you’ve performed on the show?
EL: My most well-liked character has been a sadistic werewolf trucker that likes to kidnap people and force them into her fast-paced hunting games. I’ve also played Baba Yaga, Mother Maggie (a muscle-bound female kidnapper), a cult leader in the woods, a Mother Superior, a witch in the woods, a ghost with a vendetta, Phoebe from Friends, a hitwoman for ghosts and many more.
Me: As well, you also recently launched the NoNap Podcast. What was the inspiration for starting it?
EL: During the summer one of my friends hosted a Zoom birthday party for her 3-year-old and asked me to do the voices off-screen for the Paw Patrol characters for the kids. Simultaneously I’d been reading children’s books on Instagram for my little nieces and nephews, which was the little interaction they had with me during quarantine. When September rolled around and it was obvious I wasn’t going to be able to attend all my usual immersive haunt and horror theater experiences, I knew I was going to have a depressing Halloween season. There was talk amongst my friends when it became clear that Trick or Treating was going to be banned locally that we should do another Zoom party for the kids and I thought maybe I could do some creepy voices for that event. Then it occurred to me… I know quite a few authors, voice actors and sound designers – why not make a recorded show of spooky kids’ stories for any families in the same predicament? I reached out to several groups and it snowballed into two hours of content with a large group of contributors. The Easter egg of the show was that all of the little kid spirits mentioned in it are named after all the kids I know that inspired the project in the first place.
Me: Being the writer, director and star of the short, did it challenge you to be involved in various capacities at once on a project like this? How do you balance those priorities?
EL: This was, in a way, an evolution of my film production training. I LOVED being the producer, reaching out to the authors, voice actors, casting, preparing the scripts, finding editors and more. Originally I thought I would be doing all of the editing and sound design but it became clear quickly that I wasn’t going to be able to handle that alone so I put out a call for help and the response was amazing. Almost everyone I asked wanted to be a part of it. Yes, it was a challenge to take on more than just the producer role but I just worked backward figuring out the hard deadlines first, preparing as much as I could in advance and then, of course, pushing up against those deadlines until everything was done. I wanted to write a few stories for the show but I ended up only able to write one in addition to all of the intros and outros for each story in the anthology. I’m more than happy with that. And the response from kids and their parents was so awesome and heartwarming.
Me: What else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers?
EL: I’ll stick to mentioning only the genre work here, in addition to my character and narration work on The NoSleep Podcast, I also make guest appearances on The Grey Rooms (horror fiction anthology), Disturbed (true horror stories) and Mandible Judy (a horror audio drama). A horror video game, Devour, that I did voice work for last year (I play the possessed cult leader that players have to subdue) just released and is getting an amazing response. The developers are planning some extended gameplay that I’ll be doing voice work for in the future. There’s also another horror game, Noch, that will be releasing soon. I play the demon narrator in that. I’m also the lead female voice in a George Romero inspired low-poly zombie game called Day of the Rising Dead that is in progress.
I also just had a story published (Little Liberties) in an anthology collection about a cursed mall. The book is called Dreadful Nostalgia and is available on Amazon.
Me: Lastly, being that this is Women in Horror Month, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
EL: Create something. I got myself in by creating my own podcast SubverCity Transmit, a speculative fiction anthology with a focus on LGBTQ+ stories, learning the tricks, then networking (via Twitter, FB groups, voice classes) and slowly edging my way in. I was promoting my own projects but also making connections that would later help me get into the right conversations that led to the right leads. This applies to more than just voice acting. For a while, I was also selling Halloween and horror-themed merchandise and I applied the same techniques by befriending and networking with other horror sellers/designers on Instagram. And I’m an introvert! Sometimes you just have to push yourself to ask. Assume they’ll say no and then celebrate when they give you a chance. And always be grateful. The people I’ve met in the horror and Halloween fields have been some of the kindest and nicest people.
To follow more of her work, check out her official website:
This interview ran as part of our Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out all of our reviews and interviews about the occasion:
Comments
Post a Comment