One wrinkle about being Biz Rep of the Animation Guild: you get a bird's eye view of how some of the more grizzled veterans of the animation industry are doing.
Just now, it's a mixed bag.
Some of the older artists are trucking right along, fortunate enough to be plugged into a studio (or sometimes two) that use them regularly and put them on staff when there's an opening. And some have found that jobs have gotten scarcer, either because the people they've networked with are retired or not getting much work themselves, or they've ticked off some executive and so are on a naughty list (and good luck getting anybody in the studio hierarchy to admit that list exists.) ...
In the last several weeks, I've encountered a bunch of folks with looong resumes who are out of work. With some of them, it's a case of bad timing and bad luck. With others, it's a matter of carrying reputations of complaining ... or back-stabbing ... or being generally irritating in the workplace. (Playing well with others in the cartoon sandbox is more important than ever.)
I counsel a lot of artists about how to play the politics at their particular studio, and my advice is more often than not similar at the Animation Guild's far-flung venues:
1) Don't tell your supervisor "I told you so" after you turn out to be right ... and he is wrong.
2) Pick the issues over which you want to go to the mat. (And remember: the less you go to the mat, the more effective you'll be when you finally do.)
3) Be positive rather than negative. Be happy to help out when asked. Strive to be kind.
4) Know what the legal and contractual rules are. When they're being violated, call me and we can discuss different remedial strategies. (They usually don't include the business representative coming in with guns blazing.)
5) If you have a shitty workplace personality (like for instance you don't suffer fools gladly, you get sarcastic too often, or bad-mouth studio bozos a lot when they're out of the room) build a fake, happy-face personality on top of it. This will serve you well over time.
6) As much as possible, stow your ego at home in the garage. Nobody much cares what your problems are. They are focused on theirs.
7) When in conflict with supervisors or studio brass and things look dire (meaning: you seem to get the stink eye a lot) seriously consider rolling onto your back with all four paws in the air and exposing your throat. (This is yet another metaphor for apologizing and "eating humble pie", even when you truly believe there is no valid reason to do so. You've parked your ego in the garage, remember?)
Now, please don't think I believe that the current workplace environment is the way things should be, because I don't. But I've kicked around enough ... and been kicked around enough ... to recognize reality when it smacks me in the face. Artists need to have good people skills and skill skills because even when they work for long periods of time, even when they've played the work game truly and well, all of them battle a strong current running the other way:
... More than three in five U.S. workers in their 50s and 60s plan on working past 65 -- and 47% of that group say they'll do so because they'll need the money or health benefits, according to a 2011 study from the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. ...
Happily, there is a bit of good news for long-term TAG members. If they've worked under union contracts, and if they've participated in the TAG 401(k) plan (and a couple of thousand people have), they are in a relatively strong position to embark on retirement. As one thirty-five year vet told me last week:
"I'll be sixty in a few months. I really want to keep working. But it's nice to know I've got the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan to tap into if I don't find the next job." ...
Life never goes quite the way you think it will. So it's good to have a Plan B, C and D to go along with Plan A.
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24 comments:
It all sounds like common sense to me.
Good advice!
A nice thing to do is, when a supervisor or executive does something good, let them know their deed has not gone unnoticed and that you appreciate it. It happens, and it's only fair to acknowledge their gestures, just like we like to be recognized for our own good work.
Steve, GREAT post. I can't believe how eye to eye we see. I posted this a few months ago, basically saying, in not such a polite manner, the same thing:
http://strongmanimator.blogspot.com/2011/03/dont-be-dick.html
People need to realize, film or video games, it's a SMALL world. Back-stabbing is a short-term solution, but once that gig is over, what then?
Being humble is really tough pill to swallow, for beginners and for some experienced folks. I know I had trouble with it when I started.
I know it sounds lame, but when dealing with ALL types, just think of how YOU would want to hear it if you were in that person's situation. It's not always the best way to do it, as some people may like to hear it more harsh than others, but everyone wants to hear it respectfully and face to face.
Great post! I would like to share my experience. I am currently working on an animated feature in Sydney.
My supervisor never did a team meeting in 6 months, my lead never speaks to me directly or nerver does meeting. The art director never gives us any reference for lighting or concept art. We are very late on schedule and I work 7/7 to render my shots, which are at now at version 40 for each of them, as I have been working on the same shots for the past eight months... And no one ever congratulates me or cheers me up... So yeah, lets speak about "being positive" or "building a fake personality"...
Anim8d:
Yeah, anybody who works in the biz ... hell, anybody who works for a living. figures out the basic rules.
I revisit them every three to five months, when I find something new to hang them on. I get people who storm into the office and complain to me that their supervisor is an idiot, that somebody needs to tell the supe off because he's completely wrong, and my response is:
"Fine, then you've got a choice here. Do you want to be RIGHT, or do you want to be EMPLOYED? Because if you go through with your plan to tell him off, you're going to be looking for other work."
Great post, Steve!
I wish I had known this in the past, cause I would've handled a few things differently.
The arrogance of youth can be a difficult thing to overcome.
rufus.
Finally someone mentions the secret lists.
Great post. It seriously underlines the problem of long term employment for some in the industry.
Some places are so dam inefficient and frustrating to work for that if you try to help out by suggestion things that go against an executive or leads that are so far up producers aholes you get marginalized. From my bad experience at one studio, they were so set in their ways they ran out of business and closed the doors before they would accept that things needed to change and fired or ignored anyone who told anyone in charge that there is a reason other studios can do in 3 weeks what takes us 4 months!
Half the time nobody at the studio even cared as they were paid by the hour and just wanted the max hours for the project, and actually promoted idea's that would take longer. I could not even just work as I suddenly was getting assigned tasks that were impossible to do with workstations that would crash every 5 minutes and no admin account to fix them.
I was in this situation and it's a sober reality. I mentioned things to improve workflow and gave great ideas that were used in production but never got credit for, eventually I was marginalized and basically forced to quit as the more I was right, the worst it made my supervisor look, who had been doing his job the same way for years. I praised him all the time and never gloated, it did not matter.
It sucks, I am probably on that list you mention, as I had support of 2 executives but another 3 just saw me as not getting along, they didn't care about the details.
The people in charge now have high paying jobs at other studios even though they were the reason of this studios failure. It's un freakin believable.
Seriously considering a career change...
The amount of ass kissing you have to do for the corporation is inversely proportional to the number of years you have left to collect that tiny pension in your collective bargaining agreement. Labor contracts are not rocket science.
Of course there is a list - in fact, many lists. Before I interview anyone I start calling around my buddies at other studios. My artist manager does the same and between us we can dig up something on just about anyone out there. Add to that Facebook and Linked in and you can get a full profile on someone well before the interview. And yes, I have pulled the plug on more than a few interviews when word came back that the candidate was more of a pain in the ass than worth what they brought to the table...
^
Sounds like someone that has too much leverage over the production. Who's your boss? They need to know you've been at your job too long and are posting overconfident managerial statements on a labor blog in between meetings.
@ 6:08 - Since when is it "over confident" to check references? Sin ce when is it "over confident" to do a lil due diligence on a candidate? If their reputation is solid, then they get the job (and most do) but if they have a rep of being slow, a pain in the back side, or just not that damn good, better to know before hand and save everyone the trouble
@7:24 - You back pedaled from "we can dig up something on just about anyone out there" to just checking references..lol
If you want to hire based on gossip go ahead, it sure happens all the time, but you're just hurting yourself in the end. Checking references and calling everyone you know trying to dig up dirt on people are two different things. I am sure I could dig up dirt on you as well and get someone to say something negative about you because you looked at a girlfriend wrong or made another employee feel dumb by taking over a shot and they hold a grudge. Gossip is easily influenced.
One is professional, the other is getting deep in the mud.
What Steve left out is that even a good face, kindness to others and all the charm you can muster, you are in a competitive industry were everyone wants everyone else's job. Where you can have somebodies bad day taken out on you , where people can be petty and have it change your career forever.
Cliques or groups are at every company , from Pixar to every other company, it happens. We've had Americans wanting to get Europeans out, Europeans wanting to get Americans out, feuds that started at CalArts or Sheridan, name it. Forget the producers who think you are paid to much on , failed directors/producers looking to take someone down with them and looking for victims which often are provided through rumors , there are endless variations. Oh and they are just as much subject to those rules as well.
I even had a really talented friend who I could not get hired at a company because his wife ( a clean up artist) got pregnant not long after she was working ad got maternity leave? That's right, the company blocked him for that and despite my protest they would not hire a real talent. You really dont have to do anything. Not really.
So what do you do? Nothing, just have fun. Remember that it is a business that can be just as petty and high school as any you can imagine. Such a waste of time and I mean that even for those of you participating in the bad mouth campaign. That stuff is as easily turned on you and most likely will be, t it's just a matter of time.
The best advise is do your job and let that be your opinion. It really works :) Have fun, it is sooo much better!Life is too short!
You assume that the digging will reveal only negative information about a candidate - that's wrong in most cases. Most people out there are talented and hard working. It's also wrong to use the term "gossip". I'm looking for information about work ethic, skill levels, attitude, etc. that's not gossip - that's professionalism.
Many years ago at Imageworks one of their team wrote a pseudo expose of the culture there - they called it "High School with Money". Truer words were never spoken - 'cept it is not just Imageworks that operates in that fashion its the whole damn industry.
It's the same in the video game industry- people will do what they can to position themselves ahead of others, even their current leads, not by working harder, but by being more outspoken, by backstabbing and via subversion of that lead's authority. And if your management structure isn't equipped to handle it, make the hard decisions and have the "hard talks," those people tend to "win."
I know people who have left studios because of it, and they've gone on and flourished at places with much better cultures.
"You assume that the digging will reveal only negative information about a candidate"
Digging? You mean asking for opinions? Because I'm not aware of any other system.
Some artists will slag some of the best artists out there and I've seen leads backstab people under them they never even let know had any problem. Some people trade on it like a currency carrying stories to artists they want to ingratiate themselves with.There are producers who hate artists entirely because they made slightly more than others. It's opinions and the unfortunate part is we have to ask human beings. :)
I believe in the "Go on and flourish" idea. Living in a toxic place ruins creativity.
Go on and flourish- seconded! I almost left the industry at one point, but after getting to my current gig, I've found myself reinvigorated. Change is good.
"If there are three people in a room, there is politics"
The sad truth is the entertainment business is full of immature people and the animation part of it is even worse. Some have described it as High school. HA! It's more like Middle school.
If someone can protect their position (or think they can) by bad mouthing an equal they will. Happens all the time and by many you would never believe.
I was in a review board at Disney years ago when one of THE best animators had submitted to his work so he could come back after years away doing A+ work elsewhere and one of the top animators there made sure he said, "eh, he's not that good".
Everyone else's jaws just dropped to the floor and because the animator who had put the kibosh on the return of the animator was so high up no one dared argue with him. And this 'high up on the food chain animator' had nothing to really fear - accept a little competition.
If this industry is high school, then this blog is graffiti on the bathroom stall ...
^
For a good spline, call...
Great post/article, Steve! It's so important to remember to treat it as a job, even if we artists regard it as a calling.
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