Stop Motion Animators

TAG has repped stop-motion animators in the past, but not many. In the 21st century, stop-motion animators are a sub-set of the business, just as (unbelievable as it once would have been) animators who draw by hand are a sub-set.

Below, a stop-motion animator shares his insights into one corner of our business ... and the trials and tribulations of working without a union contract. ...

It probably wont surprise you that we Stop-Motion Animators have been talking about helping each other out in the tough and competitive field of our industry for a while now...

I myself (and a few others) have been seriously thinking about starting a website to facilitate information exchange etc. about jobs and negotiation facts when it comes to the individual bargaining part and such things... The thought was to have a secure selected members forum, where freature-stop-motion animators, ideally anonymously, would share things like how much they get paid, where and for what etc... and what offers have been made and so forth - because the fact remains that on the stop-motion shows I've recently worked on, everybody has been given a different deal pretty much - and if you are bold enough and self confident enough in your negotiations, (or know what you can get) you can walk away with a much better deal than others, who on the ground do as much and as hard work - that often is qualitatively on the same level (!)

It quickly gets pretty unfair... although most animators recognize talent of course, and some people are simply better than others... still - my impression is that most of us animators would much rather work in a place that treated everybody fairly and had a transparent pay-scale, and ideally regular reviews that take quality, speed and experience into account.

Thus far the only place that ever came close to this has been Aardman over in the UK - they were not part of a union unfortunately, but they had a clear and transparent pay scale, from assistant animator to animator class 1, 2, 3, - a review of your work every 6 months and everybody knew where abouts they were. It was one of the best studios I have ever worked in - they shot the whole of "Pirates" on a 45 hour week schedule - amazing. So it is possible...

Another fact is - there simply aren't many Stop-Motion Animators around that can do feature animation - I would guess about 100 people max? If we could agree on a couple of basic demands it could make our lives and careers so much better... working hours are probably the biggest issue - (for example working up in Portland at LAIKA simply wasn't fun anymore once you did 3 months of 55 to 65, sometimes 70 hours per week... no life, making mistakes... losing confidence etc... pretty horrible really.) But we also need some clear rules on demo-reel material and such things - the list could go on...

What strikes me over and over is that animation artists who work without collective bargaining agreements make less ... and often far less ... than their union brothers and sisters. Outside of Los Angeles, that is mostly the norm.

But then, that's true of a lot of professions as we (briskly?) move back to the work protections and income distribution ratios of the late nineteenth century.