Cynical

But kind of true ...

The chart doesn't translate to animation work exactly, but some of the slots I would create (based on participation and observation) are:

HIGHER ON THE CARTOON PYRAMID

Studio CEO (with money/power)

Production Execs (with some power, leverage and money)

Feature Directors (with talent, artistic chops, and a bit of power)

Television Animation Executives

Television Animation Show Runners/Creators (talent, bit of power)

Feature Story Directors (with artistic talent, experience, bit of power)

Production Designers (with talent, resumes, bit of power)

Production Managers

Television Directors

Production Managers

Story Board Feature Artists

LOWER ON THE CARTOON PYRAMID

Television Timing Directors

Production Board Artists

Designers

Animation Checkers

Board Revisionists

Production Assistants

People will no doubt have their own pecking orders, and the orders change a bit from studio to studio, but this presents one viewpoint. (Mine.)

As an old timer told me today ...

The animation biz is getting more and more like live action, isn't it? Shorter gigs, jumping from studio to studio. Makes it more difficult. And there are less places to jump to than in live action."

Well, yes and no.

DreamWorks Animation has pretty long employment for numbers of people, while Disney Feature Animation, not so much. Disney Toons has relatively stable employment for a chosen few, while Disney TVA seems to have hired more artists and directors of late. (Though it's not near the go-go 1990s.)

Warner Bros. Animation has gotten busy again, and Nickelodeon chugs along.

Then there is The Simpsons, which is in a league all its own. Some folks have been working on that TV show for decades ... although the staff is leaner than in previous years.

(Live action has its own sets of frustrations. We will leave that for others to dissect.)