The Lead Writer will work closely with the Creator/Showrunner to help turn the existing story, characters, worldbuilding, and long-term series outline into finished episode scripts.
This is someone I would prefer to have a portfolio from.

The Expressionists already has an established setting, power system, main cast, major character arcs, long-term plot direction, and key story events. This position is therefore focused less on creating the series from scratch and more on helping shape that material into strong, well-paced scripts that work for animation.

Responsibilities may include:

• Writing and revising episode scripts

• Developing dialogue that feels natural and distinct to each character

• Helping structure scenes, episodes, and story arcs

• Improving pacing, emotional beats, tension, and character interactions

• Working from existing outlines, notes, and story direction

• Collaborating with the Creator/Showrunner on revisions

• Helping maintain continuity across episodes

• Reviewing work from additional writers and script editors when needed

• Adapting scenes with animation, production scope, and visual storytelling in mind

The Lead Writer should be comfortable working within an established canon while still bringing their own ideas, perspective, and writing instincts to the project. Creative input is encouraged, but major changes to established characters, lore, or long-term story direction will remain subject to approval by the Creator/Showrunner.

We are especially interested in writers who are comfortable balancing character-driven drama with action, humor, darker subject matter, mystery, and long-term serialized storytelling.

Experience writing screenplays, animated projects, comics, games, or other serialized fiction is preferred, but a strong writing sample and clear understanding of character voice may be considered in place of professional experience.

Because this is a long-term collaborative project, communication and reliability are extremely important. The Lead Writer should be comfortable receiving feedback, participating in revisions, discussing story decisions, and working closely with other members of the production team.

Additional Writers / Script Editors

Additional Writers will work alongside the Lead Writer and Creator/Showrunner to help develop, revise, and strengthen scripts for The Expressionists.

This role is intended for writers who are comfortable collaborating within an established story and contributing to specific scenes, episodes, dialogue, character moments, or revisions rather than being solely responsible for the overall direction of the series.
This is for someone who is looking to get into writing and script editing rather than anyone experienced.

Depending on the needs of the production, responsibilities may include:

• Writing or assisting with individual scenes and sequences

• Revising dialogue and character interactions

• Helping develop episode drafts from existing outlines

• Reviewing scripts for pacing, clarity, and consistency

• Editing and polishing completed drafts

• Helping maintain continuity between episodes

• Identifying inconsistencies in characterization, lore, or established story details

• Suggesting improvements to scenes, dialogue, or story structure

• Assisting with action sequences and emotionally important scenes

• Participating in group story discussions and script revisions

• Supporting the Lead Writer during larger episode or story-arc development

Writers should be comfortable working within established canon and following the overall direction provided by the Creator/Showrunner and Lead Writer. Creative suggestions are encouraged, and contributors will have opportunities to propose ideas, improve scenes, and help develop character interactions, but major changes to established lore, characters, or long-term story direction will require approval.

We are especially interested in writers who are strong at dialogue, character relationships, action, drama, comedy, or script editing. Applicants do not need to specialize in every area.

This position may also include script-editing responsibilities, particularly for applicants who are stronger at revising and polishing existing material than writing complete scripts from scratch.

Reliability, communication, and the ability to give and receive constructive feedback are important, as scripts will often go through multiple collaborative revisions before being finalized.

The Additional Writers / Script Editors group is allocated a combined 3% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted writers and script editors assigned to the production according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Lead 3D Artist / Modeler & Rigging Lead

The Lead 3D Artist will oversee the 3D art pipeline for The Expressionists while also working directly on models, rigs, and other production assets.

This is both a leadership and hands-on production position. The Lead 3D Artist will work closely with the Creator/Showrunner to establish the visual and technical standards used by the rest of the 3D art team and help ensure that characters, environments, props, materials, and rigs remain visually consistent across the series.

The project is being developed as a stylized cinematic 3D production rather than a strictly photorealistic series. We are looking for someone who can help develop a recognizable visual identity while also keeping assets practical for animation and long-term production.

Responsibilities may include:

• Overseeing the 3D art and modeling team

• Creating and refining major character models

• Helping establish the overall 3D visual style of the series

• Reviewing models and assets produced by other 3D artists

• Providing feedback and helping maintain consistent quality across the production

• Creating or supervising character topology suitable for animation

• UV mapping and preparing models for texturing

• Creating or supervising textures, materials, and shaders

• Modeling clothing, accessories, props, environments, and other production assets when necessary

• Translating character and environment concepts into production-ready 3D assets

• Creating and maintaining character body rigs

• Developing facial rigs and facial controls suitable for dialogue and emotional performances

• Skinning characters and adjusting deformation weights

• Creating controls for hands, fingers, clothing, hair, and other necessary character elements

• Testing rigs with animators and correcting deformation or usability issues

• Working with animators to ensure models and rigs are practical to use during production

• Helping develop standardized naming conventions, file organization, and asset guidelines

• Assisting with optimization and maintaining reasonable production performance

• Troubleshooting modeling, rigging, deformation, material, or asset-related issues

• Coordinating with animation, VFX, lighting, and other departments when assets require specialized functionality

The Lead 3D Artist will act as the primary point of contact for the 3D art department.

You will not be expected to personally create every asset in the series.

Part of this position will involve helping divide work among other artists, reviewing completed assets, identifying problems before they reach animation, and helping artists understand the technical and visual standards required by the project.

We want someone who can provide constructive feedback without preventing other artists from contributing creatively.

Artists working under the department may specialize in areas such as:

• Character Modeling

• Environment Modeling

• Prop Modeling

• Concept-to-3D Development

• Texturing and Materials

• Character Rigging

• Facial Rigging

• Skinning and Weight Painting

• General 3D Asset Creation

The Lead should have enough familiarity with these areas to supervise the overall pipeline, although we do not expect one person to be an expert in absolutely every 3D discipline.

Rigging will be handled as part of the broader 3D art department rather than as an entirely separate department.

Character rigs should be designed with the needs of the animation team in mind and should support both action-heavy sequences and quieter character performances.

Because The Expressionists will rely heavily on character interaction and performance, facial animation is particularly important. Characters should be capable of producing convincing expressions, eye movement, lip synchronization, and emotional performances without requiring animators to fight against the rig.

Some characters may also require specialized rigs due to their Expressions, body transformations, clothing, hair, or other unusual animation requirements.

The Lead 3D Artist will work closely with:

• Creator/Showrunner

• 3D Artists and Modelers

• Animators

• Combat Animators

• VFX Artists

• Lighting Artists

• Compositors

A model is not considered finished simply because it looks good in a still render. Assets must function correctly throughout the production pipeline.

For that reason, communication between the 3D and animation departments will be especially important.

We are looking for someone who has a strong understanding of 3D character production and is comfortable both creating assets and helping guide other artists.

Professional studio experience is not required, but applicants for this lead position should be able to demonstrate strong previous 3D work.

A portfolio or demo reel will be required.

Experience with stylized characters is especially valuable.

Experience with character rigging and facial rigging is strongly preferred.

Leadership experience is helpful but not mandatory if you can demonstrate strong communication skills, technical knowledge, and the ability to give useful feedback.

The combined 3D Art / Modeling / Rigging Department is allocated 19% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

This is a department-wide pool covering Lead 3D Art, character modeling, environment and prop modeling, texturing/material work, character rigging, facial rigging, and related 3D asset production.

The Lead 3D Artist will receive a defined individual percentage from this pool based on their leadership responsibilities and direct production work. The exact percentage will be stated in the contributor's individual contract before work begins.

Additional 3D artists will receive their own contracted portions of the department pool.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

3D Character Artist / Modeler

The 3D Character Artist / Modeler will be responsible for turning character concepts and designs into production-ready 3D models for The Expressionists.

This role focuses primarily on creating characters that not only look strong visually, but are also built correctly for rigging, animation, lighting, and long-term use throughout the series.

Responsibilities may include:

• Character modeling and sculpting

• Retopology and preparing clean animation-friendly topology

• Creating clothing, hair, accessories, and other character-specific assets

• UV unwrapping

• Basic texturing and material setup

• Translating 2D concepts, references, and written descriptions into consistent 3D designs

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Lead 3D Artist and Creator/Showrunner

• Preparing models for rigging and deformation

• Working with riggers and animators to correct topology or deformation issues

• Maintaining consistency between characters and the overall visual style of the series

• Helping optimize models for practical use in production

The Expressionists is aiming for a stylized cinematic 3D look rather than strict photorealism, so applicants should be comfortable creating characters with strong silhouettes, readable features, and a consistent visual identity.

Because these characters will be used heavily for dialogue, action, and emotional performances, models should be designed with animation in mind from the beginning. Good facial topology, clean deformation areas, and practical geometry are especially important.

Artists do not need to be experts in every part of the character pipeline, but experience with modeling, sculpting, retopology, UVs, and basic materials is strongly preferred.

This role will work closely with the Lead 3D Artist, rigging artists, animators, and other members of the 3D department.

This role is part of the combined 3D Art / Modeling / Rigging Department revenue pool, which receives 19% of total distributable project revenue.

Individual percentages will be defined in each contributor's written contract based on role, workload, and department staffing.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

3D Environment & Prop Artist

The 3D Environment & Prop Artist will be responsible for creating the locations, structures, objects, and environmental assets that make up the world of The Expressionists.

This role focuses on building production-ready environments and props that support both the visual identity of the series and the practical needs of animation, lighting, VFX, and cinematography.

Responsibilities may include:

• Modeling interior and exterior environments

• Creating buildings, rooms, streets, facilities, and other locations

• Modeling props, furniture, equipment, weapons, vehicles, and environmental objects

• UV unwrapping and preparing assets for texturing

• Basic texturing and material setup

• Translating concept art, references, and written descriptions into consistent 3D environments

• Building modular environment pieces that can be reused across scenes

• Creating assets at appropriate levels of detail for production

• Optimizing models and environments for practical use in animation and rendering

• Preparing environments for lighting, VFX, and camera work

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Lead 3D Artist and Creator/Showrunner

• Maintaining consistent scale, style, and visual quality across assets

• Working with animators and VFX artists when environments need to interact with characters or Expressions

• Preparing props and environmental objects that may need to be animated, damaged, destroyed, or otherwise manipulated during scenes

The Expressionists takes place in a world that has been heavily shaped by the existence of Expressionists, meaning environments should feel grounded while still reflecting the technology, institutions, and culture that have developed around them.

Artists may work on locations ranging from ordinary dorm rooms, classrooms, streets, and homes to large-scale hero facilities, training areas, corporate environments, laboratories, damaged cities, and other major story locations.

Props may range from everyday objects to specialized technology, Expression monitoring equipment, hero equipment, vehicles, weapons, and other assets unique to the setting.

The Expressionists is aiming for a stylized cinematic 3D look rather than strict photorealism. Applicants should be comfortable creating environments and props that feel believable and detailed while remaining visually consistent with the rest of the production.

Experience with modular environment design, optimization, UV mapping, basic materials, and production-ready asset creation is strongly preferred.

This role will work closely with the Lead 3D Artist, texture/material artists, animators, lighting artists, VFX artists, and other members of the 3D department.

This role is part of the combined 3D Art / Modeling / Rigging Department revenue pool, which receives 19% of total distributable project revenue.

Individual percentages will be defined in each contributor's written contract based on role, workload, and department staffing.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

3D Texture / Material Artist

The 3D Texture / Material Artist will be responsible for creating and refining the surface appearance of characters, environments, props, clothing, equipment, and other 3D assets used throughout The Expressionists.

This role focuses on making models feel finished, visually consistent, and believable within the stylized cinematic look of the series.

Responsibilities may include:

• Creating textures for characters, environments, props, clothing, and equipment

• Developing materials and shaders for different surfaces

• Creating skin, fabric, metal, glass, concrete, plastic, painted surfaces, and other material types

• Adding wear, dirt, damage, weathering, and other surface detail where appropriate

• Preparing texture maps and materials for use in production

• Working with UV layouts created by modelers

• Creating or refining normal, roughness, metallic, displacement, opacity, and other texture maps

• Maintaining consistent material quality across the series

• Helping establish reusable material libraries for commonly used surfaces

• Creating specialized materials for Expression-related effects or unusual assets when needed

• Optimizing textures and materials for practical use in animation and rendering

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Lead 3D Artist and Creator/Showrunner

• Working with lighting and VFX artists to ensure materials react correctly under different conditions

• Coordinating with modelers when UVs, topology, or asset setup need adjustments

The Expressionists is aiming for a stylized cinematic 3D look rather than strict photorealism. Materials should feel believable and physically grounded while still supporting the artistic direction of the series.

Because Expressions can directly affect the environment and characters around them, some materials may also need to respond to unusual conditions such as heat, electricity, water, damage, energy, transformation, or other visual effects.

Applicants should be comfortable creating materials that remain readable under different lighting conditions and work reliably throughout the production pipeline.

Experience with character texturing, environment materials, procedural materials, PBR workflows, and stylized texturing is strongly preferred.

This role will work closely with the Lead 3D Artist, character artists, environment and prop artists, lighting artists, VFX artists, and other members of the 3D department.

This role is part of the combined 3D Art / Modeling / Rigging Department revenue pool, which receives 19% of total distributable project revenue.

Individual percentages will be defined in each contributor's written contract based on role, workload, and department staffing.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Character & Facial Rigging Artist

The Character & Facial Rigging Artist will be responsible for preparing characters in The Expressionists for animation by creating functional, animator-friendly body and facial rigs.

This role focuses on making sure characters can move naturally, perform action scenes, deliver dialogue, and express emotion without forcing animators to fight against the rig.

Responsibilities may include:

• Creating full-body character rigs

• Building facial rigs and facial control systems

• Rigging hands, fingers, eyes, jaws, and other detailed character features

• Skinning characters and weight painting

• Creating deformation controls and corrective shapes where needed

• Rigging clothing, hair, accessories, and other secondary character elements

• Preparing characters for both dialogue scenes and action-heavy animation

• Creating controls that are intuitive and practical for animators

• Testing rigs for stability, deformation quality, and ease of use

• Working with character modelers to resolve topology or deformation issues

• Making revisions based on feedback from animators and the Lead 3D Artist

• Maintaining consistent rigging standards across the production

• Helping develop reusable rigging systems where practical

• Supporting specialized rigs for characters whose Expressions alter their bodies or require unusual movement

• Troubleshooting rigging, weighting, constraint, or deformation problems during production

Facial performance is especially important for The Expressionists. Characters should be capable of delivering clear emotional performances, believable eye movement, lip synchronization, and expressive dialogue scenes in addition to large-scale action.

Some characters may require more specialized setups due to stretching, transformation, unusual anatomy, clothing, hair, or Expression-related effects. Applicants who are comfortable creating non-standard or highly flexible rigs are especially valuable.

The Expressionists is aiming for a stylized cinematic 3D look rather than strict photorealism, so rigs should support expressive performance while preserving each character's intended visual style.

Applicants should have a strong understanding of character deformation, weight painting, rig controls, and animation-friendly rig design. Experience with facial rigging, corrective shapes, shape keys, or similar systems is strongly preferred.

This role will work closely with the Lead 3D Artist, character modelers, animators, combat animators, VFX artists, and other members of the 3D department.

This role is part of the combined 3D Art / Modeling / Rigging Department revenue pool, which receives 19% of total distributable project revenue.

Individual percentages will be defined in each contributor's written contract based on role, workload, and department staffing.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Animation Director / Lead Animator

The Animation Director / Lead Animator will oversee the animation department for The Expressionists while also contributing directly to animation production.

This is both a leadership and hands-on role. The Animation Director will work closely with the Creator/Showrunner and Lead 3D Artist to establish the movement, performance, pacing, and overall animation quality of the series.

Responsibilities may include:

• Establishing animation standards for the production

• Supervising 3D Character Animators and Combat Animators

• Reviewing animation passes and providing feedback

• Helping maintain consistent quality across different animators

• Animating important scenes, character moments, and sequences

• Helping define how individual characters move and perform

• Developing guidelines for acting, body language, facial performance, and movement

• Working with animators to improve timing, posing, weight, and readability

• Helping plan and refine action sequences

• Coordinating with rigging artists when animation controls or deformation need adjustment

• Working with VFX artists when Expressions directly affect character movement

• Collaborating with lighting and compositing departments when animation depends on camera or scene presentation

• Helping identify animation problems early in the production pipeline

• Assisting with shot assignment and determining which animators are best suited for different scenes

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Creator/Showrunner

• Helping ensure that completed animation is ready to move into lighting, VFX, rendering, and compositing

The Expressionists will rely heavily on both character performance and action, so the Animation Director should be comfortable working with a wide range of animation styles.

Quiet dialogue scenes should feel expressive and natural, while combat should have clear weight, momentum, impact, and character-specific movement.

Expressions should also influence animation rather than existing only as visual effects. A character manipulating density, friction, water, energy, concrete, or their own body should move in ways that reflect how those abilities function.

The Animation Director will help establish these rules and ensure they remain consistent throughout the series.

Applicants should have a strong understanding of:

• Character animation

• Acting and body language

• Timing and spacing

• Weight and momentum

• Posing and silhouettes

• Facial performance

• Camera-aware animation

• Action choreography

• Animation cleanup

• Feedback and revision

Previous leadership experience is preferred but not required if the applicant can demonstrate strong animation ability, communication skills, and the ability to provide clear and constructive feedback.

A demo reel or portfolio showing previous animation work will be required.

Experience with stylized 3D character animation, action animation, or cinematic animation is especially valuable.

This role will work closely with the Creator/Showrunner, Lead 3D Artist, Character & Facial Rigging Artists, Character Animators, Combat Animators, VFX Artists, Lighting Artists, and Compositors.

The Animation Director / Lead Animator position is allocated 4% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

This percentage applies to the leadership responsibilities and direct animation work associated with the role.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

3D Character Animator

The 3D Character Animator will be responsible for bringing the characters of The Expressionists to life through body movement, acting, facial performance, and scene animation.

This role focuses on creating believable and expressive character performances that support both quieter dialogue-driven scenes and larger action sequences.

Responsibilities may include:

• Animating character movement and body mechanics

• Creating expressive acting performances for dialogue scenes

• Animating facial expressions and lip synchronization where required

• Developing character-specific body language and movement

• Creating walk cycles, running, jumping, reactions, gestures, and other physical actions

• Animating interactions between multiple characters

• Working from storyboards, shot descriptions, scripts, and direction

• Blocking scenes before refining them into final animation

• Refining timing, spacing, posing, weight, and movement

• Maintaining clear silhouettes and readable character performances

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Animation Director and Creator/Showrunner

• Working with rigging artists when animation controls or deformation problems need to be addressed

• Coordinating with Combat Animators when scenes transition between acting and combat

• Working with VFX artists when Expressions directly affect a character's movement

• Helping maintain animation consistency across episodes and characters

• Preparing finished animation for lighting, VFX, rendering, and compositing

The Expressionists is a character-driven series, so animation should communicate personality even when characters are not speaking.

Elliot, Simon, Isaac, Javier, Maya, Naomi, and the rest of the cast should each move differently based on their personality, confidence, background, and abilities.

Expressions should also affect the way characters move.

A character increasing their density should feel heavier and more forceful. Someone manipulating friction may move differently across surfaces. Characters using water, energy, body transformation, or other Expressions should feel physically connected to what their abilities are doing.

Because of this, animators should think about more than simply moving a rig from one pose to another. Performance, weight, intent, and physicality are all important parts of the role.

Applicants should have a strong understanding of:

• 3D character animation

• Body mechanics

• Acting and performance

• Timing and spacing

• Weight and momentum

• Strong posing

• Facial animation

• Character interaction

• Animation cleanup

Experience with stylized or cinematic 3D animation is strongly preferred.

Applicants should provide a demo reel or examples of previous animation work. Dialogue scenes, acting tests, character performances, and action animation are all useful examples.

This role will work closely with the Animation Director, Character & Facial Rigging Artists, Combat Animators, VFX Artists, and other members of the animation department.

The 3D Character Animation Department is allocated 11% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted 3D Character Animators according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Individual percentages will depend on department staffing, workload, and production responsibilities.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Combat Animator

The Combat Animator will be responsible for creating the fight scenes, action sequences, and physically demanding character animation used throughout The Expressionists.

This role focuses on making combat feel clear, impactful, character-specific, and physically connected to the abilities being used. Fights should not feel like generic attack animations placed on top of visual effects. Movement, timing, weight, positioning, and Expression use should all work together as part of the choreography.

Responsibilities may include:

• Animating hand-to-hand combat

• Animating weapon-based combat where required

• Creating dodges, counters, impacts, throws, falls, and reactions

• Blocking and refining multi-character fight sequences

• Developing clear and readable action choreography

• Maintaining strong posing and silhouettes during fast movement

• Creating believable weight, momentum, balance, and impact

• Animating characters interacting with the environment during combat

• Working from scripts, shot descriptions, story direction, and choreography notes

• Helping develop fight choreography when scenes require additional planning

• Adjusting combat to match each character's personality, fighting style, and Expression

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Animation Director and Creator/Showrunner

• Coordinating with Character Animators when scenes move between dialogue, acting, and combat

• Working with Rigging Artists when characters require unusual movement or specialized controls

• Coordinating with VFX Artists so animation and Expression effects align correctly

• Preparing finished combat animation for lighting, VFX, rendering, and compositing

Combat in The Expressionists should be heavily influenced by each character's abilities.

A character manipulating density should feel different from someone relying on speed, prediction, environmental control, ranged attacks, or body transformation. Expressions should change how characters move, position themselves, attack, defend, and react.

This means combat animation will often require thinking about the rules of an ability before determining how the character should move.

For example, attacks involving increased density should communicate additional mass and impact. Friction manipulation may affect footing, acceleration, sliding, or recovery. Water and energy-based abilities may influence spacing and movement at range. Characters with predictive or perception-based abilities may fight with very different timing and reactions than characters relying primarily on physical strength.

The goal is for each major character to eventually develop a recognizable combat identity rather than every fight using the same animation language.

Applicants should have a strong understanding of:

• 3D combat animation

• Fight choreography

• Body mechanics

• Timing and spacing

• Weight and momentum

• Impact animation

• Strong posing and silhouettes

• Character movement

• Multi-character animation

• Action cinematography

• Animation cleanup

Knowledge of martial arts, stunt choreography, stage combat, or real-world movement is valuable but not required.

Applicants should provide a demo reel or examples of previous action animation. Fight scenes, choreography tests, parkour, impacts, creature combat, weapon animation, or other physically demanding animation are all useful examples.

This role will work closely with the Animation Director, 3D Character Animators, Character & Facial Rigging Artists, VFX Artists, and other members of the animation department.

The Combat Animation Department is allocated 4% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted Combat Animators according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Individual percentages will depend on department staffing, workload, and production responsibilities.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

VFX / Expression Effects Artist

The VFX / Expression Effects Artist will be responsible for creating the visual effects used throughout The Expressionists, with a major focus on how Expressions, Aether, Breaking, environmental destruction, and other supernatural phenomena are visually represented.

This role is especially important to the identity of the series. Expressions should not feel like generic glowing effects placed over finished animation. They should interact with characters, environments, lighting, materials, and motion in ways that make each ability feel physically present and visually distinct.

Responsibilities may include:

• Creating visual effects for individual Expressions

• Developing particles, energy effects, distortion, smoke, fire, electricity, debris, and other simulations

• Creating Aether-related visual effects

• Designing and implementing Breaking effects

• Developing effects for impacts, explosions, destruction, and environmental damage

• Creating fluid, water, and other simulation-based effects where needed

• Building reusable VFX systems for frequently used abilities

• Helping establish consistent visual rules for recurring Expressions

• Working with animators to synchronize effects with character movement and combat

• Coordinating with Lighting Artists so effects properly illuminate characters and environments

• Working with Material Artists when Expressions affect surfaces or require specialized shaders

• Creating effects that interact with props, environments, and characters

• Optimizing VFX for practical use in production and rendering

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Creator/Showrunner and Animation Director

• Maintaining visual consistency between episodes and different VFX artists

• Preparing finished effects for rendering and compositing

A major goal of The Expressionists is for abilities to feel different from one another not only in appearance, but also in movement, intensity, lighting, sound, and environmental impact.

For example, density manipulation should communicate weight and force rather than simply producing a glow. Electricity should illuminate nearby surfaces and react naturally within the scene. Water should behave with mass and momentum. Concrete manipulation should involve convincing fracture, debris, dust, and physical movement.

Breaking should have its own visual language and should feel fundamentally different from normal Expression use.

The VFX team will help develop these rules and maintain them throughout the production.

Because many Expressions behave in unusual or highly specific ways, artists should be comfortable experimenting and helping develop new effects rather than relying entirely on existing presets or stock systems.

Applicants should have experience or familiarity with areas such as:

• Particle systems

• Energy effects

• Fire and smoke

• Electricity and lightning

• Fluid simulation

• Destruction and debris

• Environmental effects

• Volumetrics

• Procedural effects

• Shader-based effects

• Distortion and screen-space effects

• Simulation

• VFX optimization

Experience with stylized or cinematic VFX is strongly preferred.

Applicants should provide a portfolio, reel, or examples of previous VFX work. Ability effects, destruction, elemental effects, simulations, particles, explosions, environmental effects, or similar work are especially useful.

This role will work closely with the Animation Director, Character Animators, Combat Animators, 3D Artists, Lighting Artists, Compositors, and Sound Designers.

The VFX / Expression Effects Department is allocated 5% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted VFX / Expression Effects Artists according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Individual percentages will depend on department staffing, workload, and production responsibilities.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Lighting / Rendering Artist

The Lighting / Rendering Artist will be responsible for establishing the final lighting, atmosphere, and render quality of scenes throughout The Expressionists.

This role focuses on taking completed 3D scenes and making them feel cinematic, readable, and visually consistent while supporting the tone, emotion, and action of each sequence.

Responsibilities may include:

• Lighting interior and exterior scenes

• Establishing mood, time of day, and atmosphere

• Creating consistent lighting setups for recurring locations

• Lighting characters in a way that supports facial performance and readability

• Integrating Expression effects into the lighting of a scene

• Making sure energy, fire, electricity, and other light-producing abilities correctly affect nearby characters and environments

• Working with VFX Artists to match lighting to supernatural effects

• Adjusting shadows, reflections, exposure, and contrast

• Preparing scenes for final rendering

• Managing render settings and quality

• Balancing visual quality with practical render times

• Troubleshooting noise, artifacts, flickering, or other render-related issues

• Creating render passes or layers when needed for compositing

• Maintaining consistency between shots within the same sequence

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Creator/Showrunner and Animation Director

• Working with Material Artists to ensure shaders respond correctly under production lighting

• Coordinating with Compositors to provide the necessary passes and render outputs

• Helping optimize scenes that become too expensive or difficult to render

Lighting will play an important role in the overall identity of The Expressionists.

Expressions are intended to interact with the world around them rather than exist as effects layered over completed scenes. Energy-based abilities should cast light onto nearby surfaces, fire should influence the color and intensity of a scene, and major Expression use should affect the atmosphere and readability of the environment around it.

Lighting should also support the emotional tone of each scene.

A quiet conversation, a training session, a large-scale fight, a Helix facility, and a Breaking event should not all feel visually identical.

The goal is to create a stylized cinematic look rather than strict photorealism, so applicants should be comfortable using lighting creatively while still maintaining believable interaction between light, materials, characters, and environments.

Applicants should have experience or familiarity with:

• 3D lighting

• Cinematic lighting

• Character lighting

• Environment lighting

• HDRI lighting

• Volumetric lighting

• Shadows and reflections

• Exposure and color balance

• Render optimization

• Render passes

• Scene optimization

• GPU rendering

• Troubleshooting render artifacts

• Maintaining visual continuity between shots

Experience with Blender lighting and rendering is strongly preferred.

Applicants should provide examples of previous lighting or rendering work. Character shots, cinematic environments, nighttime scenes, dramatic interiors, VFX-heavy scenes, or before-and-after lighting comparisons are especially useful.

This role will work closely with the Animation Director, VFX Artists, 3D Artists, Material Artists, Compositors, and other members of the visual production team.

The Lighting / Rendering Department is allocated 3% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted Lighting / Rendering Artists according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Individual percentages will depend on department staffing, workload, and production responsibilities.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Compositor

The Compositor will be responsible for taking rendered shots from The Expressionists and combining them into polished final images that are ready for release.

This role focuses on bringing together character renders, environments, VFX, lighting passes, depth information, and other visual elements into a cohesive final shot while helping maintain the cinematic look of the series.

Responsibilities may include:

• Combining multiple render passes and visual elements into finished shots

• Integrating VFX with characters and environments

• Adjusting color, contrast, exposure, and overall image balance

• Adding glow, bloom, atmospheric effects, and other finishing touches where appropriate

• Working with depth passes, masks, mattes, and transparency

• Enhancing Expression effects during post-production

• Adding motion blur, depth of field, lens effects, or other post-processing when needed

• Improving the readability and impact of action scenes

• Helping integrate smoke, debris, particles, energy, and environmental effects

• Matching visual consistency between shots within the same scene

• Correcting minor render issues where practical

• Working with Lighting Artists to maintain consistent exposure and color between shots

• Working with VFX Artists to ensure effects feel properly integrated into the scene

• Preparing final shots for editing and release

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Creator/Showrunner and other visual leads

• Helping establish a consistent compositing workflow for the series

Compositing will play an important role in making The Expressionists feel like a unified animated production rather than a collection of separate 3D renders.

Expressions, VFX, lighting, atmosphere, and environmental effects should all feel like they belong in the same space. Energy should illuminate nearby surfaces, smoke and debris should interact naturally with the scene, and supernatural effects should feel integrated rather than simply placed over the image.

Breaking events and major Expression sequences may require especially heavy compositing to create distortion, atmospheric changes, glow, color shifts, layered effects, and other visual elements that cannot be handled entirely during the 3D render.

The goal is a stylized cinematic finish rather than strict photorealism, so applicants should be comfortable making creative decisions that strengthen mood, readability, and visual impact.

Applicants should have experience or familiarity with:

• Digital compositing

• Render pass compositing

• Color correction

• Color grading

• Masking and rotoscoping

• Depth passes

• Motion blur

• Depth of field

• Glow and bloom

• Atmospheric effects

• VFX integration

• Layer-based compositing

• Shot matching

• Post-processing

• Final image cleanup

Experience with Blender's compositor, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve/Fusion, Nuke, or similar compositing software is preferred.

Applicants should provide examples of previous compositing or post-production work. VFX-heavy shots, before-and-after examples, color work, cinematic scenes, or layered 3D compositing are especially useful.

This role will work closely with the Lighting / Rendering Artists, VFX Artists, Animation Director, 3D Artists, and other members of the visual production team.

The Compositing Department is allocated 2.5% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted Compositors according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Individual percentages will depend on department staffing, workload, and production responsibilities.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Sound Designer / Foley Artist

The Sound Designer / Foley Artist will be responsible for creating and shaping the sound effects that give The Expressionists its physical impact, atmosphere, and identity.

This role will work across combat, environments, technology, character movement, and especially Expressions. The goal is for abilities to feel distinct not only visually, but sonically, with recognizable sound language that reinforces how each power works.

Responsibilities may include:

• Creating and editing sound effects for Expressions

• Developing unique sound identities for recurring abilities

• Designing impacts, hits, explosions, debris, destruction, and environmental damage

• Creating sounds for fire, electricity, water, energy, concrete, and other physical or supernatural effects

• Designing Aether-related sounds

• Creating the sound language for Breaking events

• Recording or creating Foley for footsteps, clothing, movement, object handling, and physical interaction

• Building environmental ambience for interiors, streets, facilities, training areas, and other locations

• Designing sounds for technology, equipment, vehicles, and Expression-monitoring systems

• Editing and layering multiple sound elements into cohesive effects

• Synchronizing sound effects with animation, combat, and VFX

• Creating variations of commonly reused sounds to avoid repetition

• Organizing and maintaining a reusable sound library for the production

• Cleaning and preparing recorded Foley or field audio when needed

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Creator/Showrunner

• Working with the Audio Mixing / Mastering team to prepare effects for final mixes

Sound will be a major part of how Expressions are communicated to the audience.

Abilities should not all rely on the same generic energy sounds. Their sound should reflect their behavior.

Density manipulation should communicate increased weight, pressure, and impact. Electricity should feel sharp and unstable. Water should carry mass and movement. Concrete should grind, fracture, crack, and shift in a way that feels physically grounded.

Breaking should have its own recognizable sound language and should feel noticeably different from normal Expression use.

The Sound Designer will have room to experiment and help establish these recurring auditory rules alongside the visual effects team.

The role also includes quieter sound work. Footsteps, room tone, clothing movement, doors, objects, distant traffic, machinery, and other environmental details will be important for making scenes feel complete and lived in.

Applicants should have experience or familiarity with:

• Sound design

• Foley

• Audio editing

• Layering and processing sound effects

• Impact design

• Environmental ambience

• Creature or supernatural sound design

• Sci-fi sound design

• Field recording

• Audio cleanup

• Synchronizing sound to picture

• Building reusable sound libraries

Applicants should provide a demo reel or examples of previous sound design work where possible. Action scenes, ability effects, Foley work, environmental soundscapes, cinematic sound redesigns, or similar examples are especially useful.

This role will work closely with the VFX / Expression Effects Artists, Animators, Composer, Audio Mixing / Mastering team, and Creator/Showrunner.

The Sound Design / Foley Department is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted Sound Designers and Foley Artists according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Individual percentages will depend on department staffing, workload, and production responsibilities.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Audio Mixing / Mastering

The Audio Mixing / Mastering Artist will be responsible for bringing together dialogue, sound effects, Foley, ambience, and music into a clear, balanced, and polished final mix for The Expressionists.

This role focuses on making sure every part of the soundtrack works together properly and that important elements remain understandable and impactful across both quiet character scenes and large action sequences.

Responsibilities may include:

• Mixing dialogue, sound effects, Foley, ambience, and music

• Balancing levels between different audio elements

• Cleaning and processing dialogue where needed

• Using EQ, compression, limiting, noise reduction, and other processing tools

• Maintaining clear and intelligible dialogue during action-heavy scenes

• Managing dynamic range between quiet scenes and large combat sequences

• Panning and positioning sounds within the stereo field

• Helping create spatial depth through volume, reverb, and other effects

• Matching audio levels and tonal balance between scenes and episodes

• Preventing clipping, distortion, harshness, or excessive loudness

• Preparing final mixes for release

• Creating alternate mixes or stems when required

• Working with the Sound Designer to ensure effects remain impactful without overpowering dialogue

• Working with the Composer to properly balance music against dialogue and effects

• Making revisions based on feedback from the Creator/Showrunner

• Maintaining consistent loudness and audio quality throughout the series

• Mastering completed mixes to appropriate delivery standards

The Expressionists will include a wide range of audio environments, from quiet conversations and subtle atmospheric scenes to large-scale fights involving multiple Expressions, destruction, music, dialogue, and environmental sound.

The Audio Mixing / Mastering Artist will be responsible for making sure these elements remain controlled and readable rather than becoming overwhelming or muddy.

Expressions in particular may involve dense layers of sound, including impacts, energy, debris, ambience, and music. The mixer should be comfortable managing complex scenes while preserving both clarity and intensity.

Applicants should have experience or familiarity with:

• Dialogue mixing

• Sound effects mixing

• Music mixing

• EQ and compression

• Noise reduction

• Loudness management

• Dynamic range control

• Reverb and spatial audio

• Stereo imaging

• Automation

• Audio mastering

• Mixing to picture

• Stem delivery

• Final export preparation

Experience with Reaper, Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, FL Studio, or similar digital audio workstations is preferred.

Applicants should provide examples of previous mixing or mastering work where possible. Film scenes, animation, short films, game cinematics, dialogue-heavy scenes, or action sequences are especially useful examples.

This role will work closely with the Sound Designer / Foley Artist, Composer, Voice Cast, and Creator/Showrunner.

The Audio Mixing / Mastering role is allocated 1% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

If more than one contracted contributor is assigned to this role, the percentage will be divided according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Composer / Music

The Composer will be responsible for developing the original musical identity of The Expressionists and creating music that supports the tone, characters, action, and emotional direction of the series.

This role will work across both large cinematic sequences and quieter character moments. The goal is to create a recognizable soundtrack that feels specific to The Expressionists rather than relying on generic background music.

Responsibilities may include:

• Composing original music for episodes, trailers, promotional material, and other project needs

• Developing recurring themes and motifs for major characters, groups, locations, and story elements

• Scoring dialogue scenes, emotional scenes, suspense, action, and large-scale combat

• Creating music that supports pacing without overwhelming dialogue or sound design

• Developing musical identities for recurring concepts such as Helix, Aether, Breaking, and major character arcs

• Producing variations of existing themes for different emotional or narrative contexts

• Creating transitions, stingers, tension cues, and shorter musical pieces when needed

• Working from scripts, scene descriptions, animatics, rough cuts, or completed footage

• Timing music to picture and adjusting compositions to fit scene pacing

• Revising tracks based on feedback from the Creator/Showrunner

• Delivering organized final mixes, stems, and project files where required

• Maintaining a consistent musical style and sound across episodes

• Working with the Sound Designer and Audio Mixing / Mastering team to make sure music integrates properly with dialogue and effects

• Helping build and maintain a reusable library of themes and musical material for the series

The Expressionists will move between character-driven drama, mystery, darker emotional material, humor, suspense, and large-scale action, so the soundtrack should be capable of shifting between these tones while still feeling like part of the same series.

Character themes should be able to grow and change alongside the characters themselves. A theme introduced early in the series may return later in a different form as relationships, conflicts, and character arcs develop.

Major concepts and organizations may also receive their own recurring musical language so that the audience begins to associate certain sounds, instruments, or motifs with specific parts of the world.

We are especially interested in composers who are comfortable with cinematic scoring and thematic development.

Applicants do not need access to a live orchestra. High-quality virtual instruments, synthesized elements, electronic production, hybrid scoring, and other approaches are welcome as long as the final result fits the series.

Applicants should have experience or familiarity with:

• Film or animation scoring

• Cinematic composition

• Character themes and leitmotifs

• Action music

• Emotional scoring

• Suspense and tension

• Music arrangement

• Orchestration

• MIDI programming

• Virtual instruments

• Music production

• Mixing music

• Scoring to picture

• Delivering stems and alternate mixes

Experience with FL Studio, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Cubase, Reaper, Studio One, Pro Tools, or similar music production software is welcome.

Applicants should provide a portfolio, demo reel, or examples of previous compositions. Cinematic tracks, character themes, action music, emotional pieces, game or animation scores, and scoring-to-picture examples are especially useful.

This role will work closely with the Creator/Showrunner, Sound Designer / Foley Artist, Audio Mixing / Mastering team, and other members of the production team.

The Composer / Music Department is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

This percentage operates as a shared role pool and will be divided among the contracted composers or music contributors according to the terms established in their individual agreements.

Individual percentages will depend on department staffing, workload, and production responsibilities.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Elliot Cross

Elliot Cross is the main protagonist of The Expressionists.

He is eighteen years old, roughly six feet tall, lean, with messy blond hair and green eyes. He has spent most of his life learning how to survive without depending on other people, and that has shaped nearly every part of his personality.

Elliot is stubborn, independent, sarcastic, creative, and extremely resistant to authority. He has a strong dislike of being controlled or told what he is supposed to become, especially by institutions that claim to know what is best for him.

He is not naturally open with people and tends to hide stress, fear, or vulnerability behind irritation, jokes, or outright refusal to talk about what is bothering him.

Despite that, Elliot is deeply loyal.

Once someone becomes important to him, he will go far beyond what is reasonable to protect them, even when doing so puts him in danger.

He is the kind of person who will complain the entire time he is helping you and then refuse to admit that helping you mattered to him.

Elliot had a difficult childhood and spent several years homeless before eventually finding a more stable life.

Because of that history, he has a complicated relationship with money, charity, and dependence. He strongly dislikes feeling like he owes people something and often refuses help even when accepting it would make his life significantly easier.

At the beginning of the series, Elliot is entering TCSA's Expression Development Program alongside his closest friend, Simon Gray.

He does not enter the program because he dreams of becoming a traditional heroic figure.

For Elliot, becoming stronger and gaining control over his abilities is initially much more practical.

He wants independence.

He wants security.

And more than anything, he wants to make sure he is never powerless again.

Over time, his relationships with the other students and his growing involvement in the larger conflict surrounding Expressionists begin to challenge that worldview.

Elliot is generally:

• Stubborn

• Independent

• Sarcastic

• Competitive

• Creative

• Quick-thinking

• Suspicious of authority

• Emotionally guarded

• Extremely loyal

• Reckless when someone he cares about is threatened

• Hardworking when he actually believes something matters

He is not constantly angry or brooding.

Elliot jokes around, argues with his friends, gets annoyed over stupid things, and can be surprisingly playful when he is comfortable.

A large part of his personality comes from the contrast between how defensive he appears and how much he actually cares about the people around him.

His humor tends to be dry, sarcastic, or mildly confrontational rather than overly energetic or comedic.

Elliot possesses several Expressions that initially seem unrelated but gradually become extremely effective when used together.

Localized Density Manipulation

Elliot can increase or decrease the density of localized portions of his body.

He commonly uses this during combat by increasing the density of his fists, arms, legs, or other areas at the moment of impact, allowing him to produce significantly greater force without constantly carrying the additional weight.

Localized Friction Manipulation

Elliot can alter friction at specific points.

This can be used to increase his grip, lock himself into position, reduce friction to slide across surfaces, alter his movement, or create unusual opportunities during combat.

Danger Sense

Elliot possesses a form of danger perception that warns him when something threatening is approaching.

He experiences this less as a clear vision of the future and more like an instinctive physical pull directing his attention toward danger.

One of Elliot's defining traits as a fighter is his creativity.

His abilities are not necessarily the most immediately overwhelming in the series, but he constantly looks for unusual ways to combine them.

Elliot requires an actor capable of handling a wide emotional range.

A large portion of the role involves natural conversations between friends, sarcasm, arguments, frustration, humor, and quieter emotional moments.

At the same time, Elliot experiences increasingly intense situations as the series progresses, including fear, anger, grief, physical exhaustion, desperation, and moments where he begins approaching the limits of his own stability.

The performance should feel natural rather than overly "anime protagonist."

Elliot is not constantly shouting declarations about friendship or announcing how determined he is.

His strongest emotional moments will often come from someone who normally avoids talking about his feelings finally losing the ability to keep them contained.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking primarily for a natural young-adult male voice that can convincingly portray someone around eighteen years old.

A medium or medium-low register is preferred, but performance is significantly more important than pitch.

The voice should be capable of sounding:

• Casual and sarcastic during normal conversation

• Irritated without constantly sounding aggressive

• Comfortable and relaxed around close friends

• Emotionally restrained during serious scenes

• Intense during combat

• Frightened, exhausted, or desperate when necessary

• Genuinely angry without immediately becoming exaggerated

Actors should also be comfortable performing exertion sounds, impacts, yelling, pain reactions, and combat dialogue.

Because Elliot is the central character of the series, this will be one of the most dialogue-heavy and long-term roles in the production.

We are looking for an actor who can make Elliot feel like an actual eighteen-year-old rather than a stereotypical heroic lead.

Strong comedic timing is useful, but so is restraint.

The ideal performance should be able to move naturally between sarcastic conversations with his friends, tense confrontations with authority figures, emotionally vulnerable scenes, and physically demanding action sequences.

Consistency and availability are especially important for this role because Elliot will appear throughout the majority of the series.

Selected actors should be comfortable receiving direction, performing retakes when reasonably necessary, and maintaining a consistent character voice over a long-term production.

Elliot Cross is one of the seven principal cast roles and is allocated 1% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

This is an individual percentage and is not divided with the other principal cast members.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Simon Gray

Simon Gray is one of the principal characters of The Expressionists and Elliot Cross's closest friend.

Shorter and more broadly built than Elliot, with short brown hair and brown eyes, Simon is the kind of person who is extremely easy to overlook.

He is perfectly comfortable with that.

Simon is quiet, intelligent, observant, and highly analytical. He rarely speaks simply because there is silence to fill, and he has almost no interest in convincing strangers that he is smarter or more capable than they assume.

If someone underestimates him, Simon generally sees no reason to correct them.

In many cases, he prefers it.

He watches people carefully, listens to what is happening around him, and tends to understand considerably more than he lets on. When Simon does speak around people he isn't close to, there is usually a reason for it. He may be answering a question in class, pointing out something important, explaining a plan, correcting a mistake that actually matters, or contributing information that is useful to the people around him.

Around his friends, however, Simon is noticeably different.

He talks more, relaxes considerably, participates in conversations, and allows much more of his personality to show. Elliot in particular knows a version of Simon that most people never see.

Simon does not dislike people.

He simply does not feel the need to perform for them.

Simon is one of the most naturally intelligent members of the main cast.

His strength is not simply academic knowledge. He is exceptionally good at observation, analysis, and understanding how different pieces of a situation interact.

During training and combat, Simon often functions as an analyst for the group. He notices patterns, weaknesses, environmental advantages, and possibilities that other people miss.

He is frequently better at understanding what someone else should do than immediately acting himself.

This makes Simon particularly useful when working alongside Elliot. Elliot is highly creative and instinctive, while Simon is able to observe a problem, break it apart, and recognize possibilities Elliot can then exploit.

Simon is also extremely comfortable allowing his intelligence to go unnoticed.

He does not need the highest grade, the most attention, or recognition for being correct.

In fact, Simon has spent a significant portion of his life intentionally doing less than he is capable of.

Simon comes from a large and loving family in Marble Falls.

His father, Daniel Gray, is a legendary former war veteran and an extraordinarily powerful Expressionist who has lived for well over a century. Daniel later settled into life on the family's ranch and remains an imposing figure both because of his history and his abilities.

His mother, Sharon Gray, has also lived far beyond an ordinary human lifespan.

Unlike several members of the main cast, Simon did not grow up in an abusive or unstable home. His family loves him.

That does not mean his relationship with them is uncomplicated.

Growing up surrounded by a large family—and beneath the shadow of people with enormous histories and accomplishments—left Simon with the persistent feeling that it was very easy for him to disappear into the background.

That experience helped shape one of his deepest insecurities:

If people don't need him, then he doesn't matter.

Simon rarely expresses that belief openly.

Instead, it manifests in the way he approaches expectations.

He intentionally underachieves.

If people do not expect very much from him, then there is very little pressure to prove himself. Being considered lazy, average, or unremarkable is considerably safer than demonstrating everything he is capable of and suddenly being expected to live up to it indefinitely.

That behavior can easily be mistaken for a lack of ambition.

It isn't.

Simon is capable of significantly more than he initially allows most people to see.

Elliot is Simon's closest friend and one of the few people around whom Simon is completely comfortable.

Their relationship goes back years before the beginning of the series, and Elliot's connection to the Gray family means that their friendship extends well beyond simply attending the same university.

Simon understands Elliot unusually well.

He knows when Elliot is actually angry, when he is afraid, when he is about to make a terrible decision, and when attempting to stop him is probably pointless.

Likewise, Elliot is one of the people who understands that Simon's apparent lack of effort does not reflect a lack of intelligence.

Their friendship does not require either of them to constantly explain themselves.

Simon frequently acts as the analytical half of the pair, recognizing problems and possibilities while Elliot finds increasingly unconventional ways to act on them.

Naomi becomes Simon's primary romantic relationship over the course of the series.

Their relationship does not begin as an immediate, sweeping romance.

Naomi initially approaches dating with an unusually structured mentality. Entering college, she has created an internal idea of what her college life is supposed to include, and finding a romantic partner is one item on that list.

Simon initially registers to her as, essentially, a suitable mate.

What begins from that strangely practical perspective gradually becomes something neither of them can reduce to a checklist.

Simon is not someone who aggressively pursues attention, and he does not suddenly transform into a different person around Naomi. Their relationship develops through time spent together, observation, familiarity, and the gradual realization that they genuinely enjoy and value one another.

This relationship is particularly important for Simon because being chosen matters enormously to him.

Simon has spent much of his life feeling as though he can disappear into the background without anyone particularly noticing. As Naomi's interest becomes genuine rather than simply part of a plan she created for herself, that has a much deeper effect on him than he initially knows how to express.

He becomes increasingly comfortable allowing himself to be known rather than simply useful.

Their relationship should therefore feel like something that develops naturally over time rather than two characters who immediately behave like an established couple.

Simon possesses two major elemental Expressions:

Hydrokinesis

Simon can manipulate water, controlling its movement and using it offensively, defensively, and creatively depending on the environment.

Pyrokinesis

Simon can also generate and manipulate fire.

Importantly, possessing pyrokinesis does not make Simon immune to fire.

He must remain aware of where his flames are moving and how they may affect both himself and the people around him.

Simon's abilities give him considerable versatility, but his greatest advantage is often his ability to understand how and when to use them.

His fighting style should reflect the same intelligence that defines the rest of his personality.

He is rarely interested in producing the largest attack simply because he can.

Simon is generally:

• Quiet

• Highly intelligent

• Observant

• Analytical

• Patient

• Comfortable being underestimated

• Selective about when he speaks

• Relaxed around close friends

• Naturally capable but intentionally prone to underachieving

• More interested in usefulness than recognition

• Emotionally understated

• Extremely attentive to the people he cares about

Simon should not be portrayed as constantly sarcastic, smug, socially anxious, or awkward.

His silence is not because he is afraid to speak.

He simply does not believe every thought needs to be spoken.

When someone asks a question he knows the answer to, he may answer it directly. When he identifies something useful, he will contribute it. When there is nothing worth adding, he is entirely comfortable remaining quiet.

Simon requires a more restrained performance than several members of the main cast.

The actor should be comfortable doing very little when very little is appropriate.

Simon should not constantly sound mysterious, bored, monotone, or emotionally detached. The challenge is allowing intelligence and observation to come through without exaggerating them.

His delivery is generally measured and deliberate.

When Simon answers a complicated question, he does not need to sound impressed with himself for knowing the answer.

When he recognizes something everyone else missed, he does not need to announce that he was smarter than them.

He simply explains it.

The largest contrast should come from scenes involving people he genuinely trusts.

Around Elliot and the rest of his close friends, Simon becomes considerably more conversational and comfortable. His responses become quicker, he participates more freely, and there should be a noticeable sense that the audience is hearing the person behind the reserved public version of him.

His relationship with Naomi will also require gradually increasing emotional openness as the series progresses.

Simon is not someone who delivers enormous emotional speeches every time he feels something strongly. His more vulnerable scenes should often feel like someone carefully deciding to say something that he normally would have kept to himself.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking for a natural young-adult male voice capable of convincingly portraying someone around eighteen years old.

A medium or medium-low register would fit Simon well, although acting ability is considerably more important than exact pitch.

The ideal voice should be able to sound:

• Calm and thoughtful

• Intelligent without sounding arrogant

• Quiet without sounding timid

• Direct when explaining something

• Comfortable and noticeably more animated around friends

• Focused during combat

• Emotionally restrained during serious scenes

• Genuinely vulnerable when Simon finally allows himself to say what he is feeling

Avoid an exaggerated "genius" performance.

Simon should not sound like he is constantly demonstrating how intelligent he is.

The intelligence should come from what he notices and what he says, not from putting on an affected voice.

We are looking for an actor who understands restraint.

Simon may initially appear easier to portray than louder or more emotionally expressive characters, but much of his characterization depends on subtle differences in delivery.

The actor needs to make a distinction between Simon being quiet because he has nothing worth saying, Simon carefully observing someone, Simon explaining something he understands, Simon relaxing around his friends, and Simon deliberately withholding something emotionally important.

Those moments should not all sound the same.

As the story progresses, Simon is given increasingly emotional material, particularly involving his friends, his family, his own sense of worth, and his relationship with Naomi.

The ideal actor should therefore be capable of maintaining Simon's understated personality while still delivering powerful emotional performances when the character finally allows those emotions to surface.

Simon Gray is one of the seven principal cast roles and is allocated 1% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

This is an individual percentage and is not divided with the other principal cast members.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Naomi Hayes

Naomi Hayes is one of the principal characters of The Expressionists and one of the most analytically gifted members of the main group. She is eighteen years old, with dark brown hair, purple highlights, and blue eyes.

Naomi is highly observant, organized, intelligent, and deliberate. She prefers to understand a situation before committing herself to it, breaking problems down into causes, probabilities, weaknesses, and likely outcomes until she has enough information to act with confidence. She likes structure, likes knowing what is supposed to happen, and is most comfortable when there is a plan she can follow or improve.

This makes her particularly effective alongside Simon. Simon is often the group's information gatherer, quietly noticing details, patterns, and behaviors that other people overlook, while Naomi excels at taking that information and turning it into something actionable. Once she understands the pieces in front of her, she is very good at determining how they should fit together.

When something disrupts that structure, Naomi's first instinct is not panic, but analysis. She wants to know what changed, why it changed, and what that means for what comes next.

Naomi is intelligent, highly observant, analytical, precise, organized, direct, patient, practical, and quietly competitive. She is extremely attentive to detail and can become uncomfortable when she is forced to operate with too much uncertainty, but she is not cold or emotionally detached.

Her emotions tend to express themselves strategically. Rather than immediately reacting to how she feels, Naomi often tries to understand the feeling first, determine where it came from, and decide what she should do with it. That habit allows her to remain composed in situations where other people may lose control, but it can also create problems when she encounters emotions that refuse to fit neatly into anything she understands.

Around people she trusts, Naomi is capable of being playful, teasing, irritated, affectionate, and surprisingly warm. She forms strong attachments over time, even if she does not always recognize how important someone has become to her until that attachment begins interfering with the way she normally thinks.

Naomi likes structure because structure gives her something she can work with. She tends to form an internal picture of how something should progress and then begins making decisions that move her toward that outcome, whether she is dealing with school, training, relationships, or larger plans for her future.

By the time she enters college, Naomi already has a rough idea of what she believes that period of her life should look like. She knows what she wants to accomplish academically, what kind of progress she expects from herself, and even approaches dating with an unusually practical mentality. Finding a partner initially exists, at least partially, as another part of the life she intends to build.

The difficulty is that people do not behave as predictably as plans.

As Naomi becomes closer to the rest of the group, she is repeatedly confronted with situations where there is no clean answer and no outcome that can simply be reduced to the most efficient available option. The people around her make emotional decisions, take unnecessary risks, refuse logically superior choices, and occasionally do things simply because they care about one another.

Learning how to live with that uncertainty, rather than attempting to eliminate it, becomes one of the central challenges of her character.

Simon becomes Naomi's primary romantic relationship over the course of the series, although their relationship begins from a distinctly Naomi-like perspective.

At first, she views dating practically. Simon is intelligent, capable, relatively stable, easy to be around, and does not behave in ways she finds exhausting. In very blunt terms, he initially registers to her as a suitable partner.

What catches her attention more deeply, however, is the fact that Simon has no particular need to impress her. He does not compete with her intelligence, become intimidated by it, or constantly attempt to prove that he is capable of keeping up. Because Simon is perfectly comfortable being underestimated, Naomi gradually begins noticing how much more is happening behind his quiet exterior than most people recognize.

Their relationship develops slowly through familiarity, conversation, training, and the increasing amount of time they spend around one another. What begins as something Naomi can explain to herself logically becomes increasingly difficult to reduce to a list of desirable qualities. Eventually, she realizes that she is no longer choosing Simon because he fits the kind of person she thought she should date. She chooses him because she genuinely cares about him.

That realization is considerably harder for Naomi than she expects.

Simon also becomes one of the few people capable of recognizing when Naomi's habit of reducing situations to outcomes and probabilities is becoming unhealthy. He notices when she begins treating herself as another variable in an equation, something that can be sacrificed if doing so produces a better result.

This creates an important parallel between them. Simon struggles with the belief that his value comes from being useful, while Naomi can begin treating her own wellbeing as something negotiable whenever the numbers seem to justify it. Neither of them is particularly willing to let the other continue thinking that way.

Naomi often serves as one of the group's primary tactical thinkers. Her Expressions give her access to information other characters simply do not have, but her usefulness goes beyond her abilities. She is naturally talented at identifying patterns, recognizing weaknesses, and understanding where a situation is likely to go wrong before everyone else notices the danger.

This makes her extremely valuable during planning, particularly when combined with Simon's ability to gather and interpret information. Simon often notices the pieces; Naomi determines what to do with them.

That does not mean her conclusions are always easy for the rest of the group to accept. Knowing that something is likely to happen does not necessarily mean she knows how to prevent it, and identifying the mathematically safest or most efficient option does not mean her friends will be willing to follow it.

Over time, Naomi has to learn that predicting what someone will do and understanding why they will do it are not the same thing.

Naomi possesses a combination of Expressions centered around causality, weaknesses, and exploitation.

Causal Prediction

Naomi can perceive likely causal outcomes based on the circumstances and information available to her. This is not perfect omniscience or unrestricted future sight; instead, she recognizes chains of cause and effect and can anticipate what is likely to happen if a situation continues along its current path.

The more information Naomi has, the more effective this Expression becomes. During combat, it can allow her to anticipate attacks, recognize dangerous sequences before they fully develop, and position herself or her allies accordingly. Outside combat, it gives her an unusual ability to understand how decisions and events may unfold.

However, prediction does not equal control. Naomi can know that something terrible is about to happen while still lacking the time, information, or power necessary to stop it.

Fault Sight

Naomi can perceive existing weaknesses and faults within people, objects, structures, and systems. Depending on what she is observing, these faults may be physical, structural, or otherwise exploitable, allowing her to identify vulnerabilities that would normally be extremely difficult to recognize.

Fault Amplification

Once Naomi identifies an existing fault, she can make that weakness significantly worse. A tiny structural defect can become a serious fracture, while a minor vulnerability can develop into something much more dangerous.

Combined with Fault Sight, this allows Naomi to be extremely dangerous without relying on overwhelming force. Her strength comes from understanding exactly where something is vulnerable and acting with enough precision to exploit it.

Naomi's fighting style reflects the way she approaches nearly everything else. She does not usually attempt to overpower an opponent directly; instead, she studies them, determines what they are likely to do, identifies the weaknesses in their approach, and acts when she knows where her effort will matter most.

Causal Prediction allows her to anticipate an opponent's behavior, while Fault Sight and Fault Amplification give her the tools necessary to punish vulnerabilities once she recognizes them. Given enough information and time to study a situation, Naomi can become exceptionally dangerous.

Her abilities also create one of her greatest psychological problems. Naomi frequently sees bad outcomes before everyone else does, including situations where there simply is no perfect solution. Sometimes someone is going to be hurt regardless of what she chooses, and because she naturally thinks in terms of outcomes, she can begin treating herself as the most acceptable person to pay that cost.

As her relationships with the rest of the group deepen, that willingness to sacrifice herself becomes increasingly difficult for the people around her to tolerate.

Naomi should be performed with control and precision, but never as robotic or emotionless. She usually knows what she wants to say before she begins speaking, so her dialogue tends to feel purposeful and deliberate, particularly when she is discussing something serious or explaining a plan.

She is comfortable with silence, but unlike Simon, Naomi is more willing to take control of a conversation when she believes something needs to be addressed. Her confidence should feel natural rather than arrogant, and the actor should be capable of communicating that Naomi is often processing several possibilities at once even when very little of that thought process is visible on the surface.

Her emotional scenes are particularly important because Naomi's instinct is usually to rationalize what she is feeling before allowing herself to simply experience it. As she grows closer to Simon and the rest of the group, that controlled exterior becomes progressively easier to break, making moments of fear, affection, jealousy, anger, grief, or genuine uncertainty much more significant.

There is no strict accent requirement. We are looking for a natural young-adult female voice capable of convincingly portraying someone around eighteen years old, with a medium register preferred, although performance is considerably more important than exact pitch.

Naomi should sound intelligent and composed without becoming mechanical, confident without becoming arrogant, and direct without sounding unnecessarily harsh. During stressful situations, her voice should retain a sense of control, while around close friends she should become noticeably warmer, more relaxed, and occasionally playful.

The actor should also be capable of allowing that control to break when necessary. Naomi's strongest emotional moments may involve fear, anger, affection, or genuine panic when she encounters an outcome she cannot solve, and those moments should feel especially powerful because they contrast so strongly with her normal composure.

Her intelligence should come through naturally in what she notices, how she processes information, and how confidently she communicates her conclusions rather than through an exaggerated "genius" performance.

We are looking for an actor who can portray a highly controlled character without flattening the performance. Subtle changes in pacing, hesitation, breathing, and tone should be capable of showing when Naomi is uncertain, uncomfortable, annoyed, interested, frightened, affectionate, or emotionally affected even when she is attempting to remain composed.

As the story progresses, the role will require increasingly strong emotional material. Naomi's abilities frequently place her in situations where she knows something bad is coming before everyone else does, and some of her most important moments come from discovering that knowing an outcome does not necessarily mean she can prevent it.

Her relationship with Simon will also require a gradual transition from practical interest to genuine comfort and, eventually, deep emotional attachment. The ideal performance should make that progression feel natural enough that the audience can recognize it developing before Naomi fully understands it herself.

Naomi Hayes is one of the seven principal cast roles and is allocated 1% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

This is an individual percentage and is not divided with the other principal cast members.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Maya Bendis

Maya Bendis is one of the principal characters of The Expressionists. She is eighteen years old, petite in build, with long blonde hair streaked with silver, striking purple eyes, and a scar running from her cheek toward her jaw.

Maya is intense, confrontational, fiercely independent, and emotionally direct. She feels things strongly and has very little instinct to hide that fact. If she is angry, people know she is angry. If someone irritates her, they will probably know exactly why. When she believes somebody is wrong, cruel, dishonest, or simply being an idiot, she rarely sees much value in pretending otherwise.

That bluntness can make Maya difficult to get along with, particularly when people first meet her, but it also means there is very little deception in the way she interacts with others. Maya does not manufacture politeness for people she does not respect, and she has little patience for social games designed to make everyone more comfortable while avoiding what is actually wrong.

Much of that personality comes from a life in which being passive rarely protected anyone.

Maya is stubborn, passionate, aggressive, perceptive, competitive, protective, and extremely emotionally expressive. She can be quick to anger and even quicker to confront the source of it, but that anger should not be mistaken for mindless aggression.

There is usually a reason Maya is angry.

Sometimes that reason is good. Sometimes it absolutely is not.

What matters is that Maya rarely allows emotion to remain abstract. Her feelings become words, arguments, decisions, and actions, which places her in direct contrast with someone like Elliot.

Elliot tends to internalize anger until it turns inward. He carries things quietly, refuses to talk about them, and often convinces himself that dealing with something alone is the same thing as dealing with it well.

Maya does nearly the opposite.

When she is furious, she externalizes it. She confronts people. She raises her voice. She says the thing everyone else has decided not to say. She would rather have an ugly argument now than allow resentment to sit quietly for months.

This does not mean Maya is emotionally healthier in every situation. Her willingness to express anger can become impulsiveness, cruelty, or aggression when she feels cornered, and she sometimes speaks before deciding whether what she is saying actually needs to be said.

The difference is simply that Maya's emotions are rarely hidden.

Maya grew up with a deeply unstable home life. Her mother struggled with addiction, leaving Maya and her sister to deal with circumstances neither of them should have been responsible for managing.

Her older sister became one of the most important people in Maya's life and frequently acted as the person standing between Maya and the worst parts of that environment.

Eventually, her sister died protecting her.

That loss fundamentally changed the way Maya sees both herself and the idea of heroism.

She does not romanticize being saved.

For Maya, protection has a cost because she has personally watched someone she loved pay it.

Her desire to become a hero is therefore complicated. It is not built entirely around admiration for heroic institutions or some idealized dream of saving the world. A significant part of Maya's motivation comes from anger: anger at the circumstances that allowed her life to become what it was, anger that her sister had to be the person who protected her, and anger at herself for surviving when her sister did not.

Becoming stronger gives that anger somewhere to go.

If Maya can become the person capable of standing between someone vulnerable and whatever is coming for them, then perhaps somebody else does not have to lose what she lost.

Maya and Elliot eventually develop a romantic relationship, but their connection begins with considerably more friction than affection.

They are similar enough to understand one another and different enough to drive each other insane.

Both are stubborn, fiercely independent, uncomfortable with being controlled, and shaped by childhoods that forced them to become self-reliant far earlier than they should have. Neither responds particularly well to being pitied, and both can become reckless when someone they care about is threatened.

The major difference is what they do with their anger.

Elliot turns his inward.

Maya throws hers outward.

When something is hurting Elliot, his instinct is to say nothing, isolate himself, and deal with it privately until the pressure becomes impossible to ignore. Maya's instinct is to identify what hurt her, confront it, argue about it, and demand that something change.

That creates conflict between them almost immediately.

Maya becomes frustrated by Elliot's refusal to communicate, particularly when his decisions affect everyone around him. Elliot, meanwhile, can find Maya's willingness to drag an issue into the open invasive and exhausting.

Over time, however, that same contrast becomes one of the reasons they work.

Maya is one of the people least willing to accept Elliot saying "I'm fine" when he obviously is not. She will push him, argue with him, and force conversations he would otherwise avoid indefinitely.

Elliot, in turn, becomes someone who can recognize when Maya's anger is covering something more vulnerable. He does not require her to become quieter or less intense in order to care about her, but he can occasionally give her the space to stop fighting long enough to understand what she is actually feeling.

Their relationship should not feel like Maya exists to "fix" Elliot or Elliot exists to calm Maya down. Neither of them becomes a fundamentally different person because they fall in love.

Instead, they slowly become better at recognizing what the other person is doing to themselves.

Maya learns that not every feeling has to become an immediate confrontation, while Elliot gradually learns that acknowledging something hurts is not the same thing as allowing it to control him.

Their relationship grows out of conflict, trust, shared experiences, attraction, and eventually the realization that beneath all of their arguments, they understand parts of one another that very few other people do.

Maya can be one of the louder personalities within the main group, particularly when she believes everyone else is avoiding an obvious problem.

She is willing to challenge Elliot, Simon, Naomi, Isaac, Javier, or anyone else if she believes they are making the wrong decision, and she is not especially concerned with whether challenging them makes the conversation uncomfortable.

That bluntness can create arguments, but it also makes Maya valuable.

She is frequently willing to say what other people are thinking.

Her loyalty is also intense. Maya may argue viciously with someone and then put herself directly between them and danger ten minutes later without seeing any contradiction between those behaviors.

To her, being angry with someone does not mean she has stopped caring about them.

If anything, Maya often becomes angriest with the people she cares about most because their choices actually matter to her.

Maya possesses two Expressions that make her body extraordinarily adaptable.

Elastic Anatomy

Maya can stretch, compress, bend, and reshape her body far beyond ordinary human limits.

This gives her unusual mobility and reach while allowing her to attack, evade, restrain opponents, absorb certain forms of impact, and move through spaces that would normally be impossible to navigate.

The ability should feel physical rather than cartoonish. Her body remains something with weight and momentum even when it is changing shape, and learning how far she can safely manipulate herself becomes an important part of mastering the Expression.

Material Mimicry

Maya can mimic the properties of materials, allowing portions of her body to take on characteristics such as hardness, durability, flexibility, weight, or other physical qualities depending on the material involved. She can also import those materials onto other materials, switching the material she has on hand with a different one.

Combined with Elastic Anatomy, this gives her an enormous amount of versatility.

She can extend a limb and then harden it at the moment of impact, alter the properties of her body defensively, reshape herself around attacks, or combine different physical characteristics with otherwise impossible movement.

The interaction between these two Expressions is what makes Maya particularly dangerous.

Maya fights aggressively and physically.

Where Naomi prefers precision and Simon often approaches combat analytically, Maya is much more comfortable putting herself directly into the center of a fight.

Her Expressions encourage improvisation. She can change her reach, alter her body's properties, attack from unusual angles, absorb or redirect movement, and use the environment in ways conventional fighters cannot.

Her combat style should feel creative but forceful.

Maya is not reckless because she lacks intelligence. She is reckless because she has an unusually high tolerance for placing herself in danger if she believes doing so will protect someone else or end the fight faster.

That instinct is closely tied to what happened to her sister and becomes one of the more dangerous aspects of her character.

Maya hates the idea of someone sacrificing themselves for her.

Unfortunately, she is considerably less bothered by the idea of sacrificing herself for someone else.

Maya requires an actor capable of giving a highly emotional performance without reducing her to someone who simply yells all the time.

Her anger should have texture.

There is a difference between Maya being mildly irritated, genuinely furious, frightened and converting that fear into anger, teasing someone she likes, arguing because she enjoys the argument, and lashing out because something has touched a wound she does not know how to talk about directly.

The actor should be comfortable allowing Maya to take up space.

She interrupts. She challenges people. She laughs loudly when something is actually funny. She can swear when frustrated, speak impulsively, and move through conversations with significantly less restraint than characters like Simon or Naomi.

At the same time, her quieter scenes are extremely important.

When Maya becomes genuinely vulnerable, there should be a noticeable difference between someone who normally pushes emotion outward and someone who suddenly does not know where to put it.

Scenes involving her sister, her mother, Elliot, or her own fear of losing the people around her will require that vulnerability.

There is no strict accent requirement. We are looking for a natural young-adult female voice capable of convincingly portraying someone around eighteen years old.

A medium or medium-high register would fit Maya well, although acting ability is substantially more important than pitch.

The voice should have energy and presence without becoming exaggerated. Maya should be capable of sounding direct, confrontational, playful, frustrated, affectionate, furious, frightened, and deeply vulnerable depending on the scene.

She should sound like someone who is comfortable speaking her mind.

Even during normal conversation, there can be a little more immediacy in Maya's delivery than there is in characters like Naomi or Simon. She reacts quickly and often allows the emotion behind a statement to enter her voice before she has completely decided what she intends to say.

However, the actor should avoid portraying Maya as permanently angry or abrasive. Around people she trusts, she can be funny, energetic, affectionate, competitive, and genuinely enjoyable to be around.

The strongest Maya performances will make it clear that her anger is only one part of a much larger emotional range.

We are looking for an actor with strong emotional range who is comfortable portraying a character whose feelings are usually close to the surface.

Natural dialogue is extremely important. Maya should be able to argue without sounding theatrical, joke without sounding like she suddenly became a different character, and become emotional without every serious scene immediately turning into screaming.

Her eventual relationship with Elliot will require particularly strong chemistry and the ability to portray gradual changes in how Maya interacts with him. Early arguments, competitive banter, frustration, growing trust, attraction, vulnerability, and eventually genuine intimacy should all feel like stages of the same relationship rather than abrupt changes in characterization.

The actor should also be comfortable with physically demanding vocal work, including combat exertion, impacts, pain reactions, yelling, and emotionally intense scenes.

Maya Bendis is one of the seven principal cast roles and is allocated 1% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

This is an individual percentage and is not divided with the other principal cast members.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Isaac Thorne

Isaac Thorne is one of the principal characters of The Expressionists. He is eighteen years old, with black hair, gray eyes, and a noticeably more formal appearance than the rest of the group. Even in situations where everyone else is dressed casually, Isaac tends to look put together, favoring clean, deliberate clothing and often dressing considerably nicer than he actually needs to.

That presentation is not accidental.

Isaac was raised in an environment where appearance, reputation, behavior, and success were all treated as things that needed to be carefully managed. As a result, he has become exceptionally good at controlling how other people perceive him. He is articulate, composed, polite, and usually difficult to read unless someone knows him well enough to recognize the cracks.

At first glance, Isaac can come across as privileged, overly formal, or even somewhat detached. In reality, much of that behavior is learned. He grew up understanding that saying the wrong thing, acting the wrong way, or embarrassing the wrong person could have consequences, so he learned to think before speaking and to present himself in whatever manner was expected of him.

College and the people he meets there gradually give him something he has had very little experience with:

The ability to simply be himself.

Isaac is intelligent, composed, articulate, observant, disciplined, and highly self-controlled. He has strong social awareness and generally understands how he is expected to behave in a given situation, which makes him considerably more comfortable navigating formal environments than several of his friends.

He does not usually raise his voice without reason and tends to choose his words carefully, particularly around people he does not trust. Even when irritated, Isaac is often capable of remaining outwardly polite while making it extremely clear that he does not like someone.

Around the group, however, that carefully maintained exterior gradually loosens.

As he becomes more comfortable with Elliot, Simon, Javier, Maya, and Naomi, Isaac begins allowing himself to be less polished. He jokes more, complains more openly, participates in stupid conversations, becomes competitive, and occasionally says things that the version of Isaac raised by his family would have considered beneath him.

Those moments are important.

Isaac should not feel like an emotionless rich kid who eventually learns friendship. He has always had emotions, opinions, humor, and desires of his own; he has simply spent much of his life learning when those things were acceptable to show.

The group eventually becomes one of the first places where he does not constantly feel as though he is being evaluated.

Isaac comes from a wealthy and influential family, and his relationship with his parents is one of the defining sources of conflict in his life.

His parents have extremely specific expectations for who their son should become. His education, appearance, behavior, career, relationships, and abilities are all things they believe should reflect the Thorne family appropriately.

Love and control have become deeply entangled in Isaac's understanding of family.

His parents provide him with opportunities, resources, security, and access that many of the other characters could never imagine having, but those advantages come with expectations attached. Isaac has spent much of his life knowing that the support he receives is rarely without conditions.

This creates an unusual problem for him when he joins the group.

Several of his friends come from backgrounds where money and opportunity were scarce, while Isaac has almost never lacked either. His struggles therefore do not look the same as theirs, and Isaac is very aware of that fact.

He does not want sympathy for being wealthy.

What he wants is the ability to make decisions about his own life without every decision becoming a reflection of his family.

As the larger conflict surrounding Helix develops, Isaac's family becomes increasingly important to the story, forcing him to confront how much he is willing to sacrifice to remain the person his parents expect and how much he is willing to lose in order to become someone they did not choose for him.

Isaac initially stands out from the rest of the group.

Elliot is openly resistant to authority, Maya has very little filter when she dislikes something, Javier is considerably more casual, and Simon has virtually no interest in performing for people he does not care about. Isaac, by comparison, is accustomed to maintaining appearances.

That difference creates some early friction, but it also makes Isaac useful in situations where the others are completely uninterested in behaving diplomatically.

Over time, the group becomes extraordinarily important to him.

They are among the first people who interact with Isaac without caring very much about the Thorne name, his family's expectations, or what he can provide them. They argue with him, make fun of him, depend on him, disagree with him, and eventually trust him because of what he does rather than who his parents are.

For Isaac, that distinction matters enormously.

He gradually becomes fiercely protective of the group, although his loyalty often presents differently from Maya's or Elliot's. Isaac is more likely to quietly prepare for a problem before anyone else realizes he has done anything, provide someone with something they need without making a production of it, or put himself into a dangerous position because he has already decided that he is the most practical person to do it.

He is capable of great selflessness, but because he is so accustomed to controlling what other people see, the depth of that loyalty is sometimes easy to underestimate.

Isaac and Elliot can clash because they come from almost opposite relationships with authority and privilege.

Elliot grew up with very little and learned to distrust systems that claimed they were helping him, while Isaac grew up inside systems specifically designed to benefit people like his family.

Elliot is often immediately suspicious of polished institutions and powerful people. Isaac is more familiar with how those environments operate and understands that navigating them sometimes requires cooperation, appearances, and patience rather than immediate confrontation.

Neither worldview is completely correct.

Their friendship develops as each begins recognizing what the other understands that he does not.

Isaac can help Elliot navigate environments where openly challenging everyone in the room would accomplish nothing, while Elliot becomes one of the people who most consistently challenges Isaac when he begins treating his parents' expectations as unavoidable facts rather than choices.

Importantly, Elliot does not care very much about impressing Isaac's family.

For someone raised around people who constantly do, that becomes unexpectedly valuable.

Isaac possesses three Expressions that appear very different from one another but give him an unusual combination of information gathering, stealth, and ranged combat capability.

Object Past Vision

By interacting with an object, Isaac can perceive information connected to its past.

This ability allows him to investigate objects in ways ordinary people cannot, potentially revealing who interacted with something, what happened around it, or significant events associated with it depending on the circumstances and development of the Expression.

It makes Isaac especially valuable during investigations, where a seemingly insignificant object may contain information unavailable through conventional evidence.

Object Imbuement

Isaac can imbue physical objects with energy before launching them at high speed.

These objects produce a recognizable red energetic effect and can be redirected or curved after being thrown, allowing Isaac to attack from unconventional angles rather than relying on simple straight-line projectiles.

As the Expression develops, he gains increasingly sophisticated control over the energy stored within objects, including the ability to alter additional properties such as heat or electrical charge.

The result is a combat style built around preparation, positioning, environmental awareness, and precision.

Almost anything nearby can potentially become ammunition.

Isaac generally prefers to control distance and positioning rather than immediately entering hand-to-hand combat.

His ability to imbue and redirect objects allows him to turn the environment into a weapon, while invisibility makes it difficult for opponents to determine where those attacks are actually originating.

He is particularly effective when given access to an environment containing numerous usable objects, since ordinary debris, coins, pieces of metal, broken concrete, or other materials can all become potential projectiles.

His fighting style should feel precise and deliberate.

Isaac does not simply throw large numbers of objects and hope something connects. He can create angles, change trajectories, distract opponents with one projectile while redirecting another, and use invisibility to reposition while his opponent is focused elsewhere.

As his abilities develop, the combination becomes increasingly dangerous.

His Object Past Vision also makes Isaac valuable outside direct combat, giving the group an investigative capability that can uncover information no one else could reasonably obtain.

One of Isaac's central struggles is understanding the difference between self-control and self-suppression.

He genuinely values discipline. He likes being composed, likes dressing well, and does not secretly wish he could behave exactly like Elliot or Maya.

Those parts of his personality are real.

The problem is that Isaac has spent so long adapting himself to other people's expectations that it can become difficult for him to recognize where his parents' version of Isaac ends and his own begins.

His development should therefore not be portrayed as him simply abandoning his upbringing and becoming casual.

Instead, Isaac gradually learns that he can choose which parts of himself he wants to keep.

He can be articulate without speaking for his parents.

He can be disciplined without being obedient.

He can care about his reputation without allowing reputation to dictate every decision.

And he can love his family while still recognizing that what they want for him may not be what he wants for himself.

Isaac should be performed with a natural sense of control.

He generally speaks clearly and deliberately, rarely stumbling through his words unless he is genuinely overwhelmed. His upbringing has made him comfortable speaking to adults, authority figures, instructors, and other people in formal environments, so he should not suddenly become nervous simply because someone important enters the room.

His formality should also not become an exaggerated aristocratic voice.

Isaac is eighteen.

He should still sound like an eighteen-year-old, particularly when he is around his friends.

The contrast between public and private Isaac is one of the most important elements of the performance. Around unfamiliar people or his family, there may be more precision in his speech and noticeably more control over his reactions. Around his friends, his sentences can become less formal, his reactions more immediate, and his humor considerably more apparent.

The actor should be capable of making those versions feel like the same person rather than two entirely different characters.

Emotional restraint is also important. Isaac has been trained, intentionally or otherwise, not to immediately display everything he feels. Strong anger may initially appear as clipped speech or unusual stillness before it becomes an outburst, while fear or sadness may show through small changes in delivery before he openly acknowledges either one.

When Isaac finally does lose control, it should matter.

There is no strict accent requirement. We are looking for a natural young-adult male voice capable of convincingly portraying someone around eighteen years old.

A medium to medium-low register would fit Isaac well, although acting ability is substantially more important than pitch.

His voice should be clean, articulate, and controlled without sounding unnaturally formal. He should sound comfortable choosing his words carefully and capable of projecting confidence even when he is uncertain internally.

Around authority figures or his parents, his delivery may become noticeably more measured and polished. Around his friends, the same voice should become warmer, looser, and more naturally conversational.

The actor should be capable of portraying:

• Calm confidence

• Formal politeness

• Controlled irritation

• Dry or understated humor

• Genuine warmth around friends

• Quiet fear

• Suppressed anger

• Emotional vulnerability

• Intense confrontation

• Complete loss of composure when pushed far enough

• Combat exertion and action dialogue

Isaac should never sound permanently smug, emotionless, or superior.

His composure comes from upbringing and habit, not from believing he is better than everyone around him.

We are looking for an actor who is comfortable working with subtle shifts in performance.

Isaac's characterization relies heavily on the difference between what he says, what he feels, and what he allows other people to see. The actor should be able to communicate irritation while remaining polite, fear while maintaining control, affection without making Isaac suddenly sentimental, and anger that builds gradually before finally breaking through.

His scenes involving his parents will require a particularly strong understanding of subtext. Isaac may say something respectful while clearly resenting the conversation, agree because he understands resistance would accomplish nothing, or maintain a controlled tone while someone is actively attempting to dictate his future.

His scenes with the group should gradually become more relaxed as the series progresses, allowing the audience to recognize that Isaac is becoming more comfortable long before he ever explicitly says so.

This is also a role that will eventually require extremely heavy dramatic material, so applicants should be capable of moving beyond Isaac's polished exterior when the story demands it.

Isaac Thorne is one of the seven principal cast roles and is allocated 1% of total distributable project revenue under the project's contractual revenue-share system.

This is an individual percentage and is not divided with the other principal cast members.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Caleb Riordan

Caleb Riordan is one of the major early characters in The Expressionists and serves as an experienced mentor figure to Elliot, Simon, Isaac, Javier, Maya, and Naomi during their time in the Expression Development Program.

Caleb is broad-shouldered and heavily built, standing around Elliot’s height but carrying considerably more muscle. He has bleach-blond hair with an electric-blue highlight toward the front, a visual mark that fits naturally alongside the lightning he frequently uses in combat.

Where most of the main cast enters the program still trying to understand what kind of Expressionists they want to become, Caleb already feels established. He is stronger, more experienced, more comfortable with his abilities, and generally carries himself like someone who has already gone through many of the mistakes the younger students are only beginning to make.

That experience makes him an easy person for them to rely on.

Caleb is confident, grounded, practical, protective, and generally much more comfortable with himself than the students he mentors. He does not need to constantly prove that he is stronger or more experienced than them because, in most situations, that difference is already obvious.

He has the confidence to joke around with the group, challenge them when they are doing something stupid, and allow them to make mistakes without immediately stepping in to solve every problem for them. His mentoring style is much more hands-on than formal; Caleb would rather put someone into a situation where they have to think for themselves and then explain what went wrong afterward than stand in front of them delivering a lecture.

He is capable of being blunt, particularly during training, but he should not come across as cruel or unnecessarily harsh. When Caleb pushes someone, it is generally because he believes they are capable of doing better.

There is also an ease to him that helps distinguish him from the students. Elliot, Maya, Isaac, Simon, Naomi, and Javier are all still wrestling with different parts of themselves, whereas Caleb initially appears to have already figured his life out.

That appearance is important.

It is not entirely true.

Caleb gradually becomes one of the people the group looks toward when they are uncertain about something their classes cannot properly teach them.

He helps bridge the gap between understanding an Expression academically and actually living with one.

Combat, Aether management, fear, injuries, making decisions under pressure, and understanding the limits of an ability are all things Caleb can speak about from experience rather than theory.

He does not treat the younger students like children, which earns him a great deal of respect from them. If someone asks him a serious question, he tends to give them a serious answer, even when the answer is uncomfortable.

At the same time, Caleb is still close enough to them in age and environment that he can become part of the group rather than existing solely as an instructor standing above them. He can joke with them, train with them, eat with them, argue with them, and occasionally encourage decisions that a more responsible authority figure probably would not.

That combination allows him to become something closer to an older brother than a traditional teacher.

Caleb becomes particularly important to Elliot.

Elliot has very little natural respect for authority and tends to resist people who attempt to control him simply because their position supposedly gives them the right to do so. Caleb earns his respect differently.

He demonstrates what he knows.

He allows Elliot to question him.

He is willing to admit when Elliot finds an approach Caleb had not considered, while still calling him out when creativity turns into recklessness.

Because of that, Caleb becomes one of the few mentor figures Elliot is actually willing to listen to.

Caleb also recognizes relatively early that Elliot’s greatest strength is not necessarily the raw power of his Expressions, but how quickly he learns to combine abilities that initially appear disconnected. Rather than trying to force Elliot into a conventional fighting style, Caleb pushes him to understand why his strange solutions work and how to reproduce them intentionally.

Their relationship becomes increasingly important as Elliot begins approaching levels of Aether and Expression instability that are far more dangerous than anything he encountered before entering the program.

Caleb interacts differently with each member of the group, but he gradually becomes a stabilizing presence among them.

With Simon and Naomi, he can give their tactical thinking something practical to work against, forcing them to account for the fact that real fights rarely behave as cleanly as plans do.

With Maya, Caleb can meet her aggression without becoming intimidated by it or attempting to suppress it, instead pushing her to understand when aggression is useful and when it is simply giving an opponent control over her.

With Isaac, Caleb is less impressed by polish and family reputation than many adults Isaac grew up around, treating him primarily according to what he actually does.

With Javier, Caleb recognizes how easily a support-oriented Expressionist can become focused entirely on keeping everyone else alive while ignoring their own limits.

And with Elliot, Caleb repeatedly challenges the belief that surviving a bad decision automatically means it was a good one.

The group does not simply respect Caleb because he is powerful. They respect him because he consistently treats them like people capable of becoming powerful themselves.

Caleb possesses two highly destructive Expressions that work extremely well together.

Concrete Manipulation

Caleb can manipulate concrete, allowing him to move, reshape, break apart, and weaponize it.

In environments where concrete is readily available, this gives him enormous control over the battlefield. He can raise barriers, alter terrain, create obstacles, launch debris, restrict movement, protect allies, and reshape the area around an opponent rather than relying entirely on direct attacks.

His ability is particularly dangerous in urban environments, where the material he controls is effectively everywhere.

Electrokinesis

Caleb can generate and manipulate electricity.

This allows him to deliver powerful electrical attacks at range, punish opponents whose movement has already been restricted, and combine electrical attacks with the terrain he controls.

His electricity is visually associated with blue light, while his broader Expression activity includes strong energetic effects during combat.

Caleb’s fighting style is built around controlling the battlefield before punishing whatever his opponent does next.

Rather than immediately throwing his strongest electrical attack, he can use concrete to determine where an opponent is allowed to move. Walls, broken terrain, raised surfaces, debris, and suddenly shifting ground can gradually remove options until the opponent is forced into a position Caleb wants.

Then the electricity comes in.

This gives his fighting style a very deliberate rhythm. Concrete establishes the problem; electricity punishes the response.

Caleb is physically powerful as well, meaning that getting close to him does not automatically solve the problem. His build and experience allow him to handle himself at close range while his Expressions continue reshaping the battlefield around him.

When Caleb fights seriously, he should feel like someone who has been doing this significantly longer than the main cast.

One of the most important parts of Caleb’s character is that experience does not make an Expressionist immune to the dangers of their own abilities.

Throughout the early story, Caleb represents something the younger students can reasonably aspire toward. He is skilled, confident, useful, respected, and appears to have developed the kind of control they are all trying to achieve.

That is why his eventual Breaking is so important.

During the placement period, Caleb’s Aether reaches a catastrophic point and he Breaks, losing control of himself and his Expressions.

The person who spent so much time teaching the group how to manage dangerous situations suddenly becomes the dangerous situation they have to survive.

His concrete manipulation and electrokinesis, abilities that previously made him such a reliable protector, become extraordinarily destructive once that control disappears.

The group is ultimately forced to confront and kill him.

His death becomes one of the defining events of the early series and permanently changes the way the main cast understands Aether, Breaking, hero work, and the idea that experience alone can keep an Expressionist safe.

For Elliot in particular, Caleb’s fate becomes something impossible to ignore as Elliot’s own relationship with Aether grows increasingly dangerous.

Caleb should initially feel confident and easy to be around.

He is experienced without sounding ancient, authoritative without constantly acting like an authority figure, and capable of teaching someone without every conversation becoming a lesson.

There should be a natural sense that Caleb has been through enough dangerous situations that relatively minor problems no longer shake him very easily.

His humor should feel casual and comfortable, particularly when interacting with the younger students. He can tease them, challenge them, and occasionally let them struggle for a moment before helping because he knows they need to learn how to solve problems without him.

The actor should also be capable of becoming extremely serious without completely changing the character. When Caleb believes somebody is genuinely in danger, the relaxed mentor disappears quickly and is replaced by someone who knows exactly how serious the situation is.

His later material requires significantly greater range.

As his Aether worsens, small changes should begin appearing beneath his usual confidence: exhaustion, irritability, moments of confusion, physical strain, or the sense that maintaining control requires more effort than Caleb wants anyone else to recognize.

His Breaking should be a dramatic contrast with the Caleb the audience has come to know.

This will require intense vocal work involving fear, rage, confusion, pain, loss of control, combat exertion, screaming, and moments where fragments of Caleb may still be recognizable beneath what is happening to him.

The tragedy works best if the audience can still occasionally hear the person they knew.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking for a natural adult male voice with enough maturity to distinguish Caleb from the younger male cast without making him sound significantly older than he is intended to be.

A medium-low to low register would fit the character particularly well, although performance is more important than exact pitch.

Caleb’s voice should have confidence and physical presence, but he should not sound like a stereotypical gruff military commander.

He should be capable of sounding relaxed, reassuring, amused, commanding, frustrated, protective, physically exhausted, genuinely frightened, and eventually completely unstable as his Breaking progresses.

His normal voice should have an approachable quality to it. This is someone the younger characters should reasonably feel comfortable talking to despite how physically imposing and powerful he is.

The actor should be capable of portraying:

• Relaxed confidence

• Natural authority

• Casual humor

• Mentorship

• Protective urgency

• Controlled anger

• Physical exertion

• Exhaustion

• Fear

• Emotional vulnerability

• Increasing instability

• Rage and loss of control

• Intense combat vocals

We are looking for an actor who can make Caleb immediately believable as someone the younger characters would trust.

The early performance needs warmth, confidence, humor, and authority without making Caleb sound overly theatrical or constantly serious. The audience should enjoy having him around and understand why the group begins depending on him.

That connection is essential because Caleb’s later arc only works if losing him genuinely hurts.

The actor must also be comfortable gradually changing the performance as Caleb approaches his Breaking point. The transition should not feel like a completely normal character suddenly becomes insane in a single scene. Ideally, subtle signs of strain can become increasingly noticeable until maintaining the Caleb everyone knows is no longer possible.

His final material will involve some of the most emotionally and vocally demanding scenes in the early series, requiring an actor capable of portraying both the terrifying destructive side of a Broken Expressionist and the tragedy of the person trapped inside it.

Caleb Riordan is classified as a Major Supporting Cast role and is compensated through the production's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

Because Caleb is a recurring and story-critical supporting character with a substantial amount of dialogue and performance responsibility, including several emotionally and vocally demanding scenes, he will receive a defined individual portion of this pool rather than being compensated as a general background or additional voice actor.

His exact revenue-share percentage will be established in his individual contract before official production work begins and will account for the size of the role, expected workload, and the number of other recurring supporting cast members participating in the pool.

Caleb's contracted share will apply to the production period and material covered by his agreement, including revenue associated with episodes in which his completed performance is used, subject to the full royalty and participation terms contained in the contributor contract.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Professor Emily Willis

Class: Expression Theory I
Also Teaches: Pathway Application Lab I alongside Jameson “Silence” Saunders
Role: Recurring Supporting Character / TCSA Faculty

Professor Emily Willis teaches Expression Theory I at TCSA and co-teaches Pathway Application Lab I alongside Jameson Saunders, better known by his former hero name, Silence.

Unlike many of the instructors within the Expression Development Program, Emily has never been a professional hero. Her career has been built almost entirely around understanding Expressions rather than using them in the field, and she has spent years becoming one of the most knowledgeable people at TCSA when it comes to how Expressions function, interact, and develop.

Her own Expression is perfectly suited to that work.

By observing another Expressionist, Emily can perceive their Expressions in extraordinary detail. She can understand what an ability currently does, recognize applications and implications that its user may not yet have discovered, and even perceive possible directions in which that Expression may develop over time.

Because of this, a first-year student can walk into Emily's classroom believing they completely understand their ability, only for her to immediately recognize possibilities they may not discover naturally for years.

Emily finds that fascinating.

She genuinely loves Expressions as a field of study, not simply because of how powerful they can become, but because of how complicated they are. To her, even an ability that initially appears simple can contain layers of rules, interactions, limitations, and developmental possibilities that completely change how it should be understood.

That enthusiasm is one of the defining parts of her personality.

Emily is intelligent, curious, confident, patient, and naturally academic without being stiff or overly formal. She enjoys teaching and can become noticeably more animated when discussing an unusual Expression, an unexpected interaction between pathways, or an application she has never personally encountered before.

She is capable of beginning with what sounds like a simple question and gradually turning it into an entire discussion because every answer creates three more questions she wants examined.

At the same time, she is not detached from the people whose abilities she studies.

Emily is very aware that her Expression gives her access to information another person may not be prepared to hear. She can sometimes see developmental possibilities before the Expressionist themselves even knows those possibilities exist, and she has learned to be careful about how much of that information she reveals.

She does not believe that seeing someone's potential gives her ownership over it.

Possible development is not destiny, and Emily is particularly careful not to describe it that way. What she sees can represent highly likely developments, unusual possibilities, deeper applications, or pathways that may only emerge under specific circumstances. Training, experience, Aether exposure, personal choices, and even the way someone learns to think about their own Expression can influence what ultimately develops.

For that reason, Emily rarely responds to a student's ability by simply telling them everything it could eventually become.

She would rather teach them how to understand the rules behind it.

That philosophy defines much of Expression Theory I.

Emily wants students to stop thinking about their Expressions as a list of techniques and start thinking about them as systems.

If someone says they can control water, she wants to know what the word "control" actually means. Can they move it? Compress it? Separate it? Does temperature change the Expression's behavior? Is their limitation based on volume, range, concentration, or something else entirely? Can they manipulate water contained within another substance? What changes as the Expression develops?

The point is not simply to find more ways to use an ability in combat.

The point is to understand why the ability works at all.

Emily often knows the answer before asking the question, but she believes there is a significant difference between being told what an Expression can do and actually learning how to recognize its underlying rules.

That makes her teaching style exploratory. She asks questions, proposes experiments, challenges assumptions, and occasionally gives students exercises that seem completely unrelated to what they think they are trying to learn. Sometimes the purpose of an assignment only becomes obvious after the student discovers something about their Expression that Emily already suspected was there.

Her classes also push against the idea that Expressions should primarily be evaluated by their usefulness in hero work.

Emily has never been a hero herself, and she does not regard heroism as the default destination for every powerful Expressionist.

An Expression may be revolutionary in medicine, engineering, rescue work, infrastructure, transportation, manufacturing, investigation, research, or a field that does not even properly exist yet. An ability that appears unimpressive in a fight may have enormous implications elsewhere, while an ability with tremendous destructive potential may have applications its user has never considered because everyone around them immediately classified it as a weapon.

Emily wants students to understand the entire ability before deciding what it is for.

That curiosity becomes especially important during Pathway Application Lab I, which she teaches alongside Silence.

The pairing works because their Expressions and their teaching instincts complement each other almost perfectly.

Emily is interested in what an Expression can do.

Silence is interested in making sure everyone survives finding out.

His ability allows him to manipulate other people's Expressions across a massive radius, including suppressing, nullifying, triggering, or otherwise controlling their activation. That gives Emily the freedom to encourage controlled experimentation that would be far too dangerous under ordinary classroom conditions.

If she believes an Expression has an unusual application, Silence can monitor the experiment and shut the ability down almost immediately if something begins to go wrong.

Their approaches naturally create a good rhythm in the classroom. Emily may become excited about testing a strange possibility while Silence is already considering everything that could go catastrophically wrong. She pushes toward discovery; he establishes the boundaries that make discovery possible.

They have worked together enough that this disagreement is rarely genuine conflict. Emily trusts his judgment when something becomes unsafe, and Silence trusts that her curiosity is backed by an enormous amount of knowledge rather than recklessness.

There are, however, moments when Emily stops being curious.

Those moments should stand out.

Her Expression occasionally allows her to perceive something she did not expect: an abnormal development, a dangerous interaction, a capability that should not be present, or an Expression changing in a way that does not fit established understanding.

When that happens, Emily does not become hysterical.

She becomes careful.

The enthusiasm disappears from her voice. She pauses longer before speaking. Her questions become more deliberate, and the person in front of her may realize something is wrong simply because Professor Willis is no longer excited about what she is seeing.

That contrast is an important part of the performance.

Emily should sound like someone who understands her subject so thoroughly that she does not need to constantly demonstrate how intelligent she is.

She is confident while teaching, but her authority should come from competence rather than severity. Complicated concepts should sound natural coming from her because she has spent years thinking about them and genuinely enjoys explaining them.

Her lectures should feel conversational rather than ceremonial. She can joke, become sidetracked by an interesting question, lightly challenge a student's assumption, and show genuine excitement when someone finds an application she was not expecting.

The actor should be especially comfortable delivering exposition naturally. Emily will explain a significant amount about Expression mechanics, pathways, development, interactions, and limitations throughout the series, and those explanations need to sound like a professor talking about a subject she loves rather than a character reading information for the audience.

There should also be a noticeable difference when something concerns her.

Emily normally wants to examine unusual Expressions more closely. If she encounters something unusual and instead becomes hesitant about examining it, that change alone should be enough to create tension.

Her serious moments work best through restraint. A pause, a quieter tone, or an unusually careful choice of words can communicate far more than an immediate dramatic reaction.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking for a natural adult female voice capable of portraying an experienced university professor without sounding elderly, excessively formal, or detached.

A medium register would fit Emily well, although acting ability is considerably more important than exact pitch.

Her voice should be capable of sounding intelligent and knowledgeable while remaining warm and approachable. She should have natural authority in a classroom, genuine enthusiasm when discussing Expressions, patience when explaining difficult concepts, and enough humor to keep academic scenes from becoming overly stiff.

The actor should also be capable of shifting into quiet seriousness when Emily encounters something concerning.

Emily should be capable of sounding:

• Intelligent and knowledgeable

• Warm and approachable

• Naturally authoritative

• Curious

• Academically enthusiastic

• Patient

• Conversational

• Playfully exasperated

• Confident while lecturing

• Firm when necessary

• Calm during dangerous experiments

• Quietly concerned

• Genuinely unsettled without becoming melodramatic

She should not sound like a stereotypical emotionless scientist or a professor who speaks exclusively in technical jargon.

Emily loves this subject.

That enjoyment should be present in her voice.

We are looking for an actor who can make a highly knowledgeable character feel natural and engaging.

Emily will frequently be responsible for introducing complicated parts of the Expression system, so strong pacing and conversational delivery are extremely important. The ideal actor should be able to make a technical explanation feel like an interesting conversation rather than an information dump.

Subtle acting is equally valuable.

Emily's Expression means she can sometimes realize that something is wrong before anyone else in the scene understands why. The actor needs to be able to communicate those moments without immediately announcing them through an exaggerated reaction.

Her work alongside Silence will also require strong conversational chemistry. Their dynamic should feel like two experienced colleagues who trust one another despite approaching their shared class from very different directions: Emily continually asking how far an Expression can go while Silence makes sure they have a way to stop it before finding out becomes dangerous.

Professor Emily Willis is classified as a Recurring Supporting Cast role and is compensated through the production's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

Because Emily is a recurring faculty member with significant speaking appearances throughout the school portion of the series, she will receive a defined individual portion of that supporting cast pool rather than being treated as a background or incidental voice.

Her exact individual revenue-share percentage will be established in her contract based on expected episode involvement, dialogue workload, and the number of other recurring supporting performers participating in the pool.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Jameson Saunders / Silence

Class: Aether Control & Safety I
Also Teaches: Pathway Application Lab I alongside Professor Emily Willis
Role: Recurring Supporting Character / TCSA Faculty

Jameson Saunders, better known by his former hero name Silence, teaches Aether Control & Safety I at TCSA and co-teaches Pathway Application Lab I alongside Professor Emily Willis.

His Expression allows him to exert direct control over other people's Expressions across an enormous radius. He can suppress them, nullify them entirely, force activation, interrupt activation, or manipulate the way another Expression is functioning.

That ability made him exceptionally valuable during his professional career and makes him one of the most important safety measures available to TCSA.

When Silence is present, a dangerous Expression can be stopped before the person using it is capable of stopping themselves.

His personality reflects that responsibility.

Jameson is calm, disciplined, observant, and extremely difficult to rattle. He does not need to raise his voice often because students quickly learn that when he gives an instruction during training, it is usually because he has already noticed a problem they have not.

He is not humorless, but his humor tends to be dry and understated. He has spent enough time around powerful Expressionists to have very little patience for people treating safety procedures as optional.

Aether Control & Safety I is not designed to make students afraid of their abilities. Jameson's goal is the opposite.

He wants them to understand their limits well enough that fear does not become necessary.

Students learn how Aether accumulates, how overuse affects control, how physical and psychological stress can accelerate dangerous conditions, how to recognize warning signs in themselves and others, and what to do when an Expression begins behaving unpredictably.

Jameson places particular emphasis on recognizing when to stop.

Many young Expressionists are accustomed to treating exhaustion as something they can simply push through. In his class, that mentality is challenged immediately. There is a significant difference between pushing physical endurance and continuing to use an Expression when Aether levels are becoming unstable, and Jameson has likely seen enough consequences firsthand that he refuses to romanticize that distinction.

His own Expression gives him unusual control over practical exercises.

He can allow a student to approach the limits of an ability and immediately suppress the Expression if control begins to deteriorate. He can deliberately interrupt activation to teach students how their bodies react when an Expression is cut off, or selectively restrict an ability to force them to develop control rather than relying entirely on output.

This makes him an ideal partner for Emily Willis in Pathway Application Lab.

Emily's instinct is to discover what an Expression can become.

Jameson's instinct is to determine whether discovering it safely is actually possible.

Their classes work because neither approach is complete without the other. Emily may recognize an extraordinary possibility while Jameson determines how far they can test it before shutting everything down.

He trusts her understanding of Expression development, and she trusts him to recognize the exact moment curiosity needs to stop.

Jameson should not come across as paranoid or excessively restrictive.

He understands that powerful Expressions require experimentation.

He simply believes experimentation without an exit strategy is stupidity.

There is also a psychological component to his teaching. Losing control of an Expression can be terrifying, especially for students whose abilities are destructive or difficult to deactivate. Jameson is capable of remaining calm when someone else is panicking and giving them simple, direct instructions until the situation is under control.

That calm becomes part of his authority.

When everyone else is reacting to what is happening, Jameson is already deciding what needs to happen next.

Silence should be performed with restraint and confidence.

He is not a drill instructor and should not constantly bark orders. His authority comes from the sense that he has handled situations much worse than whatever is currently happening.

Most of the time, his delivery should be measured, direct, and relatively understated.

When he says stop, people stop.

The actor should be capable of making a quiet command feel more serious than another character shouting.

His dry humor is also important. Jameson can be mildly sarcastic or visibly unimpressed when students do something reckless, but he should never become a comedy character.

The greatest contrast in his performance should come when a situation exceeds even his expectations.

Because Jameson is normally so controlled, genuine urgency from him should immediately tell the audience that something is seriously wrong.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking for an adult male voice with a calm, grounded quality.

A medium-low or low register would fit Jameson particularly well, although performance matters more than exact pitch.

His voice should be capable of sounding:

• Calm

• Controlled

• Authoritative

• Direct

• Highly observant

• Dryly humorous

• Patient

• Firm

• Reassuring under pressure

• Quietly intimidating

• Urgent without becoming frantic

• Genuinely alarmed when control fails

Silence should not sound constantly angry or militaristic.

His strongest quality is control.

We are looking for an actor who can communicate authority without relying on volume.

Jameson will frequently be responsible for safety instructions, explanations of Aether mechanics, and scenes where dangerous Expressions need to be brought under control quickly.

His dialogue should feel precise and practical.

The ideal performance should also make his rare moments of alarm especially effective. If Silence, the man whose Expression exists specifically to control other Expressions, suddenly sounds uncertain about whether he can stop something, the audience should immediately understand the severity of the situation.

Jameson Saunders is classified as a Recurring Supporting Cast role and is compensated through the production's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

Because he is a recurring faculty member with significant involvement throughout the school portion of the series, he will receive a defined individual portion of that supporting cast pool.

His exact individual revenue-share percentage will be established in his contract based on expected episode involvement, dialogue workload, and the number of other recurring supporting performers participating in the pool.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Jennifer Martin / Reactionary

Class: Combat Fundamentals I
Role: Recurring Supporting Character / TCSA Faculty

Jennifer Martin, better known by her former hero name Reactionary, teaches Combat Fundamentals I at TCSA and is one of the faculty members responsible for turning students with powerful Expressions into people who can actually function in a fight.

Her Expression allows her to react to almost any attack directed at her with extraordinary speed and precision. She can read movement, avoid incoming attacks, reposition, and counter with a level of clarity that makes fighting her feel almost unfair. By the time an opponent has fully committed to an attack, Jennifer is often already moving around it and preparing the response.

That ability alone would make her dangerous, but what really defines Jennifer is the fact that she has spent years developing genuine combat skill on top of it. She does not rely on her Expression as a substitute for fundamentals. She understands distance, balance, timing, footwork, positioning, pressure, recovery, and the countless small mistakes that separate someone who knows how to throw a punch from someone who actually knows how to fight.

That distinction shapes the way she teaches.

Jennifer is confident, direct, competitive, practical, and extremely comfortable in combat. She enjoys fighting and enjoys teaching it, but she has very little patience for students treating combat like a collection of flashy techniques they can memorize and perform when convenient. To her, a technique only matters if it still works while someone is actively trying to hurt you.

Her classes are heavily practical. Students spar frequently, make mistakes under pressure, get corrected, and then repeat the same situations until the correction becomes instinctive. Jennifer wants them to understand how their bodies move when they are tired, what they do when they panic, and which habits appear once a fight stops going according to plan.

She places a great deal of emphasis on reading opponents rather than simply reacting to attacks. A shoulder can reveal a punch before the fist moves. A shift in weight can reveal a change in direction. Someone protecting an injury may not even realize they are doing it. Even highly experienced Expressionists develop patterns, and Jennifer teaches students to recognize those patterns before they become dangerous.

Expressions make that process far more complicated. An opponent may suddenly become heavier, faster, more durable, longer-ranged, intangible, or capable of changing the environment around them. Jennifer therefore teaches students to focus less on memorizing what a specific power looks like and more on recognizing the rules behind how an opponent uses it.

Her own Expression gives her an exceptional ability to identify those patterns in real time, and she is usually quick to recognize exactly why someone keeps losing an exchange. If a student repeatedly drops their guard, Jennifer will exploit it until they stop. If they rely too heavily on one technique, she will counter it until they are forced to adapt. If they possess a powerful Expression but poor fundamentals, she has no issue demonstrating how little raw power matters when the person using it cannot control distance or recover after a mistake.

She is blunt about failure, but she is not cruel. Jennifer genuinely wants her students to improve, and she considers false confidence far more dangerous than embarrassment during training. She would rather a student learn that their favorite move is unreliable in a controlled environment than discover it when someone is trying to kill them.

That competitive streak also makes her surprisingly encouraging when students genuinely improve. Jennifer enjoys being challenged and becomes noticeably more engaged when someone finds a creative answer to something she teaches. A student landing a legitimate hit on her is more likely to make her smile than become angry, because it means they found something she did not immediately account for.

Her class can therefore be intimidating without feeling hostile. Jennifer expects effort, adaptation, and honesty about mistakes, but she also clearly enjoys watching people become better.

One of the most important lessons she teaches is that winning and surviving are not always the same objective.

Hero work does not happen inside a clean tournament bracket. There may be civilians nearby, teammates in danger, collapsing buildings, limited time, or opponents who are simply stronger. Sometimes the correct decision is to attack, sometimes it is to protect someone, and sometimes the most intelligent thing an Expressionist can do is retreat.

Jennifer has very little respect for people who confuse recklessness with courage.

Combat Fundamentals I is therefore as much about decision-making as physical ability. She wants students to remain aware enough under pressure to understand what the situation actually requires instead of blindly trying to overpower everything in front of them.

Jennifer should sound confident, energetic, and completely at home in a combat environment. She should not be performed as a stereotypical screaming instructor or permanently aggressive drill sergeant. Her authority comes from obvious competence and the fact that she can demonstrate almost everything she teaches.

During training scenes, her delivery can be sharp and fast without becoming frantic. She may correct someone while actively sparring, dodge an attack, counter it, and continue explaining what they did wrong without sounding particularly stressed.

There should also be a playful competitive quality to her. Jennifer enjoys when someone makes her work harder and can sound genuinely entertained when a student surprises her.

That lighter edge disappears quickly when a situation becomes genuinely dangerous. Jennifer understands real violence well enough to know when training has ended, and the actor should be able to shift from confident instructor to serious professional without making it feel like an entirely different character.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking for a natural adult female voice with confidence, energy, and strong presence. A medium or medium-low register would fit Jennifer well, although acting ability matters considerably more than pitch.

Her voice should feel direct and assured without becoming constantly harsh. She should be capable of sounding competitive, amused, encouraging, blunt, focused, commanding, and serious depending on the situation.

Jennifer should feel like someone who enjoys combat because she understands it, not because she enjoys hurting people.

We are looking for an actor who can deliver fast, natural combat dialogue while remaining clear and controlled.

Jennifer will often speak while moving, sparring, demonstrating techniques, or correcting someone in real time, so the performance needs energy without becoming chaotic.

The ideal actor should also be able to communicate confidence without making her arrogant. Jennifer knows she is extremely good at what she does and does not need to constantly remind people of it.

A strong performance should make it believable that she can dismantle someone's entire fighting style, explain exactly why it failed, and then immediately encourage them to try again.

Jennifer Martin is classified as a Recurring Supporting Cast role and is compensated through the production's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

Because she is a recurring faculty member with substantial speaking and training appearances, she will receive a defined individual portion of that supporting cast pool.

Her exact individual revenue-share percentage will be established in her contract based on expected episode involvement, dialogue workload, and the number of other recurring supporting performers participating in the pool.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Brick Shithouse / “House”

Class: Physical Conditioning & Recovery I
Role: Recurring Supporting Character / TCSA Faculty

Brick Shithouse, usually called House by the other faculty, teaches Physical Conditioning & Recovery I at TCSA. Students generally begin with “Mr. Shithouse,” but anyone who spends enough time around him quickly realizes that almost everyone who actually knows him simply calls him House.

He is a recently retired professional hero whose career lasted long enough for him to accumulate the injuries, habits, experience, and exhaustion that come with years of Expressionist work. House did not retire because he became incapable of doing the job. He retired after Atlantis died, and that loss finally pushed him to a point where he could no longer convince himself to keep going back into the field. His retirement is still recent enough that teaching sometimes feels less like a new career and more like the place he ended up after realizing he could not keep doing the old one.

House is physically imposing, blunt, practical, and considerably more observant than his rough exterior first suggests. He has spent years watching Expressionists neglect their bodies because they believed their abilities could compensate for poor conditioning, bad recovery habits, or injuries they should have taken seriously. His class exists largely to make sure the next generation does not repeat those mistakes.

Physical Conditioning & Recovery I focuses on the parts of hero work that Expressions do not magically solve. Students train strength, endurance, mobility, balance, cardiovascular conditioning, injury prevention, recovery, nutrition, sleep, and the physical consequences of repeatedly pushing an Expressionist body beyond normal limits. House treats recovery as seriously as training because, in his experience, young Expressionists are often eager to learn how to hit harder and remarkably uninterested in learning when they should stop.

He has very little patience for the idea that collapsing after every session proves dedication. To House, there is a difference between productive strain and simply destroying your body because you think suffering makes you tougher. A student who injures themselves every week is not more committed than everyone else; they are becoming unreliable.

That attitude comes directly from his years in the field. House has seen what happens when people ignore pain because there is always another emergency, another deployment, another person who needs saving, or another agency telling them they can recover later. He knows how quickly minor injuries become permanent ones and how easily exhaustion becomes something a hero starts treating as normal.

Because of that, his class can be brutally difficult without being careless. He will push students until they are exhausted, make them repeat exercises they hate, and refuse to accept half-effort simply because someone has an Expression powerful enough to compensate for poor conditioning. At the same time, he watches them closely and has no hesitation about ending a session when someone crosses from useful discomfort into genuine danger.

His teaching style is straightforward and highly practical. He explains what matters, demonstrates it when necessary, and expects students to do the work. If someone says something hurts, House wants to know what kind of pain they mean. Muscle fatigue is one thing, joint pain is another, and sharp pain means the exercise stops. Dizziness, loss of coordination, or anything that suggests the body is no longer responding correctly is treated seriously whether the student wants to continue or not.

House also understands that recovery is not only physical. Years of hero work taught him that someone can be medically cleared and still be nowhere near ready to return to the field. Fear after an injury, hesitation after nearly dying, and needing time after watching someone else get hurt are all normal reactions, even if many professional heroes are reluctant to admit it.

He is not especially comfortable talking about emotions, but that does not mean he dismisses them. In fact, House has less patience than most people for the idea that someone should simply ignore what happened to them and keep moving because that is what heroes are supposed to do.

His own retirement is the clearest example of that.

Atlantis’s death affected him deeply enough that the life he had built around hero work suddenly became impossible to continue. He does not like turning that loss into a lesson or inspirational story, and he does not want people treating it like some dramatic piece of hero history. To House, it was personal. Someone he cared about died, and afterward he reached a point where putting the suit back on stopped feeling possible.

Teaching gives him somewhere to put the experience he accumulated before retiring. He may no longer believe he can keep being the person who runs toward every disaster, but he can make sure the people who eventually do are stronger, healthier, and less likely to destroy themselves trying.

That places House in an interesting position among the faculty. He is still close enough to active hero work to understand its reality intimately, but far enough removed from it that he has begun questioning many of the habits he once accepted without thinking. He knows agencies will push people, heroes will push themselves even harder, and students entering the profession often imagine their greatest danger will be whichever villain they eventually fight.

House knows that sometimes the thing that ruins a hero is simply doing the job for too long without ever allowing themselves to stop.

House should sound rough, grounded, and practical without becoming a caricature of a grizzled veteran. He can be intimidating during training, but he should not constantly yell. Most of the time, his authority comes from experience and the obvious fact that he knows exactly what he is looking at.

His humor is dry, blunt, and occasionally crude, especially when students are being dramatic about ordinary training discomfort. At the same time, the actor should make it clear that House is always paying attention. He may sound unimpressed while immediately noticing that someone is favoring one leg, breathing incorrectly, or pushing past the point where fatigue is useful.

His scenes involving Atlantis or his retirement should become noticeably quieter and more restrained. House is not someone who naturally explains his grief in long speeches, so those moments should feel reluctant and personal rather than theatrical.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking for an adult male voice with weight, maturity, and a naturally grounded quality. A low or medium-low register would suit House well, although performance matters more than exact pitch.

His delivery can be rough around the edges, but he should still sound intelligent and experienced. House is blunt because he prefers direct communication, not because he lacks the ability to express himself.

The actor should be capable of sounding authoritative, tired, dryly amused, irritated, protective, understatedly encouraging, and quietly emotional when his past comes up.

The role should avoid turning him into a stereotypical drill sergeant. House can raise his voice when necessary, but constant shouting would flatten the character.

We are looking for an actor who can make House feel like someone who has genuinely spent years doing dangerous work. His expertise should sound lived-in rather than academic, especially when he discusses injuries, recovery, exhaustion, and the physical realities of field work.

The strongest performance will balance physical authority with the quieter exhaustion underneath it. House is still capable, still strong, and still knowledgeable. His retirement did not happen because he suddenly became weak; it happened because continuing had begun to cost more than he was willing to give.

Brick Shithouse is classified as a Recurring Supporting Cast role and is compensated through the production's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

Because House is a recurring faculty member with regular instructional and character-focused appearances, he will receive a defined individual portion of that supporting cast pool.

His exact individual revenue-share percentage will be established in his contract based on expected episode involvement, dialogue workload, and the number of other recurring supporting performers participating in the pool.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section.

All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Festus Johnson

Class: Hero Law, Ethics & Public Conduct
Role: Recurring Supporting Character / TCSA Faculty

Festus Johnson teaches Hero Law, Ethics & Public Conduct at TCSA. Before joining the university, he spent years working as a professional dispatcher and eventually became one of the people responsible for training many of the dispatchers currently working across San Antonio’s hero agencies. He has spent most of his career on the other side of the radio from active heroes, listening to emergencies develop in real time, coordinating responses with incomplete information, directing people through dangerous situations, and making decisions while the people he was speaking to were frightened, injured, overwhelmed, or sometimes dying.

That experience gives Festus a very different perspective on hero work than many of the other instructors. He knows what happens after someone throws the punch, collapses the building, arrests the suspect, or makes the wrong call. His class covers hero law, use of force, liability, civilian protection, evidence preservation, chain of command, agency procedure, media conduct, public statements, professional boundaries, and the ethical problems that emerge when there is no completely correct answer.

Festus is practical, patient, conversational, and dryly funny. He is not cynical about heroes, but he has absolutely no interest in romanticizing the profession. He has heard too many complicated incidents eventually reduced to clean stories about who won and who lost, even when the reality involved confusion, incomplete information, civilians caught between decisions, and people trying to determine what to do with only seconds available to them.

One of the most important things Festus teaches is that successfully stopping a threat does not automatically mean a hero handled the situation correctly. Someone can defeat the person causing the emergency while still using unnecessary force, endangering civilians, destroying evidence, interfering with another response team, or creating a legal and public-relations disaster afterward. Having an Expression powerful enough to solve a problem does not exempt someone from responsibility for how they choose to use it.

His lessons tend to revolve around situations rather than simple lectures. Festus prefers giving students an incident, asking what they would do, and then gradually adding information until the obvious solution becomes significantly less obvious. The suspect may surrender after seriously injuring someone, the civilian may refuse to evacuate, another hero may ignore procedure and accidentally save lives by doing so, the dispatcher may provide information that later turns out to be incomplete, or the only available recording may show half of what actually happened. Festus wants students to become comfortable thinking through situations where the law, ethics, practicality, and emotion of the moment do not align perfectly.

Communication is another major part of his teaching. Years in dispatch have made him extremely sensitive to how badly unclear information can affect an emergency. He teaches students how to report what is actually happening rather than what they think is happening, how to give useful information quickly, how to listen when someone else has information they do not, and how to communicate changes before those changes become somebody else’s problem.

A hero saying that they “have it handled” means very little to Festus. He wants to know where they are, what the threat is, who is involved, whether civilians are present, what resources are needed, what has already happened, and what has changed since the last update. He understands that under pressure people naturally want to shorten communication, but he also knows that a missing detail can be the difference between a coordinated response and another person walking blindly into danger.

Festus is equally serious about what happens once the immediate danger ends. Heroes are public figures operating within institutions that depend heavily on public trust, and a careless statement made immediately after an incident can create problems that last far longer than the fight itself. He teaches students how to speak to civilians, victims, reporters, police, agency representatives, and other responders without creating additional damage, while also emphasizing that they are not required to provide an answer simply because someone places a camera in front of them. Sometimes the most responsible thing a hero can do is say very little until they actually understand what happened.

Despite how procedural his subject can sound, Festus should never feel like a stereotypical bureaucrat. His understanding of these systems comes from practical experience, and he tends to explain rules in terms of what happens when someone ignores them rather than expecting students to memorize policy for its own sake. He can joke about paperwork, agency politics, and the absurd situations dispatchers occasionally deal with, but the humor usually carries the sense that he has personally watched seemingly minor mistakes become very serious problems.

There is also an emotional weight underneath his experience that Festus does not constantly discuss. Dispatchers often hear the worst moments of someone’s life without ever entering the room themselves, and Festus has spent years listening to people scream, panic, beg for help, or suddenly stop responding while he remained responsible for keeping everyone else focused. That history should not make him gloomy, but it explains why he is so serious about communication, responsibility, and following procedures that exist to keep unnecessary tragedies from happening.

Festus should sound experienced, grounded, and conversational. He is comfortable lecturing, but he should feel much more like someone telling students how the job actually works than someone formally reciting legal doctrine. His humor is dry and understated, particularly when students give overly confident answers to situations they clearly have not thought through.

The actor should also be able to bring seriousness into the performance without making Festus suddenly theatrical. When he discusses negligence, civilian casualties, communication failures, or incidents that ended badly, the weight should come from the impression that he has heard versions of these situations happen before.

There is no strict accent requirement. We are looking for an adult male voice with a steady, mature, professional quality. A medium or medium-low register would suit Festus well, although acting ability is more important than exact pitch.

His voice should be approachable enough for classroom discussion while retaining the authority of someone accustomed to giving clear instructions during emergencies. He should be capable of dry humor, patient explanation, sharp correction, calm professionalism, frustration, and quieter emotional weight when a subject connects to his previous work.

Festus should not sound like a stereotypical attorney or administrator. He was a dispatcher before he was a professor, and there should be something practical and efficient about the way he communicates even when he is discussing complicated ethical or legal subjects.

We are looking for an actor who can make procedural and ethical dialogue sound natural and engaging. Festus will often be responsible for explaining rules, emergency procedures, and difficult hypothetical situations, so the performance needs to make those conversations feel like real discussions rather than exposition.

The strongest performance will also give Festus the sense of someone who has spent years hearing emergencies from the other side of a headset. He does not need to constantly talk about what that did to him, but the experience should be present underneath the way he approaches responsibility and the consequences of getting something wrong.

Festus Johnson is classified as a Recurring Supporting Cast role and is compensated through the production's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue. Because he is a recurring faculty member with regular instructional appearances, he will receive a defined individual portion of that pool, with his exact percentage established in his contract based on expected episode involvement, dialogue workload, and the number of other recurring supporting performers participating in the pool.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section. All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

William Collins

Class: General Expressionist History
Role: Recurring Supporting Character / TCSA Faculty

William Collins teaches General Expressionist History at TCSA and is himself one of the most unusual people on the faculty. Born in the late 1800s, William is an Expressionist whose body stopped aging, leaving him physically much younger than his actual age while allowing him to personally witness well over a century of Expressionist history.

That makes his class fundamentally different from a normal history course.

William does not simply teach from textbooks, archived footage, or government records. He remembers many of the events being discussed. He remembers what people believed before those events happened, what actually happened while they unfolded, and how the official version changed afterward.

He has lived through the growth of modern hero agencies, the expansion of Expressionist regulation, major wars, political shifts, technological developments, public panics, cultural movements, disasters, and generations of heroes who eventually became names in textbooks.

That perspective makes him deeply skeptical of clean historical narratives.

William has watched complicated events become simplified over time until entire periods are reduced to a few names, dates, and supposedly obvious causes. He often reminds students that people living through history rarely understand that they are living through a defining moment while it is happening. Most of the time, they are simply trying to get through the day.

His classes therefore focus heavily on context. William wants students to understand why people made the choices they did rather than judging every generation using information that only became available decades later. He is willing to criticize past governments, agencies, heroes, and institutions, but he is equally willing to challenge students who assume everyone in the past was either stupid or malicious simply because modern society now understands the consequences of their decisions.

William is intelligent, patient, observant, and somewhat difficult to surprise. Living as long as he has given him a broad perspective on human behavior, though it has not made him detached from it. He still has opinions, preferences, frustrations, and a dry sense of humor, particularly when students confidently explain events to him that he personally witnessed.

He does not constantly announce his age or use it as a way to win arguments. In fact, William is aware that personal memory can be unreliable and that being present does not automatically mean someone understood everything happening around them. He regularly distinguishes between what he personally remembers, what records later revealed, and what historians still argue about.

That makes him a better teacher than someone who simply treats his longevity as unquestionable authority.

William is especially interested in how Expressionists have been perceived differently across generations. He remembers periods when certain Expressions were feared, periods when powerful Expressionists were treated almost like national assets, the rise of professional hero culture, the development of modern regulation, and the increasingly complicated relationship between Expressionists, governments, corporations, and ordinary civilians.

To him, none of those systems appeared fully formed. He watched them develop piece by piece, usually in response to crises that people believed required immediate solutions.

That gives him a particular perspective on the present. William has lived long enough to recognize when society begins repeating old patterns under new names, and while he is careful not to pretend history repeats perfectly, he is very aware of how often fear, power, and public pressure produce familiar decisions.

His class should not feel gloomy, however. William genuinely enjoys history and enjoys watching students discover that the past was much stranger, messier, and more human than textbooks often make it seem. He can tell stories that make historical figures feel like actual people rather than monuments, including embarrassing details, personal habits, arguments, and mistakes that never survived into official accounts.

That ability can make his lectures surprisingly entertaining.

At the same time, there are subjects where William becomes noticeably less casual. He has outlived friends, colleagues, students, heroes, political movements, and entire generations of people who once seemed permanent to him. There are historical events that everyone else experiences as distant tragedies but that William remembers as places where people he knew simply stopped coming home.

He does not usually dwell on that fact, but it should occasionally show through.

Living history is not the same thing as being untouched by it.

William should sound thoughtful, experienced, and conversational rather than ancient or theatrical. He has lived for more than a century, but he has also spent that entire time continuing to exist in changing societies, so his speech should not sound like someone permanently trapped in the nineteenth century.

The actor should be comfortable delivering historical exposition naturally, with the sense that William sometimes remembers the people behind the information rather than simply recalling facts.

His humor should be understated and occasionally mischievous, especially when correcting popular misconceptions about events or famous figures he actually knew.

The more emotional parts of the role should remain restrained. William has had a very long time to learn how to talk about loss, and he is unlikely to openly collapse while recounting something painful. Small pauses, softened delivery, or a sudden lack of humor should be enough to show when a subject carries personal weight.

There is no strict accent requirement.

We are looking for an adult male voice that sounds intelligent, calm, and experienced without sounding elderly. A medium or medium-low register would fit William well, although performance is more important than exact pitch.

His voice should be capable of sounding scholarly without becoming stiff, humorous without turning him into a joke character, and emotionally reflective without becoming overly sentimental.

William should feel like someone who has spent a very long time watching people make the same kinds of mistakes for slightly different reasons.

We are looking for an actor who can make historical material engaging and personal. William will naturally be responsible for explaining a significant amount of world history, but his scenes should rarely feel like pure exposition because he often has firsthand context for what he is discussing.

The strongest performance will communicate the strange contradiction at the center of the character: William has lived long enough that much of modern history feels personally familiar to him, while everyone around him experiences those same events as something distant and academic.

William Collins is classified as a Recurring Supporting Cast role and is compensated through the production's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue. Because he is a recurring faculty member with regular instructional appearances, he will receive a defined individual portion of that pool, with his exact percentage established in his contract based on expected episode involvement, dialogue workload, and the number of other recurring supporting performers participating in the pool.

Full royalty, accounting, payment, and contract terms are available in the project's Payment & Contract Details section. All selected contributors will be required to sign a written agreement before beginning official production work.

Assorted / Additional Characters

Role Type: Supporting, Minor, Background & Future Characters

This role is for voice actors who are interested in The Expressionists but do not feel that any of the currently listed characters are the right fit for their voice.

The series will require a large number of additional characters as the world expands, including TCSA students, instructors, heroes, villains, agency employees, dispatchers, civilians, Expressionists, government personnel, Helix employees, Underground residents, medical staff, reporters, security personnel, family members, and characters who may only appear for a scene or a few episodes.

You do not need to audition for a specific existing character here. Instead, submit something that demonstrates the kind of voice and performance you believe you could bring to the project.

This can be a demo reel, a few different character voices, an original monologue, previous voice work, or a short improvised performance. Natural acting is more important than showing as many voices as possible, and exaggerated character voices are not required.

If your voice fits a character that has not yet been publicly cast, including characters introduced later in the series, we may reach out about that role.

Please feel free to include notes with your audition describing the kinds of characters you are most interested in playing, your comfortable vocal range, accents you can perform naturally, and whether you are interested in recurring roles, smaller characters, background voices, or all of the above.

This listing is also a good place to audition if you simply like the project and believe your voice could be useful somewhere in the world, even if you are not sure where yet.

Roles cast through this section fall under the project's Supporting / Additional Voice Cast revenue pool, which is allocated 2% of total distributable project revenue.

Compensation will depend on the size and recurring nature of the character ultimately assigned. Recurring or substantial supporting characters may receive a defined contractual portion of the pool, while smaller and additional roles will be handled according to the production's contributor agreement and the amount of work involved.

Any actor selected for an official role will receive the relevant character information, workload expectations, compensation terms, and written agreement before beginning production work.