I wandered around the Glendale campus after lunch today, and spent time in various brightly painted buildings ...
There's a lot of Disney transplants working at DreamWorks, and I fell into conversation with some of them. The view of the former Disneyites I talked to is that morale is better at DWA than DAS:
"There's more projects here and you feel like there's a more secure future than at Disney's right now. I talk to some people over there and they wonder if Rapunzel is going to get made." [I'm pretty dead-bang certain it is. -- Hulett] ...
"After Bolt opened weakly against Twilight, morale was low at Disney. We all worked hard on the picture, were proud of it, and the opening was discouraging." ...
"I think that Lasseter's first priority is Pixar. When he and Ed said Disney was #1 with them during the first meeting on the soundstage after they got there, nobody really believed that. We knew that Pixar was their top priority" ...
Going floor to floor in the Lakeside building, I got to see a lot of interesting development going on, some of it on announced projects, some of it on unannounced projects. One of the artists on How to Train Your Dragon observed that the picture's schedule was daunting, but that he was enjoying the dauntingness of it. "Some people are working on two projects at once, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but nobody's complaining."
I did, however, get one set of complaints. The union staff has never had direct deposit on their checks, and more than a few are tired of schlepping paper checks to ATMs week in and week out.
"When I go to Human Resources about this, they tell me it's a union issue" ....
Herewith, on the internets, Hulett sets the record straight:
It's not a "union issue." DreamWorks Animation disavowed the practice of issuing weekly paychecks five years ago. They are free to bring payroll in house, cut bi-weekly checks, and activate direct deposit anytime they want to. But to date, THEY DO NOT WANT TO.
THE ANIMATION GUILD DOESN'T CARE WHAT DREAMWORKS DOES WITH ITS PAYROLL ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.
There. I hope that clears that up. As long as DreamWorks Animation uses the payroll company it does, there will continue to be no direct to deposit to banks because the payroll company doesn't have that service. It's a DWA issue, not a TAG issue.
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18 comments:
Interesting, because at PDI we DO have direct deposit. But we're also not in the union.
don't know what that means specifically, but those are two facts for ya! :)
PDI doesn't use Entertainment Partners. Entertainment Partners is the payroll company that DreamWorks uses, and EP is incapable of doing direct deposit. Those are the relevant facts for ya.
Jeez, what on earth is the reason for EP to NOT offer this basic service? It's not Dreamworks' fault.
EP doesn't have the technology to do direct deposit. At least that's what they've claimed for years. It's DW's choice to use this payroll company.
Years ago DW brought the payroll in house for non-union employees, and gave them direct deposit. They promised to do the same for the artistic staff, but never did. Perhaps the reason the folks in HR don't think direct deposit for the artistic staff is a priority is because HR employees already have it.
PDI workers, and non union workers at Glendale (production, facility people) have direct deposit. The trade off is that they get their money bi-weekly while artist get their checks weekly with no direct deposit.
Direct deposit, schmosit. Make them spend the money to print the thing so you can feel some kind of value passing through your hands, however quickly it may pass. Besides, ATM's need love, too.
Its been the same since 1995 at Dreamworks.... And if they dont want to change it, they wont. Blaming on EP or TAG is just the DW standard method of "passing the buck"....no pun intended. :)
I haven't had direct deposit for nineteen years.
Please get out your crying towels and weep copiously.
You are all in my prayers. This grave injustice has hung morosely upon me all evening, as I reflect how your plight so closely mirrors the struggle of the 13 colonies against Imperial Britain.
May you find the strength to endure. Godspeed.
I was told by the accountant at Film Roman that Entertainment Partners will only do direct deposit if you're with an entertainment based credit union.
As someone who doesn't have direct deposit, I can't get all that upset about it that it's not available to others.
That being said, I think it's ironic that studios that impose outrageous overtime won't do anything to make it easier for people not to have to leave work to deposit their checks. (Trust me, if DreamWorks threatened to get rid of EP over this, they'd figure out how to do direct deposit real quick. They aren't the only payroll company in town.)
But all this is beside the point of Steve's original post, which is that DreamWorks's management can lie with impunity by blaming the Guild for this.
You are all in my prayers. This grave injustice has hung morosely upon me all evening, as I reflect how your plight so closely mirrors the struggle of the 13 colonies against Imperial Britain.Oh, piss off.
So a handful of one studio's employees ask and are annoyed by not having a service that's available to other studios. Can't they discuss it without mockery? Or are only BIG, IMPORTANT ISSUES worth even mentioning lest someone else become annoyed or, god forbid, bored at the utter triviality of it all?
If it doesn't affect you or you deem it beneath a person's attention, don't pay attention. But no, you'd rather compose a lame diss for no possible reason. Good for you!
It was a funny, well-written diss, though. Sense of humor much?
I was told by the accountant at Film Roman that Entertainment Partners will only do direct deposit if you're with an entertainment based credit union.Actually, that's not direct deposit. If you have an account at First Entertainment Credit Union, then EP will mail your check to them. It's up to you to make sure it gets there. Unlike direct deposit, it isn't instantly available, but available several days after your actual check would have been in your hot little hands.
Relax dude, it was a joke. I actually agree that DW should try to make it happen. Chill.
I'm plenty chill. If you're going to be funny, be funny. Otherwise it's just annoying.
No, you be funny!
I'm plenty chill. If you're going to be funny, be funny. Otherwise it's just annoying.Waaaaaaaa, I'm butthurt
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