After my meeting with employees at one of our local studios, I had a friendly back-and-forth with a management person via phone and e-mail. The (summarized) version of management's position?
We know what the laws, regulations and contract are regarding o.t., and we expect everyone to fill out time cards accurately, to work authorized overtime when needed, and follow the rules. If they don't do these things, they are subject to discipline and/or discharge ...
In my experience, this is upper management's official position at most every studio I visit: "We know what the ground rules are ... and we follow them." It would be foolish for them to say anything else, and they don't. I also think, in most cases, they believe the words they're speaking.
But the reality is, between the front office and the production people (you know, those mid-management folks who supervise the artists?) there is too often a communications gap. There are also those other management people who are haranguing: "We gotta get this out day after tomorrow! And we don't have money in the budget for o.t.!"
Times and production realities being what they are, a dynamic tension between overtime rules and the real world as seen and defined by production managers has steadily built up. Yeah, time and a half after eight hours is the way it's supposed to be done, but "the budget only allocates X number of dollars for this show and damnit, we've to to hit the schedule and the damn budget!" is still a central tenet in many managers' playbooks.
Into this breach step board artists, designers and others who are scared witless over the possibility of losing their jobs and so are more than happy to give the company eight ... or ten ... or fifteen hours of free pencil mileage, either at home or late at night in the studio. They take pride in their work, in their ability to get the show in by Tuesday of next week even though the schedule is suddenly fifteen percent shorter, and willing to half kill themselves with all-nighters to do hit the mark.
The irony is, they are undercutting their wages and professionalism by giving conglomerates their services at bargain-basement prices. And by doing the work of two employees for the price of, say, one point five, they also hurt other artists who struggle to make a living.
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"And we don't have money in the budget for o.t.!"Should be met with:
"Who made the schedule for this budget?"
and
"Why aren't they are 'subject to discipline and/or discharge' ?".
But too few people say that to producers. In small companies you can. Furthermore, artists are so compartmentalized at the big studios that they simply cannot.
If four artists work ten hours of unpaid overtime, there's a fifth artists who doesn't have a job at all because the first four want to look good, meet the deadline and show management how valuable they are. Making management believe that you're so good, so fast and so reliable by working 50 hours and charging for 40 isn't fooling anybody. You know it, they know it and you're both willing to let it continue in the interest of meeting the deadline and the budget. Did anyone ever invite you into any of the meetings to figure out how long it would take to do something and what it would cost? One way of letting them know is by putting all the hours on your time card and getting paid for all those hours.
What always amazes me (and i guess i should stop being amazed by it) is the fact that these numbers that are purposely crunched as tight as they can on their Excel sheets are always "just temporary" and "only something we can show the client (or management)" so we can get the show and then those "temporary" numbers suddenly become gospel once production starts and everyone has to scramble around trying to find a way to make the cheated numbers work.
AND if somehow you're able to make the ridiculous numbers work they assume it can be done the next and the next time and the next time...
That is the shame of all this. The producer, director, or supervisor, who caused the mismanagement should either have a dock in pay or be fired if it causes the entire crew to work nights and weekends for months on end.
Often times the person MOST responsible ends up going home at 5pm. Then when everyone breaks their neck to get the work out and the show comes in under budget...guess who gets the biggest raise? The person who screwed it up to begin with.
Why there isn't more accountability, I have no idea.
With all that said, there is another side to this that no one seems to bring up. What happens when it is artist's fault they are behind? What if the artist takes 2 hour lunches, or 2 hour ping pong breaks? What if the artist simply can't manage their own time? Or the artist is much slower than any of the other artists? Who is responsible for that?
Surely, you can't expect a studio to pay overtime for hours that were wasted by the artist.
I say let's hold everyone responsible for the things they are responsible for...including artists.
I can't speak for every situation or studio, but it is my observation that the vast majority of free overtime is worked by artists who are a bit slower than the average crew member, and are trying to "keep up" with the faster ones.
Knowing that at the end of the project, those who didn't keep up quota are often the ones that are culled, they work well past the 8-hour mark just so they can stay above water. The faster artists leave on time, because they don't have much trouble finishing their quota within 8 hours.
Just my observation.
Too many people think that budgets are created from the premise - how many man hours will it take to make this show. Budgets all come from the other end of the pipeline. How much is the license fee, how much can we expect from merchandising, DVD sales, etc? What's the profit margin we are trying to hit? Put these numbers into the hopper and out pops a number - this is what we can spend on production. Send that number down to management and tell them to get it done. If it can't be done in house, send it to China.
That's the reality of business today.
I've only seen one show that didn't require months of OT - Surf's Up. Has anyone worked on a show or even seen one happening around them that didn't require months of weekend work? The fact that movies can't seem to be made without hundreds of people sacrificing their nights and weekends says, to me, that something isn't working. Every artist I know has a Plan B - the career they're going to move into when they can't take it anymore. Does it really save money when you train so many people on your pipeline and tools only to burn them out to the point where they can't/don't want to do it anymore?
Any word on Ni Hao crew getting the ax?
Of course, we're talking about The Simpsons here. What is being planned by Fox for the new season is obscene and borders the sadistic, especially since the current Gracie boys have lost the discipline they used to have to make writing deadlines. Excessive rewrites have become a 'process' and not a weakness. If Matt G. bristles at the workplace violations he oversaw in the early 90s, wait till this fall. This is, without question, the opportunity of the past few decades for the union to prove its relevance. We'll all be watching to see if it deserves its fancy new headquarters.
Seems like there's no such thing anymore as a normal schedule.
One classic "emergency"/"crunch" (more like a more "creative" budget=scheduling scheme to look like a genius) had some people agreeing to working a straight 12 days-through the weekend, no OT-with the understanding that the weekend days off would be shifted to the end of the 12 days. A few people did it. Then it was asked again the next week. Those few people refused this time(I mean, come on). Guess what? The sweet smiles and heartfelt thank yous turned instantly to stony, ominous silence and a lot of passive-aggressive grunts. What was a onetime, far out request suddenly was expected and if you didn't do it again, you were apparently a jerk.
btw the person in charge was let go not long afterward-probably when they tried their idea on crew members who had some clout.
"I can't speak for every situation or studio, but it is my observation that the vast majority of free overtime is worked by artists who are a bit slower than the average crew member, and are trying to "keep up" with the faster ones."
And it's my observation is that I've seen the fastest mofos in the business working OT, sometimes paid, sometimes not at the orders of a production manager who expects unrealistic amounts of work in the time given. You gotta do what you gotta go, but don't kid yourself that the artist with changes to hundreds of drawings is "a bit slower" because he got his changes at 4pm on Wed. and the stuff is due in editorial on Thursday at lunchtime so he suddenly has to work all night. It's interesting that the schedule is almost never adjusted whether a change is for 2 or 20 or 100 drawings, as if they all take the same time.
This is, without question, the opportunity of the past few decades for the union to prove its relevance.The union's only as strong as the collective will of its members. If most union artists want to work unpaid overtime, they will work unpaid overtime.
If most union artists do not want to work unpaid overtime, they'll band together and not work unpaid overtime.
Just Say No.
And keep a paper trail. Always. Do your best, work to meet deadlines, but make note of everything you're doing and about how long it takes you to do.
In case the bold font does not make it clear, the first sentence of the above post belongs to another member. Darned formatting...
This concept of working free overtime will be very obvious next season. Apparently, they are cutting 50-60% of their workforce and production time is cut shorter. The hangman's noose is getting tighter...
As long as I have been in this business there has always been some divisive moron ready to jump in and brag about how fast and efficient they are and how management loves them. They used to put down their colleagues by referring to them as the "First fired last hired." If an artist is really slow or inept, they don't last the season. For everyone else, the differences are marginal and not worth discussing or taking into consideration.
There are facts here; the staff has been reduced and the schedule has been shortened. That's exploitation. The principle is the same as slavery- exploiting and abusing labor to uphold profit margins. Throughout history management has been doing it anytime they can get away with it. That's why there are labor unions.
In the economy and in the current state of our industry, our leverage is further undermined by an inflated available talent pool compounded by foreign governments, unhampered by "free market" ideals, being able to virtually "buy" our jobs away with tax breaks and subsidies. They are smart enough to know that it is worth the investment because employed people buy things, pay taxes and don't need entitlements, all of which are good for an economy. When we get that smart, perhaps we can "buy" the jobs back, using the same tactics. Then we will all have a life, not just the fast ones who don't have to do overtime.
The Simpson's writers are going to be getting a 45% cut in pay as well.
The truth of the matter is that is VERY rare for a network (or anyone else) to pay MORE for a second, third or fourth season of a show. They usually have crunched the numbers and have decided that paying less works better for them (big surprise) regardless of whether the show is a hit or not. Sometimes this is true and they over-estimted their return and under-estimated what was necessary to make the first season.
So the production studio has two choices: reduce costs or lose the show. Usually it's the former and someone has to get screwed. usually it's the producer and the director.
Any word on Ni Hao crew getting the ax? ....
I've heard scuttlebutt that the second season will be the last, but I have no idea if this is Gospel.
The show has been, I'm told, performing well ...
What TAG is striving to do is get folks to follow the rules: A full eight hours of work, after which authorized overtime begins.
Staffers tell me that its tough to get some people to play by the book.
I'm ready to file grievances as needed ... but TAG needs somebody to be at the arbitration hearing, testifying to the fact that they're working unpaid overtime.
We can't drag them into the arbitration by the hair, can't make them tell the arbitrator what they're actually doing if they don't want to.
Fear is a potent thing.
The problem with "just say no" is that you'll probably miss your deadlines, and you will get fired, plain and simple (might be immediately, might be after production wraps, but it WILL happen.)
Then you have to contact your union rep, threaten to sue, go through a long and tiresome paperwork process yadda yadda, which ultimately hurts your reputation with recruiters and future jobs, no matter what anyone says.
Fuck that.
So what is the solution? Strike? Have the union be more aggressive with producers? Make a rule about production times (ie: films cant be animated in anything less than 12 months) I dunno. Its a tough spot.
This is, without question, the opportunity of the past few decades for the union to prove its relevance.....
Totally agree.
And here's my promise: I'll file grievances against any producer in violation of the C.B.A.
All it will take is for union members to step forward and bear witness to the contract violations.
union = people in it
The Simpson's writers are going to be getting a 45% cut in pay as well.And the actors keep getting raises. I'd love to know why The Simpsons voiceover actors have this entitlement that the actors of Family Guy, American Dad, and King of the Hill have yet to display. They seriously don't think they're making enough money? One of these days I hope Fox just goes ahead and calls their bluff. TV Asahi in Japan didn't mind recasting the anime series Doraemon after 20 years of a solid cast.
The way The Simpsons is going, animation mistakes like this making it into the final product will become more common, and apparently management doesn't mind.
The way The Simpsons is going, animation mistakes like this making it into the final product will become more common, and apparently management doesn't mind.Wow...many thanks to the production manager/s who "shuffles" around the studio rushing everyone!
If I were in the situation of the Simpson artists, and could see this tidal wave coming (50-60% less workforce)...I would preempt it.
Screw waiting on the union...I'd quit way before it got to that point and find me a better position.
If they don't have artists to do the show...what would they do then? If everyone did that, these idiot studios would have to change.
Free market, baby. It's FANtastic!
Yeah, all you have to do is find another position! What could possibly be easier?!
If they don't have artists to do the show...what would they do then?Send the whole show overseas? That doesn't seem to stop Sony Adelaide.
"Yeah, all you have to do is find another position! What could possibly be easier?!"
Well, you can sit there and bitch and suffer through it and just be a victim. Or you can get off your duff and go out and have control over your own situation.
This idea that we constantly need someone else to take care of us...unions, nanny government, etc is bizarre to me.
Don't be a victim. Stand up for yourself and take control of your own life. Stop depending on other people to do it for you.
"Yeah, all you have to do is find another position! What could possibly be easier?!"
Well, you can sit there and bitch and suffer through it and just be a victim. Or you can get off your duff and go out and have control over your own situation.
This idea that we constantly need someone else to take care of us...unions, nanny government, etc is bizarre to me.
Don't be a victim. Stand up for yourself and take control of your own life. Stop depending on other people to do it for you.Oh, come on.
You know perfectly well that the guy you're ragging on and lecturing like a self-satisfied jerk is just being realistic, not "bitching"-and btw-he's right.
This is a fucking TIGHT job market. ALL of the people I know who have a job are in NO position to "look elsewhere" because no one else is hiring, and last time I looked starting up a small business wasn't an option unless you're independently wealthy.
All very well to talk tough about "taking responsiblity" etc. but that's all meaningless bullshit unless you know of the magical place where all one need do is git sum good old fashioned gumption and the jobs will BE THERE.
Really??
People who call it like it is are just bitching losers who sit and take it? What planet are you on?
What an ass. Yours is hands down the most useless diatribe in ages. But hey, at least you get to feel smugly superior to those who in your mind "need someone to take care of [them]"--a sentiment NO ONE expressed here at all!
Loon.
Simpsons is a sinking ship anyway, forget the economy. You're wasting your time to fight that battle. The war is long over. Face it - anyone with any brains working on that dead horse is there to draw the steady paycheck to hedge themselves when it finally topples over like the extinct dinosaur it already is. Just f'ing do the OT with a big fat smile, bank your checks, and finish up those CG classes.
Bart is ending exactly like he started, way, WAY back when it was with Klasky - long hours and crap work conditions. It was a hit so Fox shared a microscopic bit of the spoils after Gracie, WGA ,SAG, Roman and finally Starz took their cuts. What remains are the same conditions animation had when it started - nada. Screw the sad corrupt 'animation' house that Jim Davis built. I always knew why Peanuts was a class act compared to Garfield. The legacy remains.
The problem with "just say no" is that you'll probably miss your deadlines, and you will get fired, plain and simple (might be immediately, might be after production wraps, but it WILL happen.)
Then you have to contact your union rep, threaten to sue, go through a long and tiresome paperwork process yadda yadda, which ultimately hurts your reputation with recruiters and future jobs, no matter what anyone says.
Fuck that.
So what is the solution? Strike? Have the union be more aggressive with producers? Make a rule about production times (ie: films cant be animated in anything less than 12 months) I dunno. Its a tough spot.First and foremost...if the artists on a production are getting screwed and want it to stop, THEY have to decide to band together and have it stop. THEY have to make that happen, not the union. The union seems to take individual cases, which scares the living beejeesus out of artists. But what if the artists acted as a group instead? I know, SHOCKING.
I've not heard of any instance where a group of artists simply said, "You can't do this to us anymore". It'd be nice if it did happen.
What if everyone on a production put in their eight hours every day and went home to their families? What if everyone missed the insane deadlines as a result? Do you think the studios could get away with firing EVERYONE? I DON'T THINK SO. Especially at a union shop.
What if the artists on said production made a big stink about being mistreated? If it were a GROUP, the studio might be more likely to want to shut the artists up by changing the situation for the better.
A single voice will be silenced, but a giant uproar with the action to back it up would create change.
It's up to the collective you.
that's right, all of you that are unhappy with your jobs, walk off in protest. Just make sure nthat you let all your friends and other union memebrs know so they can replace you while your making your point.
Snark all you want, but Aniranter is right. I long ago adopted the attitude that I would 'walk before I would crawl' -- i.e., I would quit any job that didn't accord me at least a moderate amount of respect.
Yeah, I know that's an attitude that many people can't afford to have, but it lets me sleep at night, and I think producers sense the attitude and don't try as many games with me.
Most people have no idea how frightened producers are that animators will stand up for themselves. One doesn't need to literally walk off a job -- just saying, "No, that isn't okay with me" is usually enough to stop most bullshit in it's tracks. Don't believe me? Try it sometime. See how good it feels.
if all the artists walked out for a day, it'll definitely bring the production to a screeching halt and you will all be heard loud and clear that this short production schedule is NOT OK
>>>"No, that isn't okay with me" is usually enough to stop most bullshit in it's tracks. Don't believe me? Try it sometime. See how good it feels.
<<<
so says the guy as he posts anonymously. What a stud!
"This is a fucking TIGHT job market. ALL of the people I know who have a job are in NO position to "look elsewhere" because no one else is hiring, and last time I looked starting up a small business wasn't an option unless you're independently wealthy."
But...but....but....
All I hear from you are excuses. Your rambles are those of someone who is destined to be someone's slave the rest of your life. Punch your clock, and complain with your lunch buddies how "if you were in charge" you would do it different. But you'll never lift a finger to change a damn thing about your current work environment much less start your own. Just complain about how "the man" is running things badly and keeping you down.
Give me a break.
If you hate your job and if the job market is down, you network your ass off to find your next gig, or go to a smaller studio you can help grow, or band with a bunch of buddies and shoestring a startup. Do any and everything you can to change your situation.
But don't be the victim. We certainly have enough of those in this world.
>>>>>>> if all the artists walked out for a day, it'll definitely bring the production to a screeching halt and you will all be heard loud and clear that this short production schedule is NOT OK <<<<<<<<<<<
What if the artists walked out at the end of 8 hours every weekday? Then your feelings of guilt will be lessened, and you'll prove a point that if you're not getting paid beyond 8 hours, YOU WON'T WORK.
I know an artist at a major studio who simply won't put up with shit. Ever.
The studio accommodates the artist, who's been there for years. Bends over backwards, in fact.
Now I don't know what the leverage of this individual is, or what hold they have on management, but there it is. Somebody in the business is standing up for themselves, and the studio doesn't harrumph "Off with his head!"
Chances are good he's got photos stashed away of someone high up with a donkey...
Or, even worse, he gets all his work done all in a 9to5 time period.
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